By Will Pruett, ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer (@itswilltime)
Another AEW Dynamite in the books, let’s head to the Thought-o-matic for 10 of those sweet sweet thoughts on the show…
– Kenny Omega’s long promo to close this show might have been one of the best and most effective of his career. After a middling performance in the contract signing last week, I was happy to see Kenny bounce back with a confident, passionate, and focused (well, focused for Kenny) promo. My own opinion going into Dynasty on Sunday is that Omega vs. Ospreay is the best main event to sell that show, so I want to believe Kenny will win this one.
– Chaos in Canada was a nice miniature version of Anarchy in the Arena or Stadium Stampede and a real surprise to see on this edition of AEW Dynamite. Will Ospreay bringing his friends from Japan in to help him out was logical, but also felt like a lot being thrown at us at the very beginning of Dynamite. It helped to have established wrestlers in the Death Riders, Ospreay, and Alex Windsor involved as well so it was not too many faces we have never seen and were expected to care about. Will The United Empire be more of a force on AEW TV or was this a one time thing? Does this mark the unofficial start of Forbidden Door season?
– Kyle Fletcher having to vacate the TNT Championship is a major bummer. Fletcher has been on an amazing run after breaking through last year and looked to be on pace for the AEW World Championship sometime in 2027. As one of the centerpieces of the Don Callis Family, Fletcher has been reliable both in the ring and on the mic as a performer. Hopefully Fletcher recovers quickly and will be able to resume his ascendance in AEW.
– While the slow burn to it has made me question AEW’s tactics at times, finding out we will get both Konoske Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada and Takeshita and Okada vs. The Young Bucks brought me a ton of joy on this show. The Young Bucks have not been a major focus during the pay-per-view cycle, but they have have been delivering great matches more than they ever have in AEW (which is really saying something). This Takeshita and Okada story has been really fun over the past couple of weeks and those two slowly breaking down while The Young Bucks wrestle around them will be amazing. Give me more Okada as Michael Jordan references please.
– Andrade El Idolo pinned AEW National Champion Jack Perry, which has me worried Andrade could win the AEW National Championship. He has been a fixture in the main event scene (or just outside of it) since returning and Andrade should continue to be that high on the card and not wrestling for the very nice looking red belt Jack Perry has. Andrade is proving himself to be a main eventer with this AEW run.
– Hikaru Shida being on a slow burn heel turn pace and eventually taking out Willow Nightingale should be excellent. I’d love to see Shida as a heel fighting champion with the TBS Championship for a few months. It would free up Willow to be in the AEW Women’s World Championship picture (where she belongs, once there is a story for her there) and give Shida something important to do.
– Chris Jericho is trying his best to be a babyface at this point in his run, even bringing back his list (a gimmick I never enjoyed at its peak). I don’t think he is clicking on the mic, but this is far better than his Learning Tree gimmick and the promos annoy me less. Jericho vs. Ricochet at Dynasty should be a nice test to see if Jericho is in true ring shape for this comeback.
– I found the final sell for Thekla vs. Jamie Hayter for the AEW Women’s World Championship disappointing. It was barely there. This story has far more to it than AEW has told us. I know it was a late pivot from Toni Storm to Hayter, but it has been weeks. Where was the fiery promo we know Hayter can deliver? Why not have an in-ring segment for these two? Weird build for a match that feels more thrown together than it should.
– Darby Allin’s promo about needing the AEW Men’s World Championship was the first time I’ve been into Allin since his return at All In from climbing Mount Everest. He is a really compelling character when he’s presented as more than a stunt performer and allowed to connect and talk to the audience.
– The final segment building to FTR vs. Adam Copeland and Christian Cage worked for me. I would expect this match to get a ton of time in a semi-main event slot on Sunday and to likely end with Adam Copeland and Christian Cage winning gold together for the first time in decades. As a longtime fan of them, it will be neat to see. The eventual match with The Young Bucks should be phenomenal as well – and the ladder match at All In (I assume) with all three teams involved should be appropriately chaotic. Make it really weird and add Brody King and Bandido to that final match if you want to make it perfect.
That’s all the thoughts I am allowed to think today!
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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