This week’s show kicks off with the usual signature opening video package. From there, we shoot live inside Daily’s Place as fireworks and pyro explodes as J.R. does his catchphrase and welcomes us to his broadcast partners for tonight, which includes Tony Schiavone and Excalibur and he mentions Taz will also be joining them.
After that, the commentators run down some of the action scheduled for the show this evening and then we are informed that Ricky Starks vs. “Hangman” Page will be our opener.
Ricky Starks vs. Adam “Hangman” Page
Then “Absolute” Ricky Starks makes his way out accompanied by Team Taz’s Hook. They make their way down to the ring as a split-screen interview with Starks from earlier today is shown. Starks talks about thriving under pressure as Taz joins the broadcast position on commentary.
From there, the familiar sounds of the theme song of “Hangman” plays as fireworks explode and “The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts does his formal ring introduction. As he settles into the ring, the camera pans over to show Taz joining the crew on commentary for this match.
The bell sounds and we are off-and-running with our opening match of the evening. We see Page capitalize on an early mistake made by “Absolute” to settle into the offensive lead. He goes to work on Starks and blasts him off the ring apron, following-up with a high cross body as he leap-frogs over the top and splashes onto Starks right in front of Hook on the floor.
Page gets Starks back in the ring after a face-off with Hook. He hits a nice fall-away slam on Starks in unique fashion as Taz puts him over as legitimate, pointing to his ranking as the number one contender in the division. Starks now capitalizes on the first mistake made by Page, and now we see him taking over on offense and going to work on “Hangman.”
Taz and Schiavone on commentary talk about something having to give in this match, noting Page is the number one ranked contender and is 11-0, while Starks is on a ten-match undefeated streak with a 10-1 singles record. Starks continues to enjoy his lead in this match but ends up leaping off the ropes into a waiting clothesline from Page. Page is favoring his leg as he gets back up. He and Starks duke it out and Page hits a nice suplex.
Starks goes for the Liger bomb, a sit-out power bomb into a pin, nearly dropping Page on his head as he initially muscled him up into the air. He ends up hitting the move and Page kicks out at two. Page takes over and avalanche-style off the top rope he hits a crazy super-fall-away-slam. He stalks Starks as he waits for him to get up and turns him inside-out with a big lariat for another close near-fall attempt.
Now Page is setting up for the Buckshot Lariat but Starks sees it coming and counters with a big shot for a pin attempt, which Page kicks out of. Page and Starks hit a series of reversals on each other and Page takes advantage of the bad ankle of Starks for a submission victory.
Winner: “Hangman” Adam Page
After The Match: Taz Reminds “Hangman” To Watch His Back, Until …
Once the match wraps up, Taz jumps on the house mic off of commentary and tells Page to watch his back. On that note, Hook hits the ring and hits a chop-block from behind on Page. As Brian Cage entered the ring and set Page up for his finisher, The Dark Order hit the ring to scare off Team Taz to the back. After this match, we head to a commercial break.
The Elite Is Here
As we return from the break we shoot out in the parking lot as the commentators show us footage of The Elite, who now has their own trailer.
Penta El Zero M vs. Trent?
Now we are treated to the ring entrance of Penta El Zero M., as a split-screen “earlier today” interview is shown.
Trent? then is introduced by Justin Roberts, complete with the question-sounding name-read for the crowd. As he makes his way to the ring highlights of recent action involving The Best Friends, including Arcade Anarchy and the return of Kris Statlander as well as their rivalry with Death Triangle being renewed.
The bell sounds and here we go with our second bout of the evening. The announcers immediately start talking about the question mark behind Trent?’s name these days.
We see The Best Friends member jump off to an early offensive lead, as Orange Cassidy is shown at ringside watching on. He hits a nice dive onto Penta on the floor and then Alex Abrahantes is shown yelling words of encouragement to Penta as the commentators talk about him loving his new role.
As Penta starts to dominate the action he throws Trent? out to the floor and follows out after him, getting in Orange Cassidy’s face as the commentators put over the “Freshly Squeezed” one as being cool as a cucumber.
