-A fine opening contest this week between Adam Copeland & Christian Cage and The Death Riders for the AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championships. Copeland and Cage got the win over Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia. Here’s the thing, what are fans supposed to think about the Death Riders? The show opened with a backstage promo, in which Moxley and his faction were hyping up and training Will Ospreay. Yeah, the babyface that is going to wrestle for the world championship at All In. They were likable doing that. Not two minutes later, the audience started chanting “fuck you Yuta” to Wheeler Yuta. Way too manic of a reaction for a group that is so close to the main storyline in the company.
-So, there’s a saga now between Christian Cage and Jay White? They don’t trust each other? Not sure I fully get it, but it sets up a batch of matches down the road. The audience sure enjoyed seeing White. Tony Khan has to find a way to get him involved in something more meaningful and higher up the card.
-Everyone caught the tease of Copeland and Cage against The Young Bucks, right? That’s an All In match right there. Kinda has to be a ladder match if you ask me.
-Ricochet is adding to his Demand faction? Sounds good to me. That faction has been valuable for Ricochet to showcase his heel chops. New members freshens it up and will put Ricochet in the mix on a weekly basis.
-A strong win for Andrade El Idolo this week over Jake Doyle. Not much drama about the outcome of this one, but Andrade wrestled an entertaining match and continues to find his personality. He seems more comfortable than ever on the microphone. The “how you know” line he’s been delivering is catching on.
-Ok, the fact that Andrade was able to secure MJF’s Dynamite Diamond Ring tells me that’s a match for All In. That’s a really big spot for Andrade at this point. Cool thing is? He doesn’t feel out of place in it.
-I really liked Kenny Omega’s championship celebration promo this week. Money Omega showed up. Omega leaned into his past hardships as context for the win, but then confidently outlined what his title run would look like. As for the little confrontation with Ospreay, it worked for chapter one in the story. The match at All In between those two can’t be all about respect and friendship. It was worth it for them to address that part of their history this week, but the rivalry is going to need more depth in order to get it as hot as possible prior to the biggest show of the year inside Wembley Stadium at the end of August.
-Kevin Knight vs. Omega is set for Redemption. If you were expecting an Omega vs. MJF rematch, this is probably a little disappointing. BUT. AEW has been setting up a Knight title match for weeks. Credit to them on that. Not only will that match be fantastic on the PPV, but it has a backstory.
-Whoa. Kyle Fletcher vs. Komander had the match of the night by a wide margin. Great action, but the best thing about the match was the psychology built to a Komander near fall that the audience actually bought. It wasn’t performative, but a legit moment where everyone thought their might be a chance Komander would win. He didn’t, but that isn’t the point. The match shouldn’t have had as much drama as it did because of the certainty of the outcome. The work both guys did gave it the extra juice it needed. Great stuff.
-Fletcher added to his strong night with a backstage promo on Bandido. Fletcher hit a very good tone with the mic work. He was fierce, but didn’t scream. Loose, but on point. The promo made you want to see Bandido vs. Fletcher more than the post-match angle did this week. Good on Fletcher.
-Darby Allin took quite a beating from Brian Cage, but that’s kind of what Allin does. Allin vs. Cage was your standard Darby match in that it constructed a steep mountain for Allin to climb. He did and got a needed clean victory.
-Fun to see the AEW women’s division get the main event this week. Mercedes Mone and Divine Dominion defeated Willow Nightingale, Maya World, and Hyan in a trios match and it was a very good one. Mone got the victory for her team, but it was surprising to see Thekla not involved in the finish. Thekla has future business with either Nightingale or Mone, so a run-in of some kind would have made sense. Hey, I’m not complaining about a clean finish, though.
What letter grade do you give this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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