AEW Results (1/18) Fresno, CA – An in memory of Jay Briscoe graphic airs to get the program started this week. We then shoot into the regular Dynamite opening video and theme song before shooting live inside the Save Mart Center in Fresno, CA.
Fireworks and pyro erupts as Excalibur does the “It’s Wednesday and you know what that means…” catchphrase. Tony Schiavone and Taz join him on the call and then we head down to the ring for our first match of the evening.
AEW All-Atlantic Championship
Orange Cassidy (C) vs. Jay Lethal
The commentators inform us that if anyone interferes on Lethal’s behalf during this contest, it will be Sonjay Dutt who gets punished in the form of being fired from AEW. With that said, the bell sounds and we’re off-and-running with this one.
Before Cassidy and Lethal get things underway, we hear the crowd booing loudly and see the camera close in to show Jeff Jarrett, Satnam Singh and Sonjay Dutt making their way down the arena steps and to seats on the floor.
Now Cassidy and Lethal do get things going as Lethal takes the champ down. Cassidy pops back up and we see a hip-toss counter into a back-slide for a pin attempt that only gets two. Lethal decks Cassidy off the ring apron and he crashes and burns down on the floor at ringside below.
Jarrett nearly hops the guardrail but Dutt stops him, reminding him he’ll get fired if he interferes. As the action continues on the floor, we see Danhausen come up behind the heel trio and he shows off some tickets. With that said, The Best Friends show up with popcorn and beer and take their seats next to Jarrett, Singh and Dutt.
Cassidy takes over the action as it heads back into the ring, but Lethal quickly cuts off his offensive comeback and hangs him throat-first over the top-rope. He follows up with some ground and pound on the mat and then goes to work on him with kicks in the corner.
Once again we see things spill out to the floor where this time, Lethal bounces Cassidy shoulder-first off the steel ring post. He returns to the ring and taunts the fans as Cassidy slowly recovers on the floor. He rolls back into the ring right into a snap-suplex from Lethal.
We see Lethal head to the top-rope looking for a flying elbow smash, but Cassidy rolls away. Lethal tries going up to the ropes on the other side of the ring, but he rolls away from there, too. This continues for a while until finally Cassidy starts to take over with a fired-up offensive comeback.
The “Freshly Squeezed” one goes for a couple of pin attempts, but Lethal kicks out each time and keeps this match going. Once again we see Dutt having to restrain Jarrett from hopping the rail and getting involved. In the ring, Lethal counters a big spot from Cassidy but then Cassidy counters a Lethal Injection attempt from Jay.
Cassidy backs up in a corner and stalks Lethal but when he charges at him, Lethal counters and catches him with his Lethal Injection finisher. Lethal can’t pin him, however, as Cassidy immediately rolls out to the floor.
The camera pans over and shows The Best Friends and Jarrett and Co. getting into it dumping drinks, etc. Jarrett tries sneaking his guitar to Lethal as the ref comes to check on this. Danhausen intercepts it and taunts Lethal.
The action resumes inside the ring with Cassidy blasting Lethal with an Orange Punch for the pin fall victory. With the win, Cassidy retains his AEW All-Atlantic Championship.
Winner and STILL AEW All-Atlantic Champion: Orange Cassidy
You GOTTA Give The People What They Want …
Once the match wraps up, the action continues. Satnam Singh enters the ring with evil intentions, but Dutt stops him. Jarrett comes in with his guitar but Dutt stops him, too. Cassidy walks over and does his wimpy shin-kick routine to Dutt with his hands in his pockets.
After that, the heels head to the back and the baby faces give the people what they want in the form of a Best Friends hug.
– We see a quick vignette promoting the main event for tonight’s show, which will see Darby Allin defending his TNT Championship on TBS against the returning KUSHIDA.
Top Flight vs. The Young Bucks
Nick Jackson and Dante Martin kicks things off as the bell sounds to get this one off-and-running. We see some good back-and-forth offense from both guys and then Top Flight starts to pull ahead.
