AEW Dynamite (Sep. 6, 2023) emanated from Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, IN. The show featured MJF standing up to Samoa Joe, Roderick Strong gritting through pain, Darby Allin in a battle with his student, and more for the fallout to All Out.
Get caught up on all the Dynamite details with the excellent play-by-play from Claire Elizabeth.
MJF stands up to Samoa Joe
The burning question coming into Dynamite was how MJF would handle the incident with Samoa Joe from All Out. Joe shoved MJF, a fracas ensued, and Joe slapped on a chokehold before security separated the two at the PPV.
On Dynamite, MJF arrived to the ring for promo time. He hyped the Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament to determine his challenger for the AEW World Championship at Grand Slam on September 20. The winner will find out the hard way that nobody is on the level of the devil.
Enter Joe to interrupt the champ’s speech. Insults were exchanged with references to their past altercation. MJF explained the details of how Joe shoved him as a young lad trying to do security in NXT. That filled the gaps for the viewers that were unaware.
Joe let MJF say his piece, but he kept coming back to one question, “What the problem, kid?” MJF took that as disrespect and warned Joe not to call him kid anymore. MJF hyped himself as world champ and dropped his catchphrase.
Joe clarified that he didn’t shove MJF, because he viewed him as a kid. Joe shoved him, because he thought MJF was a little bitch. Slap! MJF laid five across the face of Joe, who didn’t budge.
Joe stated that he will go through the tournament to earn his shot. As MJF exited, Joe kicked the ropes into his groin and stomped the champ. MJF rallied with a low blow of his own, but Joe pummeled him on a uranage. As Joe set up a musclebuster, Adam Cole ran in for the save. The damage was done though. MJF cried out in pain about his injured neck.
That segment was hot. MJF stood up for himself, and Joe came across every bit the villain. It did well straddling the line of current story and inside jokes not to lose the plot. Best of all for me is that I’m actually questioning who would win in that championship challenge. Joe is a badass and tough to beat when the opponent is 100%. With MJF’s neck injury, I have trouble imagining how he can survive against Joe. And with how thick AEW is laying on MJF’s pain, a surprise title change into the hands of Joe wouldn’t shock me. It would actually feel natural, since Joe should be the favorite on paper given the circumstances.
First thing first. Joe has to earn his shot by winning the #1 contender tournament.
Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament
AEW put forth two quarterfinal bouts of the Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament on Dynamite. Roderick Strong wrestled Trent, and Darby Allin tussled with Nick Wayne.
Strong laid it on thick telling the story of his journey to wrestling. His parents didn’t know how to be parents. Wrestling was everything to young Roddy