AEW Dynamite 10-16-19 - Jericho vs. Darby Allin for the Title

Ross welcomes us to the show with SCU coming out for the tag title tourney. The Lucha Bros jump them and Penta package piledrives CD on the ramp and Sky makes a save. This would've been better if they said who SCU was facing. Otherwise, fine start. Sky tapes up to take CD's place and they'll face the Best Friends. Chuck piledrives Kaz into a sliding knee by Trent for 2. Deadlift German by Trent before he tosses Kaz into a Trent spear on the floor.

Double impact superplex to Kaz gets 2. Sky's working a single shoe and sock and Chuck flies over the top and lands on Trentylocks. Sky soars with a tope con hilo and lands on his feet!  Sky's shoe flies back in, but the ref tosses it out. They're making Sky a star with this and that's the whole point of it. I love that the story of this from second one is to get Sky over as a star and it's doing that while also providing a hell of a fun match. Sky breaks up the hug and eats a Chucky knee. TIME FOR THE HUG!

Ross talks about how great Trent's headband is - it never moves. Sky prevents an apron piledriver by Trent and Kaz backdrops him down. Kaz goes for the powerbomb/backstabber combo - but Sky's late and he winds up being kind of a dropkick. Well, they botched the finish - but Excalibur covered it as well as he could by saying he trying a dropkick.

Alex Reynolds and John Silver come out in a PIP window. Proud and Powerful (PnP) are out and they've made an impact...so to speak. Nice little nod to the LAX tron in their intro. Santana lands a nice enzuiguri and lands a diving back elbow. Powerbomb after a throat slice into a PK. Street sweeper ends it.

Ortiz sets up a tron video with Jericho putting them over. PnP wants the Bucks at Full Gear. Ortiz yells and screams and drowns out Jericho. Cody and Brandi are shown discussing business at home with sappy music playing. Brandi and DDP talk about how driven Cody is to succeed. Ross talks about Cody has to balance being an EVP with a wrestler while Jericho only has to worry about the match. Cody's mother says that Cody's out of Dusty's shadow by doing his own thing. DDP says that Dusty always said the only thing real in wrestling was your first World Title...which Cody's already won.

Britt's out to face Riho for the title. Britt should work heel here and Riho's matches are so much fun live. Britt armdrags her down. Britt gets her down for Lockjaw, but Riho gets to the rope to force a break. Matrix escape from a crossbody for Riho leads to a basement dropkick. Victory roll into a double stomp by Riho! Corner knee by Riho! Tana's knees are dust and his Slingblade still looks better than Britt's. Stunner-style TKO by Britt leads to Riho getting an SOS for 2. Swinging fisherman into a basement superkick for 2.9 by Britt! High bridge northern lights for Riho gets 2. Half crab by Riho! Britt gets to the rope, so Riho hops up and double stomps the back off the top for 2! Riho misses the knees and eats the goofy reverse Samoan drop thing and Britt GETS LOCKJAW, BUT RIHO TURNS IT INTO THE CRADLE AND WINS! This was better than the sum of its parts because it wasn't technically great, but it told a hell of a story.

Marko Stunt playing the role of Jungle Boy here is hilarious. Penta bullies Stunt to start out with. Fenix does some crazy shit and follows it up with more crazy shit. PENTAGON DRIVER TO MARKO GETS 2.9! Lucha Bros are set up as full-on heels between their being assholes here and beating up Daniels earlier. Stunt lands a basement kick and JR talks about this being a big moment for him with Jungle Jack Perry. Backflip knee by Jungle Boy! Marko hits a 450 and a standing SSP by Jack get s2. Penta tosses Marko around by his hair, hits the armbreaker, and the stuffed package piledriver/footstomp ends it. This was very fun.

MOX and PAC are here to face Page and Omega. Hangman gets massive pyro and comes off like a pretty big star live. A happy birthday chant breaks out for Kenny before the faces get jumped before Kenny and Mox brawl. Snapmare into a running boot by Mox. Chops by Kenny leads to a knee to the gut by Mox. Diving Hart attack by Page gets 2. Page goes for the moonsault off the top to the floor, but Mox shoves him into a PCO apron swanton bump! I miss about 10 minutes of the show due to a power outage to see Omega and Mox battling with barb wire stuff and then PAC takes the barb wire broom away from Mox and tells him to get his head in the game. Dirty Deeds hits and then Omega hits a V trigger and buckshot leads to the deadeye and the faces win and PAC loses his first match in AEW.

Next week's show is hyped up with two semi-final matches and Britt returning to Pittsburgh. Moxley vs. PAC happens next week as well. Jericho's lower-third graphic is gold and black to signify that he's champion - I like that. Jericho's in his Painmaker getup and announced at 225 POUNDS!? Allin gets an early edge with some fisticuffs, but Jericho lands a big lariat in the corner resulting in a corner Bret bump

Yoshi tonic gets 2.5 for Darby! Jericho tosses him to the floor and he lands hard on his leg for an ad break...after an awkward pause. Jericho gets a kendo stick and cracks Darby's back. Jericho goes for a second rope kendo stick shot and eats a punch and flip bumps for it! Crucifix gets 2 for Darby and he cracks Jericho's head with the stick. O'Connor roll leads to a crossbody and a shitty Fujiwara armbar by Darby. Walls leads to a lot of Jericrack and Aubrey shoves him for not wanting to break on the ropes. Chair to the gut then back of Darby.

Jericho wants a lawndart, but eats a stunner. Jericho gets the walls again and Darby gets the rope again. Jericho gets gaffer's tape and tapes up Darby to prevent that again. Darby lands a lionsault and a dropkick and then a tope con hilo! CORKSCREW SENTON OFF THE TOP GETS 2.5! POWERBOMB ON THE SKATEBOARD GETS 2!  Darby goes up for a coffin drop, but Hager slugs him and Jericho gets a verbal submission off the Walls. This was very much a brawling-centric match with a Bret vs. 1-2-3 Kid framework to it - I like it!