Things build to a spot where Penta backs Trent? against the steel ring post and with the help of Abrahantes, quiets down the entire crowd in Daily’s Place for a chop … which hits the steel ring post as Trent? moves at the last second.
We head to a mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break and when we return, we see Penta is still controlling the offense in the ring. Trent? starts to show signs of life as he finally gets in some hope spots, including a nice running knee strike for a near fall attempt.
Now we see Penta take back over as Trent is dumped right on his head. He takes Trent out to the hard part of the ring apron and looks to hit a package piledriver. Trent fights his way out and now he hits a piledriver on Penta on the ring apron. Ouch. The fans respond with a “This Is Awesome!” chant. Trent stalks Penta and blasts him with a spear when he gets up.
As he goes to continue his onslaught, Abrahantes gets on the mic. and tells Trent to hold on. He says he was asked by Penta to deliver a message before the match. He says you suck, your friends suck and most importantly, your momma sucks. He dare said a bad word about Trent’s mom!
Trent backs Abrahantes into the ring where Orange Cassidy is waiting for him. This ends up backfiring, as Trent walks right into a waiting Penta who picks up the win.
Winner: Penta El Zero M
Jim Ross Sits Down With The Pinnacle
We shoot to an earlier today sit-down interview with Jim Ross talking to The Pinnacle. MJF is asked and comments about stealing the scarf look from Chris Jericho, vowing he didn’t.
MJF talks about J.R. calling it the perfect promo. Wardlow takes exception with that. He says he was doing great until he got to Wardlow. He says he noticed him stumble his words when he got to him and that’s because he knew he was doing something he shouldn’t.
Friedman talks about Jericho standing around a bunch of B’s so he looks like an A, wrestling a bunch of As so he looks like one but being at best a B in MJF’s book. He breaks down all of his moves in AEW and gives Jericho credit for out-smarting everyone for 30 years until he met him.
MJF says he’s not great but 25. He says that’s horse-sh*t. He says he’s a top guy at 25 and when Jericho was 25 he was jerking curtain’s for small companies. He talks about how he already beat Jericho, questioning where that puts him on the totem pole. He says in his mind it makes him better than him ..and he knows it.
He brings up Mike Tyson putting his hands on his brothers. He talks about getting one thing right in his perfect promo, it’s that he is a mark. Not one for him, but one for his spot. He promises on May 5th along with his family, he’s gonna take it, because when you’re in The Pinnacle — you’re always on top. We head to a commercial break after this.
AEW Women’s Championship
Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Tay Conti
When we return from the break, Excalibur introduces a video package that features Tay Conti and Hikaru Shida talking about their showdown for the title on tonight’s show and why they will win.
From there, we are treated to the ring entrance of the challenger, as Tay Conti’s music hits and she makes her way down to the ring accompanied by The Dark Order, while the commentators sing her praises.
Conti settles into the ring as The Dark Order hangs back on the stage, leaving when her music fades down. Now the theme of the reigning, defending champion coming into this match plays, as Hikaru Shida comes down to the ring for this title bout.
The bell sounds and we’re off-and-running with our first of two advertised title matches on tonight’s show. These two are respectful coming out the gate. The action gets going now as they trade forearms and big shots back-and-forth in the middle of the ring.
We see Shida go for a Judo throw but Conti blocks it. She goes for a counter but Shida blocks that. Conti ends up getting Shida down and she runs and blasts her with a knee to the jaw. And again. She goes for the cover but Shida kicks out. She looks for a Fujiwara armbar but Shida escapes.
Back on the mat again, Conti gets a waist-lock with her legs and she’s trying for another submission, however Shida gets her foot on the ropes forcing the ref to break them up. She rolls to the floor to regroup but Conti comes out after her on the ring apron. Shida trips her up on the ring apron and then runs and blasts her with a running knee.
