AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Analysis from June 22

With just four days until the inter-promotional pay-per-view, Forbidden Door, Dynamite hit the airwaves with a TBS broadcast dedicated to finalizing the hype for the All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling co-promoted event, headlined by a tag team encounter pitting Chris Jericho and Lance Archer against Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Would Moxley and the man affectionately known as "Ace" to NJPW fans be able to coexist ahead of their battle for the AEW Interim World Championship Sunday night or would Jericho and Archer earn a huge victory against two of the top wrestlers in the world?

That match, plus an explanation from Christian Cage following his shocking betrayal of Jungle Boy a week ago, awaited fans Wednesday night.

What else went down, who emerged victorious from the night's in-ring action and who built momentum entering the historic first-time PPV? Find out now with this recap of the June 22 episode.

• Chris Jericho and Lance Archer vs. Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi
• All-Atlantic Championship Qualifying match: Penta Oscuro vs. Malakai Black
• Toni Storm vs. Marina Shafir
• Will Ospreay and Aussie Open vs. Orange Cassidy and Roppongi Vice
• Bryan Danielson talks Forbidden Door and Blood and Guts
• Christian Cage promo
  

Bryan Danielson kicked off Wednesday's show with a major announcement: He is not cleared to compete at Forbidden Door against Zack Sabre Jr., and he will not be allowed to compete in Blood and Guts next week.

His overall health is fine, he said, reasoning that he can read 500 words and speak just fine. The American Dragon revealed Sabre will still compete Sunday, but he is not telling the fans against whom it will be. Instead, they have to wait to see. That same wrestler will join Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz and Jon Moxley next week against the Jericho Appreciation Society.

Sabre appeared at the end of the promo but all the staredown did was tease a match that fans will have to wait a bit longer to actually see.

That battle of mat magicians would have been the undisputed show-stealer of Forbidden Door and could have shattered Dave Meltzer's star-rating system like an Omos match destroys the spirit of WWE fans.

The intrigue of Danielson's replacement makes for a nice hook and could sell some extra PPVs, but it's difficult not to feel disappointment over the cancellation of a purist's dream match.

At least The American Dragon was fired up throughout and did not let his own disappointment cloud his efforts to get fans excited for the next week of television.

Grade

B+

Top Moments

• "Chris Jericho paid Zack Sabre Jr. to prove he was a better technical wrestler than me. I was not only excited to prove that was not true but I was also going to crush his trachea," Danielson said.
• "There's not a man in this ring that can wrestle as well as I can right now!" 
• "The one person I trust to take my place at Forbidden Door; to take my place in Blood and Guts. You're all going to be astounded by what he does in AEW." 
• "Don't you know, I came out of the bad-guy tunnel. I'm not going to tell you," Danielson said of Sabre's mystery opponent at Forbidden Door.

Orange Cassidy and Will Ospreay will clash Sunday night at Forbidden Door, but Wednesday, Freshley Squeezed partnered Roppongi Vice's Trent Beretta and Rocky Romero to battle Ospreay and Aussie Open's Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher.

An all-action tag team match saw the babyfaces overcome a concentrated beatdown of the isolated Beretta to score the come-from-behind victory following Cassidy's Orange Punch.

This was a ton of fun and further proof that trios matches might be the easiest contest to pull off in wrestling today. Whether it is AEW, WWE, Impact, AAA or the indies, they are as sure a thing as there is in the business. That is not to diminish the work of anyone involved here, though, as all six had their work boots on, most notably Beretta.

Don't be surprised if Cassidy and Ospreay tear the house down at the United Center come Sunday night. They exhibited some chemistry in their brief interaction here that suggests they have the tools to outshine every other match on the card.

It would not be the first time Freshly Squeezed has done such a thing. His 2020 Revolution match with PAC came very close to doing just that.

Ospreay is on the roll of his life right now, making him an even more likely candidate for Cassidy to steal the show with.

Grade

B

Top Moments

• Despite not being consistently utilized of late, the pop Cassidy received is still that of a major star. It's good to see him back here and preparing for such a high-profile match. 
• Cassidy scored the pinfall victory on Fletcher, building momentum and setting himself up as a threat to beat Ospreay.
• FTR hit the ring to event things up for the babyfaces, preventing Great O-Khan and Jeff Cobb from joining their United Empire teammates and jumping the victors. 

