By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Swerve Strickland and Bryan Danielson: The best segment of the night. Danielson got his mojo back and delivered a passionate promo to make it clear to fans that he is going all in at All In. Swerve delivered a good rebuttal promo that gave Danielson fans ammunition to dislike him without being a true heel. I like the idea of letting fans choose which wrestler to back as opposed to pushing them in either direction. The added stipulation that Danielson will retire if he fails to win was set up nicely by Danielson making recent references to a neck injury. Had Danielson simply put his career on the line without making those references, everyone would have assumed he will be winning the title at All In because he has been vocal about his desire to continuing wrestling as a part-timer for many years. Rather, it feels like there’s at least a chance that Danielson’s health has reached a point where he needs to call it a career after Wembley. Assuming that’s not actually the case, this was a really clever way of making the title vs. retirement match feel less predictable.
Darby Allin vs. Hangman Page: A loaded television main event involving two of the company’s top stars. So why was it given the same nonexistent build as the Pac vs. Lio Rush match that closed AEW Collision? No promos, no video packages, no special hype throughout Dynamite. If you’re going to give away a big first-time match involving two top stars on television, then put the work in to get as much out of it as you can. On the bright side, it was a pleasant surprise for the match to conclude with a clean pinfall. Allin going over was the right move given that he has upcoming AEW World Championship and TNT Title matches.
Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer: A good television match with the only logical outcome of Ospreay going over. The Ospreay and MJF verbal exchange was also well done. Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher both did really good work when it came to speaking highly of the United States, which is important given that they are foreign babyfaces in a feud against phony great patriot heel MJF.
CMLL Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale vs. Kris Statlander in an eliminator match: A solid match and a rare win for the challenger in an eliminator match. Willow and Statlander work well together, but I’m ready for the title match to be the blowoff to their feud. I am looking forward to seeing both wrestlers work with others.
Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy and Tomohiro Ishii vs. The Beast Mortos, Roderick Strong, and Rush: A good all action style trios match. Mortos pinning Briscoe presumably sets up an ROH Championship match. That’s all well and good, but why didn’t they do this sooner so they could hold the ROH Championship match on the Battle of the Belts special as opposed to going with two eliminator matches?
Kamille vs. Brittany Jade: A good squash win for Kamille, who dominated from bell to bell. Kamille had a long wait for her first television appearance since she signed with AEW a while back, but she landed in a great spot as the muscle for Mercedes Mone.
AEW Dynamite Misses
The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn promo: Are they trying to be unlikable heels? If so, then wipe out this Miss. If not, then they really need to change the way they are doing things. Caster boasting that he’s the best wrestler in the world is strange, as one would think that he should be talking about how he and Bowens are the best tag team in the world. The Acclaimed had a great act that was as over as anything in the company at one point. The booking helped get them there, but it’s done them no favors since they reached their peak.
Britt Baker suspended by the EVPs: Mercedes Mone mentioned this during her promo and it just doesn’t make any sense. Why would Tony Khan’s character allow the EVPs to suspend anyone? They’ve never taken the time to establish what power the EVPs actually have and why Khan allows most of their rulings to stand, yet once stopped them from handing the TNT Title to Jack Perry.
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