Titled Championship Fight Night, the February 8th edition of AEW Dynamite offered champions MJF, the Elite, Jamie Hayter, and The Acclaimed all in action plus Ricky Starks running the Garcia-Guevara Gauntlet attempting to win another match against Chris Jericho.
Highlights:
- The night kicked off with a championship eliminator match between MJF and Konosuke Takeshita. Solid action throughout with MJF working on the arm and Takeshita earning several near falls before submitting. Post-match beatdown by MJF brought out Bryan Danielson. Followed up later in the night with a MJF backstage interview with Lexy Nair with the champ admitting he will do whatever it takes to succeed (as in his story about ruining a former girlfriend’s life).
- Later in the night MFJ’s minions locked Danielson in the locker room attempting to get him counted out before his match with Rush. Despite his grandstanding in the ring, MJF was disappointed to see Danielson make it to ringside in time to take on Rush with MJF taking a spot on commentary for the match. Danielson vs. Rush provided the hardest hitting match of the night (which is saying something this week) with a bloodied Danielson eking out a win and MJF attacking his challenger after the match. AEW certainly got the most out of MJF this week.
- The Elite successfully defended the AEW Trios Championships against Top Flight and AR Fox in a match that really put over the challengers giving the champions all they could handle. Fast-paced action between the teams giving everyone their spots, especially Fox who had his best TV match to date.
- In the second match of the night Jamie Hayter outlasted the Bunny in a hard hitting women’s match that may have ended early with a possible injury to the Bunny which moved immediately into Hayter’s finisher to close out the match earlier than expected.
- Heated pre-taped promo from Samoa Joe calling out Wardlow.
- Feeling a bit too rushed to make space for the rest of the crowded card, the Garcia-Guevara Gauntlet kicked off with Ricky Starks defeating Angelo Parker followed by a quick wrap-up of “Daddy Magic” Matt Menard. In the next match, Daniel Garcia picked up the win with some help by a masked Chris Jericho in the front row. Plenty here that worked, although it could have used another 10 minutes to breathe (or even better taken up the majority of a Rampage episode).
Lows:
- Given that it was saved for the end of the night, it wasn’t a big surprise that the Ass Boys beat The Acclaimed with the help of a ref bump and a title belt shot to end the show but it did deflate a hot crowd that had been amped up the entire night. The match itself was fine, but the outcome felt like classic WWE booking putting titles on wrestlers regardless whether they are over with fans or not. Perhaps AEW thinks a short title run will help get the team over with fans but this feels like overbooking.
- Potential injury to the Bunny.
Less Notable:
- Another nWo segment with Saraya and Toni Storm picking on a backstage worker.
- Backstage segment with Daddy Ass and The Acclaimed stating he would remain backstage for their match with the Ass Boys.
- Backstage segment with Tony Schiavone doing a network cross-promotion by interviewing the hosts of Impractical Jokers.
- Hook took exception to Stokely Hathaway talking trash backstage.
