By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Eddie Kingston vs. AR Fox vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Komander vs. Ortiz vs. Sammy Guevara vs. Action Andretti in a Face of the Revolution ladder match: A crazy spot fest that left a lot to be desired from a presentation standpoint. I get that AEW only has two hours to work with, but this really should have been treated as something special, especially considering that it’s normally a pay-per-view match. There were no televised entrances let alone any type of feature videos on each entrants. Ultimately, the match was good, crazy fun and it was great to see Hobbs get a meaningful victory in his hometown. As much as this match was about Hobbs going over, Takeshita continues to shine whenever he’s in the ring.
Bryan Danielson: I’m not sure what they had planned, but it seemed like their time was cut and they had to rush this. Renee Paquette brought up a quote from MJF that she never actually read. Danielson took over and made the most out of the time that he had by delivering a top notch go-home promo. MJF has done the bulk of the talking throughout the build, so it felt right that Danielson was given the final word while MJF stood silently on the stage.
Orange Cassidy vs. Big Bill for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship: A nice match. They were given a good amount of time to tell the story of Cassidy eventually chopping down the big man before putting him away with a special leap from the ropes version of his Orange Punch finisher. The All-Atlantic Championship does nothing for me, but Cassidy has really done everything he can to make the belt matter by having a series of quality matches with a variety of opponents.
Riho vs. Toni Storm: Storm has been in the AEW Women’s Championship mix while Riho hasn’t appeared on Dynamite since November, so it felt like an upset when Riho went over. The post match angle was more of the same with Ruby Soho choosing to stand alone rather than choose between the teams of Storm and Saraya, and Jamie Hayter and Britt Baker.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Tag Team Casino Battle Royale: The company abandoned it’s previous Casino Battle Royale rules and didn’t have a Joker team. The match appeared to run so long that the post match angle and the final segment between MJF and Bryan Danielson felt rushed. Was it really worth it? Can anyone really justify the idea of having back to back tag team battle royals eat up so much time on Dynamite just to set up a comedic four-way tag team title match?
Hook vs. Matt Hardy for the FTW Title: This match just didn’t feel like it needed to be on this overstuffed edition of Dynamite. The story of Hook beating Hardy to earn a match with Hathaway doesn’t pack much of a punch. They just haven’t gotten Hathaway over to the extent that fans are clamoring to see one of the babyfaces get their hands on him.
House of Black attack The Elite: A lights out beatdown that resulted in House of Black stealing the AEW Trios Title belts, which they just dropped to the ground later in the night. I’m sure these teams will have a hell of a match at Revolution, but the build was unimaginative and disappointing.
Chris Jericho vs. Peter Avalon fallout: The actual match was fine for what it was. The issue was the post match angle featuring a beatdown of Ricky Starks, who came off like an idiot for walking into a Jericho Appreciation Society trap. It would have been understandable if Jericho had been roughing up someone that Starks’s character had an alliance with, but he saved Avalon, who is part of the heel Wingmen faction. Jericho and Starks should produce a quality match on Sunday, but I’m hoping that it marks the end of this awkwardly booked feud.
2 words “Jeff Jarrett”
Why oh why is he in this show?
Sure you could add a lot of names to the list of people taking up valuable TV time (looking at you Matt Hardy) but Jarrett is not only old he looks terrible.
He could make a great mouthpiece for a younger guy but at this point he is just keeping the younger wrestlers down
2 words “Jeff Jarrett”
Why oh why is he in this show?
Sure you could add a lot of names to the list of people taking up valuable TV time (looking at you Matt Hardy) but Jarrett is not only old he looks terrible.
He could make a great mouthpiece for a younger guy but at this point he is just keeping the younger wrestlers down
I so wannna see Brock vs Orange Cassidy!!
Lou Brock?
Brock Purdy, of course.
Not only is Cassidy using Roman Reigns’ move, he is also being booked like Roman Reigns. Absolute madness.
I meant Brock Anderson……Who else is there??