AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights for October 28

With just over a week until the Full Gear pay-per-view, All Elite Wrestling produced an episode of Dynamite headlined by TNT champion Cody defending his title, the latest in the World Title Eliminator tournament, a hotly anticipated town hall address and the new NWA world women's champion in action.

Who built momentum for themselves ahead of the November 7 extravaganza and what, if any, new matches were added to what is sure to be an explosive PPV card?

Find out now with this recap of the October 28 broadcast.

Announced for Wednesday's TNT broadcast were:

• Chris Jericho and MJF hold a town hall discussion
• Lumberjack match for the TNT Championship: Cody vs. Orange Cassidy
• World Title Eliminator match: Penta El Zero M* vs. Kenny Omega
• World Title Eliminator match: Hangman Page vs. Wardlow
• Matt Sydal vs. Eddie Kingston
• NWA World Women's Championship match: Serena Deeb vs. Leyla Hirsch

*Penta replaced Rey Fenix

After a tense exchange between MJF and Sammy Guevara to start the show, Wardlow looked to make his charge proud as he battled "Hangman" Adam Page in the first semifinal round of the World Title Eliminator.

Page controlled early and sent Wardlow into the ring post. The big man shook it off, almost feeding off it, and speared Page through the guardrail.

The massive heel overwhelmed Page, working over AEW's resident cowboy until he fought his way back into the match. Before he could build any momentum of his own, though, Wardlow rocked him with a clothesline and cut him off.

Page delivered a moonsault to the floor but even that failed to negate Wardlow's fury as he delivered an F-10. Hangman avoided the pin by rolling to the sanctuary of the floor.

The battle headed to the top rope, where Page avoided a chokeslam and delivered a big fallaway slam to the mat below. The Buckshot Lariat followed and the former tag team champion scored the hard-fought victory.

Result

Page defeated Wardlow

Grade

B

Analysis

This was a physical battle between two hard hitters that featured a predictable outcome.

Page continued to build momentum toward the finals of the World Title Eliminator via his win, while Wardlow further earned credibility as an in-ring competitor with a strong showing against one of the company's elite.

Page will now battle the winner of Kenny Omega vs. Penta El Zero M. Considering one of those men was not intended to be in this position and the direction this entire tournament has been headed since its inception, the outcome of that one is hardly in question.

After a brief promo from AEW world champion Jon Moxley ahead of their Full Gear title match, Eddie Kingston made his way to the squared circle for a match with Matt Sydal. The Butcher, The Blade and The Bunny accompanied Kingston for the contest.

The tenacious, pit bull-like Kingston controlled the match early and often as he wore down Sydal in an attempt to send a message to Moxley. He worked over his grounded opponent during the break. 

Sydal fought back after the break and rocked Kingston with a roundhouse kick. He recovered and grounded his opponent before trapping him in the same choke Moxley used against him a month ago for the submission win.

After the match, Kingston forced Sydal to say "I quit" before apologizing to Moxley.

Result

Kingston defeated Sydal

Grade

C+

Analysis

This was essentially an extended squash. Sydal was not once booked to be on the level of Kingston and while there needs to be a pecking order, it felt somewhat off-brand for the celebrated indie star to be so unceremoniously beaten down and submitted when lesser-known talents have gotten way more offense in elsewhere on the card.

Kingston forcing Sydal to say he quit was a nice touch, and the apology to Moxley was an interesting twist.

The AEW Championship match at Full Gear is going to be a great bit of business, a contest as cerebrally structured and executed as it is violent. Hopefully, it lives up to the expectations set by the performers; if it does, it could well be the quality fight Moxley's reign deserves.

A pre-taped interview conducted by Excalibur featured The Young Bucks and AEW tag team champions FTR ahead of their Full Gear match.

The Bucks said the trash talk from Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler ignited a fire in them and the old Bucks are back.

Irritated by the one-sidedness of the promo, FTR left. Matt and Nick Jackson then revealed that if they do not win at Full Gear, they will never challenge for the titles again.

Grade

A

Analysis

The Bucks gave us an explanation for their recent actions and raised the stakes for their match at Full Gear. Suddenly, a contest with enough anticipation behind it now features even more meaning as a result of them vowing never to challenge for the gold if they fail to win it.

The only thing that lessened the impact of that decision was the fact that Cody made the same vow last November at Full Gear, when he challenged Chris Jericho for the AEW Championship.

The Inner Circle and MJF hit the ring for a town hall meeting.

Luchasaurus asked MJF what financial benefits there are to the heel joining Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Santana, Ortiz and Jake Hager in the faction. MJF replied that business would be through the roof.

Dr. Britt Baker DMD and Rebel were up next, with the latter applauding Jericho's smile. Baker asked Le Champion how he feels about MJF's track record of betrayal and friendships. He said he wouldn't actually let MJF in The Inner Circle and would knock MJF's teeth down his throat if he turned on them.

Peter Avalon asked if he could join The Inner Circle, a request that was met with laughter. 

Eric Bischoff made a surprise appearance and asked MJF what he can do for The Inner Circle. The scarf-wearing loudmouth answered with one word: "Friendship."

Bischoff called Jericho a prima donna and after a protest from The Demo God, the former WCW executive vice president asked MJF what's to say he and Jericho will not kill each other.

MJF took exception to that and asked Jericho what he hasn't done to prove himself.

"You haven't beaten me," he replied. Jericho then laid down the challenge to MJF for a match at Full Gear. "If you win, I'll allow you to join The Inner Circle."

