By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
AEW World Champion MJF vs. Adam Cole in an eliminator match: An excellent match with a gem of a finish. They avoided the obvious formula of Cole beating the champion in a non-title match to set him up with a title shot. I didn’t see the time limit draw coming and was truly surprised when the bell rang to end the match. And now we’re left with some mystery in terms of what comes next, in part because AEW never bothered to explain what would happen in the event that an eliminator match ends in a draw. That actually works to their advantage in this case because I’m genuinely curious to see what comes next. I just pray that it’s not yet another case of MJF requiring a potential challenger to jump through a bunch of hoops by making him beat a bunch of other wrestlers in order to get his title match. Either way, I hope this match changed the perceptions of fans who see MJF as all mouth and don’t think of him as a stronger wrestler because they don’t order pay-per-views and therefore rarely see him wrestle.
Hangman Page and The Young Bucks vs. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta: The Bucks coming out in cutesy cowboy attire when they are in the midst of a blood feud with Blackpool Combat Club was huge turnoff for this viewer. But now that we got the negative out of the way, this was a frantically paced, crowd pleasing match. It was telling that so many of the fans in the hard camera shot were on their feet from bell to bell. BCC won the Anarchy in the Arena match, so Page and the Bucks winning evened things up. The post match scene felt busier than it needed to be with Eddie Kingston, Konosuke Takeshita, and Will Ospreay all running in at different times (and I really could have done without Takeshita being roughed up by The Elite). But it definitely made for a wild end to the show and I couldn’t be happier to see Kingston escape ROH purgatory.
Darby Allin, Sting, Keith Lee, and Orange Cassidy vs. Swerve Strickland, Brian Cage, Toa Leona, and Bishop Kaun: A minor Hit. The star power on the babyface side was more than enough to keep the live crowd engaged. Unfortunately, the Mogul Embassy faction are quickly being made to look like pushovers to the stars. I’m surprised they didn’t have Swerve get a bounce back win in a singles match rather than have him be part of a losing effort in this eight-man tag team match. The other big negative is that Sting’s in-ring appearances should feel much bigger and far less random than this one did.
Overall show: The bookend segments were a blast. The company also did a really nice job of hyping the AEW Collision premiere consistently throughout the night. CM Punk stating that he had a lot to get off his chest was a better hook for that show than any of the advertised matches. They also worked in some build to the Forbidden Door event that looks fantastic on paper. There was a lot to like about this episode and it came at a great time in terms of creating momentum heading into Collision and with this being the first show to air after the NBA, NHL, and Vanderpump Rules seasons.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Toni Storm vs. Skye Blue for the AEW Women’s Championship: The goal of the match seemed to be making Blue look as good as possible in defeat. But Storm can’t make anyone until she’s actually made. Sure, she’s a two-time AEW Women’s Champion, but she was labeled an interim champion the first time and she currently feels like she’s only champion because Jamie Hayter got hurt. Forget competitive matches. Storm needs to be built up as a strong champion who doesn’t constantly rely on outside interference and idiotic spray paint spots. Once that happens, they won’t have to resort to diminishing the awesome Storm Zero finisher by having Blue kick out of it just for the sake of looking resilient. It will be enough that a challenger was able to hang with the champion. And for the love of God, why does every Outcasts match make the babyfaces look like fools for showing up shorthanded and then make the referees look like absolute morons for missing so much interference?
Wardlow vs. Jake Hager for the TNT Title: More of an in the middle. I just can’t get excited about hat wearing Hager in a title match. He feels like the low man in the tired Jericho Appreciation Society and it’s not like Wardlow gained much of anything from beating him. This week’s Arn Anderson’s fake blood backstage segment was just as corny as Brock Anderson’s the week before. It doesn’t help that AEW fails to sell these angles effectively. In this case, they showed a bloodied legend in the back and then just moved on like nothing happened.
Sammy Guevara: I really hope this is a swerve because I have no idea why this company wants Sammy to be a babyface when he’s such a natural heel. I’m sure there will come a time when turning Guevara babyface will work. I just don’t think this is it. Sure, he’ll probably be cheered if he faces Chris Jericho, but then what?
I would also give an extra hit for MJF’s performance in blowing off the Tanahashi challenge for Forbidden Door. That was classic heel obnoxiousness.
I didn’t see the time limit draw coming and was truly surprised when the bell rang to end the match. And now we’re left with some mystery in terms of what comes next, in part because AEW never bothered to explain what would happen in the event that an eliminator match ends in a draw.<
Logically, Cole had to beat MJF to get a shot at the belt. He didn't, so logically that means he lost his chance at the belt. Again, LOGICALLY, so hopefully AEW doesn't use the WWE formula of "pretend you're all idiots because we know you will and just go with whatever we say".