Christian Cage joined Tony Schiavone in the ring to address his sickening betrayal of Jungle Boy at the conclusion of last week's show.

Citing his loss to the young star at Double or Nothing 2021 in the Casino Battle Royale and revealing his motivations for joining AEW as pure greed, he had the audience booing and hurling profanities in his direction.

By the time he verbally assaulted the memory of Jungle Boy's late father, actor Luke Perry, Luchasaurus had heard enough. He hit the ring to avenge his partner but was manipulated by Cage.

This was great stuff from Cage, whose promo might have been a bit scattered but featured some expert heel work as he went down the checklist of things the audience is passionate about.

Always a great, smarmy bad guy, he is about to become a major force in AEW as one of the best villains in the business. If he can be the emphasis for the breakup of Jurassic Express, his heat will intensify tenfold as Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus make up one of the most beloved tandems in the sport.

Grade

A

Top Moments

• Cage credited his attack on Jungle Boy to his loss in the 2021 Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing in a nice bit of long-term booking.
• Cage used Jungle Boy's father for heat in a bit that might be considered cheap by some but definitely delivered the desired reaction from fans.
• "Remember what happened to Marko," Cage reasoned with Luchasaurus, trying to plant the seeds of distrust between the masked big man and Jungle Boy.
• The sly smirk on the face of Cage as he manipulated Luchasaurus was great and another example of what makes Captain Charisma such a brilliant heel.

The rivalry between Death Triangle and The House of Black manifested itself in the form of an All-Atlantic Championship qualifying match as Penta Oscuro battled Malakai Black.

The back-and-forth bout saw Penta thrive down the stretch. An avalanche Fear Factor appeared to put him in the driver's seat, but he damaged his own back during the move, preventing him from scoring the deciding pinfall.

Black took advantage of a slowed Oscuro and blasted him with Black Mass for the pinfall victory.

As expected, this was a good match that was hurt only by an ill-placed commercial break that disrupted the flow. Both men looked great, the selling of Oscuro's injured back actually led to the finish, and Black scored another quality singles win.

It will be interesting to see what happens Sunday in Chicago when Black joins PAC, Miro and NJPW's legendary Tomohiro Ishii. The Stone Pitbull feels like the only real option not to win the title, while PAC's inconsistent appearances over the last year have to be the cause of hesitation in terms of putting the title on him.

Given the fact that Miro has already been TNT champion, putting the gold on Black and using it to add to the imposing nature of his stable is hardly a bad idea.

Grade

B+

Top Moments

• Black entered to "Oogentroost" by Amenra for the first time in a while. It's his best theme and fits the haunting aura of what might be the best entrance in wrestling.
• Oscuro delivered Fear Factor from the top rope but took too much out of himself to fully capitalize on the bump.
• Black obliterated Oscuro with Black Mass for the win. The preciseness, the sell job by Penta and the finality of the strike made for a very effective finish. 
• Miro appeared on the video screen and cut a promo in which he vowed to win the All-Atlantic Championship. "All I wanted was my god, my gold and my gorgeous wife," he said.

A late addition to the Dynamite card, former AEW world champion Hangman Page battled Ring of Honor's "Real Man" Silas Young.

It was, predictably, a physical match that highlighted Young a bit but was ultimately a showcase for Page, who overcame the very game ROH alum and put him away with the Buckshot Lariat.

What was a fun sprint gave way to drama between IWGP world champion Jay White, fellow Bullet Club alum Adam Cole and Page. Before we could get clarification on who White will defend against at Forbidden Door, a two-on-one beatdown of Hangman ensued.

This brought out Kazuchika Okada for his first AEW appearance. The Rainmaker cleared the ring and stood tall alongside Page to close out the segment.

With that, the road to Forbidden Door just got interesting.

Okada is the biggest star in NJPW and his presence ahead of the inter-promotional PPV has been sorely lacking. He instantly creates excitement and intrigue for a show that had very little entering Wednesday.

With all signs pointing to a tag team match or four-way for the IWGP title, there is no denying his presence on the show adds the credibility that the PPV needed.

