Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: Samoa Joe vs. Hook for the AEW World Championship, Christian Cage vs. Dustin Rhodes for the TNT Championship, Jay Briscoe tribute

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

AEW Dynamite Hits

Jay Briscoe tribute: Jay’s daughters, who were in the car wreck that took their father’s life, walking onto the stage with their brother was a truly special moment. It’s early in the year, but it’s hard to imagine seeing anything else in 2024 that will be as unforgettable as this joyful tearjerker.

Samoa Joe vs. Hook for the AEW World Championship: This was one of my favorite Dynamite main events to date. As much as Tony Khan’s social media comments have been the subject of rightful ridicule, he got it right last night when he tweeted that there was a big match feel. I was looking forward to the match and yet I didn’t really have that big match feeling going in. AEW did a good job from the start by opening the show with a video package on the match and by showing the champion and the challenger arriving at the building. And the wrestlers certainly created that vibe from the moment the bell rang and Hook went right after Joe. This match was executed perfectly in that the champion looked as badass as ever, while the young challenger clearly gained something in defeat. The key now is what comes next for Hook to keep his momentum going. Can it please start with leaving the FTW Title belt at home?

Christian Cage vs. Dustin Rhodes for the TNT Championship: They opened the show with good, competitive title match. The veterans worked hard and produced a match that would not have been the least bit out of place in the main event slot on another night.

The Young Bucks promo: While I have never been keen on having the EVPs acknowledge their titles while playing characters on the show, at least it seemed to serve a purpose in this case. There were some elements of this promo that I didn’t care for, but it was encouraging to see Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson try to establish characters as opposed to the original AEW approach of just assuming that everyone was familiar with their past work. Does it bother me that they played into their backstage drama with CM Punk? It’s probably best that everyone just moves on at this point, but I’m no more annoyed by what the Jacksons said than I was when Punk had some fun with the AEW backstage drama on WWE television.

Deonna Purrazzo vs. Anna Jay: A good win for Purrazzo while Jay followed up her loss to Julia Hart with another loss. I’m not sure what comes next for Jay, but Purrazzo is clearly being set up as the next big challenger for Toni Storm, who was a lot of fun on commentary. In act, Storm may have been a little too fun, as her antics stole the spotlight. It’s going to be difficult for many of wrestlers that Storm works with to get a babyface reaction. Storm may be a heel, but her zany character is over big with a lot of fans.

“Private Party” Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy vs. “Top Flight” Dante Martin and Darius Martin: This match didn’t get much of a build and felt like it was just thrown out there to be a spot fest. But it actually served a purpose in terms of establishing Private Party as heels given the way that Quen held the ropes and stole the pin. Unfortunately, this was only the latest example of an AEW referee being made to look incompetent for missing what everyone else saw. There’s always going to be an element of that in pro wrestling, but AEW goes way overboard.

AEW Dynamite Misses

Hangman Page promo: It was baffling to hear Page say that he doesn’t think about Swerve Strickland. This is the same Swerve who broke into Page’s home and talked to his infant child. It’s the same Swerve who has beaten Page twice, including once in one of the most barbaric matches in the history of the company. Page’s character was so worked up during that match that he literally drank Swerve’s blood, but now he doesn’t think about him? If anything, Page’s character should be obsessed with Swerve, not acting like he’s moved on despite never getting his revenge.

Orange Cassidy and Trent Beretta vs. Penta El Zero Miedo and Komander: The match was well worked, but it felt completely random. It seemed like this occurred because someone thought it would be a good match and they needed a way to get to the post match angle with Roderick Strong confronting Cassidy.

Brian Cage, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun vs. Jay White, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn for the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles: Another well worked match. If that’s all you are looking for, then this match and the tag team match listed above it surely did more for you than they did for me. I don’t care about the ROH Six-Man Team Titles, and it feels like a big step back for Jay White to be saddled with six-man tag belts when he should be a singles star. AEW has way too many titles and the Continental Crown Championship is the only title with ties to ROH that I want to see defended on AEW television.