MJF warned he will do anything to win. Ortiz cut him off and said Guevara and he don't want MJF in the group. He issued a challenge for next week, him and Guevara vs. MJF and Wardlow. The Inner Circle left, leaving MJF clearly conflicted.

Grade

B

Analysis

This could have been accomplished almost any other way, without devoting so much time to it. It was unnecessarily long and came back around to one simple question: How do you know MJF won't turn on you?

And from there, Jericho issued the challenge we knew was coming and Full Gear got one of the most intriguing matches of the whole show.

It will be interesting to see how the performers execute this heel vs. heel match, but if their individual creativity is any indication, it will be something special. Hopefully, it won't be as overdone or overly long as this was.

It was cool to see Bischoff, though. Eazy E is always a great watch, especially in these little pop-up cameos. 

TNT champion Cody and "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy wasted little time trading holds, counters and reversals in their Lumberjack match Wednesday night, picking up where they left off in last week's time limit draw while stars from the AEW roster surrounded the squared circle.

Cody targeted the knee of his opponent and tried for a Figure Four. Cassidy sent him to the floor, where he quickly evaded the grasp of Dark Order and walked right into a big tornado DDT by the challenger. 

Back from the commercial, Cody delivered a superplex from the top rope, onto the mass of humanity that surrounded the squared circle. He followed up with the Cody Cutter back in the ring for a near-fall as Excalibur started to sell the idea of another time-limit draw.

Late, John Silver delivered a pump kick before Cody dumped him to the floor. Meanwhile, Arn Anderson delivered a cheap shot and Cody followed with Cross Rhodes for the pinfall victory. 

Result

Cody defeated Cassidy

Grade

C

Analysis

Waiting for that great Cody-Orange Cassidy match? Keep waiting.

This was entertaining but flawed. It was disjointed in spots and almost nothing being established early on played a part in the outcome. It was a convoluted babyface vs. babyface match that felt more like an excuse to highlight The Dark Order, despite the fact that Cody's Full Gear title defense is against Darby Allin.

There are too many moving pieces here without any real defined direction, making Cody's return and everything that followed unnecessarily messy.

Just 24 hours after defeating Thunder Rosa to win the NWA World Women's Championship, Serena Deeb squared off with "Legit" Leyla Hirsch in singles competition.

While the commentary team put over Hirsch's amateur wrestling accomplishments, Deeb seized control of the match with a rope-assisted neckbreaker. Hirsch recovered and applied an armbar focused on the left limb of the champion. 

Hirsch dominated during the break, but Deeb recovered and tapped her out with a modified Tequila Sunrise to retain her title.

Result

Deeb defeated Hirsch

Grade

C

Analysis

For the second time, Deeb appeared on Dynamite only for a large portion of her match to be interrupted by a commercial break.

Sure, the picture-in-picture gimmick allows you to see the whole fight, but it is yet another instance of the already underserved women's division falling prey to indifferent booking.

After the match, Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose was made official for Full Gear. Not because they had some hot feud or had spent weeks building to the match, but because AEW referenced the same nonsensical rankings it sometimes uses as a crutch to make up for booking complete stories.

And before you rush to the defense of the company, yes, they do have established history. Yes, they wrestled against each other at Double or Nothing. But one match five months ago is not acceptable build to a rematch at Full Gear.

It is further evidence of the company's lack of devotion to an actual, logical and prioritized women's division.

Shawn Spears returned to action this week for a match with VSK.

Seconds after the bell rang, Spears delivered the C4 and picked up the uncontested win.

After the match, the victor made his way to the ringside area and pulled a costumed performer into the ring. As he ordered Tully Blanchard to give him his black glove, Scorpio Sky removed the bull costume and delivered a TKO that left The Chairman lying.

Result

Spears defeated VSK

Grade

C

Analysis

This was an inoffensive way to keep the Spears-Sky rivalry progressing without hurting anyone else.

Spears could really use some momentum on his side, while Sky appears to have lost all of it that was built via his initial success with the company. Hopefully, both will find it again in this program.

In the main event of the night, a World Title Eliminator Tournament match to determine Hangman Page's opponent at Full Gear, Penta El Zero M battled Kenny Omega.

After early disrespect from Omega that included taunting Rey Fenix at ringside with the AAA Mega Championship he won from the Lucha Bro, the fight descended into a chaotic brawl during the commercial break. 

Back from the timeout, Penta delivered a double stomp in the corner for a near-fall. Omega recovered and uncorked a series of V-Trigger knee strikes before setting Penta up for a super dragon suplex.

Omega set up for a superplex onto the ring steps at ringside, but Penta countered with a destroyer onto the entrance ramp.

Back inside, Penta snapped his opponent's arm. Omega survived the pain in his shoulder, though, and delivered the One-Winged Angel for the pinfall victory.

Result

Omega defeated Penta

Grade

A

Analysis

Omega's entrance came complete with quotes from several major media sources, including Bleacher Report. The Cleaner's dancers mocking The Lucha Bros was another nice touch, as was his complete and utter disrespect for Fenix by breaking out the Mega Championship. 

The match itself was every bit as excellent as you would expect given the talent involved, and the arm snap out of the One-Winged Angel midway through was great stuff.

Omega shaking off the pre-match theatrics and having to refocus himself was a nice bit of storytelling and added to the overall quality of the bout.

His match with Page at Full Gear is, arguably, the most eagerly anticipated one on entire card and has the potential to be a legitimate Match of the Year candidate.