Tonight's special Fyter Fest edition of AEW Dynamite kicked off with the surprise debut of deathmatch legend Nick Gage and closed with deathmatch legend Jon Moxley losing his IWGP United States Championship to Lance Archer in a Texas Deathmatch ... in Texas!
Winner: Chris Jericho Is 1/4 Closer To A Match With MJF
The second AEW's two consecutive Fyter Fest editions of Dynamite kicked off with a decent match between Chris Jericho and Shawn Spears. As established on night one of Fyter Fest, this was one of four matches that Jericho has to win before he can get his hands on MJF, and each match has a stipulation chosen by MJF himself. The stipulation for tonight's match was that Shawn Sears could use a steel chair, and Jericho could not. This stipulation backfired on Spears, enabling Jericho to get the win. Much to the chagrin of MJF.
Loser: Shawn Spears Falls Victim To His Own Chair
Jericho had the match won with the Walls of Jericho but Tully Blanchard distracted referee Aubrey Edwards. Sammy Guevera emerged to a huge pop and took care of Blanchard, while Spears escaped the Walls by striking Jericho with a chair. He hit Jericho with a C4 and went for the pin, but Jericho kicked out, much to the joy of the Dallas crowd. Naturally, Checkovs's chair came into play. Spears set up a chair in one of the ring's corners and ended up on the receiving end of it, which enabled Jericho to get the win. One trial down, three to go.
Winner: Nick Gage Debuts
MJF joined took a seat at the announce desk for the Jericho/Spears match and spent the whole time roasting Jericho and the city of Dallas, which was fun and definitely added an extra layer of enjoyment to the match. After the bell, MJF proclaimed that at next week's trial, Jericho will have to participate in a No Disqualifications match -- against deathmatch legend Nick Gage. Gage then emerged from the back, making his AEW debut in the process.
The crowd loved this segment and it was a perfect way to open the show.
Loser: Frankie Kazarian
"The Elite Hunter" Frankie Kazarian finally got the opportunity to go one-on-one with a member of The Elite when he got in the ring with Doc Gallows of The Good Brothers. The match itself was perfectly fine, but the bar for in-ring action in AEW has been raised so high that sometimes perfectly fine doesn't feel good enough.
Gallows got the win with the help of Karl Anderson, and the pair continued to beat Kazarian down after the bell. AEW Champion made his way to the ring with Don Callis and teased Kazarian while Gallows and Anderson restrained him. Omega was about to lay into Kazarian, but Hangman Page and The Dark Order made the save.
Over the last few weeks, Kazarian has been a thorn in the side of The Elite. He's interfered in almost every segment in which the group has been involved and usually takes a couple of them out which greatly diminishes the numbers advantage. Kazarian's been around a long time, but he's been doing some of the best work of his career in AEW. Since Christopher Daniels took a step away from on-camera stuff, Kazarian has been wedged into the Dark Order and Hangman Page vs. The Elite feud and it's largely working out for him, although it's difficult to see what he'll do once his business with The Elite is settled
Winner: Britt Baker
Britt Baker overcame the Native Beast Nyla Rose in a brutal match and retained her AEW Women's Championship in the process.
Baker got a huge babyface reaction from the crowd but didn't pander to them in any way. Other companies may have been tempted to pull the trigger on a face turn, but it's likely that AEW didn't even consider it an option, given how poorly received Baker's initial AEW babyface run was.
Baker is in her element. She's great in the ring but keeps improving, and her character work is some of the best in the business. Tonight, she emerged victorious after a tough match against a bigger, stronger opponent. By defeating Nyla Rose, Baker has well and truly cemented her status as the face of the AEW women's division for the foreseeable future.
Loser: Jon Moxley's Forehead
In the main event, Jon Moxley lost the IWGP United States Championship to Lance Archer in a Texas Deathmatch, which seemed appropriate given the location.
This match was absolutely brutal and brilliant. There were no displays of technical wizardry, but it was a masterclass in deathmatch wrestling. Both men drew blood and threw everything they had at each other, but it was Archer who got the win in his home state after he pummelled Moxley's forehead with a fork a bunch of times and threw him through a table covered in barbed wire. The ref counted to ten and Archer was declared the winner. After the bell, NJPW star Hikuleo (the son of WWE legend Haku) confronted Archer in the ring as the show went off the air.
Full Results
- Chris Jericho def. Shawn Spears via pinfall after launching Spears into a steel chair
- Doc Gallows def. Frankie Kazarian via pinfall with a sitdown powerbomb following a distraction from Karl Anderson
- Darby Allin def. Wheeler Yuta via pinfall with a Coffin Drop
- Britt Baker def. Nyla Rose via submission with a Lockjaw
- Orange Cassidy def. The Blade with an Orange Punch
- Lance Archer def. Jon Moxley for the IWGP United States Championship via 10-count after throwing him through a barbed-wire table
Noteworthy Moments
- Following the opening match, MJF introduced Nick Gage, who will face Jericho next week
- In a pretaped promo, Miro announced that he will defend the TNT title at AEW: Homecoming on August 4th
- Following the second match, The Dark Order and Adam Page saved Frankie Kazarian from a beatdown at the hands of The Elite
- Via video, Ricky Starks said Team Taz will have a big party next week in Charlotte to celebrate his FTW Championship. Brian Cage, who saw the message on a TV screen backstage, said next week works for him, and he loves celebrations
- NJPW star Hikuleo was shown enjoying the show from the front row
- Sting and Orange Cassidy did the light kick thing to each other on the outside during the Allin/Yuta match
- The Blade blindsided Cassidy and hit him with brass knucks following the Allin/Yuta match
- Ahead of their long-awaited match at next week's Fight For The Fallen, FTR and Santana and Ortiz trash-talked each other in a UFC-style press conference. Things got heated and the teams had to be pulled apart by security personnel
- Andrade El Idolo introduced Chavo Guerrero as his new "executive consultant"
- Death Triangle (Penta, Fenix, and Pac) confronted Andrade, the interaction almost got physical but Andrade had second thoughts and left the ring
- Following his win over The Blade, Orange Cassidy Orange Punched The Blade with the brass knucks
- In a backstage interview, Chris Jericho revealed that he would be bringing back his Painmaker persona to take on Nick Gage next week
- Following his IWGP US title win over Jon Moxley, Lance Archer was confronted by Hikuleo as the show went off the air