-Man, it was so nice to see The Young Bucks out there on AEW Dynamite this week doing business. Some real business. The Bucks were demolished by Mark Davis and Jake Doyle in a tag team championship eliminator match. Davis and Doyle looked like the second coming of the Road Warriors. Incredible stuff. In about two minutes, a title match between these two teams was SOLD. Plus, the match has a built-in story of The Bucks overcoming a team that brutalized them. You can’t do an angle like this every week, but in this instance it was a home run.
That’s it?
-Honestly, I thought there would be more to the Adam Copeland and Will Ospreay partnership this week. It simply was an avenue to get to Blood and Guts and not the beginning of a feud or rivalry between the two.
-As for Blood and Guts … if Tony Khan were writing this column he’d certainly say that the pieces have been on the board for this match for months. He’d be right. Copeland, The Bucks, Ospreay, Darby Allin, and Steven Borden have been attached to The Don Callis Family at some point. That’s thing, though. Most babyfaces have. This feels like an “oh crap, we need a Blood and Guts match” moment more than it does a crescendo of a big personal feud.
-Swerve Strickland had a great week of television. A squash match to remind the world he’s a dominant force and a top player, but also a key backstage segment that setup the next few weeks of Dynamite for him. Strickland and New Level vs. Adam Page and Brodido for the trios titles in a Texas Death Match? Intense and it was nice to see AEW not just be in that spot all of a sudden. The story has to travel there and Strickland will now spend the next few weeks working to get Page to change his no answer to a yes. What’s Strickland going to do to get it? That’s where the intrigue is.
-Ok, let me take a stab at this. Jay White teamed with Orange Cassidy and defeated The Death Riders. Later in the show, he turned on Cassidy and attacked The Death Riders, while at the same time aligning with his recent rivals — The Dogs. White’s Bang Bang Gang faction joined up with The Dogs too. It’s a super-faction! Let’s call a spade a spade. This turn was hard to follow and entirely out of left field. A fair opinion. HOWEVER. Jay White is at the head of a strong heel faction now. That’s White in his element. Give him the ball and let him run with it.
Going with momentum
-I’m all-in on a Mercedes Mone vs. Marina Shafir feud for the AEW Women’s World Championship. Artistically, you are going to see a different Mone inside of this program because Shafir is a much different wrestler than anyone Mone has faced in AEW. You can bet Mone will be ready for that challenge and Shafir will have the best match of her career whenever they square off. It’s also smart booking by Tony Khan. Shafir got a boost of momentum because she performed so strongly in the aftermath of Pac’s death. Khan is running with it and why wouldn’t you?
-It kinda seems like they are tossing together the men’s Blood and Guts match at the last minute. The women’s match? The absolute very last second. Divine Dominion and Triangle of Madness took out Brawling Birds, Harley Cameron, and Kris Statlander backstage this week. There it is. That’s Blood and Guts for the women’s division. There has to be more of a story for Blood and Guts to make sense. Weak booking that is dictated by a date on the calendar.
-Another good promo this week from Nick Wayne. He was the ultimate jerk and that’s the character. Wayne has showed quite a bit in the feud with Chris Jericho. Throw another log on his fire. Darby Allin needs a TNT Championship opponent.
-Queen Aminata is the number one contender to Persephone’s TBS Championship, but I’m not taking anything off Persephone right now. She’s holding the middle of the card together in the AEW women’s division and needs the TBS title to continue doing it.
Dragunov arrives
-Match of the night honors of course go to Mike Bailey vs. Ilja Dragunov. What a blast. AEW did a nice job throughout the show of hyping this match. The Dragunov videos very much created a sense that his in-ring debut was an important moment — not just for the company, but for him too. Not a surprise to see Dragunov win this one and he is going to be one of the more interesting acquired acts in a while. So far, the presentation has been that of a main event talent. He’s not there yet, but we’ll learn a lot as he makes his way through this current push. If Dragunov can find a character outside of being a good and intense in-ring worker, his ceiling will get much higher.
What was your favorite part of AEW Dynamite this week? Let us know in the comments!
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