By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
MJF and Hangman Page meet face-to-face: This show must have been a sicko’s worst nightmare. The first 20 minutes or consisted of this strong verbal exchange and a video package that recapped AEW Grand Slam Australia, and the first match didn’t start until 29 minutes into the show. Oddly enough, I’ve seen mostly praise for this episode. It’s almost as if some of the fans who pushed back on the idea that AEW should have more promos and video packages were being tribalistic defenders of the product and will still enjoy AEW if it’s more balanced. Nah, couldn’t be. Anyway, I’m not suggesting that AEW should take this approach every week, but I like that they shook things up by giving two of their better talkers plenty of mic time. There is a niche audience that cares only or mostly about watching matches. To each their own. Like what you like. But it remains painfully obvious that the masses want stories and promos that build to those matches.
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Big Bill in a street fight: Another good brawl from Hobbs and Bill. The finish was clever in that Bill took a big bump through a table covered with barbwire, and it came off like he couldn’t answer the referee’s count because he was tied up in the barbwire as opposed to being laid out. In other words, this didn’t seem to be the final chapter of this feud.
Chris Jericho promo: A huge upgrade over the smiley Learning Tree promos. Jericho heeled on Renee Paquette, said no one in AEW would have a job if it wasn’t for him, and then said he was the guy the Brisbane fans asked for pictures with while Bandido is the guy who takes pictures. More of this Jericho, please.
Toni Storm promo: A fun celebratory promo from the Timeless character. The return of Rocker Toni gave the Timeless character a break, and now the Timeless character feels as over as ever. Only time will tell how long that lasts, but she is right to ride it out and get everything she can out of this persona.
“The Opps” Samoa Joe, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata vs. “The Patriarchy” Christian Cage, Nick Wayne, and Kip Sabian: A crowd pleasing win for Joe, Hook, and Shibata. I still think they’d be better off going with Joe and Hook as a tag team, but perhaps the two of them and Shibata can breathe a little life into the trios division.
Orange Cassidy vs. Roderick Strong in an AEW International Championship Series match: The usual quality match from these two, but Jim Ross on commentary is the only thing that made this feel main event worthy. It was nice to see Cassidy back after a break. I’m not sure why he took time away, but he felt overexposed, so the break came at a good time. The post match angle with Konosuke Takeshita, Mark Davis, and Don Callis attacking Cassidy was an effective way to set up next week’s AEW International Championship match while also giving Kenny Omega a reason to come out to make the save.
Production: Although I don’t think there was any way around it in this building, I cringed when I saw the hard camera pointed at the stage. ROH drove me nuts by taking this approach during the Sinclair years because it made it look like a poorly attended show even if they had a good turnout. But I was impressed by the way the AEW production team routinely showed off the crowd with other camera shots throughout the night. It also helped that the crowd was loud and created good atmosphere even when the hard camera shot didn’t include any fans.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Megan Bayne vs. Kris Statlander: A Hit from a match quality standpoint. The reason it lands in the Miss section are the baffling decisions to rush to this match and doing it on short notice. They didn’t give away a clean finish so they can and presumably will have a rematch, but they could have built up to be a big showdown match. Is Kamille being paid to sit home? If so, why not book her to put over Bayne and then save Bayne vs. Statlander for somewhere down the road when it could have meant so much more? And I have no idea what happened during that bizarre moment after the match when Thunder Rosa came out with a chair and froze while Bayne and Penelope Ford just stood there. Weird.
Ricochet and Prince Nana: A minor Miss. Ricochet continues to shine by playing an unlikable, dorky heel. This is the most entertaining character work of Ricochet’s career. It was a good call to have Nana explain the significance of the robe that Ricochet stole from him. Unfortunately, Nana’s promo left a lot to be desired. Nana spoke too vaguely and failed to explain the significance of the robe in a way that would make unfamiliar viewers get invested in seeing him get it back from Ricochet.
Momo Watanabe presentation: Yes, I know the typical response from blind loyalists is that unfamiliar fans can just Google anything they are unfamiliar with. Or the company could just do its job by bringing unfamiliar viewers up to speed. The ratings decline over the years suggests that the “Google It” approach hasn’t been successful. Crazy thought, but you’d think that anyone who wants AEW to grow and prosper would encourage the company to take the proper steps rather than blindly defend obvious mistakes and lash out defensively at constructive criticism.
The sickos were right! Lowest rated Dynamite in quite awhile.
MJF-Hangman was a good segment, but I thought it overstayed its welcome. And unless there’s major star power (Rock, Cody, Punk, Roman, et al) then 20+ mins of talking to open a show, without a hook for later in the show, is risky.
I hope you are joking. It’s a common misconception that the rating or viewership count for one show tells the story about that episode’s quality. If AEW somehow produced the greatest pro wrestling show in the history of the business next week, the numbers would look similar to this week’s show. At best, you would see the numbers increase throughout the episode, but it’s not like the viewership would suddenly top one million viewers.
Yes, I’m just joking. And nothing coul convince me that video packages are a bad thing. I’ve never heard or Mone’s opp.
Cool. I should have known.
Jay, I couldn’t agree more with you on how weird the Bayne vs Statlander post match stuff was.
With the apparent stalling by Thunder Rosa, I thought she was waiting for Stat to get up so she could turn and hit her with chair. It felt like Stat was taking too long to get up.
A heel turn wouldn’t have made sense, but the stalling felt like a telegraphed heel turn that didn’t happen.