-Was that Kenny Omega in a squash match this week? Holy hell it’s a miracle. Omega vs. Romero ruled. Not because it was some kind of five-star classic or anything like that, but because it mattered. The win had context around it. A near-perfect use of a squash. Great stuff.
It’s all about the title
-What else was great with Omega this week? His promo and the verbal jousting between him, Adam Page, and Swerve Strickland. The show is better when the top talent in the company are all angling after the biggest prize. The AEW World Championship was on display this week. It was a refreshing and really fun watch.
-Jon Moxley kicked the life out of Ace Austin as soon as their match started. That was incredible. The match was better than fine, but also kinda just there. Moxley is floating a bit right now.
-Ok, El Clon. I see you. That was a helluva performance. I don’t know that it changes anything for that character, but he’s certainly a guy you can plug in to have really good matches when you need them. Mark Briscoe is a likable TNT Champion, but now with Tommaso Ciampa in AEW and challenging for that title right away, you gotta go with the hot hand, which means Briscoe is likely losing Saturday night on Collision.
From The Takedown on SI
-Speaking of Ciampa … hell yeah. That was a wonderful debut. It didn’t overstay it’s welcome or try to present Ciampa as a bigger star than he actually this. This fit nicely. Once again, Ciampa has some bad ass entrance music.
-Matches in AEW that I want to see Ciampa have? Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, Kazuchika Okada, Swerve Strickland, Kyle Fletcher, Kenny Omega, MJF, and Josh Alexander.
Enough Eliminators
-AEW is reeeeeeaaaaallly milking the “eliminator match” concept. At some point they’ll have to freshen that idea up, but it works for Brody King to get a potential title shot against MJF. Nobody else is really lined up to face MJF on the AEW Dynamite from Australia, so King may actually win his eliminator. You don’t even need a full hand to count all the times that has happened.
-Thekla had a good enough championship match with Kris Statlander that she should be able to stay around the world title picture. She’s got a different charisma than anyone else in the women’s division. The way she moves around the ring has a special intensity to it. Tony Khan has to make sure she doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
-I think Jack Perry is a heel. Anyone else kind smile and cheer when he got destroyed by Gates of Agony? Just me?!??!
-Honestly, the FTR vs. Davis and Doyle tag team championship match underdelivered. I expected more physical violence and it didn’t feel like Davis and Doyle were able to keep pace with FTR. That could have had something to do with the injury Doyle suffered in the match. Torn biceps are bad. Hope he can recover successfully and quickly.
Booked right
-Match of the night honors go to Swerve Strickland and Andrade El Idolo. Great match and props to Tony Khan for booking an Andrade win. At some point, you have to put your money where your mouth is in terms of how you talk about and present talent. Andrade has gotten all the strong talk, but never the strong booking to go along with it. This win was huge in that regard.
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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