Clarification on Confusing Benjamin vs. Bailey Match Finish

Clarification on Confusing Benjamin vs. Bailey Match Finish – The Confusing finish to Shelton Benjamin’s match against “Speedball” Mike Bailey on the November 19 episode of AEW Dynamite raised plenty of questions from fans.

The moment in question happened after Benjamin landed a superkick and went for the cover, only for the referee to stop counting even though Bailey’s shoulders were still down. The match continued, and Benjamin eventually won after a German suplex, knee strike, and another superkick.

During Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez broke down exactly what went wrong and made it clear that nobody was injured.

The confusion stemmed from Benjamin calling an audible mid-match. The original finish was supposed to be a superkick, and when Benjamin delivered the kick, Bailey sold it with a dramatic full-flip bump that looked devastating. Thinking the moment couldn’t be topped, Benjamin decided to end the match right then. The problem was that the referee didn’t hear him.

“As it turns out, everybody is fine,” Alvarez said. “What essentially happened is — the finish was going to be a superkick. So Shelton ends up shooting him in or whatever. And he hits this kick, and Speedball just takes this incredible full-flip bump and it looks like he’s dead. So Shelton decides it ain’t going to get better than that. And so Shelton calls the audible — this is the finish. Apparently the ref didn’t hear him, and so the ref stops the count because that wasn’t actually supposed to be the finish.

“So you could say it’s the referee’s fault, you could say it’s Shelton’s fault. You can’t say it’s Speedball’s fault, he just laid there like he was supposed to. So, anyway, that’s what happened. It was a miscommunication. And then when the referee stopped [counting], they just went on and did the actual finish. But, no, he did not get concussed by the kick or anything like that. There was no injury involved. It was just, Shelton thought a move looked really cool and that they should just go to the finish right there.”

Despite the hiccup, the result stood. Benjamin secured the victory, earning one of the first two spots in the Casino Gauntlet Match at Saturday’s AEW Full Gear. He’ll start the gauntlet against Hurt Syndicate partner Bobby Lashley. The winner of the multiman match will be crowned the inaugural AEW National Champion.