Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: MJF vs. Konosuke Takeshita, and Jamie Hayter vs. The Bunny in eliminator matches, Bryan Danielson vs. Rush, The Acclaimed vs. Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn for the AEW Tag Titles, The Elite vs. AR Fox and Top Flight for the AEW Trios Titles, Ricky Starks runs the JAS Gauntlet

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

AEW Dynamite Hits

Bryan Danielson vs. Rush: A top notch match with Danielson clearing the final hurdle to earn the AEW World Championship match at AEW Revolution. It was a really nice touch to have MJF on commentary, as he did added a sense of urgency and importance to the match. And while Danielson’s quest was the focus of the match, Rush clearly gained something in defeat. The question now is where AEW goes from here with Rush to follow up on the momentum he gained from being so competitive with Danielson.

AEW World Champion MJF vs. Konosuke Takeshita in an eliminator match: Much like last week with Hangman Page vs. Jon Moxley, Dynamite opened with a hot match. Takeshita continues to gain popularity while producing great matches in mostly losing efforts. MJF did a wonderful job in the role of the champion who was pushed to the limit before taking full advantage of his opponent’s only mistake. It was good to see MJF featured in multiple segments on this show. AEW typically takes an ensemble approach, but the company’s true needle movers should be featured in multiple segments more often.

“The Elite” Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson vs. AR Fox and “Top Flight” Dante Martin and Darius Martin for the AEW Trios Titles: The Elite trio was generous with the amount of offense they gave their challengers and they generated some suspenseful near falls as a result. I’m still no sold on the idea of Omega and the Young Bucks spending their time in the trios division. In fact, I’m hopeful that the goal is for them to help establish the belts and they they will move back to singles and traditional tag team matches soon.

AEW Dynamite Misses

“The Acclaimed” Max Caster and Anthony Bowens vs. Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn for the AEW Tag Titles: A rough match, particularly during the closing minutes. AEW went for shock value with the title change and it worked given how stunned the live crowd seemed to be. The Ass Boys stealing the pin after a ref bump was the perfect way for their characters to go over (and kudos to referee Stephon Smith for that nice bump). My guess is that the Gunns have a brief run with the straps before The Acclaimed take their belts back at the Revolution pay-per-view.

Ricky Starks runs the Jericho Appreciation Society gauntlet: I’m sure Starks and Jericho will have another good match, but the booking of this program has left a lot to be desired. It didn’t even make sense that Starks would agree to take part in this gauntlet match given that he had the leverage after beating Jericho in their last encounter. It made even less sense that his character had no plans for backup help despite knowing that he was up against an entire faction. If nothing else, Jericho dressing up as a masked fan and costing Starks the match gives Starks something to avenge.

Jamie Hayter vs. The Bunny in an eliminator match: The match was going well until it fell apart with the botched exploder suplex. Here’s hoping that Bunny avoided an injury despite how rough it looked in the moment.