AEW Dynamite Review: February 19, 2020

AEW Dynamite Review: February 19, 2020 by Felix Pichler

Tag Team Battle Royal to declare the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championships

After a short time, the Dark Order made a promo from ringside directed at Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian. This distracted them and due to that the two wrestlers of the Dark Oder in the ring, Silver and Reynolds, eliminated them. Then, the Young Bucks eliminated these two with Superkicks.

Also, Orange Cassidy saved Trent in a funny moment while in the final phase of the match there were just the two faces Matt Jackson and Trent in the ring who worked together against Santana and Ortiz as well as the Butcher.

The Butcher and Trent were fighting on the apron as Cassidy stood nearby to catch Trent if he falls down. However, the Bunny approached Cassidy to kick him in his balls and the Butcher eliminated Trent just to then eat a Spear by Matt on the apron to get eliminated.

So, we then just had Santana and Ortiz, and Matt in the ring. Even though Sammy Guevara also tried to get involved, Matt was able to finish every one of them off to get the win.

Opinion: Good opening match as in such a battle royal we have speed and also several entertaining spots. If Kenny Omega and Adam “Hangman” Page are able to defeat the Lucha Brothers in this episode of AEW Dynamite for the AEW World Tag Team Championships, we’ll get the Young Bucks vs Omega and Page at Revolution.

Rating: B+

Kris Statlander vs. Shanna and Nyla Rose’s promo

In this match, we had two of the best female performers of the whole AEW roster and we saw it in this match as both women showed off a great performance. In the end, Kris Statlander put her opponent away with the Big Bang Theory.

Next, the new AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose joined Tony Schiavone on the stage for an interview. She complained about the welcome of the crowd to then explain that nobody is a beast like her. Statlander came out and made her typical move with her finger and touched the title belt of Rose. Big Swole then joined them on the stage and got into Rose’s face before security had to separate them.

Opinion: In general, I’m happy that Rose won the title as it brings some freshness in AEW’s women’s division but this first segment after her title win doesn’t fire me up that much as Statlander and Swole don’t seem to be any threat while the match ahead of it was pretty decent.

Rating: B-

Jeff Cobb vs. Jon Moxley

AEW Champion Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Jake Hager were sitting in the front row as they had tickets. Jeff Cobb dominated Jon Moxley for quite some time, but then Moxley focused on attacking the left leg of Cobb.

In the final phase, Cobb was again able to dominate the match and performed a Superplex, but then Mox made a surprising pin attempt to get the three count. After the match, Jericho, Guevara and Hager came into the ring to attack Moxley.

Dustin Rhodes came out to help Moxley but got beat up by Guevara, Hager, Jericho and Cobb. Suddenly, the lights went out and Darby Allin made his entrance with his skateboard to join them in the ring and beat every heel up with his board. Seconds later, Moxley and Jericho fired shots at each other in the centre of the ring before the AEW Champion left. Allin again used his signs to tell Guevara that he would finish him at Revolution.

Opinion: Good match even though I feel a bit sorry for Cobb that he lost his opening match on AEW Dynamite but it’s a logical finish as he doesn’t look weak after this ending.

Rating: B-

Kenny Omega and Adam “Hangman” Page (C.) vs. “The Lucha Bros” Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix for the AEW Tag Team Championships

As you would expect from these four fantastic superstars, this match was absolutely awesome and especially the in-ring style of Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr. is extremely entertaining. At some point, Kenny Omega held Fenix to assist Adam Page who accidentally hit Omega with the Buckshot Lariat as Fenix ducked underneath.

After that, we had several good near falls and in the end, Omega and Pager performed the combination of a V-Trigger and a Buckshot Lariat for the win. After the fight, the Young Bucks came out to check on Omega while Page drunk beer at ringside.

Opinion: Incredibly good match but who would expect something else form these four men. Also, the Lucha Bros need to win the tag titles in the near future as they are just amazing and besides, we’ll get a very interesting match between the Young Bucks and the team of Omega and Page at AEW’s Revolution.

Rating: A

Cody (w/ Arn Anderson and Brandi Rhodes) vs. Wardlow (w/ MJF) in a Steel Cage match

It didn’t take long at all until suddenly Cody’s forehead started to bleed. Wardlow dominated Cody most of the time. At some point, Wardlow tossed Cody into the door which then opened. MJF told Arn Anderson to smash it into Cody’s head who instead slammed it into MJF (great moment).

MJF gave Wardlow his Dynamite Diamond ring, but Cody kicked Wardlow in the balls to then have the ring in his hands. Due to that, MJF wanted to climb up the cage, but Brandi hit him with a chair, MJF came down and got in her face before Anderson tossed him in the crowd.

In the ring, Wardlow was able to kick out of the CrossRhodes. Due to that, Cody climbed up un the top of the ring to perform a Monnsault on a standing Wardlow and then pin him for the victory.

Opinion: Even though there wasn’t that much contact after the Moonsault, the move looked amazing and due to that, nobody cares about that. AEW does a good job in letting this match between Cody and MJF look like the most important match of the year.

Rating: A

Summary

The first part of the show was by far not as great as the tag team match and the main event, but that’s okay. We had several good matches and it’s really obvious that they don’t use that much backstage segments and interviews anymore as the characters are already well built up. AEW concentrates on building the storylines in the ring what is great in my eyes.

Rating: B+