By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix vs. Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta for the ROH Tag Team Titles: An entertaining main event. The Young Bucks hiding under the ring and costing the challengers the match played into the build for the Anarchy in the Arena match. The post match promo by Jon Moxley was a strong final push for Double Or Nothing. Moxley has earned credibility with fans, so it packed a punch when he promised the most violent match in company history. It actually scares the hell out of me considering some of the over the top bloodbaths that we’ve seen in AEW in the past, but it’s a nice hook for fans who are into that style.
Chris Jericho vs. Adam Cole contract signing: A solid segment. The surprise appearance by Sabu felt really random in that I can’t really think of any major history between Sabu and the others in this segment. Even so, it’s good to see Sabu get a big moment and presumably a nice payday at this late stage in his career. The only negative is that announcing him and all of the others who will appear in the corners of Jericho and Cole sends the message that there will be plenty of shenanigans rather than a true one-on-one battle at Double Or Nothing.
Four Pillars segment: More of an in the middle than a Hit or a Miss. The performances were fine, but it felt like they ran out of material and lacked a strong go-home punch. MJF even had to bring back his tease for jumping to WWE while playing up the idea that Tony Khan is stacking the deck against him with the goal of getting the title off him before his contract expires. On a side note, I continue to believe that MJF needs to have a strong title defense on television at some point to clear up the misconceptions that some fans have. The AEW viewers who don’t order the pay-per-views haven’t had a chance to see how good he is in the ring, so they seem to view him as a pest heel rather than a total package champion. I’m all for saving most of the AEW World Championship matches for pay-per-view, but they really need to show the television viewers what they are missing out on if they don’t buy the pay-per-views.
Mark Briscoe shows no favorites: Mark shoving Karen Jarrett as aggressively as he did felt awkward and unnecessary. Otherwise, the segment did an effective job of establishing that Briscoe has no true allies and should call the AEW Tag Team Title match down the middle while serving in his role as the special referee.
“House of Black” Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews vs. AR Fox, Blake Christian, and Metalik for the AEW Trios Titles: A quick and decisive win for the champions. I’m still not sold on the trios division, but I like that they are trying some new things with the Open House Rules and even the lighting for House of Black matches. But I still believe Black would be more valuable as a singles wrestler. After all, he was popular enough at one time that he was part of the reason that AEW fans rejected Cody Rhodes as a babyface.
Taya Valkyrie vs. Lady Frost: A soft Hit for a brief showcase win for Valkyrie heading into her TBS Title match with Jade Cargill. The live crowd was quiet, but the match served a purpose.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Orange Cassidy vs. Kyle Fletcher for the AEW International Title: Cassidy’s title defenses have been really enjoyable and helped make the AEW International Title feel relevant. And I’ve been into the story that Cassidy is breaking down from the aggressive schedule he’s been keeping. But this match felt like it contradicted that story. How weary is a guy who clowns around in the middle of his match by throwing comedically light chops? Cassidy was able to kick out of piledrivers and everything else that Fletcher threw at him. I appreciated the hard work of both wrestlers, but I also wasn’t a fan of seeing so many near falls in the opening match. All of that said, the signings of Fletcher and Mark Davis should give a boost to the tag team division.
Roderick Strong vs. Daniel Garcia: This looked a lot more fun on paper than it ended up being. It wasn’t a bad match by any means. The issue was that it followed the contract signing segment where both men came off as playing second fiddle to Adam Cole and Chris Jericho respectively. I’d really like to see them run this back at some point with a storyline build that focuses on Strong and Garcia as opposed to this match, which came off like a battle of the sidekicks. Why is Garcia still in Jericho Appreciation Society?
Well Jerico and Sabu had atleast one match in ECW back in the day.
I would go further than Jason and say all three of the House of Black could be big players as singles wrestlers. I am an AEW fan but one massive flaw it has is the need to put almost everyone into some sort of faction.