Now we see Shida run her back-first into the steel ring barricade. She follows that up with a brainbuster on the floor before rolling Conti back into the ring to continue her onslaught on the challenger. She gets Conti in a bow-and-arrow / surfboard-style submission. She gets the waist-lock with the legs now looking for a submission of her own, however Conti is doing a good job of fighting her off. Shida ends up transitioning over into a camel-clutch style hold. On that note, we head to a mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break as the action continues.
We’re back from the break and we’re informed that Conti has been dominating the action throughout the break. Conti looks for her finisher out of nowhere but Shida avoids it. They head to the top-rope together and Shida connects with a Witches Thought — some move where she launches Conti in the air from the top and lets her fall chest/stomach first across the top turnbuckle. Conti counters Shida moments later with the DD-Ti, but Shida kicks out of the pin attempt. Shida secures a pin attempt on Conti moments later and now the challenger kicks out. Shida hits a back-breaker followed up by her finishing kick for the pinfall victory to retain her title.
Winner and STILL AEW Women’s Champion: Hikaru Shida
After The Match: A New #1 Contender Emerges
Once the match wraps up, as Shida is celebrating her hard-earned victory with her title in the ring, the music of Dr. Britt Baker plays. She comes out and points the big screen which shows the rankings updating to place her in the number one contender position.
The Best Man Miro With Another Message
Miro is shown in a pre-taped vignette talking about anyone who has a title has a problem. He vows nothing will keep him from his destiny. He says the only question he has is which champion should he beat first.
Tony Schiavone Talks To The Inner Circle
From there, Tony Schiavone is shown standing in the ring and he introduces the Inner Circle. Judas in my Mind plays as Chris Jericho leads his gang down to the ring.
As the music fades down the fans keep singing and “Le Champion” wears a big smile. Schiavone brings up the comments from The Pinnacle earlier in the show. Jericho says forget that, and brings up the Inner Circle Squad inside Daily’s Place singing his song.
Now he talks about The Pinnacle, which he again calls The Pineapple and brings up the upcoming Blood N Guts showdown between the two gangs on next month’s special.
As Jericho wraps up his opening comments, Jake Hager throws straws at the camera and vows that The Pinnacle will be eating through straws for months. Jericho asks Ortiz & Santana to explain how to say straw in Spanish. They do so.
“The Demo God” goes on to talk about how The Pinnacle didn’t really say anything of substance earlier. He brings up the stuff MJF says but says he doesn’t believe him or feel him when he says it. He says he thinks he’s still singing showtunes on the Rosie O’Donnell show. He then sings one of his own mocking giving MJF a swirlie a few weeks ago.
Jericho says it’s fun to make jokes but on 5/5 there will be a lesson in violence that you never forget when the Inner Circle faces off against The Pinnacle at Blood N Guts. He says next week the two gangs will meet in the ring to discuss their battle plans. He talks into the camera, promising to beat the living hell out of MJF. He says the worst is yet to come.
Billy Gunn vs. QT Marshall
We return from the break as we hear the theme for Billy Gunn play as he makes his way down to the ring. As he settles into the ring, we see a split-screen interview with QT Marshall and his pals.
Once the split-screen interview wraps up, Gunn’s theme dies down and out Marshall comes with Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solow. Gunn charges up the ramp and decks Marshall. He drags him down to the ring and this match is now off-and-running as the bell sounds.
Gunn whips Marshall into the turnbuckles in the corner and then hits him with a big Irish whip that sends him out to the floor. He follows out after him to bash his head on the barricade and the ring apron before slamming him on the ring apron and heading back in after him.
As the action continues, Gunn again goes after Marshall on the floor, taking it to him right in front of Comoroto and Solow. He finally turns his back on them to work over Marshall some more and Comoroto hits him with a cheap shot. This leads to Colton and Austin jumping over the guard rail to duke it out with them.
They all fight out of frame and the camera shoots back inside the ring where Marshall is blasting Gunn, who is no-selling and literally shaking his fists as he stands up, Hulk’ing up. It doesn’t work, though, as Marshall connects with a massive piledriver. Gunn fights back. He looks for the FameAsser, but Marshall avoids it and tries countering with a Diamond Cutter, however Gunn avoids that.
