AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From July 31
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Dynamite on July 31.
Here is a look at what AEW advertised for this week's episode:
- Promos from Bryan Danielson and Mercedes Moné
- Willow Nightingale vs. Kris Statlander (CMLL Women's title Eliminator)
- Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer
- Darby Allin vs. Adam Page
- The Conglomeration vs. Roderick Strong, Beast Mortos and Rush
- Mariah May gives and interview to Renee Paquette
Let's take a look at everything that happened on Wednesday's Dynamite.
Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer
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MJF came out to open the show dressed like a used car salesman and sporting his shiny new American Championship. After a couple of minutes of talking and insulting the crowd, Will Ospreay sprinted to the ring. MJF ran away to the stage, so Ospreay picked up a mic and they traded some words.
Lance Archer soon marched his way to the ring to get his match going with The Aerial Assassin. The Murderhawk Monster chokeslammed him almost immediately, so Ospreay was on defense for the first couple of minutes until a kick sent Archer out of the ring.
These two have fought several times in singles and tag matches before this, so they used that established chemistry to put on an energetic and exciting performance.
Ospreay truly felt like an underdog against the dominant powerhouse. It seemed like anything he tried, Archer saw it coming and had an answer for it. Recent booking for both men made the result predictable, but they did as well as anybody could making it feel like Archer might have a chance.
Ospreay made a comeback and hit a Hidden Blade to pick up the win, but as soon as it was over, MJF ran out and attacked him. The American champion was preparing to hit a knockout blow when Kyle Fletcher made the save.
Don Callis showed up and Fletcher yelled at him about being best friends with Ospreay and how he won't stand by and let him get taken out. He delivered a passionate promo directed at MJF and said America has given him all of his dreams, so he won't let MJF represent the country. This was a fantastic promo and helped set up MJF vs. Fletcher for next week.
Result: Ospreay defeated Archer
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- MJF was getting some good heat. Fewer fans were still cheering for him than last week.
- Ospreay tripped over his words a bit during his side of the exchange.
- MJF's jacket was ridiculous in the best way.
- Some of Archer's counters looked really good. He works so well with high-flyers because he is quicker and more agile than he looks.
Willow Nightingale vs. Kris Statlander
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Chris Jericho celebrated 102 days as FTW champion with Big Bill and Bryan Keith in a backstage segment. He said Keith is going to take out Katsuyori Shibata next week.
Nightingale and Statlander's CMLL women's title Eliminator match was up next. Stat took control early and maintained it for a while, but The Babe With the Power eventually made a comeback and sent her to the outside.
Willow got her hands on Stoke for a moment and let him off with a slap on the head, but it allowed Statlander to attack her from behind.
It looked like the CMLL champ would win toward the end, but Stokely distracted the ref so Stat could hit her with a chain-wrapped fist for a dirty win. She grabbed a chair and hit Willow a few times before security tried to stop the fight.
Statlander took out the security team before leaving with Hathaway to celebrate. This was a solid match with some good physicality. It didn't quite live up to their last encounter but a lot of that is due to time constraints and a commercial break interrupting it.
Result: Statlander defeated Nightingale
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- Nightingale has clearly been working out a lot. She has more speed than she did even as recently as a couple of months ago.
- Statlander has a great clothesline. It's one of those moves that most people do well, but only a few people do this well.
- Willow's powerbomb counter to a missile dropkick was great.
The Conglomeration vs. Rush, Beast Mortos and Roderick Strong
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Danielson came to the ring and spoke about his life and his career. He said his time in AEW has been the most fun he's had in his career because he has been able to be present and realize each moment was special.
He said his contract ends tomorrow but he plans to be at All In and give it his best. This brought out Swerve Strickland. He said he respects Danielson and would root for him if this was any other time. Danielson said if he doesn't win the AEW title, he will never wrestle again.
The next match saw Orange Cassidy, Tomohiro Ishii and Mark Briscoe take on Rush, Mortos and Strong. The fight got started as soon as everyone hit the ring, so the ref was struggling to gain control of the situation.
This was on the more chaotic side for a trios match, even by AEW standards. Nobody really seemed to care about tags or who was legal, so it was difficult to tell who could be pinned att certain points in the match.
We saw some fun spots and sequences, but there wasn't much to this other than the mayhem, which can still be fun if you are into that sort of match.
In a very surprising outcome, Mortos pinned Briscoe to win for his team.
Result: Mortos, Strong and Rush defeated The Conglomeration
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Mortos is an interesting talent. AEW should give him a little promo time at some point.
- Cassidy using his jacket to taunt Mortos like a bull was funny.
- Rush and Ishii had a fun exchange.
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Kamille Squash
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After Mariah May and Toni Storm spoke in separate back-to-back segments, Mercedes accompanied Kamille to the ring for her AEW debut match against a local talent. She spent a couple of minutes destroying her opponent before getting the pin.
Result: Kamille won
Grade: Incomplete
Notable Moments and Observations
- Mercedes having Kamille raise her hand after the match instead of the other way around was a great little heel detail.
- The crowd seemed a little tired by this point in the show.
Adam Page vs. Darby Allin
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The main event of this week's show was a first-time singles match between Allin and Page. Things quickly began to devolve and Page almost attacked Allin with a chair before the ref talked him out of it.
They fought up the ramp to the stage where Allin hit a Coffin Drop from the top of an entrance tunnel. Hangman was dominating Allin through the break after making a quick recovery.
The lights in the arena went out for a minute but not because somebody was making a surprise appearance. It seemed like a technical issue that was resolved after about 20 seconds.
Page hit three powerbombs on the apron before hitting a fallaway slam against the steel steps. He eventually made a comeback and gained the upper hand after avoiding a piledriver on the steps.
Hangman regained control and hit a Deadeye. He had fire in his eyes as he set up for the Buckshot Lariat, but Allin collapsed before he could hit it. It was all a ruse as Allin popped up to his feet and rolled Hangman into a pinning combination for the win.
This was a violent match that managed to avoid using any blood for shock value. All of the violence was based on the things they did to each other, not how they looked. The ending was great because it gives Page a reason to stay angry.
Result: Allin defeated Page
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- There was a weird moment on commentary with Taz and Tony Schiavone where they were talking over each other but not in an argumentative kind of way.
- Page did a great job catching Alling during the Coffin Drop.
- At this point, AEW may need to tell Allin to stop doing certain things. The way he hit the steps was reckless and there is no way to do that safely.
- The spot with Page countering Allin's attempt at a Buckshot Lariat with a clothesline was awesome.
The Final Word
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This week's Dynamite saw several different storylines addressed, some solid in-ring action and a few segments to set up matches for next week.
Danielson's promo and vow to retire if he loses at All In somewhat telegraphed the outcome of the AEW title bout, but it was a great segment because it was emotional in a different way than his WWE retirement speech.
The women's division has been on fire lately. The feud between Willow and Stat is still going strong, May and Storm continue to be major attractions, and Kamille coming in as Mercedes' muscle adds another talented worker to the roster.
Ospreay and Archer had the best performance, but Allin and Page came close to matching them. Both bouts saw the babyfaces take a lot of damage and gave the crowd plenty of reasons to cheer.
The glitch with the lights going out during the main event added a bit of humor to the match, but probably not in the way AEW would usually want.
Grade: B
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