-A bit of an awkward show opening backstage promo this week with Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay, and Jon Moxley. Ospreay and Omega are friendly, I guess? That’s the issue. The two of them did a nice job of creating awkwardness, but the idea was to create tension. Moxley said that outright. Ospreay and Omega didn’t land it that way. More on them in a little bit.
-Strong opening match this week between Darby Allin and Kevin Knight. Allin worked his style … but not too much, which is a good thing. Allin doesn’t need insane bumps every single time he laces them up out there. Knight was a heel that got a very heelish win by using the title belt to secure momentum in the match. That’s how heels get heat. Well done.
-Ok, there is dissension in The Don Callis Family. This time it was between Kyle Fletcher and Knight. Like, when is there not dissension in that faction? My initial reaction to this was, what’s the point? When heels are confrontational to one another, the audience is automatic in aligning with one of them. In this instance, I’d argue that Fletcher babyface’d Knight by calling him out on his ridiculous claims and braggadocios attitude. Fletcher is a heel and in the heel faction. He can’t be pulling fans to his side, while at the same exact time, working to be the bad guy in a program with Bandido. The dissension in this faction makes sense in theory because of the fact that these guys are all egotistical narcissists. In practice? They just extinguish one another’s heat without a good reason.
-Uh oh. Bandido got the win over Kyle Fletcher in their tag team match that also included Brody King and Kazuchika Okada. I’d put a lot of money on Fletcher retaining the AEW International Championship against Bandido at Redemption on Sunday.
-Great to see Mick Foley out there on AEW television contributing. He didn’t do a ton, but he set the table for what was a serious and engaging promo segment between Thekla and Willow Nightingale. Those two women are polar opposites and each of their promos conveyed that in a strong way. Thekla has a presence on television that’s as big as anything else AEW has at the moment.
-Hey! A Jay White victory. Yeah, it was over Clark Connors, but it’s something. White still has untapped potential in what he could be for AEW. He just needs a real opportunity.
-It was really nice to see the women’s tag team division on display this week. Divine Dominion vs. Sisters of Sin in a no disqualification bout was well worked. Both teams weren’t afraid to lean into the no DQ stipulation and the match featured plenty of violence to make the match worthy of it. Skye Blue always takes the big bumps in these matches and she did it again this week with the choke slam from the ring and through a table on the outside of the ring. The match made Divine Dominion look very strong. That team is clicking well right now.
-The main event trios match been The Don Callis Family and all-star trio of Ospreay, Omega, and Moxley was fine. B-level in execution of the match, but an A+ in serving the purpose of multiple stories for Redemption.
-The post-match angle? Entirely different story. Swing and a damn miss. First of all, it was hard to tell whether or not Ospreay meant to fall over after Omega graced his shoulder. My guess it was supposed to be a push, but it looked like a tap and Ospreay went flying. That was bad, but it got worse as the brawl started. Jake Doyle somehow stumbled into the ring, looked like he didn’t belong, and then stumbled out of it. Doyle isn’t a factor in any of the stories involved, so it made no sense for him to be out there when he was. A giant mess up on someone — maybe Doyle, maybe someone else? Now, that was an accidental error. The Ospreay and Omega “tension?” That’s on. It’s purposeful. That’s supposed to be real and AEW needs more than just that for those guys. Way more. If Ospreay vs. Omega is the main event of All In, Tony Khan has to find a better storyline around it and one that isn’t fake tension, but really just awkwardness between both men. There are plenty of ways to tell a competitive, reasonable, and entertaining storyline around this huge match. Do those things. Relying on the fact that it will be a good match is neutralizing your own business. A storyline takes the good match and gives it a chance to be much more.
What do you think of the current “storyline” between Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay? Is it enough for a major main event inside of a stadium? Let us know in the comments. Go!
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