-Another excellent Jon Moxley/BCC promo vignette to open the show this week. These pieces are just awesome. They frame Moxley perfectly and his promo in them matches the tone. A really nice touch.
Old school
-Adam Page and Jay White cut an old school, put butts in seats promo in the ring. It was simple, but it was effective. Page and White both talked about beating the other. White was likable and Page wasn’t. The audience seems to have a rooting interest in Jay White and that’s a good sign for Tony Khan. White is a potential Jon Moxley challenger. This promo from him and the way the audience reacted to him is why. The audience wants to see White and Page fight and that’s the idea. Thumbs up.
-So, this is the second week in a row that we got a match from Shelton Benjamin and he’s looked excellent both weeks. Sammy Guevara was a nice opponent for him and helped shine him, but Benjamin — even at this age — is moving well and physically imposing to the smaller AEW roster. The short promo before the match did a nice job at giving some context around it.
-Alright, let’s get this out of the way now. The jobber army that was waiting outside of the building for Jon Moxley was laughable. First of all, it looked like they were going to crack up laughing multiple times. That takes the serious tone away from the Jon Moxley story and that’s not what Tony Khan should want in this. The group adds nothing and later were made to look like even bigger dopes when Moxley and his crew easily outsmarted them to get into the building. This is bad and because it offers the story nothing, can be dismissed right out of the angle without issue. Do that.
-Mariah May vs. Anna Jay is a fine holdover feud for May until Full Gear, right? This can’t be the PPV match, but for now? All good.
Kyle Fletcher shaves his head
-You know what, thumbs up to you Kyle Fletcher. His promo was long. Too long. I thought Fletcher delivered with it, though. Fletcher gave a look into his mindset on why he turned on Will Ospreay and it was ridiculous, but believable. That’s the line to walk as a heel. He also setup a theme for the feud, which was the whole Fletcher is like Ospreay thing. Shaving his own head in the ring not only highlighted that theme and story, but it showed that Fletcher is unhinged and consumed by it. This worked and was Fletcher’s best promo in AEW by a wide margin.
-Hey! A squash match for Brian Cage and Lance Archer. Why the hell not? Might as well give them something if they are going to be an active part of The Don Callis Family.
What gives?
-The Ladder War between Chris Jericho and Mark Briscoe was what it was and exactly what you thought it would be. Lots of interference on the part of Jericho’s crew, but some big spots too. Jericho getting the W is curious. Is Tony Khan setting up a rubber match between Briscoe and Jericho at Final Battle? Is there another business reason for Jericho to hold the title? Either way, nothing matters for ROH as long as major stuff like this happens on Dynamite instead of it’s own show that exists.
-Holy crap. Nobody reacted to Ishii. And by nobody, I mean … nobody. That’s a shame because Ishii is Ishii, but also deserved because all he’s done is lose meaningless matches in AEW. Hopefully he isn’t the long term plan for Jericho in ROH.
Lose the boys
-Adam Cole ditched his guys last week in a promo, but there they were this week. All of them. The full Undisputed Kingdom and then Kyle O’Reilly in the back. What are we doing here? MJF can’t just have a feud and match with Cole? Cole has to compete against Roderick Strong to earn a shot at him? It’s lame and it paints Cole as a guy at Strong’s level rather than a guy at MJF’s.
-Jaime Hayter needs to jump into a feud with Mercedes Mone yesterday. They both need something better than they have right now.
-What’s with Queen Aminata getting so much offense in on Kamille? If Aminata is going to get a little push, fine, but it’s Kamille that has the match next week against Kris Statlander. Plus, Kamille is supposed to be the heavy for Mone. If she can get beat up that easily, the charm of that role crumbles.
-Hook vs. Christian Cage is a really smart program too book. Nobody will sell better for Hook than Cage. The story is logical. Good stuff all around and well executed this week by all involved.
-Nothing wrong with the main event match between The Elite and Daniel Garcia & Private Party. Nothing great either. The Young Bucks formula tag matches are getting old and it seemed like the audience felt that during this. Not bad, but not novel anymore.
Super Cassidy
-Once Moxley and Co. hit the ring, the audience perked up. The attack on Chuck Taylor was vicious and Orange Cassidy late for the save positions him as Mox’s main protagonist. The goofs in the parking lot don’t work, but Cassidy very much does. When the time comes for him to fire up on Mox, the audience will be with him for it. He’s not going to win the title, but Cassidy as the underdog up against evil Mox will generate investment inside the fanbase, making the match a viable PPV main event.
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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