By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Cope, Dax Harwood, and Cash Wheeler vs. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta: Cope? He turned a very basic nickname into his actual ring name? Why? Maybe it will grow on us. Anyway, the babyfaces were the hometown heroes on a charity show, so they had to go over. I was surprised that Cope didn’t pin Moxley to justify Cope getting an eventual title shot. Even so, the Fight For The Fallen show had a happy ending and hopefully raised a lot of money for the hurricane relief effort in Asheville.
Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin vs. “The Acclaimed” Max Caster and Anthony Bowens: Here’s the latest example of former WWE wrestlers beating AEW originals. In this case, at least Caster and Bowens are not getting along and their days of teaming appear to be coming to an end.
Hangman Page vs. Orange Cassidy: A soft Hit for a well worked match. The finish was bizarre in terms of making Cassidy’s finisher look weak. Cassidy hit Page with multiple Orange Punches, yet Page was able to shrug them off and hit his own finisher. Page’s post match attack was a good move because it reenforced that he is a heel, which is easy to forget sometimes given the way the fans react to him. But I couldn’t care less about his new storyline involving Christopher Daniels.
MJF’s post Worlds End promo: The usual strong mic work from MJF. It’s a bit concerning that he spoke about going after the AEW World Championship. MJF turned heel again not all that long ago, and he’s likely to be cheered by the fans if he challenges Jon Moxley. But we’ll see where this goes, as it’s always possible that this was a tease for down the road and something will happen to divert the MJF character’s attention away from the championship.
Jeff Jarrett’s retirement tease: You had to know it was an angle when Jarrett wore the campy black gloves that he wears as part of his Last Outlaw persona. But he did a good job of teasing the crowd with the possibility of retirement and the fans were with him when he said ultimately said “hell no.” While I can’t say that I have any interest in seeing Jarrett win the AEW World Championship in 2025, perhaps they can get fun television match out of this at some point.
Julia Hart vs. Jamie Hayter: A soft Hit for a decent match with the expected outcome given that it was Hart’s first match back.
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Jon Cruz and Rob Killroy in a handicap match: A soft Hit for a simple bounce back win for Hobbs coming off his loss to Konosuke Takeshita at Worlds End.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Swerve Strickland vs. Jay White vs. Roderick Strong to earn first entry into the Casino Gauntlet Match: Although this was a Hit if you’re only concerned with match quality, there were other aspects that brought it down. The selection of the three wrestlers who were in this match felt completely random. My first thought when the match was announced was wondering whether Swerve or White would pin Strong. And then there was Ricochet attacking Swerve with a pair of scissors. As if the awful screwdriver that Don Callis uses as a weapon isn’t bad enough, now Ricochet is using “golden” scissors. Swerve had his childhood home burnt to the ground and now he’s been stabbed in the head with a pair of scissors. Hangman Page faced no storyline punishment, and I doubt that Ricochet’s character will either. Can’t AEW at least do the old reliable bit where a heel is about to be suspended (or even fired in these extreme cases), but the babyface pleads with the authority figure not to do it because he wants to get said heel in the ring? When that part is left out, AEW comes off like an unrealistic free for all where the heels do terrible things and face no consequences from the company. The lack of response from the company also lessens the impact of the heel’s actions. If there’s not an authority figure to say when something has crossed a line, then the act becomes acceptable rather than being framed as something so heinous that the company must take action.
New theme song: Not every pro wrestling television theme song needs to be from the rap or hard rock genres. The Elton John classic “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” that is used for AEW Collision is one example. I wasn’t alone in enjoying Animotion’s “Obsession” being used as the Saturday Night’s Main Event nostalgic theme. The Pointer Sisters’ “I’m So Excited” is a recognizable song over 40 years after it was recorded. But it just doesn’t work for me as a theme song for a weekly pro wrestling television show. It’s a catchy tune, but there’s just nothing cool about the song today or even back when it was released. The song was a mom jam in 1982, not something cool. It’s not even a throwback to Tony Khan’s childhood given that he was born the same year the song was released. I have no idea what made him choose this song, but it’s a strange call to say the least.
This is why AEW will always be a very distant, second rate Challenger to WWE. In one company, a pile driver can get someone suspended and the victim is actually put on the shelf for a while. Put your hands on a authority figure, and you get fined. AEW? you can stab people in the head with scissors, stab with hypodermic needles, bash cynder blocks, attempt murder with suffocation, attempt murder with trying to pour poison down someones throat, use a pizza cutter on the head, use a screwdriver countless times as a stabbing weapon, and attack the same authority figure every other week with no ramifications at all. Stupididty and counter productive crap will only continue to shrink your audience until only die hards are left. What a way to run a mainstream business with hundreds of millions of dollars riding on it. I don’t get it.
And the positive reactions from the dirt sheets, like giving the show 7 hits to 2 misses, shows just how much the “wrestling media” is in a different world from the vast majority of wrestling fans.
I don’t think I’ll be able to “cope” with Adam’s new “name”,but he’s probably just trying to get it close as possible to Edge with it being one syllable and all..
While Page shrugging off repeated orange punches came out of nowhere and doesn’t make a lot of sense, I for one was delighted. It felt like a momentary intrusion of common sense. Of all the wrestlers who you could give a Lethal punch to as a finisher, you choose the weediest looking wrestler on the roster?
I know “excited” is in the lyrics, but that theme just doesnt get anyone hyped. And why were Shaq, Snoop, the Costco guys, et al in the video? That feels like schmuck bait.
“schmuck bait”. LOL. That was hilarious.