AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights from June 21

Just days before the Forbidden Door pay-per-view, Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara attempted to put mounting tension between them on the back-burner as they teamed with Minoru Suzuki to battle the babyface trio of AR Fox, Darius Martin and Action Andretti.

That match headlined a broadcast that also featured the latest from Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson, Eddie Kingston and a TBS Championship defense by Kris Statlander.

Find out what went down live at Chicago's WindTrust Arena with this recap, including live grades and analysis, from the June 21 broadcast.

Announced in advance for Wednesday's show were:

• Trios match: Action Andretti, Darius Martin and AR Fox vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Minoru Suzuki
• Orange Cassidy and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Daniel Garcia and Zack Sabre Jr.
• Concession Stand Brawl: Mark Briscoe vs. Jeff Jarrett
• The Hardys vs. The Gunns
• TBS Championship: Kris Statlander vs. Taya Valkyrie
• Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole and Eddie Kingston promos
  

Starting a show with The Hardys and The Gunns is not necessarily going to inspire a ton of excitement, particularly in 2023, but it was actually the setup for a post-match brawl of greater magnitude.

Moments after "Switchblade" Jay White and Juice Robinson assisted Colten and Austin Gunn in defeating Matt and Jeff Hardy, they beat the legendary tandem down until Ricky Starks attempted a save. FTR followed and, finally, CM Punk hit the ring and cleared the heels to the floor.

The crowd in Chicago was red-hot for everything that came after the bell, and Punk brought an energy to the segment unmatched by anyone else on the screen.

To quote Jim Ross, business picks up when that guy is on the TV, and the eight-man tag match that results Saturday night on Collision (Punk, FTR, and Starks vs. White, Robinson, and The Gunns) will help elevate the significance of the second episode of the show.

Result

The Gunns defeated The Hardys

Grade

C+

Top Moments

• Robinson and White emerged from out of nowhere and shoved Jeff Hardy off the ropes.
• The Gunns capitalized on the interference and delivered 3:10 to Yuma for the upset victory.
• Starks, FTR and Punk cleared the ring before The Best in the World issued a challenge for a big eight-man tag on Saturday's Collision.
• "I'm a Collision guy. I'm not even supposed to be here," Punk said.

Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee vs. The Blond Bombers this was not.

Mark Briscoe battled Jeff Jarrett in a match inspired by the Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl from 1979 but more closely resembled an overbooked WCW hardcore-division mess from 2000.

There was a ton of interference on behalf of the heels, followed by a babyface save, before culminating in a schoolboy roll-up that felt blissfully simple in comparison to the mess that preceded it.

A feud that once had charm has, like a few other storylines over the course of AEW's history, drawn on too long.

Mark, Papa Briscoe and Aubrey Edwards beating Jarrett, Jay Lethal and Karen Jarrett on Friday's Rampage should have ended this program, but it stretched one bout too long and the result was nowhere near as fun.

The effort from Briscoe and Jarrett will always be enough to warrant a "C" grade, though.

Result

Briscoe defeated Jarrett

Grade

C

Top Moments

• Karen Jarrett interfered and was followed by Sonjay Dutt, who shoved Briscoe off a ladder and through a table. That moment turned the tide in favor of Jarrett at that point. 
• Lethal attempted to interfere and Papa Briscoe stopped him, delivering a chokeslam to the former ROH world champion, through a table at ringside.
• Satnam Singh delivered a chokeslam of his own to Mark before Christopher Daniels, Best Friends and Lucha Bros made the save.
• Mark scored the win off a schoolboy roll-up.
• Backstage, Jon Moxley challenged The Elite to a four-on-four match at Forbidden Door and Bryan Danielson cut a promo on Kazuchika Okada ahead of their dream match Sunday.

This was the first match on Wednesday's show that felt like an AEW contest.

Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki and Sammy Guevara defeated Action Andretti, Darius Martin and AR Fox in a fun, energetic party tag bout that featured high spots, dramatic near-falls and a win for the higher profile trio.

The babyfaces were allowed to show off a bit before succumbing to the veteran prowess of Jericho and Suzuki, in particular.

The match gave way to the latest between Jericho and Sting, who had their first face-to-face a week ago. At Forbidden Door, they will be on opposite sides of a trios match as "Le Suzuki Gods" battle The Icon, Darby Allin and a partner who will be named on Collision.

Based on what we saw Wednesday night, that should be a lot of fun.

Result

Suzuki, Jericho and Guevara defeated Fox, Martin and Andretti

Grade

B

Top Moments

• The crowd singing of "Kaze Ni Nare" will never get old. Ever. 
• Suzuki and Jericho mocked the latter's pose with Guevara, who looked on unimpressed.
• Jericho caught Martin and applied the Liontamer in the ring while Suzuki punished Fox with an ankle lock on the arena floor, scoring a submission victory for the heels.
• "Le Suzuki Gods are challenging you and Darby Allin, if anyone will team with you, to find a partner and face us Sunday at Forbidden Door," Jericho said during a post-match promo with Renee Paquette.

Following the Adam Cole promo that was predictably interrupted by AEW world champion MJF, we know two things: The rivals will team up in an eliminator tournament to determine No. 1 contenders to the AEW World Tag Team Championship and the self-proclaimed "Devil" will battle the legendary Hiroshi Tanahashi at Forbidden Door on Sunday night.

