AEW: Dynamite Honors Jay Briscoe | 19th January 2023

AEW had a sense of the grief and heartache from the crowd and wrestlers, as a friend and ROH Tag Team Champion, Jay Briscoe, passed away a day earlier. There were armbands, Mentions of him on commentary and a sense of sadness that can’t quite be described. But in the words of Queen, ‘The Show Must Go On’ and it did, everyone brought out their best moves and created a show that might be one of the best in a long time.

The Matches: Lethal, The Young Bucks, Danielson & Bandito Reach For The Sky

The first match on the card was a lot of fun with Orange Cassidy defending the All-Atlantic Championship against Jay Lethal. Jay was wearing a Briscoe armband as he battled in one of his best, matches since joining AEW against the Orange one. This is a match that was really needed to open the show, with everyone still in shock by the passing of Jay Briscoe, it felt very important to let the crowd, viewers at home and the wrestlers in the back have something to smile about.

This was followed up in the second match, as we see Top Flight face off against two-thirds of the Trios champion, The Young Bucks. It’s everything you would expect from two fast-paced high-flying teams.

The Bucks are sporting Jay armbands embroidered with big red hearts, which seems only fitting for them as they worked consistently with the Briscoes, allowing both teams to become two of the best in the world. They also created some of the best and most captivating Tag Team bouts in the history of ROH. Everything about this was fun with a nifty little nod to the Briscoes from The Bucks when they hit the Doomsday Device, which was a favourite of Dem Boyz. This wasn’t the winning move through as Top Flight picked up the surprise win.

Ricky Starks is an absolute showman and probably one of the smarted wrestlers that the JAS have faced. He always seems to be one step ahead and is willing to fight off all members, even those not in the match, in order to achieve his goals. AEW have known for some time how good he is, and we as fans have too, but it now seems that they are finally strapping a rocket to him. Hopefully, soon enough he will be the TNT Champion. For now, he is in the mix with the JSA and beating them at their own sports entertainment game.

Match four of the night sees two former ROH wrestlers and ROH World Champions, who have both worked alongside Jay Briscoe, Bryan Danielson and Bandito. I can’t even put into words how phenomenal this match was, it had everything and more when it comes to professional wrestling. Right now Danielson is going through the ‘labours of Hercules’ in order to face MJF at this year’s AEW: Revolution PPV. Each opponent so far has been bringing it to Danielson, but the American Dragons’ fighting spirit will not be beaten, no matter how close Bandito comes in this match.

Now finally time for a women’s match and it’s Toni Storm facing off against Willow Nightingale. The women’s division has really improved in the last six months with the addition of n Storm, Saraya and Nightingale having elevated everyone. the storylines seem more concise and interweaving than before while the in-ring time has greatly improved. This match is great for both women with them getting to show off what they are best at.

Willow has lowkey been one of the best female performers in the indies for a few years but she seems to have upped her game since coming to AEW. SARAYA and Toni Storm turn heel and attack Willow while Shida, who was being teased for a heel turn, looks on in shock. Ruby Soho comes out to make the save and shows that she is allied with Nightengale as those who bleed together stay together. More teams seem to be forming and hopefully, this means the women possibly getting tag team belts or the continued renewed push on television.

Main Event Time and it’s an open challenge for the TNT Championship and KUSHIDA answered the call. What a match, it was a spectacle, Darby Allin has been a fighting champion every week since beating Samoa Joe for the championship. KUSHIDA was allowed to shine and be even more brutal than he was ever allowed to be in NXT. Since leaving the E he has returned to New Japan and has been absolutely knocking it out of the park. This was a fantastic main event match, absolute perfection.

The Storylines:

We get two fantastic fast-paced and fun matches before we get our first storyline beat and this comes in the form of the long-running feud between The Gunns and The Acclaimed.

Renee Paquette and Hangman Adam Page have a very frank and deep conversation about his relationship with Jon Moxley. It’s a great little segment that should be seeked out if you haven’t seen it, as it’s been done very differently than other backstage segments and I, personally loved it.

MJF appears on the screen after Danielson defeated Bandito to let him know what is to come on 5th February 2023 at AEW: Revolution. This is one of his best promos in a while and I think it was a good idea to keep him away from the ring, having him be this arrogant heel champion who barely appears is so interesting g and something we haven’t yet seen in AEW. Does it work? I think it does but time will tell if it is remembered as a groundbreaking moment in the company.

AEW: Dynamite Results

Orange Cassidy defeated Jay Lethal

Top Flight defeated The Young Bucks

Ricky Starks defeated Jake Hager

Bryan Danielson defeated Bandito

Toni Storm defeated Willow Nightengale

Darby Allin defeated KUSHIDA