-Samoa Joe cut a scathing post-championship win promo after defeating MJF at Worlds End on PPV and AEW aired that promo to start the show this week. The promo itself was wonderful. Joe was believable, an alpha, and gave some insight as to where he wants to take his title reign. That said and for as good as it was, he very much needed to be on camera in the building this week. That’s what you do with your champions — especially new champion — on episodic wrestling television. The promo worked well, but AEW left money on the table by not having him on hand.
Don’t give the devil his due
-Adam Cole cut a fine promo about his devil reveal at Worlds End. It was fine and that’s all it was. Cole strung together enough logic to make it all make sense, even though he didn’t address some of the gaps in the story that popped up along the way. It missed the mark for me, though. It simply did not give enough significant direction for the group to keep people hooked on them as a faction and very much didn’t even come close to doing enough in making the posse of Wardlow and The Kingdom look like viable threats. The group needed a punch you in the mouth type promo and angle to go along with their debut and instead we just got Adam Cole talking about Wardlow going after the world title like a manager would. Now, I’m glad Cole dropped his “Adam Cole Bay Bay” schtick and the United Kingdom is a cool name, but this was a weak follow-up to what was an important angle for the company.
-Orange Cassidy defeated Dante Martin in a very good match. No question about that, but I couldn’t help but think where Cassidy was coming out of All Out to where he is now. He backtracked in a major way and his booking is entirely to blame. Look, the open challenges are nice, but for the love of god get this guy something he can sink his teeth into.
-Private Party is back. Yay?
Toni Storm the heel? Yawn.
-Toni Storm continuing to try and present herself as a heel is obnoxious and indicative of just how much control Tony Khan lacks when it comes to dealing with talent. It’s not hard. Storm is a babyface and should be treated as such, regardless of what she’d prefer. It’s a gimmick that the audience likes on a person that they respect. Fighting this is silly and will hurt every single babyface she tries to work with moving forward.
-I’m sorry, but it’s frustratingly silly to put two budding babyfaces together in a main event match. Swerve Strickland and Daniel Garcia didn’t need the match. More later.
-A strong debut for Mariah May. She certainly has an “it” factor that will carry her far. The dynamic between her and Toni Storm is still undefined, but I like how AEW is strictly presenting her in a way that articulates she’s from AEW and not elsewhere where half the audience may not know her story. She’s on a longer burn that way, but fans will be more invested in her long term.
Deonna Purrazzo is All Elite
-Acquiring Deonna Purrazzo is a huge win for Tony Khan. Like always, can he frame her as a star and give her something viable to do right away on the heels of signing?Too often the answer on that question has been “no.”
-The Christian Cage material continues to be marvelous. He was a supreme asshole out there this week and the audience ate from the palm of his hand. He’s the most over character in AEW right now and that isn’t necessarily a good thing.
-Konosuke Takeshita vs. Darby Allin was cover your eyes and look away levels of great. Takeshita destroyed Allin with multiple big moves including a German suplex on the ring ramp and like usual, Allin took the bump in the most painful looking way possible. He made Takeshita look like a million bucks. Attention Tony Khan: Don’t waste your time with Takeshita. The dude is a star.
Another AEW mid-card championship
-So, Vikingo, Bryan Keith, Brian Cage, and Trent Beretta were all just gifted an opportunity at the title Eddie Kingston spent six weeks trying to win against some tip top talent in AEW? This match wasn’t bad, but the idea of it was horrendously awful. These guys vying for that new belt defines the belt down instantly, but also defines down the tournament in which it was won in. AEW has too many championships and the issue here is why that fact such a major issue.
-Alright, back to Swerve Strickland vs. Daniel Garcia in the main event. So, both these guys are budding babyfaces in terms of audience reaction, but Swerve quickly took on role of heel antagonizer out there and the fans simply didn’t buy it. At all. Why is AEW continuing to swim upstream against the fans wishes for Swerve? Also, the Daniel Garcia story right now is about becoming more serious, but he goes and has a dance off with the goofy Prince Nana? It makes no sense. Look, if the show had to end with a stare down between Adam Page and Swerve, so be it, but just book him to defeat someone else of less consequence on the roster.
-As for Page vs. Strickland, obviously that’s a good match, but how does it fit in with Samoa Joe and the Undisputed Kingdom? AEW left that hole wide open this week and it made for a lack of concrete and big time direction for the most important acts in the company.