Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks vs. Pac, Pentagon Jr., and Fenix, Riho vs. Nyla Rose vs. Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s Championship, Cody vs. Darby Allin, Jon Moxley vs. Trent

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

AEW Dynamite Hits

Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks vs. Pac, Pentagon Jr., and Fenix: A fun main event featuring six of the most entertaining guys on the roster. Here’s hoping that Omega going over strong is an indication that he’ll be positioned as the star that he is in 2020 rather than whatever the hell that was in 2019. The post match bit with Adam Page declining to join the rest of The Elite in the ring was easy to follow as they continue what appears to be a slow build toward a feud with Omega.

Cody vs. Darby Allin: A strong show opener and a good followup to their previous match that went to a draw. They did a nice job of telling the story of being near equals with the early counters and reversals. I dig that the Allin character went out of his way to help Cody by teaming with him last week and then wanted to face him in this match. Allin got plenty of offense and looked good in defeat. Arn Anderson “coaching” Cody to put his knees up felt like the most obvious advice ever given, but it is great to see Arn back on television.

Riho vs. Nyla Rose vs. Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida in a four-way for the AEW Women’s Championship: My favorite AEW women’s match to date. There was good action from start to finish with some big moments built in so that the match never dragged. For someone who didn’t factor into the finish, Shida had a good outing. Riho getting the pin was expected, and the post match attack by Rose set up Shida with her next opponent whether she wins or loses next week’s title match with Kris Statlander.

Dark Order video package: The big takeaway from the video was Evil Uno referring to the “exalted one.” In other words, there is a big bad leading the Dark Order faction. Is it someone already on the roster? Killer Kross? Marty Scurll? Sheev Palpatine? Unlimited Power!!!!!

Jon Moxley vs. Trent: Another strong match. I’m not really sure what they are going for with Trent working more singles matches. He’s a hell of a wrestler, but whether he’s going to be a singles or a tag team wrestler, we need to know more about his character. The only things I can tell you about Trent’s persona from watching AEW television (and ROH) thus far is that he doesn’t have a last name that he can legally use and he hugs his tag team partner once a match. Anyway, the post match angle with Sammy Guevara and Chris Jericho courting Moxley was solid, but I couldn’t blame the live crowd for booing when Moxley said he would give his answer next week. After all, Jericho told Moxley he wanted his answer this week, so the crowd had good reason to expect that to play out on this show.

Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara: This was perfect for Guevara. I’ve been down on the number of losses he’s taken because pest heels are most effective when viewers actually have to wait to see them get put in their place. In this match, Rhodes roughed up Guevara, who stole the pin after Jake Hager interfered with a low blow. In the process, Guevara added to his heat, while they continued to build to the Rhodes vs. Hager match.

AEW Dynamite Misses

None: A good show that included a nice mix of in-ring action and promo time. The MJF promo was decent, but it was more of an in the middle moment. On a side note, it was nice to hear Taz on commentary again. He stepped in and did a good job with Jim Ross and Excalibur in place of Tony Schiavone.