AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From Feb. 7
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Dynamite on February 7.
This week's show featured a few matches with title implications. Here is a look at the card from Wednesday's event:
- Big Bill and Ricky Starks vs. Sting and Darby Allin (AEW Tag Team Championships)
- Swerve Strickland vs. "Hangman" Adam Page (No. 1 Contender's match)
- Toni Storm vs. Red Velvet
- Chris Jericho vs. Konosuke Takeshita
- Blackpool Combat Club vs. CMLL luchadors
Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's Dynamite.
Swerve Strickland vs. 'Hangman' Adam Page
1 of 6
Dynamite opened with Hangman angrily making his way to the ring.
Not only did the winner of this match get an AEW title shot, but Swerve also promised no interference from Mogul Embassy.
Unlike previous encounters, they approached this one a bit slower at first. They locked up and made a couple of clean breaks before Page took the first shot to initiate a brawl that brought them out of the ring.
This was completely different from their other matches. Instead of focusing on bloody brutality, they were trying to make things closer to a traditional match. They still did plenty of violent things but in a much more controlled way.
These two have developed fantastic chemistry as opponents, putting it on full display in this bout. They each had a handful of standout moments, but Strickland may have had a couple more. He really shined here.
The crowd chanted "This is awesome" as both men struggled to get to their feet after a near-fall. This bout had callbacks to their previous performances, some exciting spots and plenty of crowd participation.
Both men tried several times to get the win, but the bell rang just before Strickland could get the pin, ending the contest in a time-limit draw. The crowd booed the decision as Swerve grabbed a mic and asked for five more minutes.
Page said no, but Tony Schiavone announced that Tony Khan has now booked a three-way match between Samoa Joe, Page and Swerve for the title at Revolution.
Hangman seems on his way to a heel turn. This was all done well and was the right booking decision to get the most longevity out of this feud.
Result: Time-limit draw
Grade: A-
Notable Moments and Observations
- The announcers brought up a good point: Where does this feud go after a home invasion and drinking blood?
- The crowd at the Footprint Center in Phoenix was fired up.
- The back body drop is countered more often than it's hit successfully.
- Swerve's pop-up headbutt looked great.
- Hangman's transformation into Magnum TA is almost complete.
- Swerve's counter to the sunset flip powerbomb was cool but was probably supposed to be a hurricanrana instead of just a backflip.
- The DDT on the barricade looked rough. Swerve landed in a precarious way but continued to fight.
- The table collapsing was pretty funny because it happened so unceremoniously.
Toni Storm vs. Red Velvet
2 of 6
Deonna Purrazzo joined the commentary team to watch Storm take on Velvet in a Championship Eliminator match.
During a promo last week, Storm referred to this contest as a public workout, so Velvet was looking to prove she was more than a training partner.
This was a text-book bout early on, which was somewhat surprising given how Storm has acted in all of her performances since adopting her gimmick.
During the break and after we returned, she began playing up her character a bit more. Velvet began to make a comeback but ended up tapping out to an ankle lock. The women's champion refused to release the hold until Purrazzo came into the ring.
Luther got between them and the segment ended with Storm leaving without further incident. Velvet did a good job despite being in an unwinnable situation.
Result: Toni Storm defeated Red Velvet
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Storm's entrance gear gets better with each match.
- You can see that Storm has been adding more white dye to her hair over time.
- Velvet's standing moonsault looked good.
BCC vs. CMLL
3 of 6
Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli and Jon Moxley came out to a huge ovation as they prepared for a trios bout against Volador Jr., Hechicero and Mascara Dorada.
After their fantastic singles match last week, Hechicero and Danielson started for their teams. They traded holds and counters, and The American Dragon began showing signs of frustration.
Castagnoli and Dorado tagged in and The Swiss Superman brushed off several chops. Mox and Volador finally tagged in and started trading big right hands.
Despite this bout being a total clash of styles, all six men did a terrific job playing to their strengths while building little individual stories within the match.
Castagnoli ended up resorting to a low blow on Hechicero to get the win, but the BCC was immediately confronted by a few more luchadors from the crowd. BCC was joined by a few more members of the All Elite Wrestling locker room to keep it even.
There was no big brawl, but it feels like we are working toward a CMLL vs. AEW feud.