Matt Jackson and Darius Martin each tag in and due to Matt not noticing the tag from Top Flight, the Martin Bros start to shift the offensive momentum into their favor. A few moments later, The Young Bucks hit some double-team spots that shifts things back into their favor.
On that note, we head to a mid-match commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see things taken to a whole other level as both teams start going on crazy offensive sprees. Top Flight in particular hit some epic double-team spots that pops the crowd and nearly blows the roof off the Save Mart Center.
Fans loudly chant “This is Awesome!” and “AEW! AEW!” after some of the action. Dante leaps into stereo super kicks from Nick and Matt on the floor in a big spot that shifts the momentum into the favor of The Young Bucks.
Back in the ring, the two go for a BTE Trigger on Martin, but he avoids it and quickly counters with a roll-up for the 1-2-3. Top Flight gets the upset victory in an excellent match. After the match, we head to another commercial break.
Winners: Top Flight
Billy Gunn Wants Family Therapy For The Gunns & The Acclaimed
Before the break it is announced that AEW World Tag-Team Champions The Acclaimed will be up next, however when we return, The Gunns’ theme hits. Out comes Colten and Austin Gunn as the commentators again mention that this is supposed to be The Acclaimed’s time.
The Gunns then begin speaking and said The Acclaimed embarassed them on live TV last week. They claim that they made The Acclaimed popular. They promise it will be the last time they do this.
As they attempt to continue, The Acclaimed’s theme hits and out comes Max Caster and Anthony Bowens. The Gunns yell over the music and demand the theme be cut off. It is and Caster asks if the fans came to here The Gunns talk or hear him freestyle.
Caster begins rapping as The Acclaimed’s theme plays again. He hits rhymes about The Gunns only having jobs because of their dad working in AEW and Hunter Biden. They have a Twitter-related line that gets bleeped off the broadcast. Bowens finishes with his “Scissor me daddy!” line.
From there, The Acclaimed hit the ring and starts brawling with The Gunns. Billy Gunn breaks it up. He says he’s sick of this. He tells The Gunns to quit whining all the time and he tells The Acclaimed that they’re champions and need to start acting like it. He says he’s got two words for ya for now — “Family therapy.”
The Acclaimed’s theme hits again and Billy Gunn exits the ring. Caster and Bowens eventually exit the ring and follow behind him to end the segment.
Renee Paquette Talks To “Hangman” Adam Page
We shoot backstage where Renee Paquette is standing by with “Hangman” Adam Page. She talks to him about his win over Jon Moxley and brings up Mox saying he cherishes Page while hating him at the same time. When the interview ends, Page asks Paquette how Mox is doing.
She says he’s always hurting in one way or the other over the past ten years or so. Page says if Paquette “gets the chance, to please tell him … nevermind.”
Jake Hager vs. Ricky Starks
Now we shoot back inside the Save Mart Center where we hear the familiar sounds of “Judas in My Mind” by Fozzy. On that note, the J.A.S. accompany Jake Hager out to the ring for his scheduled showdown against “Absolute” Ricky Starks.
Chris Jericho ends up heading to the commentary desk, but Daddy Magic and one other J.A.S. member heads to the ring with the purple-hat-wearing Hager. Jericho settles in on guest commentary as Starks’ theme hits to bring out Hager’s opponent.
Ricky Starks makes his way down to the ring to a nice pop from the Fresno fans. Jericho talks about Starks being a thorn in the side of the J.A.S. as he settles in on special guest commentary for this one-on-one match.
Both Hager and Starks are in the ring. The music is off and the bell sounds. These two lock-up and this one is officially off-and-running. We see some back-and-forth action and then we head to a mid-match commercial break as the match continues.
When we return from the break, we see a table has been set up at ringside. The action spills to the floor but no one goes through the table before Hager and Starks return to the ring. Starks hits a big spear to take out Hager and makes the cover.
