Owen Hart Tournaments Begin, Darby Allin & Jeff Hardy Steal The Show

This week’s edition AEW Dynamite was live from Long Island, New York, and served as the official start to The Owen Hart Foundation Tournaments. A battle of cross-generational daredevils in Allin vs Hardy, the much-anticipated clash between Storm & Hayter, Danhausen’s in-ring debut, and finally Ricky Starks fending the FTW championship against Jungle Boy.

Winner: Adam Cole

Bay Bay of the century Adam Cole made good on his promise to defeat one half of the AAA and ROH Tag Team Champions Dax Harwood, and move forward in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. This was done in the most insulting way possible by forcing Dax The Ax to submit to the Hart Family signature, the Sharpshooter.

Loser: “Smart” Mark Sterling

A mixed bag overall for Jade Cargill's manager, Mark Sterling. In the first hour he saw his newest client Tony Nese defeat the annoyance of Danhausen in seconds, but was then stared down by HOOK. Essentially punked out of the ring while attempting to take Danhausen out for good. He then was part of the contract signing/celebration MJF had in rolling out the conditions ahead of the Wardlow match, but when things broke down it ended up being Sterling eating a powerbomb through a table from an infuriated Wardlow. All part of the job for sure, but not the most ideal final results for Sterling all things considered.

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Winner: “Absolute” Ricky Starks

A week removed from costing his enemy Swerve a spot in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, the mind games of Ricky continue to pay off as an attempt at vengeance from Strickland this week led to Ricky successfully defending the FTW Championship against Jungle Boy. Also, Team Taz looks to be in line for a potential Tag Team Championship match, and the momentum is now squarely in the corner of Hobbs & Starks after pinning one of the champions.

Loser: Jericho Appreciation Society’s Numbers Advantage

After weeks of driving home the point that Kingston is at a numbers disadvantage anytime he tries to come at Jericho and his goons, the numbers advantage finally shifted into the camp of Kingston. Kingston would return tonight with his usual accompaniment of Proud n Powerful, but also Blackpool Combat Club would join the fight. King finally got his hands around Jericho’s throat.

Winner: Toni Storm

After weeks of build up and verbal harassment from the camp of Hayter & Baker DMD, Toni Storm was finally able to put one of her most vocal nemesis to bed this week with a sound defeat of Jamie Hayter after dropping her on her head with Storm Zero. Storm will move on tot he second round, and if the good doctor can get by the mysterious joker we may see Storm get a chance to silence yet another one of her critics.

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Loser: Darby Allin

Darby Allin earlier in the night spoke of going to Tony Khan to make his main event match Jeff Hardy No DQ, which was granted to him. Darby at one point in the match dove off of a ladder in the ring to the outside on Jeff Hardy and row of waiting chairs in a stunt that my words cannot do justice too as being one of the craziest things to happen in any AEW hardcore style match. Darby got as much of the chairs from 25 feet up as he did Jeff. All of this and at the end of the day Darby was unable to escape when Jeff countered the Coffin Drop with a crucifix. This match stole the show and the breath of those there live, but Darby will not move on in The Owen.

Full Results And Noteworthy Moments:

• Adam Cole def. Dax Harwood via submission with the Sharpshooter to move on to the second round of The Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament
• Darby Allin and Jeff Hardy video package is shown ahead of the main event. Darby mentions nobody wants to see him and Jeff exchange headlocks, the main event will be NO DQ.
• AEW Champion Hangman Adam Page joins the commentary team ahead of Punk/Silver
• CM Punk def. John Silver via pinfall with a Buckshot Lariat
• After the match Hangman came down to confront CM Punk. Punk says he is going to shake Hangman's hand after he beats him at Double Or Nothing, even if his body is lifeless.
• Backstage interview with Tony Schiavone, Britt Baker joined by Jamie Hayter and Rebel. Britt says Storm are exciting at first, but peter out quickly. Hayter will beat Storm tonight.
• Tony Nese (w/Smart Mark Sterling) def. Danhausen via pinfall with a running Nese** strike less than 30 seconds into the match
• After the match Nese continued the assault on Danhausen after beating him in seconds. HOOK made the save and stared down Nese as they left. Danhausen offered the handshake to HOOK, and HOOK excepted much to the delight of the crowd.
• It was then time for the MJF/Wardlow contract signing including MJF’s terms and conditions for the upcoming match. The crowd was heavily in favor of hometown boy MJF, and MJF played with that for a long time before getting down to the fact that Wardlow would have to go through a series of trials, much like Cody did, to get the match with MJF. Also, if he was to lose the match with MJF then Wardlow would never be allowed to sign a contract with AEW. Wardlow signed to the stipulations after having his handcuffs removed, and then destroyed security and put Mark Sterling through a table**
• Ricky Starks def. Jungle Boy via pinfall with Roshambo to retain the FTW Championship after a distraction from Swerve
• After the match Christian and Luchasaurus blow past Swerve on the ramp after he accidentally cost Jungle Boy the match in attempting to mess with Starks. Hobbs & Keith Lee both joined the scene, and the three teams squared off staring each other down.
• Jericho Appreciation Society's victory speech leads to Jon Moxley and the rest of the Blackpool Combat Club, Santana & Ortiz, as well as the return of Eddie Kingston. All of which beat up Jericho and his Appreciation Society.
• A Serena Deeb hype package plays, highlighting the different side of Serena Deeb ahead of her match of Thunder Rosa at Double or Nothing.
• Toni Storm def. Jamie Hayter via pinfall with Storm Zero to move on to the second round of The Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament
• Scorpio Sky cuts a promo backstage to hype up the upcoming TNT Championship match on Rampage against Frankie Kazarian.
• Backstage, Lexi Nair with Frankie Kazarian is interrupted by Sammy Guevara & Tay Conti. Sammy says Scorpio has changed, and that Frankie cannot trust him. Kaz says go be unlikable somewhere else.
• Jeff Hardy (w/Matt Hardy) def. Darby Allin (w/Sting) via pinfall with a crucifix pin after a Coffin Drop to move on to the second round of The Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament
• After the match, Darby & Jeff shook hands out of respect, and the Undisputed Elite came out to stare down the Hardy Brothers from the ramp.