This week on AEW Dynamite Chris Jericho heads into his fifth and final labour as he takes on MJF, but can’t use the Judas Effect to take his rival out. Plus, Sting returns to in-ring action on TNT for the first time in over 20 years, Thunder Rosa battles Penelope Ford and The Young Bucks defend their AEW Tag Team Titles against Jurassic Express.
AEW DYNAMITE
August 18, 2021, Houston, TX
Commentary: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone & Excalibur
Matters get “Major League” as “Wild Thing” hits to intro out Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley, but 2.0 and Daniel Garcia take Mox and Eddie out with a lead pipe. Matt Lee grabs the mic and demands Sting and Darby Allin come out, right here, right now. Sting and Darby oblige,
MATCH 1
Texas Tornado Match
Sting & Darby Allin vs. 2.0
Sting comes out from the entryway, but Darby attacks the attackers from behind. Stereo Stinger splashes as the good guys take the brawl to the stands. 2.o hit their “2 For The Show” finish on Darby against the wall as Jeff Parker and Matt battle Sting with the help of Garcia. “Let’s go Sting.” Darby literally walks a rail to leap on the baddies as Eddie Kingston joins the fray.
2.0 fight Darby on the stage and suplex him on the back of a skateboard. They set up a table after stomping on Sting. Stinger fights them off. Ten punch by The Icon gets stopped at four. Sting gets powerbombed through a table but pops right up! A double Scorpion Death Drop for 2.0! Sting stacks them up and locks in a duel Scorpion Death Lock for the stereo submission!
WINNERS: Sting & Darby Allin
Earlier in the evening, Sammy Guevara proposed to his girlfriend, Pam and she said yes! We cut to Tully and Shawn Spears. He takes some digs at Pam before plugging his match with The Spanish God tonight.
MATCH 2
Sammy Guevara vs. Shawn Spears (with Tully Blanchard)
Spears tries to immediately attack Sammy on the ramp but Sammy scouts it. He nails a flying senton off the stage to Spears. The fight continues on the outside as we seePam clapping at ringside. Tully Blanchard and Shawn catches Sammy with a stump piledriver on Blanchard. Sammy gets rolled into the ring and the bells sounds for the match to officially begin.
They take Sammy to the outside once more to do another stump driver, but Aubrey kicks Tully out. Shawn taunts Pam from the apron and Sammy begins to fight back. Shawn chops away at him and we go to break.
Back from it, Guevara bridges a barricade between the apron and the other guardrails. Both men leap up top at the same time, Spears gives Sammy the bird and Guevara gives him a leaping cutter in the ring. Spears hits an avalanche C4 and covers, 1-2-nope.
Sammy soon nails Shawn with a DVD onto the bridged guardrail. He rolls him back in for the 630 senton: 1-2-no! Sammy pulls down his right knee pad. Hard knee strikes to Spears. GTH. 1-2-3.
WINNER: Sammy Guevara
Sammy is bleeding from somewhere as he goes to the outside and kisses his new fiancée.
Tony Schiavone is with Christian Cage. He’s interrupted by Don Callis who reminds him of putting on national TV back in Winnipeg. Christian cuts off Don’s patronizing. He knows he’s in Kenny’s head and he tells Don that he’ll always be a carny piece of shit. That gets a laugh out of Schiavone.
Dante Martin said he took Kenny Omega to his absolute limit and he says he’ll be a name that everyone knows.
We see Dan Lambert once more in the ring with some support behind him. It is Andre Arlovsky and Junior Dos Santos. He says AEW has jumped aboard the cancel culture train. He has a message to the locker room. If they’re feeling froggy, come on out and jump. He says AEW is not the answer to their pro wrestling prayers. “AEW” chants begin. He says AEW has a roster full of loudmouth wannabe tough guys. He wants to address the elephant in the room: they’re all nerds in their momma’s basement looking up creepy shit on the dark web. Lance Archer comes out to beat Dan once more, but is attacked by the Men of the Year.
We see Chris Jericho. Tonight he gets the ultimate prize. One on one, it’s Chris Jericho vs. MJF right here in Houston. He might not have Judas the music or Judas Effect, but he’s got friends in Houston! MJF is not as good as he thinks he is. He’s gonna kick his bitchy little ass and he will beat him tonight.
MATCH 3
AEW Tag Team Championships
Jurassic Express vs. The Young Bucks (with The Elite)
Don Callis jumps on commentary. Jungle Boy and Nick start it off and JB dives on top of Nick after much mockery. Tag to Luchasuarus. He has Nick cornered, but Nick rolls to tag in Matt. Big chop to the brothers. He hits a tilt-a-whirl sidewalk slam. Two count. JB gets another pini attempt on Matt, but that his also a kick out. JB hits a leaping hurricanrana to the outside on Nick, but Matt drops them both. We go to break.
JB struggles to get the hot tag but does so to Luchasaurus. He takes it to The Bucks. Crowd getting hot. Nick kicks at him, but JB uses Luchasaurus’ back to hit an avalanche brainbuster. The count is made, but Matt saves.
Cutler tries to interfere but Luchasaurus kicks and chokeslams the brothers. Tope by JB as Lucha covers Matt for a two count.
Bucks soon superkick Lucha and does the same to JB. They hit an Indy Taker on JB and cover for the 1-2-nooooo.
Marko Stunt gets on the apron but Kenny comes out and smacks him with a chair. Christian comes out and brawls with Kenny to the back. JB hits a brainbuster onto the chair on Matt and covers, but Nick makes the save. Sit-out bomb double team gets another near fall for them, but once more Nick makes the save. JB fights off all of the Elite, but The Bucks twist him out of a pin attempt and nail him with a BTE Trigger for the win.