As soon as he scores the victory, we see more J.A.S. members hit the ring for a presumed post-match attack, however “Absolute” saw them coming and fled the ring, jumped the guard rail and headed up through the crowd, stopping to gloat at the J.A.S. in the ring. After this, we head to another commercial break.
Winner: Ricky Starks
e Sex Gods Or Garcia-cho In Action Next Week
We have Le Sex Gods vs. Ricky Starks & Action Andretti announced for next week. Daniel Garcia also mentions having a match on Friday’s Rampage. Sammy Guevara tells him if he wins he can have his spot alongside Jericho next week.
Guevara shows Garcia new ring gear he got him. Jericho says whether it’s Le Sex Gods or Garcia-cho, it’s gonna be a J.A.S. victory next week. Watching Guevara and Garcia is becoming funnier and funnier every week. They live up to the sports entertainer monikers.
Bryan Danielson vs. Bandido
Immediately these two set the tone and it’s clear we’re gonna see some stuff in this one that we haven’t ever seen before, or at the very least, certainly haven’t seen much of. Danielson keeps doing Bandido’s gun gesture everytime he gets the upper-hand early on. The fans chant “This is Awesome!” as Bandido starts to take over on offense.
We see “The American Dragon” escape a brutal submission attempt by Bandido and roll out to the floor. Bandido hits the ropes to build up a full head of steam and then launches himself to the floor, taking out Danielson in the process. He does this a second time before we head to a mid-match commercial break.
As we settle back in from the break we see the action still very much in progress as “The American Dragon” starts to take over on offense. He dumps Bandido out to the floor and then runs off the ring apron, catching him with a running / flying knee.
Back in the ring, we see Danielson back on the defensive as Bandido sits him on the top-rope. They both end up on the tip-top where Bandido hits an insane backwards flip-slam. The fans react with a loud “Holy Sh*t!” chant. Bandido hits a suplex into a bridge for a pin attempt, but Danielson kicks out before the count of three.
We see the two exchange some final back-and-forth offensive sequences in the ring until Danielson takes back over and connects with a huge running knee that turns Bandido inside-out. After the big shot he goes for the cover and gets the three for the win. He smiles and looks into the camera presumably at MJF after the hard-earned win.
Winner: Bryan Danielson
AEW Champion MJF Is “The Man Behind The Mask”
Once the match wraps up we see Danielson helping Bandido up to show respect when out of nowhere MJF appears on the big screen from the back. He talks about how he sees everything people say and he’s hearing the talk that he isn’t deserving of his spot in AEW.
MJF says he’s not sure if people remember just who the hell he is and what he went through to become our world champion. He says he’s been the masked MJF so far and you don’t want him to take that mask off — nobody does. He says Danielson might be a dragon but that’s no match for the man behind the mask.
Toni Storm vs. Willow Nightingale
We see footage of Hikaru Shida backstage being confronted about the affect she had on the recent women’s tag-team match involving Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. and Jamie Hayter and the team of Saraya and Toni Storm.
From there, we are informed by the commentators that Toni Storm vs. Willow Nightingale in one-on-one action is up next. On that note, we head to another commercial break.
As we return from the break we learn that Brian Cage will be Bryan Danielson’s opponent next week. After that, MJF approaches “The Machine” and shows him an envelope with “more money than he’s physically seen in his life.”
He offers it to him not to win or lose against Danielson, but to break his arm. Cage says that can be arranged. MJF slaps him. Cage goes to attack him but is reminded about the money and calms down. MJF says he learned at a young age that hate is the biggest motivating factor. He tells him to use it next week on “The American Dragon.”
Now we settle back inside the Save Mart Center in Fresno, CA. where Toni Storm and Willow Nightingale make their respective entrances to the ring for our next match of the evening.
We see some good back-and-forth action early on and then as Storm starts to take over on offense, we see Hikaru Shida make her way out from the back. As she heads down to the ring, we head to a mid-match commercial break.
