One match on this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite almost didn’t happen due to medical clearance. It served as a prelude to Sunday’s WrestleDream pay-per-view event.
Rey Fenix defeated Jeff Jarrett in the first round to retain the International Title. Fenix appeared to be injured during the match, but he has been booked for a match on next week’s Dynamite.
Bryan Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that it appeared Fenix was injured in the match, but that he was fine.
“Well, the show opened up with what appeared to be another injury. It was Fenix versus Jeff Jarrett for the international title. And everything is going along fine. He’s running wild. He’s taken out everybody one at a time. It’s almost a comedy routine as he takes out everybody at the beginning and then they go to commercial and during the break, he gets sent over the barricade and Jarrett grabs him and suplexes him from the audience over the barricade onto the black mat. And something went wrong with this suplex because Fenix landed on his side, like right on his hip. And he immediately first sold his back. Then he grabbed his hip and then he grabbed his knee. Jarrett goes to get him up, and he ain’t getting up. They kind of stalled for time because it was during a break. And finally, he was able to throw Fenix into the ring. Fenix is limping around, and they kept the match going. But, I mean, he was hurting and he’s grabbing his knee and he’s limping and probably about two, three minutes later, he’s kind of feeling a little bit better. So now he’s doing his springboards and everything like that. And finally, in the end, they did a couple of near-falls, a low blow by Jarrett. Fenix kicked out of that. He hit the stroke. Fenix got his feet on the ropes. And then finally, Jarrett goes for the figure four Fenix cradles him and pins him. Fenix went to the back and he was trying not to sell it, but it was clear that he was hurting. But apparently the word is he’s all right. Although last week when he did that deal with Moxley, he hurt himself on the same dive that Moxley got hurt on. Like he landed with his tailbone on Moxley’s head or something like that, so his back was all messed up from that same spot that Moxley got hurt in. And then here he took the suplex, landed sideways. So this dude, he’s banged up bad, but he’s still going out there and working.”
Fenix will wrestle Nick Jackson next week with the International title on the line. Dave Meltzer noted Fenix was not medically cleared until late in the afternoon. Alvarez pointed out how Jackson was not in his usual wrestling gear, and that’s because he wasn’t expecting to wrestle on Dynamite.
Meltzer: “They had to change the show around. Okay. So the Fenix match almost didn’t happen because of the injury that you talked about. Fenix was not cleared, or I should say it was up in the air whether he would be cleared.”
Alvarez: “He had not been cleared yet.”
Meltzer: “He had not been cleared. He did get cleared to wrestle in this match, but it was not until late afternoon. So they had put together a show without him, and then they had to change it to put the match with Jarrett on, which was basically a late addition to the show. So, then Moxley wasn’t cleared due to the concussion. And so anyway, yeah, a lot of stuff, a lot of planned stuff, must have changed because of all that.”
Alvarez: “Well, they added this match in the afternoon and Nick and his hodgepodge.”
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
