All Elite Wrestling has had two weeks of highly-rated shows, with AEW Dynamite beating NXT in the ratings every week so far. Critical reception to AEW has been high as well, with many praising the work-rate of the matches and the exciting, adult-oriented storylines. Whether or not AEW is able to keep the momentum going strong into Week 3 remains to be seen, but the card for AEW Dynamite 10/16/2019 is stacked and looks like it will deliver.
Tonight we will see Chris Jericho defend his AEW World Championship for the first time ever in a Philadelphia Street Fight against Darby Allin. We will also see tag team title tournament matches, the Women's World Championship defended, and more.
Here are the AEW Dynamite 10/16/2019 results.
1. AEW World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter-Final Match: SCU (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) vs. The Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent)
Winners:Â SCU. A couple of weeks ago, we learned that Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian would represent SCU in the tag team title tournament. But while they were making their way to the ring, they were attacked by the Lucha Bros., with Pentagon dropping Daniels on his head with a Package Piledriver on the steel ramp. This forced Scorpio Sky to replace him in the match, which was a pretty thrilling tag team match throughout. Sky wound up throwing his shoe in the crowd at one point, only for it to get thrown back, and there was plenty of high-flying and hard-hitting action. The only blemish on this match came at the end with the powerbomb/dropkick finish. It looked sloppy and was slightly botched.
Having Scorpio Sky replace Daniels has interesting implications for future storylines in AEW. It could breed jealously within the ranks of SCU, and it could also see SCU respond in kind to the Lucha Bros. Needless to say, it will be interesting to see what happens with the SCU moving forward.
2. Santana and Ortiz vs. Alex Reynolds and John Silver
Winners: Santana and Ortiz. The Inner Circle members Santana and Ortiz winning this match wasn't a surprise. John Silver has had some really great performances in PWG, so it was a little disappointing to see him relegated to jobber status in this match. When the match was over, Chris Jericho did a pre-taped promo where he set up a Full Gear match between Santana, Ortiz, and The Young Bucks, though either Santana and Ortiz wouldn't stop screaming over it, which was annoying.
3. AEW Women's World Championship Match: Riho (c) vs. Britt Baker
Winner:Â Riho. Riho is over with the crowd, but she hurts the women's division. She is just so much smaller than all the other women that it is really hard to find any of her offense believable. This match was also pretty sloppy, with a couple missed spots. There was one instance where Baker clearly moved into position just to take running knees from Riho. Riho losing the title this early didn't seem likely, but it would have honestly been nice to get the belt off her and onto Baker, who is a much more believable athlete.
4. AEW World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter-Final Match: Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt) vs. The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr and Rey Fenix)
Winners: The Lucha Brothers. Unfortunately, Luchasaurus has an injury, and so he wasn't able to participate in this match. It's a real shame, too, because this would be the Jurassic Express's TV debut, and they are definitely one of AEW's hottest acts if shows like Fight for the Fallen are any indication. The match itself is kind of hard to take seriously because Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy are just so much smaller than Pentagon and Fenix, but it has enough hard-hitting moves to still be plenty entertaining. There's something morbidly entertaining about seeing Marko Stunt get brutally kicked around by Pentagon. The match ended with a brutal Package Piledriver/double stomp combination, and while Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy are just too small to be taken seriously in a match against The Lucha Brothers, it was still highly entertaining throughout.
5. "Hangman" Adam Page and Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley and PAC
Winners: "Hangman" Adam Page and Kenny Omega. This match has a big fight feel to it, though the pace feels slow coming off the last match. AEW is getting better at setting up for commercial breaks, with the first commercial break for this match coming after Page took a devastating bump on the apron. The match really picked up after the Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley confrontation, though some of the dives were timed in a way that it sometimes just looked like they were standing around waiting for spots.
As the match was winding down, Omega hit Moxley with knees, and Moxley responded with a clothesline that turned Omega inside-out. Eventually, both men wound up on the floor, where they checked under the ring and produced a barbed-wire broom (Omega) and a barbed-wire baseball bat (Moxley). PAC stopped any weapon violence from happening, though ironically cut his hand on the barbed-wire and started bleeding. Moxley then channeled his inner-Stone Cold, flipped PAC off, and laid him out with Dirty Deeds. This let Omega and Page hit PAC with their finishers and pick up a surprising victory. This is like the second or third time PAC has been pinned anywhere over the last couple of years, so it's not a small event.
6. Philadelphia Street Fight for the AEW World Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Darby Allin
Winner: . "A Little Bit of the Bubbly Meme Maker" Jericho looks like he got makeup in his eyes. The first part of the match didn't see any weapon use that one would expect from a Philadelphia Street Fight, but it did see Darby chucked through the top and middle turnbuckles. When the match came back from commercial break, Jericho and Darby were whacking each other with a kendo stick, and there were some chair shots as well. However, the match in general was light on weapon use, and the enforcement of rope breaks confused the crowd. The crowd was tepid for this match from there on out, though Darby Allin had some cool spots after Jericho duct-taped his hands behind his back. Jake Hager interfered at the end of the match to help Jericho get the win, though it's odd that they had Allin lose by submission instead of getting pinned. It sort of clashes with his gimmick that he doesn't care about pain.
AEW Dynamite then concluded with a champagne celebration from The Inner Circle. This was probably the weakest episode of AEW Dynamite to date, but it was still mostly entertaining throughout and definitely more exciting than typical WWE television.