AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights Before Full Gear '24

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Dynamite on November 20.

We are just a few days away from Full Gear, so this week's show was one of the last chances All Elite Wrestling had to tie up any loose ends heading into Saturday's pay-per-view.

Here's a look at what AEW advertised for Wednesday's episode from the Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania:

• Orange Cassidy vs. Wheeler Yuta
• Kris Statlander vs. Hikaru Shida
• Darby Allin vs. Claudio Castagnoli
• Chris Jericho and Tomohiro Ishii sign their Full Gear contract
• Will Ospreay, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricochet and Mark Davis vs. Konosuke Takeshita, Kyle Fletcher, Brian Cage and Lance Archer

Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's go-home Dynamite before Full Gear.

AEW opened Dynamite by airing a shortened version of the music video that debuted on Collision before everyone made their entrance for the big eight-man tag match.

The babyfaces came out first and when the heel team arrived on the stage, the good guys left the ring to begin fighting them in the aisle.

Hobbs was taken out when Archer put his leg behind the ring steps and threw Ricochet into it. It took a long time, but the teams finally got to their corners and began using tags as the show went to a break.

With the babyface team a man down, The Don Callis Family dominated the action for several minutes, but Ospreay began to build some momentum after a hot tag.

Hobbs limped his way back to the ring with a brace on his knee and tagged in. The Powerhouse went on a mini-rampage and took out all four men on the opposing team.

However, Takeshita was able to pick up the win for his team by pinning Davis with a running knee strike.

This was a good choice to open the show because it provided a lot of chaotic action to get the crowd amped up for the rest of the night.

All eight men played their parts well and did a good job making it so everyone had at least one moment to stand out.

Result: The Don Callis Family defeated Ospreay, Ricochet, Davis and Hobbs

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Davis didn't get his own entrance. He came out with Ospreay to his music. 
• The Don Callis Family needs new music. 
• Ospreay did a good job selling his taped-up shoulder whenever he was slammed. 
• Billy Goat hit a really nice kick to Fletcher that looked almost impossible from the angle he used. 

We returned from the break to see Renee Paquette waiting to interview The Hurt Syndicate in the parking lot.

When the group arrived, MVP announced Bobby Lashley would be competing on Dynamite. A moment later, Swerve Strickland took Lashley down with a cheap shot before running away.

Back in the arena, Adam Cole said he was disappointed to not be facing MJF but was confident in Roderick Strong's ability.

Kyle O'Reilly joined him in the ring and talked about their long journey together in wrestling. He said Cole needs to stop his quest to take out MJF before somebody gets hurt.

Up next was the match between Shida and Statlander, which was booked during a backstage segment on Collision. The latter was hoping to pick up a little momentum heading into her TBS title bout this weekend.

They came into this match with a high level of respect, so they began with a simple exchange of holds and counters. Statlander gained the upper hand, but this never felt like a one-sided fight. Shida did a good job countering her opponent's power with some quick offense.

This was a solid match, but it was missing something to take it from good to great. It's possible the predictability had an impact, but there is no denying these wrestlers worked hard.

Statlander scored a clean win with her finisher, but that wasn't the end. Mercedes Moné and Kamille came out to the stage so The CEO could talk some trash. She tried to send an injured Kamille into the ring to fight Stat, but The Brickhouse looked hesitant.

She went in and took a swing, but Stat and Shida easily took her out. Moné tried to hit a Backstabber, but Statlander countered and hit her finisher to put the champ down.

Result: Statlander defeated Shida

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• You couldn't see it on screen but the announcers said Swerve had a chain wrapped around his hand. 
• Cassidy was shown asking the rest of The Conglomeration to stay away from the ring during his match at Full Gear. 
• The way Statlander powered up Shida for her finisher from an awkward position was impressive. 

Joe Keys and The World Famous Cheeseburger took on Lashley in a handicap squash match designed solely to make the former WWE star look like a monster.

This lasted longer than expected, but that's only because the AEW newcomer was playing with his food. Lashley won with The Hurt Lock.

Swerve's music hit and he popped out from under the ring and attacked Lashley with a chain wrapped around his fist.

Result: Lashley won

Grade: Incomplete

Notable Moments and Observations

• Lashley had a new look with his vest and tights. 
• The crowd popped big for Swerve. 

