By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland vs. Nick Wayne in a non-title match: A quality match with Swerve going over strong. These two could have torn the house down if the babyface/heel roles were reversed and the circumstances were different, but they took the logical approach for their current situation. The post match angle with Swerve and Christian Cage was entertaining. Prince Nana returning to block Christian from leaving in an SUV was fun. While it was a questionable move to have Swerve get the better of Christian on the go-home show, they did a good job of putting heat on Christian leading up this angle.
Trent Beretta and Roderick Strong vs. Will Ospreay and Orange Cassidy: A quality match that concluded with the heels going over and getting more heat heading into Double Or Nothing. I get the idea of Strong gaining heat by busting open Opsreay with a belt shot, but it felt ineffective in terms of making their pay-per-view match feel bigger. Meanwhile, does anyone actually believe that Orange Cassidy is going to end up with Don Callis?
Malakai Black vs. Kyle O’Reilly: A well worked match that should have been saved for another week when the outcome would not have been so obvious. After all, Black is challenging for the TNT Title at Double Or Nothing while O’Reilly doesn’t have a spot on the card. The post match bloodbath did nothing for this viewer. The Brood callbacks stopped being fun before Adam Copeland arrived in AEW. On the bright side, the substance they used looked downright gross as opposed to looking like red Kool-Aid, and the ring crew did a great job of cleaning things up quickly.
Toni Storm and Mariah May vs. Saraya and Harley Cameron: A soft Hit for a decent tag team match. More importantly, they got the babyface/heel dynamic right between Storm and Serena Deeb. The fans like Storm, so booking her as a heel made life difficult for her babyface challengers. The fans clearly chose Storm over Deeb, so it was good to see the company call an audible as opposed to continuing to go against the grain.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Bryan Danielson vs. Satnam Singh: AEW didn’t even bother to promote this as the main event, nor was there any real build to the match throughout the show. As great as Danielson is, even he couldn’t carry Singh to a quality match. The finish with Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal attacking Danielson before Singh was forced to submit to the LeBell Lock was meant to protect the giant, but it was ineffective and unnecessary. Singh is a goofball giant in the company’s zaniest faction. What exactly are they protecting Singh for after nearly four years with the company?
Hook vs. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Bryan Keith for a shot at the FTW Title at AEW Double Or Nothing: Everyone knew Keith was in the match to lose. What they didn’t know was that AEW went with the same weak double submission finish that NXT used one night earlier. Chris Jericho’s reaction to the Triple Threat was odd. I keep waiting for the moment when his character drops the nice guy approach and shows his true colors. Hook’s return didn’t bring that out of him, nor did finding out that he has to face two foes in a Triple Threat. While I am getting a kick out of watching Jericho attempt to reinvent himself, his new act feels mid-card and doesn’t seem to be catching on with the live crowds.
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Matt Sydal: The actual match was a Hit worthy two-minute squash win for Takeshita. The Miss is for the post match angle that saw them erase whatever good was done for Takeshita by having Jon Moxley make him look like a chump.
Good list,Powell-a-Mino. They had Nana returning by driving a car and then TK/Darby returned in a car. If TK were writing a soap opera he would have someone come back from the dead in 3 consecutive segments.
This isn’t the most exciting ppv card Aew’d put out.
HITS comments include:
“…While it was a questionable move to have Swerve get the better of Christian on the go-home show,,,”
“…but it felt ineffective in terms of making their pay-per-view match feel bigger. ”
“A well worked match that should have been saved for another week when the outcome would not have been so obvious.. The post match bloodbath did nothing for this viewer. The Brood callbacks stopped being fun before Adam Copeland arrived in AEW. ”
” A soft Hit…”
Yeah, we are just imagining this is happening every week…
Would you rather he just put those in the miss column? Notice he didnt mention the embarrassing table moment that just happened to be in the main event.