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AEW DYNAMITE REPORT
NOVEMBER 29, 2023
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. AT TARGET CENTER
REPORT BY TOM FROM ST. PAUL, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT]
Note: This report is derived from Tom’s appearance on last night’s Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show…
-I don’t watch a lot of AEW, but I follow it through PWTorch and Jason Powell’s ProWrestling.net. I’ve attended three out of four of AEW’s events in Minneapolis, and it gets me to cross the river from St. Paul to Minneapolis.
-In the non-televised opener, Colt Cabana & Brandon Cutler beat Jacoby Watts & Jake Manning.
-Tony Khan spoke briefly to the crowd before Dynamite began, as he usually does.
-After Dynamite ended, Tony Schiavone hosted a talk in the ring with Sting and Ric Flair that lasted around ten minutes. The crowd loved it. They were reminiscing about being on the first WCW Nitro. They were just having a good time. Flair worked in his “18-28, no husbands or wives” line at the end, which was slightly awkward. Good grief. Flair was super-over. Everyone loved him. He is a legend. Issues aside, people aren’t going to be able to see Flair in a wrestling ring many more times, especially with Sting and Schiavone, so he gets extre grace for that from the audience.
-It was a decent-sized crowd. Not cavernous. The upper deck was completely blocked off and nobody on the hard camera side in the lower deck.
-Top Flight got the biggest reception of the night. Not by a large margin, but Dante and Darius Martin are locals.
-MJF was well-received, but I wouldn’t put him in the top five of the night. Tonight’s MJF was a more serious promo from him than I’ve heard he’s done lately. Everyone had a sense Samoa Joe was going to come out, so they were waiting for that to happen. The crowd treated Joe as a babyface. There were a bunch of “Joe’s gonna kill you” chants and there was a pop when he came out for the save.
-During the main event, everyone was rooting for Swerve Strickland. He probably got the second best reaction of the night even though he’s not a babyface. Fans were behind Mark Briscoe and Jon Moxley in their Continental Classic matches earlier. Some fans were into the tournament, and they were also tasked with explaining the format and rules to other fans they were with who follow AEW less closely. Before the show started, they aired a video package with highlights of the prior matches and promos from the involved wrestlers.
-During the Christian Cage-Adam Copeland segment, Christian had nuclear heat. When Christian told Copeland was raised by a single mother, the crowd reacted and chanted “Who’s your daddy?”
-We did not get to see the Flair and Sting backstage interview with Schiavone that TV viewers saw. During that, ring announcer Justin Roberts was talking about the ring crew guys. The head ring crew guy’s name is Bob and fans chanted for Bob the rest of the night during commercial breaks. It was pretty hilarious and it seemed he was touched by it. Bryan Danielson had a playful rant at the crowd for chanting for Bob instead of him when he came out for commentary. He tried to get Bob to enter the ring and fight him.
He also did the “It’s time for the main event” bit before the Rampage main event. During the rest of the show, Justin read signs and talked to fans during commercial breaks and just making small talk.
RAMPAGE TAPING SPOILERS
(1) Orange Cassidy & Hook & Trent Beretta & Danhausen beat Man Mendard & Angelo Parker & Evil Uno & Alex Reynolds (w/Jake Hager).
(2) Konosuke Takeshita & Powerhouse Hobb & Kyle Fletcher (w/Don Callis) defeated Jah-C & Renny D & Kit Sackett
(3) Skye Blue & Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander defeated Saraya & Anna Jay & Ruby Soho.
(4) Komander & El Hijo del Vikingo & Penta El Zero Miedo defeated Brian Cage & The Workhorsemen (J.D. Drake & Anthony Henry w/Prince Nana).
RECOMMENDED NEXT: AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES (11/29): Danielson on commentary, MJF’s serious promo, Toni Storm’s gout, Censorship Fail, Swerve vs. White, more
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: AEW Dynamite on-site report: Vetter’s in-person notes on Bryan Danielson’s near “fight” with a member of the ring crew, Rush’s chops, and the pre-show dark match
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