Result: BCC defeated CMLL
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- The way Mox stood in the ring when the CMLL star made their entrance was low-key hilarious.
- Some of the moves Hechicero was doing don't have names yet. He's incredibly innovative.
- Dorado got tied up in the ropes during what was going to be a double arm drag, but Mox and Danielson helped him recover and save it.
- Hechicero's spinning hammerlock into a backbreaker was an awesome spot.
- The Mascara Dorada in this match is the 2.0 version of the character. The original was played by the man most AEW fans know as Metalik.
Chris Jericho vs. Konosuke Takeshita
4 of 6
Chris Jericho has never been able to get rid of Don Callis, and he found himself in a singles match against a member of the Callis Family, Takeshita, this week.
After Takeshita was sent out of the ring, Callis slapped him to try to motivate him. All it did was make him angry, but Jericho took him down before he could respond to Callis.
The Alpha regained the upper hand quickly and hit a brainbuster on the floor. Sammy Guevara showed up and hit Powerhouse Hobbs with a chair and a cutter before knocking him into the crowd with another chair shot.
This match had a strange pace, but it almost felt intentional, which made it even weirder. They told the story they wanted to tell and had some good spots, but nothing felt spontaneous until closer to the end.
Guevara showing up to fight Hobbs mid-match instead of at the end felt misplaced. In a somewhat surprising outcome, Takeshita scored the win with Jericho's own Liontamer submission.
Result: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Chris Jericho
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- Tony Khan revealed March 13 will be a show called AEW Big Business in Boston.
- The initial lockup and release looked weird. It's hard to explain how. It was like there was no power or struggle behind it.
- Takeshita is deceptively big because he's so proportional. He towers over Jericho.
- Jericho wore Takeshita's mask when he jumped off the top turnbuckle and ended up almost missing Takeshita completely. Does he think he's Iyo Sky? Blind dives are never a good idea.
Big Bill and Ricky Starks vs. Sting and Darby Allin (Tag Team Championships)
5 of 6
Allin and Sting wasted no time going after Bill and Starks as soon as they got to the ring for this Tornado tag match for the AEW Tag Team Championships.
They fought into the crowd within the first minute of the match, so you could tell this was going to be pure chaos from the jump.
There was no tagging in and out and no count-outs, so this was all over the place both literally and figuratively. The crowd was popping for every big spot and cheering for the babyfaces whenever they had the upper hand.
Starks removed the turnbuckle as Sting came in for a splash and caused him to hit his chest on the exposed metal. He followed up with a Spear but still couldn't get the pin. Stinger grabbed him and hit the Scorpion Death Drop to get the pin and win the tag titles.
As he and Allin celebrated, The Young Bucks attacked them with baseball bats from behind. The show ended with Nicholas and Matthew Jackson standing in white suits covered in Allin's blood.
Result: Sting and Darby Alling won the AEW Tag Team Championships from Big Bill and Ricky Starks
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Has anyone asked Sting where he is hiding the fountain of youth?
- Allin and Starks are the perfect rivals for each other. This should be a feud AEW revisits to keep building their story.
- The way Bill caught and slammed Allin after a suicide dive was incredible.
- Bill threw Allin across the ring by his head in one of the wildest spots in the match.
The Final Word
6 of 6Wednesday's Dynamite can be classified as a strong episode both in terms of the in-ring action and storyline developments.
Ending the show with what will likely be the last title win in Sting's career helped make this show feel special, but the Bucks attacking the new champions right away also helped further their feud that will conclude at Revolution on March 3.
However, the best match of the night was the one that opened the show. Swerve and Hangman added another great chapter to their ongoing story with a time-limit draw that not only led to a Triple Threat bout for the AEW title being booked but also seemed to signal a potential heel turn for Page and face turn for Strickland.
Jericho putting over Takeshita by letting him use the Liontamer to beat him was a huge sign of respect from the veteran, Storm and Purrazzo continue to make their feud entertaining, and the feud between CMLL and AEW could lead to something exciting in the near future.
This show had few weak points and put the spotlight on the right people. Revolution is still several weeks away but already has the potential to be a great pay-per-view.
Grade: B+
.png?w=600 "Who Will Panthers Take at No. 9 ? 🤔")
