-An excellent match between Christian Cage and Dustin Rhodes to start the show this week. Cage’s heel persona and the audience’s hatred for him positioned Rhodes perfectly to be the underdog and the result was an invested crowd looking for Rhodes to win. They didn’t do anything special from an in-ring perspective outside of building Rhodes up working from behind. That was the story and it resonated really well. Cage inevitably got the win, but the story was about Rhodes. If AEW wants to get him on a journey toward a rematch, they can do it and it all stems from story and character development that began with this match. The “it was a good match” factor was secondary to the rest.
Swerve the Bond villain
-Swerve Strickland comes across as a menacing Bond villain these days and it plays so well in the framework of AEW. The company has to decide which way they want the Swerve act to go. Babyface? Heel? Defining him is key to unlocking whatever his top tier potential is going to be. Either way, he doesn’t and shouldn’t change anything about what he’s presenting and how he’s presenting it on a week to week basis.
-Who had Chris Jericho “white meat babyface” as the next iteration of the Jericho character? Oh, put your hand down. You did not. Nobody did. It’s clear, though, that Jericho feels the need to act like a traditional babyface from babyface 101 school in order to make sure that audiences don’t boo him like they did at Worlds End on PPV. The allegations against Jericho are well known and disgusting and by altering his work this much, it shows a Jericho that isn’t confident in what he’s doing out there at this point. He was shielded from a live audience this week due to a backstage promo and will have a match on the taped Rampage show. He knows that eventually he’ll have to get out there in front of a live crowd, right?
-The Orange Cassidy and Trent Beretta tag match against Komander and Penta was fine, but only an avenue to reach Cassidy facing off with Roderick Strong and the United Kingdom. Just a few weeks into the UK angle and it’s DOA. Nothing about Strong, Mike Bennett, and Matt Taven does anything to dictate that they are a part of a top level faction. The choice to send them out there without Adam Cole and Wardlow hurt the entire group because of the weak perception that trio of talent has. Cole is the only person that can try to elevate their status. Without him? Good luck.
The “Magnum TA”
-Adam “Magnum TA” Page cut a nice backstage promo with Renee Paquette. It’s been a while since we’ve seen that type of passionate fire from Page. When he turns it up and is focused, he’s compelling and truly looks the part of a top tier star. The Magnum TA look is hysterical, but it fits him.
-Even a year later, the Jay Briscoe tragedy is hard to comprehend. Mark Briscoe’s tribute to his brother this week and his interaction with Jay’s daughter was very touching. Ugh. So, so sad.
-I’m all in on Nicholas and Matthew. Both Young Bucks cut a nice promo this week during their interview with Renee and for the first time since AEW started they have a direction with some context behind it. The Young Bucks are one of the biggest acts that AEW has to offer, but it never felt that way due to how lackadaisical Nick and Matt were about being top stars on a weekly episodic television show. With this pivot, they become heels, which is smart, but it gives their heel persona something to chase down — ridding the company of the has-been wrestlers like Sting. Now, these characters will need to be checked. Is Tony Khan up to the task? We’ll see, but the nature of it is one step away from being too meta and ineffective. This will take balance to pull off, but on day one it’s nice to see The Young Bucks try to matter.
Excuse me. Jay White is a what?
-Jay White and the ROH Six-Man Championships do not mix. They shouldn’t mix. ROH titles on AEW television make no sense and Jay White holding them makes even less sense. White’s upside is too great to be relegated to ROH and dragged down by the dying brand. This was bad and a low point of the show overall.
-The Deonna Purrazzo introduction into AEW has been the most effective intro for a women’s division free agent in the company’s history. Purrazzo has been presented as a world renowned competitor, shows it in the ring, and then proceeds to go after the top title around the waist of Toni Storm. It’s all in the follow-up, but so far so good. Purrazzo has been very efficient at being herself out there to let the AEW fans invest. Very well done.
-Ehh, I could take or leave the Top Flight vs. Private Party match. Both of these teams like to do the high flying spots just to do them, but they all are meaningless is the flow of their matches and long term growth. The match happened, Private Party won, and we’re likely not going to see either team for a couple weeks.
Send (Help) for Hook
-Is Hook ok? Man, Samoa Joe beat the tar out of him for most of the main event, but the entire thing was well put together and effective. Joe looked like the monster that he is, but Hook got to show his fighting spirit and will be a bigger deal coming out. That was the goal. Mission accomplished. Joe is so good at meshing vicious violence and pro wrestling charisma into one complete package. Hook looked like a rag doll out there with him, which just gave the violence more credibility. Hook took a scary bump on the announce table, but was able to show fire and passion to pull the audience onto his side before losing. The follow-up has to be there with Hook now. The match this week only will mean something for him if he has something significant to do moving forward. How about a feud with Christian Cage? Hook’s sure to get cheered against Cage and can win a title that he’s ready to hold by the end of the story.