It’s Wednesday night, and you know what that means …
All Elite Wrestling returns at 8/7c on TBS from Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York with the Grand Slam episode of AEW Dynamite.
On tap for tonight’s show is MJF vs. Samoa Joe for the AEW World title, Saraya vs. Toni Storm for thre AEW Women’s title, ROH Champion Claudio Castagnoli vs. NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston in a title versus title match, Jon Moxley vs. Rey Fenix for the AEW International title, Chris Jericho vs. Sammy Guevara, plus action featuring Orange Cassidy & HOOK.
Featured below are complete AEW Dynamite results from Wednesday, September 20, 2023. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 8-10pm EST. on TBS.
AEW DYNAMITE: GRAND SLAM RESULTS (9/20/2023)
The usual “Light the fuse …” theme song hits and after the regular weekly intro video wraps up, we shoot inside Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York where Excalibur welcomes us to the latest annual Grand Slam episode of AEW Dynamite.
ROH & NJPW STRONG Openweight Championships
Claudio Castagnoli (C) vs. Eddie Kingston (C)
We shoot to the ring where Claudio Castagnoli’s theme hits. The ROH World Champion makes his way to the ring as the ROH commentator checks in on special guest commentary for this champion versus champion showdown.
He settles in the ring and then the theme for Eddie Kingston hits and the crowd goes absolutely bonkers as “The Mad King” emerges. The NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion heads to the ring looking all business.
The “Eddie! Eddie!” chants are loud as hell as the bell sounds to get this one officially off-and-running. The two slowly close in on each other and then Castagnoli charges at him with a boot to the grill. Kingston fights back with thunderous chops.
After some more back-and-forth action, we see the fight spill out to the floor. Castagnoli clobbers Kingston and then hits a big back suplex that saw “The Mad King” land hard on the ramp. Back in the ring, Castagnoli lands a big double stomp on the arm, where he is focusing his attack now.
On that note we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as our opening champion versus champion showdown continues. When we return from the break, we see Castagnoli still taking it to Kingston. Kingston starts to hulk up and take over.
Kingston hits a big side suplex that slows Castagnoli’s offensive momentum down. The two start trading stiff shots back-and-forth. They start jawing at each other as things get intense. Castagnoli starts hitting Kingston with everything in his arsenal but can’t put him away.
Now we see “The Mad King” take over and suffer the same fate, as no matter what he tries Castagnoli keeps kicking out. Eventually Kingston hits a spinning back fist and a power bomb for the pin fall victory. With the win, Kingston is now the ROH World Champion and the NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion.
After the match, the two shake hands and Castagnoli hands him the ROH title and heads to the back with Wheeler Yuta. Kingston hangs in the ring and soaks up the moment as the crowd shows him a ton of love.
Winner and NEW ROH World Champion & NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion: Eddie Kingston
Roderick Strong Gets Some Visitors At The Hospital
We shoot to the hospital where Roderick Strong is in a hospital bed with a neck brace on looking half dead. The Kingdom are by his side and are treating the situation that way.
Strong wakes up yelling for Adam, and Adam Cole runs to his side and says he’s here. The Kingdom have to leave for a match. Cole and Strong talk. Cole tells him he’s got to leave because MJF has a match. Strong tells him to just go. We head to another commercial break.
Christian Cage Challenges Darby Allin To Handi…Three-Way Match
When we return from the break, Renee Paquette is standing backstage with Christian Cage and Luchasaurus. Christian addresses Darby Allin and Sting ahead of their match on Rampage: Grand Slam. He also challenges Darby to a showdown on Collision. He says if he wants a title shot, Sting is not allowed at ringside.
Chris Jericho vs. Sammy Guevara
It’s time for the battle of Le Sex Gods! Chris Jericho makes his way out to Judas in My Mind by Fozzy as fireworks explode. He heads to the ring with Floyd the baseball bat in his hands. The fans sing along with his theme as he settles inside the squared circle for our next match of the evening.
The theme dies down and then the lights in the building go off. The theme for Sammy Guevara hits and out comes “The Spanish God” with a blinking light vest on, similar to Chris Jericho’s old ring jacket. The rapper from his theme is performing live as he heads to the ring.
Now the bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. The two take their time and then begin circling each other. They stop and shake hands and then they begin to get after it. After some back-and-forth action things get intense, and we see the two slap each other.
