-Will Ospreay and United Empire vs. The Don Callis Family in a trios bout to start the show was a fun match, but essentially a squash. Ospreay and Kenny Omega reigniting their individual rivalries with Don Callis felt odd and forced, but as a mini storyline on the way to All In, it was fine, and this match was the blowoff. Ospreay got the clean win and on he goes. Plenty of additional Ospreay analysis on the way.
-Kazuchika Okada, Kyle Fletcher, and Konosuke Takeshita were excellent out there. Those three guys hit all the right notes on the tone of their feud. Okada and Fletcher talked nicely about one another with their fingers crossed behind their backs. The audience knew it and that background tension is going to make the match at All In between these guys really compelling. The fact that Takeshita stood tall with the title belt this week feeds the Okada and Fletcher tension. If they can’t pull it together, Takeshita can still win despite the family supposedly being on the same side. Lots of balls to juggle with this and they kept em all in the air.
-Hallelujah! Going into the show this week, my eye was on the Ospreay and Omega interview with Renee Paquette as a potential turning point for their feud ahead of All In. To this point, both guys have kind of danced around their actual rivalry, but they stared it down in this segment. The interview focused on them. This wasn’t a will they get along or won’t they segment, or a let’s bury the other guy because of meta backstage stuff segment. This was about the two of them fighting and trying to win. Boom. That’s how it’s done. Inside this interview, Ospreay and Omega acknowledged their history and previous matches with one another for those who were aware. If you weren’t aware, that conversation served the bigger purpose of putting context around why the third match between them is so important. This angle served fans who have been on the Omega and Ospreay ride from the beginning and those that are just getting on right now.
-Man, Maya World continues to show a lot in the ring. She has a style that’s mesmerizing. It’s consistent. It’s flashy at times, but also very to the point and straightforward. She very much compliments her opponents in the ring. The fatal four-way this week was an exciting match with good action, but there just wasn’t a reason to think World would lose the title.
-Match of the night honors go to Jon Moxley and Jay White. This battle felt like a G1 Climax tournament match. Tons of striking, tests of strength, and all sorts of high impact moves with a pretty sick bumps.
-It was disappointing to see White take the loss and exit the Continental Cup Classic tournament. White has so much potential, but needs the book behind him in order to realize any of it. Don’t forget how much of a special performer the guy was. I know Moxley is the face of this tournament and the AEW Continental Championship, but White was just being revved up again. White advancing would have made for a more exciting tournament moving forward.
-Adam Page and Brodido issued an open challenge for their AEW World Trios Championships at All In. I think we’ve found our catch all match for stars that need to be on the show, but don’t have anything else to do. I’m expecting multiple teams to accept this with the result being a massive brawl at All In inside of Wembley Stadium. After the angle last night, White and Swerve Strickland will be a part of this madness somehow.
-Smart booking is so much fun to watch. Tony Khan worked Andrade perfectly this week. He looked like a total badass in squashing Jonathan Cruz. He looked great in the victory and like a star on the mic after. Thumbs up.
-Well, we know exactly what the story of Mercedes Mone and Willow Nightingale is now. They beat us over the damn head with it. Mone hates Nightingale’s smile and is going to steal it from her at All In. Ok, I can get behind that and the match itself will be able to build on that foundation easily. Their interview segment this week needed a little Ospreay/Omega dust. Mone and Nightingale kinda just insulted one another back and forth and tacked the smile story on at various points. The two women have a long history together and it wasn’t used to build this match in this segment as well as history was on the men’s side. Now, Nightingale is a fully loved babyface at this point. There won’t be a fan in the audience cheering for Mone. Bravo to both women on that.
-Look, I like Nigel McGuinness. A lot. I don’t need to see him wrestle anymore. He doesn’t look smooth out there. McGuinness advanced in the tournament and now I’m wondering if a match between him and Moxley looms for All In.
-Wonderful! Kevin Knight needed a heat segment like the one this week with Darby Allin. Admittedly, the pyro explosion gimmick bordered on the line of hokey, but it helped get where they needed to. Knight has come across as cool for far too long. Between that and straddling the heel and babyface line with MJF a month ago, there hasn’t been a solid chance for fans to line up against him. They got one this week thanks to the attack on Allin. Knight was vicious in this and his heel persona very much showed itself.
-Like Ospreay and his boys to start the show, The Elite also defeated The Don Callis Family in the main event. It wasn’t as good of a match as the opener, but like it, got the job done.
-The post-match stuff was where the real stories were. The Copeland and Christian Cage vs. The Young Bucks match got a little sizzle with The Bucks jacking Cage in the face with a friendly fire superkick. It won’t sit well with Cage, so that dissension between the two opponents will be the final chapter in their story ahead of All In next week.
-As far as the Omega and Ospreay stuff to end the show, it was a cherry on top of an already great night for them. Omega was unhinged in the way he attacked Ospreay before dropping him through a table with his One Winged Angel. A sick spot, but one that continued the narrative of Omega knowing exactly what buttons to push with Ospreay. Omega did a nice job with this. He could have totally hammed it up as a heel villain, but instead his acting captured what the actual story was and that was Omega continuing to up the pressure and the stakes on Ospreay because he knows the higher they get, the better chance Ospreay has of not delivering. There is so much nuance inside of this right now, but the bottom line is their main event match at All In feels more important and more massive than it did 24 hours ago.
Who had the best week on AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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