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ALL ELITE WRESTLING DYNAMITE PREVIEW 2/2: Ruby vs. Nyla, Punk vs. MJF, Penta & Pac vs. House of Black, Moxley vs. Kendrick

BY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

February 1, 2022

5 stars that could beat MJF
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

ALL ELITE WRESTLING DYNAMITE PRIMER
FEBRUARY 2, 2022
CHICAGO, ILL. AT THE WINTRUST ARENA
AIRS ON TBS NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EST, 7:00 p.m. CST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

Match Results and Key Segments from Last Week

  • Sammy Guevara defeated Cody Rhodes in a ladder match to become the Undisputed TNT Champion.
  • “Mr. Mayhem” Wardlow defeated Elijah Dean & James Alexander in a handicap match.
  • Chris Jericho and Santana & Ortiz defeated Daniel Garcia and 2point0 (Jeff Parker & Matt Lee).
  • “Hangman” Adam Page was advised that he will defend the AEW Championship in two weeks (next week) against Lance Archer in a Texas Death Match.
  • “Legit” Leyla Hirsh defeated Red Velvet.
  • AEW Women’s Champion Dr. Britt Baker cut a self-congratulatory promo with three PWI plaques in the ring, including one for match of the year (Lights Out match against Thunder Rosa). She said she will be a Baker that Cleveland could count on, taking a dig at maligned Cleveland Browns starting QB Baker Mayfield. (Who told them to take him #1 in 2018?)
  • Orange Cassidy defeated Adam Cole in a Lights Out match. Danhausen, formerly of Ring of Honor, made his AEW debut and appeared during the match.

Arena

The Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Ill. will house this week’s episodes of AEW Dynamite and Rampage. The building opened in 2017 and has been a relatively frequent host to AEW events including the February 2020 edition of Revolution and a November episode of Dynamite with a Rampage taping. It is home to the DePaul Blue Devils men’s and women’s NCAA basketball teams and the Chicago Sky of the WNBA.

Three matches have been announced, and I’ll keep my eyes open to see if anything else gets added. Here’s AEW’s tweet hyping the show and the Road to Chicago YouTube link:

https://twitter.com/aew/status/1488573109351460864?s=21

Ruby Soho vs. Nyla Rose

Things get renewed tonight between Nyla Rose and Ruby Soho as they are set to go one-on-one. Ruby eliminated Nyla in the semi-finals of the TBS Championship tournament back in December of last year before falling to eventually champion Jade Cargill in the finals. Nyla came out with her manager Vickie Guerrero before last week’s main event and told the announce team that Ruby’s win was a fluke.

Ruby has won her last four matches including a win over Allie Katch at GCW The Wrld and two tag team wins with Thunder Rosa. Nyla has defeated Keira Hogan on Dark, won a tag match with Emi Sakura on Dark Elevation, and teamed with Penelope Ford and The Bunny to defeated Kris Statlander & Red Velvet & “Legit” Leyla Hirsh on an episode of Rampage.

A little Twitter trash talk:

Frank’s Analysis: This is somewhat of a fork in the road for these women, more so for Ruby. While Ruby has won her last four matches, they haven’t been on AEW TV proper. She has lost big matches for both titles since her debut. They seem to be focused on keeping Nyla strong. It makes me wonder if she is being positioned as Britt Baker’s next challenger.

CM Punk vs. MJF

It looks like the match is finally happening. CM Punk, in his hometown of Chicago, goes one-on-one with MJF after MJF laid down the challenge during last week’s episode of Dynamite.

This feud goes back to before Thanksgiving and has including numerous “kayfabe-breaking” promos (for all intents and purposes) both solo and face-to-face. Punk has defeated MJF’s Pinnacle colleagues Wardlow and Shawn Spears. The latest chapter in their story unfolded last week when they went at it face to face. Punk started insulting MJF saying he could get his scarf for cheap on Amazon and the material wasn’t strong because it was made on Long Island (hey, I resent that Mr. Punk). MJF came out and said they would have their match next week in Punk’s hometown because Cleveland was a cesspool.

MJF went on to insult Punk saying he threatens to sue when he doesn’t get his way and fans in his hometown will see the real him. He compared Punk to LeBron James (who left the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 to “take his talents down to South Beach and join the Miami Heat) and cited his no-showing in Cleveland back in 2014 (referring to his walking out on WWE Raw after the Royal Rumble and leaving the company). He said the fans chanting won’t stop him from turning his back on the fans and crying about it on a podcast. Punk called out MJF for “being a fan” for knowing about the podcast (the 2015 show he did on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling). He said he has made decisions and stood by them and never lied to the fans.

Following their verbal back and forth, the rest of the Pinnacle (FTR, Wardlow, and Shawn Spears) came out and attacked Punk. MJF “ordered” Wardlow to powerbomb Punk which he did, but after showing a look of reluctance.

A little Twitter trash talk:

https://twitter.com/aewontv/status/1488569083046109189?s=21

Frank’s Analysis: There was a lot to unpack from that back and forth, which started out cheesy with Punk’s insults. I’m not saying that because he made fun of Long Island, it’s just saying his scarves are cheap and calling out his hometown are low hanging fruit, and we see so much of it. That said, they got to a good place, and I liked Punk calling out MJF for being a fan. As far as the match goes tonight my guess is there are shenanigans to keep the feud going. The Wardlow factor is a big part of this. I don’t think it all unravels tonight, since Revolution is not too far away, and the ultimate payoff to all this likely takes place on that show.

Penta El Zero Miedo & Pac (Death Triangle) vs. House of Black (Malakai Black & Brody King)

Also announced for tonight’s show is the House of Black taking on the team of Penta El Zero Miedo & Pac. Brodie King recently signed on with AEW and joined Malakai Black’s House of Black. Two weeks ago, they disposed of the Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman, Jr. & Griff Garrison). Before King’s arrival, Black sprayed the black mist in the eye of Julia Hart. Following that match, Pac had a message for Black. Here’s the match and the message from AEW’s YouTube page:

Pac was another victim of Black and his black mist back on the November 24 edition of Dynamite.

Frank’s Analysis: I’m glad to see the House of Black move on from the Varsity Blondes. It was fine, it was just time to do something else. I wonder if the House grows. Pac certainly has a dark side and could join up at some point.

Jon Moxley vs. Brian Kendrick

Earlier this evening, AEW announced another match for Dynamite.

The train from WWE to AEW hauls in another passenger as Brian Kendrick makes his debut against Jon Moxley. Kendrick recently completed his second tour in WWE which began in 2014 as a trainer. He took part in the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic and was eliminated by multi-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kota Ibushi. He spent most of his time since that tournament on 205 Live and as a producer.

Moxley recently returned to AEW television after a stint in alcohol rehabilitation. He’s defeated “All Ego” Ethan Page and Anthony Bowens of The Acclaimed since he’s come back.

Frank’s Analysis: I’m sure we’ll have people rolling their eyes saying, “here comes another WWE talent.” I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on Kendrick. He may be headed for a wrestling/coach/producer type of role, and if so AEW has made a good hire in my opinion.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Thank you for reading!

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