AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from October 12
For the first time, All Elite Wrestling ventured north of the border to Toronto for an episode of Dynamite, headlined by an epic third encounter between Bryan Danielson and Ring of Honor world champion Chris Jericho.
The fearsome foes wrote the latest chapter in a feud that has also prominently featured ROH Pure champion Daniel Garcia.
Did the gifted mat technician make an appearance in the hotly anticipated main event, and what else went down Wednesday night in Canada?
Find out now with this recap of the October 12 TBS broadcast.
Match Card
1 of 8- ROH World Championship match: Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho (c)
- AEW All-Atlantic Championship match: Orange Cassidy vs. Pac (c)
- Billy Gunn vs. Swerve Strickland
- "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry vs. Luchasaurus
- AEW interim women's world champion Toni Storm and Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter
- WarJoe in action
- MJF promo
'Jungle Boy' Jack Perry vs. Luchasaurus
2 of 8
New AEW signing Renee Paquette kicked off the show by welcoming Toronto's own Christian Cage to the stage.
Captain Charisma vowed that Luchasaurus' victory over Jack Perry in the night's opening contest was as certain as the Maple Leafs losing in the first round of the playoffs.
The massive Luchasaurus dominated the action early, overpowering his former tag team championship partner. After the commercial, Perry escaped the grasp of his opponent and repeatedly avoided being put through a table at ringside.
Instead, he delivered a sunset flip powerbomb from the apron and through the table.
Later, near-falls ensued with each combatant teasing victory but proving unable to keep his opponent down. Jungle Boy delivered Cage's own Killswitch to Luchasaurus and then applied the Snare Trap, but the big man escaped.
Moments later, he delivered a chokeslam from the top and a Burning Hammer for the win.
The match was very good, easily Luchasaurus' best, and sets the feud up to continue. Perry is a proven big-match competitor, so his excellence here was less of a surprise, but the big man held up his end of the bargain.
The result was a fantastic opener in front of a red-hot crowd.
Result
Luchasaurus defeated Perry
Grade
B
Top Moments
- Cage mocking the Maple Leafs gained big heat from this writer. Leave Auston Matthews, William Nylander and the boys alone.
- Perry stared down at the pyro grate during his entrance, a nice callback to All Out and the spot that made this match possible.
- Cage attempted to manifest Jim Ross instead of Excalibur but was stuck with the mask-wearing play-by-play guy.
- "That should be a DQ!" Cage exclaimed following the table spot, rightly pointing out that Perry technically used a weapon.
- A backstage confrontation between Stokely Hathaway's The Firm, Matt Hardy and Private Party ended with a challenge for Friday night: If Isiah Kassidy defeats Ethan Page, Private Party win their contractual freedom. If not, The Firm win Hardy's contract, too.
WarJoe vs. Nick Comoroto and QT Marshall
3 of 8
QT Marshall made the mistake of talking trash prior to his and Nick Comoroto's match against ROH Television champion Samoa Joe and TNT champion Wardlow.
He paid for it.
WarJoe deposited the loudmouth on the floor before teeing off on Comoroto. Solid teamwork led to a mostly uncontested win.
After the match, the victors looked to punish Marshall, but Prince Nana, The Gates of Agony and Brian Cage interrupted.
FTR cut the heel promo short, arriving amid a thunderous ovation. Dax Harwood revealed they will partner with Shawn Spears to face Cage and the Gates Friday night on Rampage. The Chairman of AEW joined his NXT alumni with a nice reaction from the fans.
Joe and Wardlow are an entertaining duo, but Wardlow has cooled off since Double or Nothing and feels very much like just another guy on a roster full of them right now. Mixing him up in the Ring of Honor stuff does not help.
FTR have remained enormously over despite questionable booking, a reflection of the appreciation the audience has for them.
Spears leaning into his "10" gimmick is funny in that the company that has repeatedly knocked and mocked NXT dusted off one of its most organically over gimmicks to reinvigorate a guy it seemingly forgot for months on end.
Result
WarJoe defeated The Factory
Grade
C+
Top Moments
- Dax Harwood motioned to his arm, suggesting goosebumps upon the pop he and Cash Wheeler received.