As we return from the break we see Storm working on the neck of Willow, however Willow starts to show signs of life and she shifts the offensive momentum in her favor, as Taz points out on commentary. She hits a big spinebuster and goes for a high-stack pin attempt, only for Storm to kick out after the count of two.
Nightingale decks Storm with a pounce and then she hits a big cannonball splash onto her in the corner. She drags her out and goes for the cover but Storm kicks out. Saraya gets on the ring apron and distracts her which allows Storm to steal the win.
Winner: Toni Storm
After The Match: Saraya Attacks, Ruby Soho Makes Save
Afterwards, Saraya immediately hits the ring and attacks Willow after the fact. Storm joins in until Ruby Soho runs out and makes the save. Saraya yells “Are you serious?” at Soho from ringside as the post-match scene wraps up on that note.
Konosuke Takeshita Likes Bryan Danielson, Doesn’t Like MJF
Konosuke Takeshita is interviewed by Renee Paquette when we return from the break. He talks about Bryan Danielson being his hero and how he learned so much in their critically-acclaimed match on last week’s show.
He then mumbles in Japanese about not liking MJF. When asked for the translation, he says he just said “MJF is an assh*le.”
TNT Championship
Darby Allin (C) vs. KUSHIDA
KUSHIDA is introduced, and the Marty McFly-dressed Japanese star makes his return to the ring in All Elite Wrestling as the fans in Fresno give him a rock-star reception while the commentators educate the fans on the history of this competitor.
As he settles inside the ring his music dies down. Now the familiar sounds of Darby Allin’s theme plays and the screen goes black-and-white. The TNT Champion emerges and is joined by “The Icon” Sting as he heads to the ring. Tony Schiavone does his “It’s STINGGGGGG!” call.
Now the bell sounds to officially get our final match of the evening off-and-running.
We see some good back-and-forth action coming right out of the gate in this one and then Darby starts to go on an excellent offensive run. He hits a big high spot on the floor but then KUSHIDA starts to isolate the arm of the champ and focus his attack there.
As KUSHIDA works over the arm of Darby on the floor, we head to a mid-match commercial break as our TNT Championship main event of the evening continues here on Dynamite.
When we return from the break, we see KUSHIDA is still in control of the offense, but Darby starts to fire up for a comeback. KUSHIDA cuts it short and continues to work over the arm of the champ. The commentators inform us that KUSHIDA is softening up Darby’s arm for his finisher.
Darby hits a big spot out of nowhere with a stunner on KUSHIDA. Both guys are slow to get up but once they do, we see Darby grab a steel chair. He doesn’t use it before KUSHIDA recovers and the action continues on the floor.
After Darby and KUSHIDA duke it out we see Darby deck him and head to the top-rope. He looks for a drop-kick off the top rope to the floor, but KUSHUDA catches him on the way down and transitions right into an arm-bar. Ouch. He cranks back on the arm of the champ and then heads back inside the ring.
The TNT Champion is slow to recover but eventually does before the referee reaches the count of ten. Now KUSHIDA isolates the arm of Darby inside the ring with intentions of finishing this one off. The two head to the top-rope still in the standing arm-lock. The two flip and fly off the top and crash down to the mat below.
KUSHIDA follows this up with his Hoover Board Lock submission finisher. The L.A. Dojo guys at ringside with KUSHIDA throw a towel to Sting to allow him to throw it in on Darby’s behalf. Sting takes it and throws it into the crowd, ignoring the duo.
Back in the ring we see Darby slowly but eventually escape the arm lock. He counters into a roll-up pin attempt and somehow gets the three-count for the victory out of the blue. With the win, Darby Allin retains his TNT Championship.
Winner and STILL TNT Champion: Darby Allin
Once the match wraps up, we see Darby Allin offer his hand for a handshake. KUSHIDA shakes it and then signals for a rematch. He raises Darby’s hand in a sign of respect. The commentators close out the show with a final word of respect in honor of the late Jay Briscoe. On that note, we head off the air. Thanks for joining us!
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AEW Results (1/18) Fresno, CA
