By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Ricochet and Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Konosuke Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher: When AEW hyped a mystery partner for Ricochet, my first thought was that they would go with Mark Davis due to his issues with Fletcher. Fortunately, they had something bigger in mind. It was great to see Hobbs back and it’s a good move to pull him from the Callis Family. I have mixed feelings on Ricochet pinning Takeshita. It obviously sets up a future AEW International Championship match, but they could have had Ricochet earn the match by racking up wins and avoided slowing Takeshita’s momentum by having him take a pinfall loss. The post match scene was strong with Will Ospreay making his return by helping out the babyfaces to close the show.
Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy vs. Pac and Claudio Castagnoli: A good match until the finish. Excalibur stating that the match was thrown out made no sense given that Marina Shafir kicked the referee on behalf of Pac and Castagnoli. On the positive side, Allin and Cassidy were very over with the crowd. There continues to be an interesting dynamic with Wheeler Yuta being psychologically tortured by the other members of the faction. I continue to hope that Pac and Castagnoli will be given actual characters as opposed to coming off as Jon Moxley’s henchmen.
The Hurt Syndicate and Swerve Strickland: A simple and effective segment. MVP delivered a short promo, and then Swerve took the intense approach by simply stating that he wants to face Bobby Lashley at Full Gear. The Miss of the segment was Prince Nana failing to read the room and tone his part down to let Swerve’s intensity stand out. It’s nice that Tony Khan lets Nana push his coffee brand, but the tone of the segment made this was one of those times that Nana should have left his coffee bag backstage.
Adam Cole vs. Malakai Black: The match was good enough to warrant a soft Hit, but it’s concerning that some fans were already booing Cole in favor of Black. Cole’s babyface run is off to a rough start. The continued focus on his history with Roderick Strong, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, and Kyle O’Reilly isn’t helping. They are all fine wrestlers, but I lost interest in seeing them work together or feud amongst one another during their NXT days. Meanwhile, Black is apparently the spooky guy with the heart of gold. This happened not long after Darby Allin framed Brody King as a family man who was worried about providing for his family. I don’t even know what House of Black is supposed to be these days. And, no, booking them in another trios squash match isn’t going to help.
Jamie Hayter vs. Penelope Ford: A smooth match and another win for Hayter. Even so, the fans just aren’t reacting to Hayter the way they did before her long injury layoff. It could only help if they took the time to actually establish her character. She got by on having a good look and being really good in the ring prior to her injury. She changed her look while she was injured and being good in the ring just doesn’t seem to be enough. Tell us who Hayter is and give fans a reason to get behind her again.
Christian Cage explains when he warmed up to Kip Sabian: I appreciate the attempt to fill this creative hole even if I wasn’t actually wasting time wondering how the Cage and Sabian alliance came to be. They still haven’t made me care about Sabian’s character, but at least they tried to make sense of this storyline via Cage’s solid explanation.
Overall Show: There was more to pick apart about Dynamite than then NXT television show this week, but I actually enjoyed both shows equally. They were very different. NXT went heavy on ECW nostalgia, while AEW took a more straight forward approach. The differences between the two shows made for a nice back-to-back viewing experience.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Mark Briscoe, Tomohiro Ishii, and Kyle O’Reilly vs. Chris Jericho, Big Bill, and Bryan Keith in a Fight Without Honor: A Hit as far as the hard work the wrestlers put in. But AEW continues to make ROH look like a hardcore promotion when they hold ROH matches on Dynamite or Collision. Ladder Wars and Fights Without Honor happened infrequently in the original ROH and therefore felt special. AEW gets nothing out of these matches because they just throw them out there with minimal build. Meanwhile, the live crowd’s flat reactions to Ishii lately should have been a clue that there isn’t much interest in him challenging Jericho for the ROH Championship, but they are clearly moving forward with this given that Ishii pinned Jericho to win this match.
Lack of follow-up to Private Party beating The Young Bucks: Although AEW did a really nice job of putting over the title change at the beginning of Saturday’s Collision, roughly half of the Dynamite viewers don’t watch Collision most weeks. Those who only watch Dynamite saw a hot title change last week followed by the odd scene of the Young Bucks racing out of the building, and then saw no new developments on this episode. I’m not sure if they intend to do more with the Bucks storyline for the time being, but it was a missed opportunity to strike while the iron is hot with Private Party.
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