Castagnoli came out alone for his match against Allin, but the announcers questioned if it would remain that way given the way The Death Riders usually do business.

Allin used his signature brand of unpredictable offense to take control early on, but once the Swiss star regrouped and found his footing, he began dismantling him.

For a long time, Castagnoli was absolutely dominant. Allin had to pull some high-risk moves out of his bag of tricks to get in any offense, but even then, Claudio usually only let him get in a few hits before reversing the momentum again.

They took the fight out of the ring where the powerhouse swung Allin into the steps, threw him over the announce table, and pressed him over his head before slamming him from one table into another.

After Allin barely managed to crawl back into the ring, Castagnoli took his head off with a clothesline to score the win.

This was an awesome display of dominance from Claudio and a great performance from Allin.

Result: Castagnoli defeated Allin

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Allin's leap to the top rope followed by an arm drag looked great. 
• Castagnoli walking up the ring steps while holding Allin in a vertical suplex position was very impressive. 
• The way Castagnoli sells for smaller guys is an underrated skill he possesses. The way he went over for the Code Red looked perfect. 

A video played of Daniel Garcia and Daddy Magic holding Jack Perry hostage but eventually leaving him tied up by himself. This was followed by Jericho refusing to sign the contract for his match until his legal team looked it over.

Ishii followed him in what turned into the slowest chase scene ever. There was no running. Jericho was just walking, and Ishii followed close behind the whole time avoiding everything and everyone his rival put in his path.

They got to the ring, and Ishii handed him a pen to sign the contract. Bryan Keith and Big Bill attacked the Japanese star from behind before he could sign the contract, too. The rest of The Conglomeration made the save so the segment could end with Big Tom signing on the dotted line.

Having them begin backstage and then slowly move into the arena was such a weird decision that it's bound to be seen as funny by some and dumb by others.

Grade: C-

Notable Moments and Observations

• MJF brought up some pretty traumatic things from Strong's past in a promo. Roddy had to have signed off on it, but it was still a little surprising to see them go there. Strong responded in his own interview with Tony Schiavone.
• Ishii's win-loss record in AEW is pretty bad. It would be nice to see him get some solo victories. 

This week's main event was a match between former friends, with Cassidy taking on his former pal and protégé, Yuta.

Even thought Yuta is a heel and willing to break the rules, the first few moments of this match were a good exchange of technical wrestling.

However, it didn't take them long to increase the intensity as Yuta hit a brainbuster onto the barricade. For the next few minutes, OC was fighting an uphill battle against a more aggressive opponent.

This was designed to make Yuta look like a dangerous competitor and Cassidy look like a valiant babyface who won't give up, and it accomplished both goals because both men are talented performers who know each other well.

This was not only the best choice to put in the main event spot because of the story, but it was also the best match we saw all night. Everything they did looked great and they told a story that made sense.

Yuta grew frustrated and tried to use a chair, but OC dodged it and rolled him up for the pin and the win. As Cassidy stared Yuta down, PAC came out of nowhere with a kick to take him down.

The rest of the Death Riders arrived and continued to attack OC. They duct-taped his hands into his own pockets and took turns hitting him. The Conglomeration came out and drove Moxley and his crew away so they could cut Cassidy free.

The show ended with OC standing up to prove he was not a beaten man.

Result: Cassidy defeated Yuta

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• The newest Julia Hart video package was played before this match. It was just as good as the first two. 
• The brainbuster spot looked painful for both men. 
• Go back and watch Yuta's early AEW work. He has improved so much, which is impressive because he was already very good when he got there. 

This week's go-home episode of Dynamite did a good job selling all of the feuds that will make up the Full Gear card while also providing some fun matches along the way.

Lashley's squash was nothing special by design, but everything else we saw ranged from good to great, with two bouts standing out.

Allin and Castagnoli had an entertaining and physical encounter that would have been right at home at the PPV, but the main event outdid them by a small margin.

Yuta and Cassidy put on a fantastic display of both technical wrestling and brutality. Having OC survive Moxley's post-match attack and end the show standing tall made him look better than any other segment in this feud.

Full Gear has what appears to be a predictable lineup, but the quality of the matches is sure to be high. And if AEW can squeeze in a few surprises, it will be a success.

Grade: B+