By Will Pruett, ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer (@itswilltime)
As I’ve said often in podcast form, I need to get back to writing about wrestling. I’m watching and enjoying it! I have written about wrestling consistently (sort of) since 2009. Writing about wrestling is part of how I process and enjoy it. Sometimes I wonder if we all let too much of the joy of wrestling get farmed out to short quippy social media posts on websites that are mostly bad… Well, I am here to quip, but on a website that isn’t trash!
If you’ve read my writing for a long time, you may recognize the format! I only get ten points to cover the entirety of Dynamite. It’s not just a fun challenge, but it’s a replicable one. I could do this weekly (which is the goal). It’s just ten thoughts! How hard could it be?
– A lot happened for Kevin Knight on this show – he lost an AEW Men’s World Championship match to MJF and lost a Trios Championship match for his team, Jet Set Rodeo. Despite taking two losses in one show, it is apparent that Knight is getting AEW’s major star push. Compare him to Kyle Fletcher 18 months ago. There is a slow and steady emphasis on Knight right now and the breakthrough is likely not far off.
– My least favorite thing happening in AEW right now is Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors, and their feud with Darby Allin. Pulling Orange Cassidy into this lifeless story that should have expired last summer is not helping. Debuting David Finlay in AEW as a part of it is not helping either. Is this feud supposed to make me care about Kidd and Connors, who consistently lose? Is it supposed to make me want to see Cassidy and Allin get revenge for their constant winning? It’s not a well told story – and the goodwill for Allin and Cassidy can only carry it so far. Cassidy’s playful exhaustion about this feud echoes my real exhaustion. Just make it stop.
– The IInspiration look like they are going to be the women’s version of the MxM Collective in AEW. They’ll make you laugh and lose real fast. For a company with a reputation for great matched, they sure do employ some entertaining acts.
– “Hangman” Adam Page’s story going into Revolution continues to puzzle me, but not necessarily in a bad way. AEW purposefully repeating the “if you lose you cannot challenge for the title again ever” story makes me wonder if there was an idea of something down the line for Cody Rhodes back in 2019-2020 that never came to fruition. I also wonder if this is a way to keep Hangman as a semi-main event attraction for most shows – a wrestler fans are deeply invested in, but who is not the Men’s World Champion.
– The Young Bucks attempting to deliver a serious performance while FTR attempts comedy actually sums up their years of feuding in AEW pretty well. This version of this matchup is clicking better than it has in the past, but something about these four together always feels like less than the sum of its parts. AEW currently only has one hardcore style match at Revolution. I have to wonder if Young Bucks vs. FTR ends up with some kind of stipulation to enhance this program a bit.
– Jon Moxley’s reinvention from hardcore deathmatch king being hung by a chain and using skewers to a wrestler who has me looking forward to a “no time limit” match is wild. Think about it. The most notable hardcore wrestler in the country has me looking forward to a match that simply does not involve a stopwatch. It’s an accomplishment he should be really proud of. I am also fond of Moxley mocking advertising agencies in pro wrestling.
– Swerve Strickland vs. Brody King at Revolution should be really enjoyable. It is a solid use of King, stepping in (I assume) for Kenny Omega and getting a major pay-per-view match in his hometown. Swerve will have an uphill battle as a newly turned heel that is still very popular with fans. King should help him get booed in Los Angeles, but the project of heel Swerve will be a challenging one.
– I appreciated the brutality of Thekla in the AEW Women’s World Championship match again Thunder Rosa. There is still something not quite there character-wise for Thekla, but she’s getting there. The promos are clicking (the last two weeks of Collision show it). The in-ring work has never been a question. Thekla seems very close to having it all together and having a very good run as champion – perhaps to establish herself for Toni Storm or Mercedes Moné?
– The Tomasso Ciampa and FTR confrontation was an odd one to me. Is Ciampa going to get a tag team partner to take on FTR after Revolution? Will Ciampa be becoming friendsies with The Young Bucks? This was foreshadowing something, but the most obvious thing to foreshadow was be Johnny Gargano joining Ciampa, but I believe Gargano is acting sad in WWE right now. Maybe I am reading too much into a segment designed around making Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler look mean.
– I thoroughly enjoyed the Trios Championship main event on this show and how it progressed a few stories. We already discussed the rise of Kevin Knight, but we also received a little more motivation for the MJF and Hangman Page feud, saw Proto-Kada capture some joint gold, and saw Mark Davis continue looking great. The Don Callis Family feuding with The Death Riders in varied configurations for the Trios Championships should be fun.
Will Pruett writes about wrestling and popular culture at prowrestling.net. To see his video content subscribe to his YouTube channel. To contact, check him out on Bluesky @itswilltime, leave a comment, or email him at itswilltime@gmail.com.
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