The two fight out to the ramp but when Gunn goes back after Marshall in the ring, he is hit from behind with a bolo punch from Ogogo, the former Olympic medalist in boxing. This leads to Marshall connecting with the Diamond Cutter for the 1-2-3.
Winner: QT Marshall
After The Match: The Fun Continues …
Once the match ends, we see Ogogo head under the ring to pull out a wooden chair. He hands it to Marshall, but before QT can use it, out runs Dustin Rhodes with a bull-rope.
He hits the ring and blasts Marshall in the gut with it, forcing him to drop the chair. He goes to work on him and Marshall exits the ring as Dustin picks up the wooden chair. Ogogo gets on the apron. He and Dustin trade words until Comoroto hits the ring behind him.
Dustin turns and blasts him with the chair, turning it into toothpicks, however Comoroto stands there and no-sells it. 100 refs run down to separate the two sides as we head to another commercial break.
Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston Ambush Trailer Containing The Elite
We return from the break and we shoot to The Elite on their trailer with their own personal camera man.
Don Callis talks about how there has never been a group of talent like this before. He runs down the members of The Elite, finishing with Kenny Omega, whom he claims is about to become the new IMPACT World Champion and make history.
The Young Bucks then talk about how this group of individuals are the ones who took over the scene in Japan, that broke merchandise sales records and that sparked the revolution that created All Elite — not Moxley and Kingston.
Omega then talks about what The Elite stands for but as he continues to talk they all over-hear a horn honking over-and-over again outside their trailer. They try to ignore it and continue but then complain and ask someone to call security. They look out the windows and notice that it is a big ass truck that is containing Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston.
Mox and Kingston are shown smiling and then they drive right into the trailer, blindsiding it. They exit the vehicle as Kingston asks if Moxley has the pipe. Mox comes out asking for the Jackson boys and then he and Kingston do their best Conor McGregor impression as they smash out the windows of the trailer. Kingston steals their sneakers, which Mox complains about, saying he told him to quit doing that. They mock The Elite for being bitches. They say there’s nothing left to do here so they leave.
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Christian Cage
We return inside Daily’s Place as Powerhouse Hobbs of Team Taz is introduced. He makes his way down to the ring as Taz re-joins the gang on commentary for this match.
Christian Cage is introduced and he makes his way down to the ring as Taz informs us that next week it will be Brian Cage going one-on-one against “Hangman” Adam Page.
The bell sounds and we’re off-and-running with our latest contest here on Dynamite. The two lock-up and Hobbs muscles Christian half-way across the ring, launching him through the ropes and onto the entrance ramp.
Back in the ring, we see Christian finally use his quickness to get the better of Hobbs. Out on the floor again Christian connects with a big drop kick, but this only angers the big-man, who launches Christian into the guard rail and then over it and into the front row.
Hobbs shoves Serpentico out of the way into Luther as he continues to go to work on Christian. He yanks Christian’s face into and nearly through the bars of the barricade. Hobbs is lectured by the ref as Excalibur takes us into a mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break as the action continues.
We return from the break to see Hobbs still completely dominating the action in what has essentially been a completely one-sided beatdown thus far. He launches Christian around the ring like a ragdoll while the commentators talk about how he is toying with Christian like nobody else has before.
It appears Hobbs toyed a bit too much as Christian Cage, who Taz calls cagey — nice — shows that cageyness as he starts to shift the offensive momentum into his favor for the first time in the contest. Excalibur talks about Team Taz being banned at ringside for the match and in next week’s bout between Brian Cage and Adam Page.
The action hits the floor briefly and as it resumes in the ring, Hobbs blasts Christian with an enormous spinebuster. He then walks into a back-elbow from Christian on the top-rope. Christian then power-bombs Hobbs off the top-rope before climbing back up for a top-rope frog splash. He goes for the cover, but somehow Hobbs kicks out after two.
