AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from November 15

Ahead of Saturday's Full Gear pay-per-view, available exclusively on Bleacher Report in the United States, AEW world champion Jon Moxley addressed top contender MJF and their marquee matchup one last time.

What did the no-nonsense champion have to say about his opponent on AEW Dynamite, and would things between him and The Salt of the Earth get physical in the final bit of hype ahead of their title clash?

What else went down on a show headlined by Ring of Honor world champion Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara vs. Claudio Castagnoli and Bryan Danielson?

Find out now with this recap of the go-home edition of Dynamite.

• Claudio Castagnoli and Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara
• Women's World Title Eliminator match: Toni Storm vs. The Bunny
• AEW Full Gear World Title Eliminator Tournament semifinal: Ethan Page vs. Bandido
• AEW World Trios Championship match: Death Triangle vs. AR Fox and Top Flight
• Anthony Bowens vs. Swerve Strickland
• The Acclaimed music video
• Promos from Samoa Joe, Saraya, Britt Baker, Jon Moxley and MJF
  

Just days before a big four-way match for the Ring of Honor World Championship defense, Chris Jericho teamed with Sammy Guevara to battle Claudio Castagnoli and Bryan Danielson.

The heels expertly focused on the injured eye of Danielson, suffered in last week's war of attrition against Guevara, forcing him to battle through blurred vision if he hoped to guide his team to victory.

A resilient American Dragon fended them off and a late tag to Castagnoli allowed the babyfaces to roll by way of a big swing to Jericho, who failed to strike the Swiss Superman with his baseball bat, Floyd. Castagnoli applied the Sharpshooter and forced a submission, defeating The Wizard to extend his recent winning streak over the champ to 2-0.

This was a very good, hard-fought opening tag match that continued to establish the injured eye of Danielson, highlighted Castagnoli and told the story (via commentary) that Jericho is slowly becoming what he despises most: one of the greatest ROH champs of all time.

Surely, the last few weeks of build have been aimed at creating the impression that Cesaro is a real threat to Jericho, who has lost to him on at least two different occasions. With that said, it feels too early on in the story that The Ocho and Tony Khan are attempting to tell (for better or worse) to take the title off of him at this point.

Result

Castagnoli and Danielson defeated Jericho and Guevara

Grade

B+

Top Moments

• Danielson continued to come out of the heel tunnel, which is a nice touch to the fact that he never really turned babyface, despite forming Blackpool Combat Club with Jon Moxley and William Regal.
• Castagnoli with the most awkward double splash of all time to Jericho and Guevara early on.
• Ian Riccobani did what all of us have wanted to once or twice since his debut and nearly referred to Castagnoli as "Cesaro," in recognition of his more recognizable moniker.

The Acclaimed will defend the AEW World Tag Team Championship against Swerve In Our Glory at Full Gear but Anthony Bowens battled Swerve Strickland in one-on-one action Wednesday.

Despite a gutsy effort from Bowens, bloody mouth and all, Strickland outclassed and out-wrestled the tag team champion en route to a victory with the JML Driver.

The match was fine for what it was, that being a preview of the tag team title clash Saturday. More than that, it was a fantastic showcase for Strickland, who looked focused and more dangerous than he has to this point in his AEW run.

He is absolutely money and should benefit from the impending singles run that his breakup with Keith Lee will produce in the weeks after Full Gear. Kudos to Bowens for selling his ass off to put over his opponent's attack.

Result

Strickland defeated Bowens

Grade

B-

Top Moments

• The Acclaimed debuted their new music video, "A Hand for A Hand" before the match.

• Billy Gunn and Max Caster attacked Strickland prior to the match and found themselves banished from ringside.
• Strickland injured his opponent's arm, snapping it back behind him before delivering a Swerve Stomp, only to result in a two-count.

Ring of Honor Television champion Samoa Joe joined Tony Schiavone in the ring for a promo, during which he chalked his shocking betrayal of The War Dog up to striking first rather than being the victim.

This brought out Powerhouse Hobbs, then Wardlow, who speared Joe and instigated a three-way brawl. The locker room emptied out but the TNT champion launched himself over the top rope, wiping out Joe, Hobbs and the rest of the AEW competitors before standing tall.

There has been no official announcement made for Full Gear but one would assume this is headed toward a three-way dance at Saturday's pay-per-view. The only question is whether it is Wardlow's TNT title or Joe's ROH TV title up for grabs.

If any are at all.

Hopefully, we get the answer in short order because the idea of those three guys mixing it up in a hard-hitting, three-way hoss fight is mighty appealing and sets the table for a match unlike any other on that card.

Grade

B

Top Moments

• The Wardlow dive was extraordinary.

As the commentary team put over the recent dissension within Death Triangle as Pac continues to attempt to convince the Lucha Bros to cheat and use the timekeeper's hammer, the AEW World Trios Champions defended against Top Flight's Dante and Darius Martin and indie wrestling veteran AR Fox.

The champs dominated the competition, answering the raw athleticism of their challengers and controlling through the picture-in-picture commercial break.

The underdog challengers mounted a comeback, taking to the air to throw the champions off their game. Pac recovered, though, and delivered the Black Arrow to Fox to secure the win. Feeling braggadocious after the victory, The Bastard issued a not-so-subtle challenge that was answered, via on-screen graphic, by The Elite.

