Exclusive Recap of the Debut Episode of AEW DYNAMITE!

***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

October 2, 2019, from the sold-out Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., live pro wrestling made its explosive, triumphant return to the TNT Network with the debut episode of ALL ELITE WRESTLING DYNAMITE!

Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, and Jim Ross were the broadcast team for tonight’s event.

DYNAMITE kicked off with a bang as “The American Nightmare” Cody wrestled Sammy Guevara in the first ever pro wrestling match to air in nearly 20 years on the TNT Network. Cody was accompanied to the ring by Brandi Rhodes. Sammy was displaying amazing agility right out of the gate. There were many questions going into this contest—would the upstart Sammy crumble under the pressure of the biggest match of his young career? Would Cody overlook Sammy with his match against AEW Champion Chris Jericho at the FULL GEAR pay-per-view looming on the horizon? Cody set up a cutter off the middle rope, and Sammy one-upped him with a cutter of his own off the top rope. Cody opened up the majority of his arsenal on Sammy, and finally, after Sammy crashed and burned on a shooting star press, Cody rolled up his opponent for the victory.

As Sammy was congratulating Cody on a hard-fought victory, AEW Champion Chris Jericho blindsided a distracted Cody with a vicious assault. Jericho powerbombed Cody onto two steel chairs outside of the ring as Brandi watched on. A jubilant Jericho grabbed the microphone and taunted the fans.

Brandon Cutler squared up against Mawell Jacob Friedman (MJF) next. “This ain’t Dungeons & Dragons! This is real life!” yelled MJF as he stomped on Cutler. After landing a tope suicida onto MJF, Cutler tried to follow up with another high risk move from the top rope, but he must have tweaked his knee. MJF was quick to capitalize on this as he quickly submitted Cutler with his “Salt of the Earth”armbar finisher.

Chris Van Vliet interviewed director Kevin Smith and actor Jason Mewes of the upcoming movie “Jay And Silent Bob Reboot.” They were interrupted by Jack Evans and Angelico. Luckily, Private Party came to the aid of Smith and Mewes before things got out of uncontrol.

The trio of SCU were interviewed by Tony Schiavone about their upcoming match in the tournament to crown the inaugural AEW Tag Champs. Scorpio Sky said he was going to defer to the combined experience of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, since only two of them can compete in the tag tournament. He was cut off when the Lucha Bros stormed onto the ramp, declaring themselves the best tag team in the universe, and after a few tense moments, SCU and the Lucha Bros threw down in a pull apart melee.

Hangman Adam Page versus “the Bastard” PAC was the next match of the night. It was a huge change for Page to begin rebuilding after his loss to Jericho in the main event of ALL OUT last month. This was a battle AEW fans have waited months to see. They began by trading stiff forearms in the center of the ring. Page turned PAC inside-out with a clothesline and the fans chanted “That was sick! That was sick!” PAC soon gained momentum with a beautiful quebrada from the ropes to Page on the outside, followed by a springboard 450 splash. PAC went to the top rope again looking to hit the “Black Arrow” finisher, but Page countered with an Avalanche Blockbuster. PAC rammed Page’s shoulder into the steel post. PAC avoided “Buckshot” by Page, and as referee Earl Hebner was distracted, PAC hit a low blow mule-kick on Page. PAC took advantage with the “Black Arrow” and then submitted Page with the “Brutalizer” (the same move that he used to submit Kenny Omega at ALL OUT last month). PAC is now 2-0 in AEW.

Dr. Britt Baker joined the commentary team to get a bird’s eye view of the next match: “The Native Beast” Nyla Rose versus Riho, with the winner to be crowned the first AEW Women’s World Champion! The action started as soon as the bell rang, with Riho taking down Nyla Rose with head scissors. Riho had a significant experience edge, while Rose had an obvious size advantage. Riho was a clear crowd favorite with the crowd, despite this being the hometown of Nyla Rose. Riho was trained by Kenny Omega, which was evident in some of her offense, such as her running knees. Nyla caught Riho on the outside of the ring, and blasted Riho with a brutal back backbreaker. Nyla pulled out multiple steel chairs from beneath the ring, with referee Paul Turner threatening the DQ. Nyla went for a cannonball senton onto the prone Riho who was positioned on the chairs, but Riho moved just in the nick of time. Nyla crashed onto the chairs, with Riho seemingly gaining the upper hand. Riho showed plenty of moxie, and hit a near-fall on Nyla. This was countered by Nyla’s deathvalley driver, but Riho kicked out at the two-count. Somehow Riho managed to find a few more ounces of fighting spirit, and met Nyla on the top rope, hitting her with a bevy of strikes. Riho defeated Nyla with the running double knee strike to become the first-ever AEW Women’s World Champion. The celebration, however, was short-lived. Michael Nakazawa attempted to interview the victorious Riho, but Nyla nailed Nakazawa with a Liger-powerbomb. Before Nyla could grab the new champ, Kenny Omega ran down to the ring to defend Riho and prevent further destruction from the Native Beast.

The main event was up next! The Elite (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, Nick & Matt Jackson) versus AEW World Champion Chris Jericho and Santana & Ortiz.

Jericho and Omega started things out, but a cowardly Jericho quickly tagged out. After a superkick party on Santana and Ortiz, the Bucks took the fight outside. This left Omega alone in the ring, and prone to an attack from Jon Moxley. Omega and Moxley brawled to the VIP area. Moxley sent Omega crashing headfirst into a glass coffee-table with his DDT. Matt Jackson speared Ortiz, as the match became a 3-on-2 contest (with Omega still in the VIP area in the glass shards). Santana and Ortiz hit a sequence of double-team moves to neutralize Matt. Jericho was tagged in and attempted a lionsault, but Matt was able to raise his knees. Before Matt could tag Nick, his opponents cut off the ring. Matt finally got the tag, and Nick Jackson cleaned house and quickly evened up the odds. The hot crowd rallied behind the Bucks, but after a Judas Effect from Jericho to Matt Jackson, Jericho gained the pinfall victory for his team. Cody ran to the ring in his business attire to join his friends from the Elite and send a message to Jericho, but he was quickly countered by Sammy Guevara. It became completely chaotic inside the ring. Dustin Rhodes sprinted to save his brother Cody, but the Elite were wiped out by the surprise debut of Jake Hager!

Hager went to town on the Elite and Dustin Rhodes, sending bodies flying everywhere like Godzilla crushing a cityscape.

The debut episode of AEW DYNAMITE concluded with Jericho, Santana, Ortiz, Guevara, and Hager standing definitely in the center of the ring!

Next Wednesday we will be live from Boston!