Tony Schiavone made the first announcement before Cole expertly goaded the cowardly MJF into accepting Ace's challenge for this weekend's pay-per-view.

The "wacky tag team partners who hate each other" is a tired gimmick made that way by Vince Russo and WWE's overreliance on it during the height of its popularity, and dusting it off for an eliminator tournament is not the most inspiring bit of creative.

Still, Cole and MJF have solid enough chemistry, and the in-stereo "Shut up, Schiavone" to show their mutual disdain for the commentator was a great touch.

Cole vs. MJF appears to be the endgame, presumably for All In at Wembley Stadium in London. To get there, AEW needs to buy some time, and this is at least an effort to do so without relying on repetitive booking until August 27.

The MJF sell job when he realized he would have to work every week was pure gold.

Grade

C+

Top Moments

• In a pre-taped promo, The Elite revealed Eddie Kingston will be one of the men teaming with "Hangman" Adam Page and The Young Bucks to battle Blackpool Combat Club's Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Konosuke Takeshita and a partner of their choosing at Forbidden Door in a five-on-five tag team match. 
• "The fact is, MJF has never beaten Adam Cole, bay bay!" the prospective No. 1 contender reminded the champ.
• "Adam Cole came back better than ever, and I'm the one who brought him out of you. I know you won't give me credit. It's fine, it's fine," MJF said.
• "You want me to wrestle every week? Are you out of your mind? Are you some kind of sick pervert?" MJF berated Schiavone following his announcement.

Daniel Garcia and New Japan Pro-Wrestling World TV champion Zack Sabre Jr. dealt the team of AEW international champion Orange Cassidy and Ring of Honor Pure champion Katsuyori Shibata a significant loss Wednesday night and in the process, set up another high-stakes match for the Forbidden Door event Sunday night.

As all four competitors surrounded Cassidy's title, it was revealed on the commentary team that Freshly Squeezed will defend against the other three.

There was some background to be had here given the interactions between all four even prior to Wednesday's match, so there is at least an argument to be made that it is a logical addition to the Forbidden Door card.

If that match is close to the overall quality we saw out of the four combatants Wednesday night, fans could be in for a treat come Sunday.

Result

Sabre Jr. and Garcia defeated Cassidy and Shibata

Grade

B

Top Moments

• Garcia unloaded with a series of toe kicks to the injured left arm of Shibata, only to be shut down with a hard forearm to the face.
• Cassidy accidentally rocked Shibata, who fell prey to a cheap roll-up by Garcia as the heels scored the victory.

Taya Valkyrie spent weeks dismayed that Kris Statlander returned at Double or Nothing, eclipsed her efforts against Jade Cargill and won the TBS Championship that had eluded her.

Wednesday, she challenged the new titleholder and nearly defeated her in a hard-hitting, uber-competitive title clash.

The match, already one of the best TBS Championship bouts in AEW history, saw a motivated Valkyrie match Statlander's intensity and aggression before falling victim to her devastating tombstone piledriver.

Statlander scored a quality win, Valkyrie reminded the fans of how strong an in-ring competitor she can be, and the women's division continued to build momentum.

Result

Statlander defeated Valkyrie

Grade

B

Top Moments

• Statlander delivered a moonsault from the ring apron, wiping Valkyrie out on the floor.
• The champion delivered a tombstone piledriver, now known as Wednesday Night Fever, for the successful title defense.

Prior to the final break of the night, Excalibur promised that Eddie Kingston would reveal the fifth member of his team at Forbidden Door, while Bryan Danielson called out Kazuchika Okada.

We got both, with Kingston revealing Tomohiro Ishii as his final partner while Danielson called for, and received, Okada.

The latter exchange was a bigger deal, as all attention turned to The Rainmaker and The American Dragon's confrontation. A little tease, a big Rainmaker to a stunned Wheeler Yuta, and a tense staredown between the opponents put a nice bow on the final build to Forbidden Door.

Most interesting in all of this was the interaction between Kingston and Moxley, who are friends but find themselves on opposite sides of Sunday's five-on-five battle.

Expect to see some high drama in the match as they either make amends or come to blows on one of the biggest stages AEW has to offer.

Grade

A

Top Moments

• "You drew that line! Not me. I love you. You're my brother. You drew that line, not me!" Kingston yelled at Moxley, reminding the former world champion that he chose to align himself with Castagnoli. 
• Kingston revealed Tomohiro Ishii will join him, The Young Bucks and Hangman Page at Forbidden Door.
• Okada made the save for Ishii, coming face-to-face with Danielson ahead of Sunday's dream match. They stared each other down to close out the show, but not before the biggest star in NJPW laid out Yuta with the Rainmaker.

As the go-home show ahead of Forbidden Door, the overall effectiveness of the broadcast was going to be based on how well it sold the PPV to the audience. And it did so, spectacularly.

There was a complete emphasis placed on hyping Sunday's show, with every segment dedicated to either announcing a match, furthering a program or hyping a previously announced showdown.

Sprinkle in some quality in-ring action in the two tag matches and a better-than-expected championship clash between Statlander and Valkyrie and you have a quality show that hit far more often than it missed.

Overall Grade: B+