Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: MJF and Adam Cole, Kris Statlander vs. Taya Valkyrie for the TBS Title, Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki, and Sammy Guevara vs. Darius Martin, Action Andretti, and AR Fox, Jeff Jarrett vs. Mark Briscoe in a Concession Stand Brawl

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

AEW Dynamite Hits

MJF and Adam Cole: It’s way too convenient that there just happens to be a random draw tag team tournament and that MJF and Cole just happened to be the only names drawn thus far. If you can get past that, the idea of MJF and Cole being forced to work as a team is fun. The follow-up to their 30-minute draw went well. Cole manipulating MJF into taking the match with Hiroshi Tanahashi was solid, although I do prefer it when MJF comes off like the smartest and most calculated heel in the game rather than a guy who is so easily manipulated.

Chris Jericho, Minoru Suzuki, and Sammy Guevara vs. Darius Martin, Action Andretti, and AR Fox: A nice match. The babyface trio performed some crowd pleasing spots and Martin came through with one of his better performances. The heels did a good job of keeping the friction between Jericho and Guevara alive. It couldn’t boil over in this match because the heel trio will team up again on Sunday. The post match angle with Sting and Darby Allin stating that they would announce their tag team partner on AEW Collision served as a nice hook for the Saturday show. My best guess is that it will be Tetsuya Naito.

Kris Statlander vs. Taya Valkyrie for the TBS Title: A decent match that deserved a better presentation. AEW has to do a better job of setting the table for their title matches and other key television matches. They could have something with Statlander, but the key is establishing her persona, not just having her win a bunch of matches on television.

Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn: A decent opener. Jeff looked much better than he did during his previous match. The Gunns had some creative double team moves to keep their opponents isolated. The post match angle with all of the run-ins that concluded with CM Punk making the save was a live crowd pleaser and set the table for the eight-man tag match on Collision.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Mark Briscoe in a Concession Stand Brawl: More of an in the middle rather than a true Hit or a Miss. This felt more like silly sports entertainment style fun than a throwback to Memphis wrestling. That said, I don’t mind a little variety on the show even if this match wasn’t really for me. But can someone explain why this match needed to take place on this episode? AEW clearly struggled to pack everything they wanted to into this episode and this match seemed like an obvious choice to save for another week.

AEW Dynamite Misses

Overall show: There was simply way too much happening during this episode and it felt like the show closing angles were really rushed as a result. They announced the two Owen Hart Cup tournament brackets while also setting up the blind eliminator tournament. Excalibur’s breathless sprint through Rampage, Collision, and the Forbidden Door lineup was just a blur and the latest case of AEW information overload. None of it pops. Excalibur was actually scripted to announce the MJF’s first appearance on Rampage after he announced the random eight-man tag match. Everything the AEW World Champion does should be treated like a major event and not treated equal to the throwaway segments on Rampage. CM Punk’s first singles match since his return received no more fanfare than any of the Owen Hart Cup tournament matches. I could go on, but it doesn’t seem like there’s any point. There are so many easily correctable mistakes that the company just continues to ignore.

Orange Cassidy and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. and Daniel Garcia: This was good from a match quality standpoint. But there was nothing at stake and it felt like the match went longer than it needed to with two commercial breaks included. It was especially baffling that this match went as long as it did given how rushed the final segment was.