By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
The Inner Circle vs. The Pinnacle in a Blood and Guts match: A great WarGames style match until the closing minutes. The actual structure is awesome. I wasn’t a fan of NXT taking the roof off the cage, nor was I a fan of the low roof of the original cage. AEW did the obvious by going with a taller structure to create the best of both worlds. The live crowd was hot, the broadcast team was fired up, the in-ring action was strong, and this was a blast to watch. But I really could have done without Chris Jericho and MJF escaping the cage. Not every roofed cage match needs to have wrestlers fighting on top. I realize it played into the finish, but the finish was really flat. We went from a bloody and gritty cage match to a WWE style bump into an heavily padded landing spot. It’s not a desire to see Jericho take an unsafe bump. Rather, I wish they could have come up with a better finish that didn’t conflict with the feel of the overall match. Still, the good of the match outweighed the bad.
Miro promo: Forget Rusev Day and video games. Badass Miro is still the best Miro. I like the idea of Darby Allin entering their TNT Title match injured. I don’t think he needs an out for losing, but it’s a nice hook that he would have to forfeit the championship if he’s unable to wrestle. And if he does drop the title by losing while injured, it creates the need for a rematch once he’s healthy.
Cody Rhodes vs. QT Marshall: A solid match with Rhodes going over clean after Marshall put up a good fight. I was hoping that it was a one and done for Cody facing The Factory members. It still feels beneath his character and more like something that Dustin Rhodes and Billy Gunn should be anchoring at this late stage of their careers. Unfortunately, Anthony Ogogo punching Cody afterward means that there’s more to come.
Britt Baker vs. Julia Hart: A dominant squash win for Baker. Hopefully there’s more to come while they continue to build up Baker heading into her AEW Women’s Championship match with Hikaru Shida at the Double or Nothing event. Bonus points to AEW for getting through at least one match without a bunch of post match drama.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston vs. Kenny Omega and Michael Nakazawa: There’s a fine line between babyfaces looking brave by fighting regardless of the odds and just coming off like dopes for repeatedly losing the numbers battle. Moxley and Kingston crossed the line with this latest beatdown from The Elite and their lackeys. Get some friends, guys.
SCU vs. Jurassic Express vs. The Acclaimed vs. Varsity Blonds in a four-way for a shot at the AEW Tag Titles: An underwhelming match with a predictable outcome. I still don’t understand why AEW felt the need to foreshadow the winners by having Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian confront the Young Bucks on last week’s show when they could have cut a similar promo once they actually became No. 1 contenders.
Kenny Omega and Orange Cassidy: A soft Miss. I’m all for more mic time on Dynamite, but this Omega promo ended up overstaying its welcome. Still, Omega did a nice job with his arrogant champion schtick while discounting Cassidy as a threat to beat him for the championship. But did they really need to go overboard in what felt like foreshadowing a Cassidy win over Pac next week?
So if the ratings bounce back are you going to give credit to the PPV they gave away on free TV like Hogan/Goldberg?
Also, if they don’t, was there a crocheting tournament or something to blame it on?
So you’ve already decided that this is a no-win situation. Shocking.
I think fair treatment is fair. I wouldn’t give any other company a pass.
Everyone gets the same treatment. It’s just that some folks somehow convinced themselves that pointing out that the second hour of last week’s Dynamite running opposite the U.S. Presidential address was somehow defending AEW rather than a fact. I also pointed out that Impact and Smackdown ran opposite the NFL Draft, yet no one seemed to take issue with that.
You arebyfar the best dirt sheet writer on the internet. I’ve thought that since you worked for Keller and I followed you here and never returned to his site. So I hope you don’t take anything personal.People might not have complained about the draft because it is also sports based. That’s still no excuse though, because wrestling should be good enough to not lose numbers to anything. That’s the way it was and that’s the standard I feel it should be held to. All companies.
I really appreciate the kind words. Thank you. You can hold them to any standard you like. It’s been a long time since the Attitude Era/Monday Night Wars. Wrestling ratings are typically affected by bigger television events. You can say that they should be strong enough to thrive no matter what, but we’re just not there. And even if we were, I’d still point out when bigger television events ran in opposition and if a wrestling’s shows ratings were up or steady despite strong competition. I’ve done this for as long as the site has existed and no one complained until recently.
This whole WWE vs. AEW nonsense has really brought out the worst in some fans. I don’t get it. I never watched wrestling that way. I grew up in the AWA’s home state and that made them a hometown promotion so to speak, but I still didn’t watch that way. I found good and bad in everything I watched regardless of the company.
The second hour of AEW got more viewers than the first hour.
Orange Cassidy is a mildly entertaining undercard guy, but he should be nowhere near the world title picture. Please let PAC win that match. Also, I have started to look forward to Matt Jackson’s appearances just to see if he can beat his own record for most ridiculous outfit of all time.
The cage structure itself looked more impressive than the NXT counterpart, but the gaps between the cage and the ring that they could just fall through took away from that.
I thought I was seeing things at first, but they really didn’t secure the cage to the ring properly. That was an inexcusable blunder, especially since everything before that match was pre-taped and shown to the crowd on the big screens.
I felt so bad so bad for the guys won kept falling between the cage and the ring! That looked brutal every time
*who kept falling