By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
AEW World Champion Hangman Page vs. Josh Alexander: A good brawl. There were a couple of rough moments, but it was more good than bad. It’s a shame that Alexander wasn’t protected. It should have meant more for the AEW World Champion to face a former TNA world Champion, but Alexander was defined down the moment he arrived in AEW when Page beat him clean in an Owen Hart Foundation tournament match.
Hangman Page and Kyle Fletcher: They had a good verbal segment to set up their AEW World Championship match at All Out. The idea of having the underdog heel challenger give his word that he will go it alone is questionable. Of course, Fletcher could go back on his word, but I don’t see how this agreement helps sell the match. Fletcher has future world champion upside potential, but the fans see him as a threat to beat Page with or without help right now. Even if the plan is to go with Fletcher winning in an upset, that doesn’t sell the pay-per-view. All of that said, I am hopeful that Fletcher will gain something, presumably in defeat, by hanging with Page regardless of whether he gets help or stays true to his word.
AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm vs. Skye Blue in a Philly Street Fight: An entertaining hardcore match with Storm paying tribute to Sandman and New Jack. Both wrestlers worked hard, and the live crowd was hot for the match. My only complaint is that I prefer it when there’s a storyline reason for two wrestlers to have this type of match, as opposed to just having a hardcore match for the sake of having a hardcore match. In other words, they really should have set this up by putting a lot of heat on Blue in a way that would justify Storm wanting revenge in this violent approach.
Ricochet vs. Shelton Benjamin: Are we supposed to think that Ricochet blowing off the gentleman’s agreement he proposed to keep the sidekicks in the back means Kyle Fletcher will do something similar at All Out? The match was entertaining, and the cheap finish felt necessary because the goal seemed to nudge fans toward viewing The Hurt Syndicate as the babyfaces in this feud. It was encouraging to see Ricochet, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun looking strong during the post-match brawl between the two factions as opposed to being mauled by the Hurt Syndicate.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Jon Moxley, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Wheeler Yuta, and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, Katsuyori Shibata, Bandido, and Brody King in a ten-man tag for $500,000: Sure, this was a Hit if you’re only looking at match quality. But I must question the logic of going with yet another big tag team match. The hype for last week’s show that drew lousy television numbers was built mostly around an all-star eight-man tag match. Rather than look at those numbers and question whether television viewers have had their fill of these trivial all-star eight-man tag matches, AEW just added two wrestlers and a phony monetary stipulation.
Riho and Alex Windsor vs. TBS Champion Mercedes Mone and Emi Sakura: It was the right call to put Riho over to give her momentum heading into her TBS Title match. Unfortunately, her performance left something to be desired, and beating Sakura means nothing in AEW these days. That said, this appears to be a one-off between Mone and Riho, so it would have been a mistake to have Riho pin Mone rather than Sakura.
Tournament for spots in the AEW Unified Championship three-way at All Out: Why does Kazuchika Okada have to earn a spot when he’s the champion? Why didn’t they just have Okada face Michael Oku on Collision, and then announce the other two matches as qualifiers?
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