-It was a valiant effort made by AEW to start the show differently this week, but an effort that ultimately didn’t succeed. AEW showed the stars of the show getting ready for their matches backstage, but nobody said anything. I like the idea and it was a spin on what WWE does, but there has to be some kind of noise. Crowd noise, announcers — something. I don’t hate going to the stars and having them cut a 10 second promo either. Hypes their match a bit, while also showcasing the variety of characters on the show.
Max Caster is not the best wrestler in the world
-The Max Caster stuff gets more ridiculous each week and by the looks of things, Tony Khan knows it. Caster getting squashed by Adam Page was the absolute right move. Page is heading into some bigger and better things. Caster isn’t.
-I hope the small bit of disagreement that we saw this week between Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana was a one-time thing rather than a storyline. The duo fits perfect with one another and as silly as it is at various points, Nana helps complete the Strickland act.
-Not much in wrestling these days annoys me as much as The Undisputed Kingdom. They come across as the college students that still wear their letterman jackets on campus and when they return home for Thanksgiving. A total been there, done that vibe. Good that The Death Riders handled business easily with them.
Refreshing
-My goodness it was so refreshing to see Adam Page and MJF finally get their feud kickstarted this week. The promo backstage laid a strong foundation for which to build everything. The MJF disrespect zingers land so much more efficiently on a guy in his prime as opposed to an over the hill wrestler like Jeff Jarrett. The brawl between both men was very effective too. Total madness and a taste of what is to come.
-MJF vs. Dustin Rhodes was a good match. Much better than MJF vs. Jeff Jarrett would have been. Rhodes knows how to make a heel look good and he did. MJF held his own, obviously.
-So, after all that last year, Page is just a babyface again? Funny how that works. Sometimes you can’t change the tide of the fans. Page played a heel, but never really took hold as one from a reaction perspective. Good to see he’s back and aligned properly.
Joe, Joe, Joe
-Samoa Joe promos are the best. He yells too much sometimes, but he’s always authentic and always real. Always.
-The new Samoa Joe faction with Shibata and Hook is called The Ops? Goodness, what were the bad name ideas?
-Bandido, you need to be smarter than you were on the show this week. C’mon man! Everyone saw a sneak attack coming from Bryan Keith and Big Bill, but you didn’t? Dumb babyfaces are really hard to get behind. The stand-off, walk-off thing they did like old west cowboys was creative, but the ending was painfully obvious.
-Tremendous use of The Squash Match for Megan Bayne this week. She’s got an incredible look and presence. Squash matches will emphasize both of those attributes. Hopefully, there are more in her future. As for a first real feud in AEW, Kris Statlander is a near-perfect choice.
-Line them up and let Hurt Business knock them down. That’s the new plan for the tag team division in AEW — or it should be. The crowd reaction to Hurt Business this week is all you need to know as far as where to put the tag team attention. They are over and they are babyfaces. Crystal clear.
Cope vs. Mox
-Look, the Cope and Moxley angle to close the show walked up to the line of being overly cute regarding the briefcase and the AEW World Championship belt, but didn’t cross it. Mox is out of touch, yes, but it’s feasible that his character would cave in the scenario presented on the show and take Cope’s challenge in order to get his briefcase with the title belt back. Cope was awkward and too silly at times throughout the night — especially when they stole the briefcase, but remains the strongest Moxley challenger yet. The announce team and Cope still need to do a much better job selling and highlighting the hypocrisy between what Mox says and what he does. That is where all the heat is.
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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