Jericho jumps in the early offensive lead, but Sammy takes over. He knocks Jericho to the floor and runs and dives for a big splash. Back in the ring, Jericho takes over again and now he hits a big high spot from the ring to the floor. After that, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
When we return from the break, we see Sammy hitting a Codebreaker on Jericho. After that he hits an insane top-rope spot to the floor on Jericho. Back in the ring, Guevara goes for the GTH, but Jericho counters into the Walls of Jericho. Sammy nearly gets to the ropes but Jericho drags him to the middle of the ring. Guevara escapes.
Both guys go up to the very tip-top rope where Sammy hits a super cutter for a close near fall. Guevara goes for a top-rope lionsault but Jericho gets the knees up. Jericho hits a running bulldog. Jericho hits a lionsault off the middle rope for a close pin attempt. Guevara kicks out at two. Guevara hits a GTH. Sammy goes a shooting star press off the top but Jericho counters in mid-air with a codebreaker for the win.
Winner: Chris Jericho
Sammy Guevara Joins The Don Callis Family
After the match, Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara hug in an emotional moment, but then Sammy pulls a Jericho on Jericho, doing the infamous Jericho-Shawn Michaels post-match finish from WrestleMania, low-blowing Jericho.
Jericho slides down Guevara’s body the same way. Don Callis comes out after this and he and Guevara embrace, revealing Guevara has joined The Don Callis Family.
MJF, Adam Cole Arrive
We shoot to footage from earlier today of MJF and Adam Cole arriving to Arthur Ashe Stadium for tonight. MJF cuts a promo on Samoa Joe and as he’s about to finish up with their catchphrase, Cole is distracted by a call from Roderick Strong.
“Calm down Roddy, you’re not gonna die!” MJF asks Cole, “Are you serious? You’ve got my back out there tonight, right?” Cole assures him he does but runs off to deal with the Strong situation. We head to another commercial break.
Backstage With Don Callis & Sammy Guevara
Renee Paquette tries to talk to Sammy Guevara backstage, but Don Callis cuts her off and says all will be revealed this Friday.
The two continue to walk and Daniel Garcia confronts Guevara. The two nearly go at it but Callis stops them and says this kid is money. They walk off together.
AEW International Championship
Jon Moxley (C) vs. Rey Fenix
Back inside the stadium, The Lucha Bros theme hits and out comes Rey Fenix accompanied by Alex Abrahantes. Fenix heads to the ring for our next title match of the evening.
“Wild Thing” plays and Jon Moxley makes his way out for his latest defense of the AEW International Championship. He settles in the ring to a nice pop and his theme music fades off.
Mox takes his shirt off on the ramp and paces back and forth. Fenix exits the ring and heads up and chops him. The fight is on, but the match is not yet. Fenix hits a wild top-rope spot on Mox on the floor. The two head into the ring and the bell finally sounds.
Fenix immediately works over Mox and tries a sunset flip, but Mox kicks out. Mox goes for a cover but Fenix kicks out. Excalibur makes a big deal about Mox’s posture and mobility after Fenix’s opening high spot on the floor.
Mox hits a curb stomp for a close near fall and then works over Fenix on the mat. After several more high spots from Fenix, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break.
When we return, we see Fenix hit a crazy top-rope spot and then he follows up with a pile driver. It looks like they might have botched the finish. Fenix hits another one and scores the pin. We have another new champion. Everything about this match, especially if you listened to the commentary, seemed off.
Winner and NEW AEW International Champion: Rey Fenix
AEW Women’s Championship
Saraya (C) vs. Toni Storm
Now we hear from Samoa Joe, who delivers a message to MJF ahead of their title tilt in the main event. We then head to a commercial break.
When we return, a title eliminator bout with The Hardys vs. The Kingdom vs. Best Friends vs. The Righteous is announced for AEW Rampage: Grand Slam, with the winning team advancing to Wrestle Dream to challenge “Better Than You Bay-Bay” for the ROH Tag-Team titles.
From there, we return inside Arthur Ashe Stadium where Toni Storm “portrait of a star” comes to the ring to a black-and-white camera shot, like nWo 2.0 in WWE. She settles in the ring for our next title match of the evening.
The new theme for Saraya hits and out comes the AEW World Women’s Champion accompanied by Ruby Soho. She heads to the ring to defend her title on the show she made her AEW debut.
After the champion and the challenger settle in the ring, the bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. Saraya slaps Storm twice and Storm reacts different each time like an actress showing off her range.
Ruby Soho jumps on the apron but Storm knocks her off. Saraya keeps yelling at Storm that Storm needs her, as she beats her down. Storm fights back and sweeps the leg out of Saraya. Saraya immediately clutches the back of her neck. Outside the ring, Soho heads over to Storm.
