Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: Hangman Page and MJF meeting, Adam Copeland vs. Stokely Hathaway, Jon Moxley vs. Kevin Knight, AEW Trios Champions The Opps vs. LFI in a non-title match

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

AEW Dynamite Hits

Hangman Page and MJF face-to-face meeting: A compelling verbal exchange with quality mic work from the champion and his Forbidden Door challenger. Page seems more confident during his second world championship reign and I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t get a long run with the title. Meanwhile, MJF did a good job of showing that Page’s words got to him to the point that he announced that he would execute his Casino Gauntlet contract for the title shot at Forbidden Door. Granted, I’m not really sure what’s stopping the MJF character from pulling out of the match, as it’s not like he put pen to paper. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the segment, and look forward to their title match. It’s not the interpromotional dream match that some fans want from a Forbidden Door main event, but no one from NJPW jumps out as someone who would be more likely than MJF to sell pay-per-views in the challenger role.

Adam Copeland vs. Stokely Hathaway: More good than bad. The pre-match presentation left a little something to be desired, as they could have had some fun with a fearful Hathaway being interviewed or during backstage segments. The actual match was fine with Copeland toying with Hathaway while drawing FTR to ringside to break the restraining order they took out against him. Having been on the wrong end of six restraining orders, I can tell you that’s not how it works. Okay, I’ve never had a restraining order filed against me (I leave the state first), and I’m not a legal expert, but the logic sure seems wonky. The Copeland and Christian Cage reunion was rushed. You had to know it was only a matter of time before it happened, but it feels like they skipped a few chapters and raced to the big hug.

Jon Moxley vs. Kevin Knight: A solid match with Knight getting some hope spots before Moxley got the expected win. As much as I think the Death Riders need a break from television (or more like television viewers need a break from the Death Riders), Moxley continues to produce quality matches. The post-match angle with cold Claudio Castagnoli attacking Darby Allin didn’t do much for me until Will Ospreay made the surprise save. It feels way too soon for another Anarchy in the Arena match, so Ospreay issuing the challenge for a lights-out steel cage match was a welcome move.

TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, and Josh Alexander vs. Brody King, Tomohiro Ishii, Hologram, and Hiromu Takahashi: Justin Roberts brought that double superkick shit on himself. Anyway, this was a soft Hit. I was hopeful that Tony Khan could get through a second week without booking another throwaway eight-person tag match, but no such luck. The Bucks’ entrance gag continues to be fun, and seeing their characters forced to dress in the extras locker room was good for a laugh. Takahashi was a nice surprise for those familiar with his NJPW work. Sadly, Alexander has been positioned as a fall guy for the Callis Family, so Takahashi didn’t get much of a boost from pinning him.

AEW Dynamite Misses

AEW Trios Champions “The Opps” Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsuyori Shibata vs. “LFI” Rush, Dralistico, and The Beast Mortos in a non-title match: The match was fine, but I have no idea why the champions ran through the LFI trio in a non-title match. There aren’t many credible trios teams in AEW, so why not build up LFI for a title match before having The Opps beat them? In fact, they could have added a little more drama to this bout by making it a title match, which would have made it feel like a better fit in the television main event slot.

TBS Champion Mercedes Mone, Thekla, and Skye Blue vs. Willow Nightingale, Queen Aminata, and Alex Windsor: A minor Miss. There was too much going on with six wrestlers in the ring, with Toni Storm and Athena pulling attention away from them while sitting in the upper deck of the venue. This was a rare time when Mone didn’t feel like a star on AEW television. Using Storm to give a boost to Windsor has been mildly effective. We’ll see how it goes at Forbidden Door, but I haven’t seen enough from Windsor to make me think that her push should continue coming out of her homecoming match at the pay-per-view.

Swerve Strickland and Kazuchika Okada: The live crowd had fun doing the Swerve’s House chants, but this was an underwhelming segment. It felt like it existed only to establish that Swerve has a knee injury to give him an out for losing at Forbidden Door.