.jpg?w=256)
'Daddy Ass' Billy Gunn vs. Swerve Strickland
4 of 8
The rivalry between AEW world tag team champions The Acclaimed and former titleholder Swerve Strickland continued this week as the latter battled Billy Gunn in singles competition, hoping to unload weeks of frustration on ol' Daddy Ass.
He did just that, working over the veteran throughout the commercial by targeting his knee. Gunn fought back, though, and appeared to have momentum on his side when Strickland downed him with a flatliner and added a Swerve Stomp for two.
Momentarily overconfident but always thinking, Strickland followed up by catching the Hall of Famer with a roll-up and hooking the ropes for added leverage.
This was...a match that happened.
Someone seriously needs to rethink booking Gunn to go as long as he did here. No matter how over he is by proxy of his relationship with The Acclaimed, this was too long for the 58-year-old and only exposed his weaknesses at his age.
Is he a physical specimen? Absolutely, but that does not mean he can hang with someone the caliber of Strickland for an extended in-ring outing. The only thing worse? The desire to protect Gunn through a screwy finish rather than just giving his 32-year-old opponent the win.
The post-match stuff with "Smart" Mark Sterling and Tony Nese revealing the purchase of the "scissor me" trademark was nonsense, but it's fun and freshens things up ahead of Strickland and Keith Lee getting a rematch.
Result
Strickland pinned Gunn
Grade
C
Top Moments
- Fans in the arena chanted, "Oh, scissor me, Daddy!" in tune with The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army," proving once again that wrestling fans will create a chant out of anything.
- After the match, Sterling appeared and revealed he has purchased the trademark for "scissor me" in pro wrestling.
- MJF cut a fantastic promo about not being happy with himself and always being the villain, but that's what it takes to be world champion.
Jon Moxley Promo
5 of 8
AEW world champion Jon Moxley hit the ring for a promo in which he put over the trials and tribulations of being the titleholder and vowed to stay that way after next week's title defense against "Hangman" Adam Page.
The No. 1 contender interrupted and admitted to having nothing after watching his friends leave and his title reign come to an end. Despite all of it, though, he is still there and ready to defeat Moxley for the title. He will defeat Moxley. It's his word.
This was fantastic work from both guys. Intense, impassioned, emotional...everything you want out of two athletes prepared to lay it all on the line for the top prize in their field. Page needed the promo to really reestablish himself with fans and remind them he is more than the subject of former world champions' media-scrum rants.
He did just that, cutting a promo that would have some believing he actually has a chance to regain the title from Moxley next week.
The best part of all of it? MJF sitting in a luxury box, looking down at these two guys baring their souls and laughing it off, knowing he holds the most important bargaining chip in AEW and the ability to cash it in on a whim.
Great stuff here that should lead to big numbers for next week's main event.
Grade
A+
Top Moments
- "Being the world champion is a dirty, dirty job and you've gotta be ruthless," Moxley said.
- "Last week, you shattered all illusions I have about you when you called me a 'nice kid,'" Page said.
- "I don't think you've got it in your pack of guts to pull the trigger," Mox added, referencing Page's ability to do what is necessary to be champion.
- Page mentioned his friends all going away, admitted he is depressed and anxious, that "the medicine isn't working" but...he's still here.
- "Unlike him, I wanted to make sure I could come out here and tell you that face-to-face, man-to-man," Page said, pointing to MJF as he vowed to become the next AEW world champion.
ROH World Championship: Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho
6 of 8
For the third time in an AEW ring, Bryan Danielson and Chris Jericho battled one-on-one, this time with the latter's Ring of Honor World Championship at stake.
A grueling, physical match saw Danielson rolling late before an accidental collision with referee Paul Turner. ROH Pure champion Daniel Garcia made his way to the ring and appeared to prevent Jericho from utilizing his belt as a weapon, only to shockingly blast The American Dragon with the Pure title, setting up a win for Lionheart.
The match was as good as you would expect from Danielson and above-average for Jericho at this point. Unfortunately, what they accomplished between the ropes was destined to be secondary to the decision to have Garcia turn heel on the challenger and reestablish his bond with the veteran.
