By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Shelton Benjamin vs. Sammy Guevara: An effective television match. Benjamin’s dominant offense reminded me of his old University of Minnesota teammate. Guevara’s comeback was well executed. Any concerns over this being another overly long and needlessly competitive match were wiped away when MVP responded to Guevara’s comeback by telling Benjamin that this is what happens when you play with your food. Benjamin looked like more of a badass in this match than he did at any time during his entire WWE run. Meanwhile, Guevara looked overmatched yet admirably resilient. Well done.
Dynamite opening: I don’t know why it took the company a week to produce a good WrestleDream post main event angle recap video or to have a waiting party for Jon Moxley’s crew, but better late than never. It was also a positive step that Moxley’s show-opening promo included a hook to keep viewers watching.
Jack Perry and “The Young Bucks” Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson vs. Daniel Garcia and “Private Party” Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy: The reaction Private Party received during their entrance was a bit underwhelming. The same can be said for the crowd reaction to Quen pinning Matthew. It seemed like they were setting up a cold rematch for the AEW Tag Team Titles, but the added stipulation that Private Party will win the titles or split up gave the match some juice.
Christian Cage and Hook: The mob waiting for Jon Moxley’s crew can’t tell the difference between a Chevy SUV and a Dodge Ram truck? Anyway, I’m mildly intrigued by Cage leaving Hook lying and then telling him that it’s not what it seems. Cage should will acheive miracle worker status if he can make the masses care about this oddball Kip Sabian storyline.
Kyle Fletcher promo: Mixed feelings. Fletcher was good and shows a lot of promise, but he really needed an editor to whittle his promo down. I’m also conflicted on Fletcher using Ospreay’s own history against him. It was clever and informative, but there are a lot of viewers out there who are unaware of Ospreay’s history. Given Ospreay’s status as the ultimate nice guy babyface in AEW, an argument can be made that the company would be better off not bringing up his heel history. I’ll wait for the Ospreay rebuttal to see if he says something that makes this part of the promo feel necessary. Either way, Fletcher changing his look during the maniacal head shaving close was unexpected. I’ll wait to see what he looks like without hair to assess whether this was more than just a positive in the moment.
Lance Archer and Brian Cage vs. “The Pillars Of Destiny” Hunter Grey and Parviz: A soft Hit. It was a nice show of strength for the new Callis Family to follow the Fletcher promo with dominant squash win for Archer and Cage.
AEW Dynamite Hits
Kamille vs. Queen Aminata: A rough match. The bigger issue is that Kamille is facing Kris Statlander in a battle of the powerhouses on next week’s Dynamite. So why in the world would Kamille be booked in such a competitive match? I’m not saying she should have squashed Aminata, but surely they could have gone with a different opponent and held off on this match until after Kamille vs. Statlander.
Chris Jericho vs. Mark Briscoe in a Ladder War for the ROH Championship: The bulk of the match was fine for what it was. Jericho had to sell on the table for what felt like an eternity while Bryan Keith and Rocky Romero fought and then Briscoe finally put him through it. The bigger issue is ROH. I don’t understand what purpose ROH actually serves these days, but if Tony Khan says it must exist then one would think that it should feel like a unique product. Even if the idea is that the heat is on Jericho for winning the title in dishonorable fashion, this match still made ROH feel no different than AEW. The post match angle with Tomohiro Ishii coming out to a flat reaction indicates that his feud with Jericho means more to them than the fans.
Undisputed Kingdom: One of the many reasons I’d like this company to split its roster is to end or at least hit the long term pause button on all of the tired factions. I’ve enjoyed the work of everyone involved in Undisputed Kingdom, but this is the third company to play host to their seemingly never ending back and forth drama where they’ve gone back and forth from being friends and enemies. I don’t want to see them form a faction. I don’t want to see them feud amongst themselves. I just want them all to move on.
Hangman Page and Bullet Club Gold: Why are four babyfaces feuding with one heel?
“The House of Black” Malakai Black, Buddy Murphy, and Brody King vs. Kevin Koa, Jaden Monroe, and Pirata De La Muerte: House of Black destroyed three enhancement wrestlers. Yippee? Been there and done that. The wheel spinning continues.
An objectively bad show from top to bottom. Arguably the worst AEW has ever put on TV.
It sucked but worst ever is one hell of a high threshold for Dynamite.
Spot on, Powell-a-mino.
The crowd audibly groaning when Roddy, et al came out should tell TK to relegate those 3 to ROH TV only. And for the love of God, tell Roddy to stop shouting people’s names. It was funny one time a year ago.