Storm drops down and rolls under the ring. Soho looks confused. She heads over and drags her out. Storm has a pair of shoes in her hand. She beats Soho down with them and then sneaks one into the ring. As the ref is dealing with Soho on the floor, Storm hits Saraya with a cheap shot with the shoe.
Toni tries to score the pin off the cheap shot, but Saraya kicks out. On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues. When we return, Storm tears the turnbuckle off the middle. Saraya gets the spray paint and sprays it in Storm’s eyes. She goes for the cover but Storm kicks out.
We see Saraya unable to slam Storm into the exposed turnbuckle in the corner. Storm capitalizes and kisses Saraya out of nowhere for a huge pop, before hitting a Storm Zero. She goes for the cover but Saraya kicks out. Storm goes for the hip attack on Saraya in the corner but she moves and Storm hits the exposed turnbuckle. Saraya finishes her off for the win.
Winner and STILL AEW Women’s Champion: Saraya
AEW World Championship
MJF (C) vs. Samoa Joe
It’s main event time!
After Excalibur speed reads through updates to the lineup for this Friday’s Rampage: Grand Slam, Saturday’s Collision, next Wednesday’s Dynamite and the upcoming AEW Wrestle Dream premium live event, we shoot to a pre-main event video package.
Samoa Joe is shown live being escorted by security through the hallways, as his title opportunity is next in our final match of the evening. On that note, we shift gears and head to a pre-match commercial break.
Back live, the theme for Samoa Joe immediately hits and the ROH TV Champion and “The King of Television” makes his way down to the ring by chants of “Joe! Joe! Joe!” Tony Schiavone informs us that this match will go as long as it takes.
Joe settles in the ring and then we get a parody of the wholesome “Go get’m champ!” little kid looking at the champ-in-awe commercial from WWE’s past with Bret Hart, only with MJF in that role. MJF puts a scarf around the kids neck instead and after he walks off, the kid asks his dad, “Dad, I’m adopted?!”
The familiar sounds of MJF’s theme hits and out comes “The Devil” himself. The AEW World Champion emerges to a rock star reaction from his home state fans in New York. He has a jacket on with all the logos of New York sports teams on it.
“The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts gives this one the formal pre-match ring introductions. After introducing the champion and the challenger, the bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with our AEW World Championship main event of AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam 2023.
After some showmanship at the start, we see Joe finally jump into the early offensive lead, taking it to MJF and focusing his attack on the weakened neck of the champ. MJF gets a hope spot but when he goes to follow up, Samoa Joe Donkey Kong’s him into the mat on the back of his neck.
On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as this main event title tilt continues. We return from the break, and things are going much the same, with Joe easily dominating.
Joe sets up a table on the floor and chokeslams MJF through it before letting out a big, evil laugh as fans loudly boo him. Back in the ring, he goes for the cover but somehow MJF kicks out. Joe exposes the concrete on the floor by ripping the mats up.
He brings MJF out and looks for a pile driver but MJF bites Joe’s leg to free himself. MJF goes for a pile driver, but his neck hurts so he can’t. Joe gets MJF and this time he does plant MJF on the concrete floor with a pile driver. Officials and doctors rush to check on MJF as Joe has a sadistic look in his eyes.
Samoa Joe beats up the officials checking on MJF. He drags him back in the ring and goes for a cover, but MJF kicks out. Joe picks up a lifeless MJF and yells in his face to give up. MJF springs to life and connects with a Liger Bomb for a pin attempt, but Joe kicks out. Fans chant, “This is awesome!”
MJF pulls the ref close to him and he low-blows Joe. He slips the Dynamite Diamond Ring on behind the ref’s back. He goes to drill Joe with it but the ref catches him. As the ref gets rid of it, Joe blatantly low-blows MJF. He hits a Muscle Buster and goes for the cover but MJF kicks out. Joe looks shocked.
Referee Paul Turner gets bumped and MJF chokes Joe out with a chain or something given to him by Adam Cole. When the ref comes back in the ring, MJF has a regular choke on Joe. The ref calls for the bell. MJF did as promised and choked out Joe to retain.
MJF grabs the ref and hugs him as Adam Cole slides in the ring and removes the chain to hide the evidence. After the match, Joe goes to confront Cole by pushing him. MJF jumps in front of Cole and grabs his neck and stumbles, but defends his friend anyways. Joe helps him up, shakes his hand and walks off.
Officials check on MJF, who celebrates with Adam Cole in front of his home state fans. That’s how this week’s show wraps up. We head off the air on that note. Thanks for joining us!
Winner and STILL AEW World Champion: MJF