Grade

A+, mostly for Okada's surprise debut

Top Moments

• Jim Ross and Excalibur giving Cole grief on commentary for not talking was a fun moment.
• The Milwaukee fans were strongly behind hometown hero Young, who received chants of "Let's go Silas!" down the stretch.
• "My opponent...it still can't be you. Because you lost to him (motions to Page). Twice," White told Cole.
• Cole teased blasting White with the IWGP World Championship, only to pull up. 
• Okada's arrival was the earth-shattering moment the build to Forbidden Door desperately needed.

Ahead of her AEW World Women's Championship match against Thunder Rosa at Forbidden Door, Toni Storm battled Marina Shafir, who was accompanied to the squared circle by Nyla Rose.

Shafir dominated early and throughout the commercial break, overpowering her opponent and keeping her grounded, courtesy of some well-timed strikes. A tornado DDT by Storm on the floor and a German suplex back inside the squared circle sparked the Antipodean's comeback.

Storm would ultimately counter a pumphandle slam into a roll-up for the win. Rosa saved the winner from a two-on-one beatdown by Shafir and Rose, then stared her down.

The top contender to the title was motivated to show off her abilities ahead of Sunday's high-profile bout, but Shafir is still developing as an in-ring performer. Every match is another rep, of which she needs many. Too often, she appears to be a step off and is clearly not at the level of performance her peers are.

That is not necessarily a bad thing as working with the more experienced performers will only help her learn and evolve. With that said, the women of AEW get such little TV time on Dynamite and Rampage as it is that letting Shafir's development play out on one of the two main shows feels like a misuse of time.

Let her work with some of her fellow competitors on Dark Elevation and develop her skill set there so she is not being exposed in these matches.

The potential is there and her striking sets her apart from others in the division. Build around that and let her find herself as an in-ring performer and she will succeed. Continue to book her in matches like this, where her weaknesses are on display, and it will only hurt her in the long run.

Grade

C

Top Moments

• Rosa made the save for Storm after the match and then found herself engaged in a tense staredown with the top contender, who held onto her title a bit too long for the babyface's liking.
  
• The commentary team putting over the enormity of the Storm-Rosa title match was a bit out of place given how their feud has been mostly nonexistent, aside from Storm staring at the women's title on a few occasions. 

Jon Moxley and NJPW's Hiroshi Tanahashi will battle for the AEW Interim World Championship Sunday night in the main event of Forbidden Door. Before that, they had to set aside any animosity and focus their attention on Chris Jericho and Lance Archer.

The heels worked over Moxley, downing him after a distraction from Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti at ringside and cutting him off from his opponent. A hot tag to Tanahashi sparked the comeback but Jericho cut off the babyfaces' momentum, countering High Fly Flo into the Walls of Jericho.

Moxley made the save, Tanahashi delivered the sling blade to Archer and all four men lay on the mat. Ace recovered and scored the pinfall victory over Archer.

Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta, Shota Umino and Minoru Suzuki made their presences felt afterward. The Jericho Appreciation Society joined the mix as a wild brawl ensued. Of course, none of it did anything to drum up any excitement for Forbidden Door.

Even the tag team main event, during which the commentary team put over the idea of AEW defending itself against an invasion from NJPW despite the show never once being sold as such, felt like a half-hearted sell job of a show lacking the spark one would expect from a major co-promoted extravaganza.

The star power is there with the inclusion of Tanahashi, Okada, White and Suzuki, but the stories are lacking and the feuds are nearly nonexistent. Booking a wild brawl that randomly featured NJPW stars whom AEW did not introduce to fans, did not help.

Grade

C+

• Prior to the match, Sting and Darby Allin cut a promo in which they revealed they will partner with New Japan's Shingo and Hiromu Takahashi to face AEW world tag team champions The Young Bucks, El Phantasmo and Hikuleo
• Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti accompanied Jericho.
• William Regal became tongue-tied as he talked about Moxley vs. Tanahashi and its significance to AEW. Indirectly, it put over how important it is for Moxley to defend the company in a way the creative forces had not.
• How did no one mention that Archer defeated Moxley for the IWGP United States Championship last July on Dynamite? Imagine what that would have done to build credibility for the big man, who has been abysmally booked since signing with the company.