By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Jon Moxley and Swerve Strickland: This was the first time that a segment made me care about the AEW World Championship since Moxley defended the title against Powerhouse Hobbs back in mid-January. The Moxley vs. Adam Copeland program did nothing for me. Swerve’s involvement has breathed some life into the title and Moxley.
Kyle Fletcher vs. Brody King: Fletcher needs to win a singles championship. He has the special ability to make his opponents shine in a way that makes it seem like he is on the verge of losing, which will mean a lot more when he’s defending a championship. As much as this match was enjoyable, the brainbuster on the top turnbuckle spot looked too risky.
AEW International Champion Kenny Omega vs. Blake Christian in a non-title match: The crowd chanting “Kenny” before his entrance was big time. Christian is a talented guy and it’s a shame that he didn’t get a better reintroduction than the brief highlight video that aired right before the match. Great, he can do all of the dives that 90 percent of the guys in AEW do. Put his personality on display. Anyway, the match was entertaining and while they surely could have tore the house down, the match was wisely laid out as a showcase for Omega. The post match angle with Mike Bailey and the video that Ricochet recorded was rough. The sound quality of the Ricochet video was lousy (why are there so many sound quality issues in AEW?), and I don’t think they set out to have the live crowd turn on Bailey.
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Mark Davis: A soft Hit for a decent hoss fight. It’s a shame they flubbed the late move, but they recovered quickly. It was wild to see Von Wagner (a/k/a Cal Bloom) working security. It would be fun to see a security guard character featured as a badass for a change to make up for how often they have been treated like pushovers in recent years, but it’s likely that the Minnesota native was just in for the night or perhaps the loop since they’ll be in Milwaukee on Saturday.
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Mark Briscoe: You know what you’re getting when Briscoe works with a wrestler who is typically higher on the depth chart than he is. Briscoe puts up a great fight, the crowd gets behind him as he gets a lot of offense, but his opponent goes over in the end. I’d like to see Briscoe win this type of matches occasionally to make the outcome of future matches feel less predictable, but this wasn’t the night to take that approach. Takeshita needed this win because he’s still bouncing back from dropping the AEW International Championship to Kenny Omega. In fact, I’d argue that Takeshita actually should have taken more of the match than he did.
“Thunder Tits” Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa vs. Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford: When the show’s lineup was announced, I wrote that there were some good matches on paper, but there wasn’t an obvious television main event. That changed when Storm referred to her team as “Thunder Tits.” Toni Storm is the main event. Even so, it was absolutely the right call to have Bayne pin Storm to make the challenger look strong heading into the title match at AEW Dynasty.
“Top Flight” Dante Martin and Darius Martin vs. Alex Findley and Devo Knight: A soft Hit. It felt like a Rampage match broke out during Dynamite, but it was nice to see Top Flight get a showcase match in their home state. Can we cut to the part where they wrestle Lio Rush and Action Andretti? Those teams last met back in December and it feels like they are in the midst of the slowest build to an undercard tag team rematch in the history of the business.
AEW Dynamite Misses
The Hurt Syndicate, Big Bill, and Bryan Keith: Was MVP inspired by Charlotte Flair’s verbal mauling of Tiffany Stratton on Smackdown? MVP talked down to Keith and then walked all over Big Bill on the mic. MVP should be building up Hurt Syndicate opponents so that it will feel like Lashley and Shelton Benjamin actually accomplish something when they beat their challengers.
Sit-down interview with Adam Copeland, Dax Harwood, and Cash Wheeler: A minor Miss. I can’t believe Wheeler turned heel by suggesting that “Rated FTR” go after the AEW Trios Titles rather than he and Harwood challenge for the AEW Tag Team Titles. Wait, what do you mean Harwood was the one showing heel tendencies? I’m only half kidding because the AEW Trios Titles are below only the NXT Heritage Cup and the TNA Digital Media Championship on my list of the least interesting titles.
I missed Dynamite but just saw the “Thunder Tits” interview clip. Renee and Luther’s faces were priceless. Well done to Rosa for managing to keep a straight face.