Christian now backs into a corner and stalks Hobbs looking for a spear, however instead he runs into a big pounce from Hobbs. Moments later, Christian comes back to life and jumps on Hobbs back with a sleeper. He hops off the back of Hobbs and hits his Killswitch out of nowhere. 1-2-3. Hard-fought victory for Christian Cage here on Dynamite.
Winner: Christian Cage
TNT Championship
Jungle Boy vs. Darby Allin (c)
As we return from the break, we hear the familiar sounds of the theme song of Jungle Boy as he comes out accompanied by Luchasaurus while the fans sing along to his theme and the commentators talk about how the fans on social media voted for him in this match.
From there, Darby Allin’s theme hits and he makes his way out accompanied by “The Icon” Sting. He poses on the top rope as his theme music peaks and it’s time for our TNT Championship main event of the evening.
The bell sounds and here we go. These two show mutual respect early on. The two lock-up and no one gets the better of things. Allin takes Jungle Boy down moments later and then Jungle Boy works his way out of a headlock. Now Jungle Boy with a side headlock take-over of Allin.
Jungle Boy settles into control of the champ on the mat, isolating his arm as the fans start humming his theme song again. Jungle Boy settles into the offensive driver’s seat now, taking it to the champ. The action spills out to the floor and Allin starts to show signs of life. He clotheslines Jungle Boy over the guard rail as we are led into a mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break as the action in our main event continues.
We’re back from the break and we hear the fans doing dueling chants for both Allin and Jungle Boy as both men are down. We are informed that Allin hit a superplex off the top on Jungle Boy during the break. The two fire back up with Jungle Boy getting the better of the exchange as Sting is shown watching on at ringside. The commentators talk about Luchasaurus being in Jungle Boy’s corner.
Out of nowhere, we see a Stunner that buys some time. Both men are down. The fans break out into a “This Is Awesome” chant. Allin hits a big splash on Jungle Boy in the corner. He hits a second. He goes for a third but Jungle Boy gets the knees up. He follows that up with a body-scissors with the leg that takes Allin down dumping him on his head. Allin rolls out to the floor to buy himself some time to recover but Jungle Boy is having none of it as he hits two dives through the ropes and then hits a third dive onto Allin over the top rope onto the floor. The fans respond with a passionate “AEW! AEW!” chant.
Allin fires back up and flattens Jungle Boy on the ring apron. The champ heads to the top-rope and comes flying off backwards with his Coffin Drop, landing onto Jungle Boy on the ring apron and both then bouncing and crashing out on the floor. Allin rolls back in the ring and Jungle Boy is so close to getting counted out until Luchasaurus helps roll him back in. He gets on the ribng apron after that so Sting does as well. They go nose-to-nose and then the fight is on. They trade shots and then fight through the entrance tunnel and into the backstage area.
We see Jungle Boy and Darby Allin fire back up in the ring. Jungle Boy paint-brushes him and then flattens him with a brainbuster. He hits another follow-up and then goes for the cover but Allin kicks out. He hooks the legs of the champ and locks him in the Snare Trap submission as Schiavone and Excalibur note that no one has ever escaped this. He finally makes it to the bottom rope, forcing the ref to break the hold. Jungle Boy then launches him back in the surfboard submission and then looks to get the Snare Trap on him again. He does. Allin’s hand is up and he is thinking about tapping. Instead he reaches back and gouges the eyes. This buys him enough of an opening to grab the ropes.
Jungle Boy starts pummeling Allin with palm strikes in the ground-and-pound position. Jungle Boy looks for a sunset flip but Allin reverses and crosses his legs into the Last Supper. It’s over. Allin retains.
Winner and STILL TNT Champion: Darby Allin
After The Match: All Hell Breaks Loose
Once the match ends, Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page hit the ring. Page hits Allin with his finisher. They go to continue the beatdown but then “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer hits the ring.
He starts handling the two but eventually the numbers game is too much for him. This brings out Sting with his baseball bat, which scares them off to the back. Allin’s theme hits again as Sting points the bat at them and J.R. takes us off the air.
Credit: Matt Boone