First things first: this was most definitely not Braun Strowman's favorite match.

What it was, though, was a high-energy party match the likes of which AEW does very well. It was spot-heavy, had very little in the way of a narrative but the crowd loved it and it highlighted the challengers while putting the champions over.

Second, if you are a fan of The Elite, their return instantly creates buzz for a Full Gear pay-per-view you may have struggled to find a match to be genuinely excited about. If you are not, however, the match feels like a foregone conclusion with an outcome that should be surprising to no one.

Hopefully, no one is bitten along the way.

Result

Death Triangle defeated Top Flight and Fox

Grade

B+

Top Moments

• Prior to the match, Dr. Britt Baker DMD cut the promo of her career ahead of her showdown with Saraya at Full Gear Saturday night.

• This marked Darius Martin's first match in seven months following a scary car accident that threatened his in-ring career.
• Fox uncorked one of the most picture-perfect 450 splashes you will ever see in a wrestling ring. A thing of beauty. 
• The reveal of The Elite graphic was certainly a thing that happened if you are into that particular trio. 

The Full Gear World Title Eliminator Tournament continued Wednesday night with The Firm's "All Ego" Ethan Page squaring off with former Ring of Honor World champion Bandido.

A highly competitive match saw Bandido threaten to end Stokely Hathaway's dreams of having The Firm earn a future world title opportunity

Page cut off his opponent's late surge, though, and scored the win to advance to the finals of the tournament.

It is about time that All Ego enjoys a bit of a push in AEW. He is too talented to have been utilized in the manner he has to this point and while the jury is out on his ceiling in the company, he is certainly charismatic and a strong enough worker to warrant inclusion in the title picture from time to time.

Some will argue against Bandido losing this early on but Page needed it more.

Result

Page defeated Bandido

Grade

C+

Top Moments

• Excalibur explained away Page's change in physique by claiming he packed on weight to help offset Eddie Kingston's striking power a week ago.
• Bandido's strength was on display via a single-arm gorilla press slam.

Just days before a high-profile title defense against Jamie Hayter, AEW Interim World Women's champion Toni Storm found herself battling Anna Jay A.S. in a match originally scheduled to be against The Bunny, as seen in the above graphic.

It was a tougher-than-expected match against an always-game opponent, but Storm overcame the challenge of Jay and scored the submission win with a Texas Cloverleaf.

Jamie Hayter stormed the ring after the match, coming face-to-face with the victor, talking trash in the final build to their pay-per-view showdown.

The match was fine but was somewhat rushed. That the commentary team never explained why The Bunny was taken out of the match despite days of promotion did not help matters. In fact, it could be argued that Jay really could not afford the last-second loss.

The match between Storm and Hayter should be very good if they are given time and the fan is as hot for the challenger as they have been in the weeks leading into the show. Whether Storm can win those fans over will bear watching.

Especially if the creative forces do not go the way the fans expect and, instead, book Storm to retain.

Result

Storm defeated Jay

Grade

C

Top Moments

• Credit to Excalibur for crediting the great RJ City for coining Storm's running hip attack "Sweet Cheeks Music."

A fired-up AEW World champion Jon Moxley hit the ring, accompanied by William Regal, for the final promo on his way to Full Gear and a date with top contender MJF.

Moxley challenged his opponent to show him something special Saturday in Newark, New Jersey, before Stokely Hathaway and The Firm hit the ring. The heels attacked until MJF made the save.

Another tense verbal showdown between champion and challenger concluded the show, with Moxley standing tall as the broadcast faded to black.

There were two big takeaways from this promo, the first being two notable references to CM Punk. No, that is not to suggest that the Chicago native will be on the show, but is certainly a nod to the history between him and MJF.

First, MJF paraphrased a line used in Punk's infamous Pipebomb Promo. "As you lay there, on, hopefully in as much pain as possible" is a referee to Punk using a similar line on John Cena back in 2011.

The second Punk reference was the line about the devil convincing people he did not exist. Not only did Punk use the line in Ring of Honor, but MJF used it on him during their feud last year.

It is that line that brings about takeaway two, which is that MJF clearly has an angle. The good guy, fueled by hard work and destiny, is clearly a facade and he will almost certainly reveal that he was working with The Firm or Regal in some major swerve.

MJF likely wins the title but this was a great bit of business to close out the show, complete with a botch by Moxley regarding the PPV day that accidentally added gravity to the promo. Here was the challenger, focused and intense, and a champion who wasn't even sure of what day the match was.

It worked and enhances the narrative for Full Gear.

Grade

A+

Top Moments

• "I am the best professional wrestler on planet earth," Moxley said while defining himself. 
• "Who exactly is MJF?"
• "He was handed a poker chip in the worst finish to a ladder match of all time," he said of MJF's lackluster last six months in the squared circle.
• "MJF isn't challenging me, I'm challenging MJF!" 
• "I need that belt, more than I need water, more than I need food and more than I need oxygen!" MJF said. 
• "It's my time!" MJF exclaimed.
• "The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist," MJF said, a not-so-subtle hint that the man we have seen in recent weeks may not be who he claims to be.