WINNERS and STILL AEW Tag Team Champions: The Young Bucks
Post-match, Gallows is shown carrying Christian on his shoulders as The Elite beat all the good guys down. Don Callis stomps on Christian. Omega nails a One Winged Angel on Christian as Don administers a “three count.” (Kenny has a “chick magnet” shirt on, by the way).
Tony is backstage with Britt Baker, Rebel and Jamie Hayter. Red Velvet played dumb. She made friends with Kris Statlander. Jamie says she and Britt go wayyyy back. Why don’t they pick up where they left off? She and Red Velvet next week. Britt says gold is not Red’s color either.
For some reason, the Best Friends think Big Money Matt Hardy is beating on Wheeler Yuta. He tells Orange Cassidy if he continues to stick his lazy nose in his business, he’ll kick that lazy nose off his face. Orange Cassidy responds, saying we’ll see about that.
Tony Schiavone introduces his friend Paul Wight to Houston. Tony thanks him for coming in for the save last week. Wight says it was amazing to come back in that ring. It felt so good to do it. He’s got a real huge announcement he’s so excited to share with everyone. Out comes QT Marshall. “Houston, we have a problem. A really big ass problem.” He says Wight will likely let the fans down. Wight eventually challenges The Factory to come down to the ring. QT says there’s a reason that Tony Khan hired Paul as an announcer and not a competitor. He shows the X-Rays of Wight’s hip and the scar he has as well, basically indicating that Paul can’t go anymore. Paul isn’t embarrassed by any of that. He calls QT “Plugs.” He had a little talk with Tony Khan. At All Out he has a match and guess who his opponent is? QT Marshall.
We cut to Jade Cargill and Mark Sterling. Cargill talks about fighting Kiera Hogan this Friday on AEW Rampage.
Tony is backstage with The Elite. Schiavone reveals to them that there will be an AEW Tag Title Eliminator Tournament with the winner getting a World Tag Title shot against The Bucks in a steel cage at All Out.
Taz is in the ring with Hook. He introduces Ricky Starks. Starks says “Ricky Starks is ‘For the world’ and it’s going to be that way for a very long time.” He calls out Brian Cage, but we see Powerhouse Hobbs standing over Cage. Cage gets up and starts fighting back against Hobbs. Starks rushes Taz and Hook to backstage.
Tony is now with Death Triangle. PAC tells Andrade anywhere, anytime. He wants El Idolo at All Out. In comes Andrade with Chavo. If PAC wants this match, he has to agree to one condition. That isn’t quite revealed yet.
MATCH 4
Penelope Ford vs. Thunder Rosa
Houston is all about Thunder Rosa as she takes it to Philly’s Penelope Ford. TR stomps on her and then dropkicks Ford out of the ring. They fight on the outside and Ford sends TR into the ring post. Penelope hits a cutter on the outside and we go to break.
TR has Ford grounded and bent her over backwards with a dropkick against the ropes. Butterfly suplex by TR. Two count. “Thunder Rosa” chants. Ford reverses a Fire Thunder Driver for a roll up pin attempt. Ford locks in a Muta Lock. Pin attempt until TR has a single leg crab. Rosa hits a spinning DVD for a near fall, but Ford kicks out.
Ford nails a lungblower backbreaker on TR. Another Muta Lock attempt by Ford, but TR turns it into an impressive modified guillotine for the choke out submission.
WINNER: Thunder Rosa
Miro wants Eddie Kingston….oh boy.
Mox is backstage. Everybody wants a piece of AEW nowadays. He starts cutting promos on The Elite, Hangman Page and Christian even. He’s the guy who has been carrying this company through dark days. If Daniel Garcia wants a taste of the main event. he has one. Friday night on Rampaga he’s got it, but will he really want it come Rampage? “Protect your neck and make sure this is where you really, really want to be…cause this ain’t no joke.”
MAIN EVENT
The Fifth Labour Of Jericho
MJF vs. Chris Jericho
Crowd a cappellas Jericho to the ring with “Judas.” Bell rings and the crowd is amped. Boos echo for Max as Chris gets cheers. Max pie faces him and taunts. “MJF sucks” chants. Chris immediately goes for a Lion Tamer. Jericho dropkicks Max out of the ring before leaping on top of him to the outside. “Jericho” chants. MJF pulls a trick out of Jericho’s hat and has a ringside camera but we see Jericho punch him via POV and then flips the bird. Fight goes back to the inside. MJF sends Jericho into the post and Max focuses on Chris’ vulnerable arm. We go to break.
MJF maintains control through the break as he continues to wear down Jericho’s arm. The two men connect with double clotheslines. Big shoulder tackles from Jericho. He nails a double axe handle from up top and the crowd pops a JR references Larry Hennig. MJF Judo throws Jericho. Max yanks off the arm brace of Jericho. He begins to attack it. Chris turns the tides with a Lionsault to get a near finish. “This is awesome” chants. Jericho kicks at Max in the corner. He then chops MJF. Lariat in the opposite corner before he nails some more lariats. He props Max up top. Frankensteiner right after punches. Pretty stuff by both men. MJF turns a pin attempt into a Salt of The Earth. Jericho rolls free and turns Max over for a Walls of Jericho, but Max counters and up kicks Chris in the jaw.
The two men slug it out. MJF hangs Chris’ arm over the rope and hits a Heatseeker. Two count. MJF soon low blows Jericho behind Aubrey’s back and puts Chris in the Walls. After a very long struggle, Jericho makes it to the ropes.
MJF grabs his ring, Jericho has his bat. Aubrey throws away the ring while Jericho jabs Max with the bat. Jericho goes for a Judas Effect, but Max hits him with one of his own. He locks in the Salt of The Earth and after a near escape, Max makes Chris submit.
WINNER: MJF
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