By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Swerve Strickland vs. Brody King in a men’s Owen Hart Cup tournament semifinal match: King continues to be the Minnesota Vikings of AEW in that he has racked up a lot of victories over the years, but he never wins the big one. So there was no reason to think he would win this match, let alone beat Will Ospreay at Forbidden Door, and then win the AEW World Championship at AEW All In. The predictability worked against the match, but Swerve and King still managed to make it entertaining. Like most people, I assume Ospreay will beat Swerve at Forbidden Door. Here’s hoping there’s a plan for Swerve to bounce back. His heel run has been underwhelming thus far.
Jon Moxley vs. Shane Taylor for the AEW Continental Championship: The presentation was lousy. Taylor rarely appears on Dynamite, yet fans were supposed to be invested in him getting a title shot out of nowhere. Taylor is a good talker, but they just threw him out there and never gave him a chance to sell the match to unfamiliar fans through his mic work. Nevertheless, Moxley and Taylor had a good brawl, along with a post-match angle that extends the feud between the Death Riders and Shane Taylor Promotions. Ideally, STP will gain something out of this feud beyond some extra television time, but so far it’s been so one-sided and most of it has played out on Collision, so I doubt the masses are suddenly seeing the faction in a new light.
Mark Briscoe vs. Pac: A quality match with the right guy going over. Briscoe is likely to challenge for the AEW World Championship soon, whereas Pac is one of the four guys beneath Jon Moxley in the Death Riders. Don’t get me wrong, Pac is a hell of a wrestler, but he’s been slotted as an upper mid-card wrestler, and there’s no depth to his character.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Tommaso Ciampa and Chris Jericho: I liked this feud on paper, but Ciampa’s character seems to have lost IQ points since it started. I don’t want a dumbed-down Ciampa being the butt of corny jokes. I want the cold-blooded Ciampa who ruthlessly attacked his own tag team partner and was the most hated man in NXT. The tone shifted by the end of this segment, so perhaps this will evolve into a blood feud, but it’s been too cutesy for this viewer so far. On a side note, it was logical to bring back “Judas” as Jericho’s entrance theme when he returned as a babyface, but it’s run its course to the point that the company looks uncool when they show fans singing along in the crowd.
Andrade El Idolo vs. Orange Cassidy: A minor Miss. The gag with Cassidy having tearaway denim pants was great. The comedy should have stopped there. Lio Rush’s selfie antics fell flat, and Cassidy’s comedic light strikes felt out of place in this match. The wrestlers worked well together, but the match was too competitive given the circumstances. Andrade is in the AEW World Championship picture, while Cassidy is goofing around with The Conglomeration and the AEW Trios Championship. The company has built up a lot of equity in Cassidy over the years, and this was one of those times when they should have cashed some of it in by having Andrade go over strong in a shorter match rather than have him win a competitive 15-minute match. If they weren’t willing to have Cassidy lose in that manner, then they should have booked Andrade against someone else.
Maya World vs. Skye Blue in a women’s Owen Hart Cup tournament quarterfinal match: First off, my condolences to Maya and her family on the loss of her brother. It would have been easy for the live crowd to rally behind her, but either it was a tough bunch or the company didn’t let them in on the story by airing video package in the building. The crowd was quiet before some fans took part in dueling chants for both wrestlers. This match had Collision written all over it, even if Sareee had been healthy enough to wrestle.
Venue: AEW wisely stopped running NBA and NHL buildings for most of their weekly television shows. The move to smaller buildings packed with fans was a big upgrade over having 2,000 to 3,000 fans in a full-sized arena. They’ve been running smaller venues long enough now to know which venues look good on television. This was not one of those venues. Worse yet, the live crowd was flatter than most, and the look and atmosphere really brought the show down. Jon Moxley is one of the biggest stars in the company, but he’s not enough of a draw in his hometown market for them to run a bigger and better mid-sized venue? Strange.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
Not only is Shane Taylor good on the mic, he’s very believable in the ring and with a proper push could be a force as a heel. He’s another victim of AEW’s belief that losing competitive matches against top names is a better way of getting over than racking up some wins.