Why waste weeks successfully building him up as a babyface of the future, only to pull the rug out from him and the audience by reverting him back to the spot he was in two months ago?
There will be some who argue the plan is for Garcia to still eventually dethrone Jericho but if that is the case, there is no reason to milk more weeks out of this story by booking this unnecessary turn.
Result
Jericho defeated Danielson to retain
Grade
B-
Top Moments
- Jericho entered to some White Zombie song under his Lionheart persona, robbing fans of singing along to "Judas." So, they did it anyway, without musical accompaniment.
- Danielson applied the Walls of Jericho to some great heat, gleefully playing the role of de facto heel.
- Oh look, Claudio Castagnoli still works there.
- The Jericho Appreciation Society embraced, apparently back as a unified force.
Toni Storm and Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter
7 of 8
Former AEW world women's champion Hikaru Shida returned to team with current titleholder Toni Storm against Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter.
An action-packed match saw the heels isolate Storm and beat her down until a hot tag to Shida sparked the comeback. The action broke down from there with a series of near-falls, including one off of Storm's Storm Zero finisher that Hayter narrowly broke up.
With Storm and Hayter battling it out on the floor, Shida and Baker teed off on one another, culminating with a series of roll-ups and reversals that saw the babyface get the best of the good doctor for the hard-fought victory.
This was a great match that highlighted all involved. With that said, it highlighted the one big issue that still exists within that division: Shida won and will likely be set up to challenge Storm in the near future.
Fine. That should be good, but why should anyone care? Besides being a good professional wrestler on a roster full of them, why should fans invest in Shida? Or Athena? Or Penelope Ford? Or Serena Deeb?
Leaving Willow Nightingale and Athena out of this match and booking Shida as Storm's partner, despite the latter two's established involvement in the feud, suggests they are interchangeable with Shida.
Until characters are developed and actual stories are told, this will still be a glaring issue with the women's division.
Result
Shida and Storm defeated Baker and Hayter
Grade
B
Top Moments
- Hayter tackling Shida into Storm and Baker to break up Aubrey Edwards' count was a well-timed spot that doesn't always hit but did here.
All-atlantic Championship: Orange Cassidy vs. PAC
8 of 8
For two years, PAC and Orange Cassidy have feuded. Dating back to Revolution 2020, they have clashed several times, with The Bastard often overlooking Freshly Squeezed and nearly paying for it by way of a loss.
Wednesday night, they met one more time with PAC's All-Atlantic Championship at stake.
The champion dominated the action early, risking nothing and appearing to have the win on more than one occasion. When Cassidy narrowly made it back in the squared circle following a Tombstone on the stage, PAC applied the Brutalizer.
Cassidy escaped and fired off a comeback that popped the crowd and drew a chant of "This is awesome." PAC reapplied the Brutalizer, but Cassidy again forced the break.
Later, PAC tried to retrieve the ring bell hammer, only to be stopped by Danhausen and referee Bryce Remsburg. The distraction allowed Cassidy to recover and deliver an Orange Punch. He teased using the hammer himself but instead delivered another punch for the win and his first title.
Cassidy and PAC had such history, and are such strong storytellers, that they were able to build on spots from previous bouts and craft a quality main event that was the best match on this show.
Cassidy has always been a character who does not need a belt, but after going 0-8 in title matches to this point in AEW, he was due. As the best under-the-radar wrestler on television, he has more than earned this opportunity to run with the title.
Kudos to him and PAC for having competed against each other as much as they have without letting any match become bogged down in repetition. Their bouts have always been fresh and entertaining, and they have consistently highlighted their characters' strengths and personalities.
Great stuff to close out the show.
Result
Cassidy defeated PAC to win the title
Grade
A
Top Moments
- PAC delivered a tombstone piledriver on the entrance ramp. Cassidy responded by rolling down the long ramp, avoiding a count-out loss.
- Danhausen appeared at ringside, preventing PAC from grabbing the referee's bell, and cursed the champion. He paid for it with a right hand.
- Referee Bryce Remsburg caught PAC attempting to use the bell hammer and stopped him, only for The Bastard to slide in with another. He failed to use it.
.jpg?w=480)
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
