-Another totally fine Jon Moxley match to start the show this week. This time against El Clon. I guess I’m just not sure what the point is? We know it’s Jon Moxley vs. Konosuke Takeshita for the AEW Continental Championship at Revolution. How about spend some time building that up? Again, the match was good, but this isn’t the best use of Moxley with a big match just a couple weeks away.
Swerve Strickland, the heel
-Bravo, Swerve Strickland. After last week’s heel turn on Kenny Omega, Strickland needed a strong explanation for why he did what he did. Strickland provided that. The idea of regret — or lack thereof — was a theme and it was pretty twisted. Strong delivery on the part of Strickland and he had the audience booing him. Now, all of that said, there is a cool factor about Strickland that is tremendously likable. The more he acts like a bad ass, the cooler he comes across. In order to keep fans booing him, he may need to drop some of that cool.
-Good to see Gabe Kidd get a win. It’s about time for his feud with Darby Allin to wrap up, but that appears to be on the horizon. Revolution perhaps? That would make sense. Kidd is a fine opponent for Allin, but isn’t quite on his level. Kidd working with Allin has provided him the opportunity to show-off a bit, but I don’t think it’s elevated him to a new spot in the company either.
From The Takedown on SI
-A Kevin Knight promo this week? Interesting. Knight spoke well and maintained his babyface roots. He suggested a potential championship match with Adam Page down the road and that’s a match I’d certainly like to see.
Texas Death for MJF and Adam Page
-Ok, so it’s MJF vs. Adam Page for the AEW World Championship in a Texas Death Match at Revolution and if Page loses, he’ll never challenge for the AEW World Championship again. Done deal. The angle with the rigged coin flip this week got things to where they needed to go, but it was quite the runaround. This was the stipulation that always made sense and there is precedent in AEW for matches to be what they are without a long backstory. This could have been one of those times and I think it would have worked better than the overly cute two week saga. Nothing wrong with the stipulation, but simpler is better and they dragged this out much longer than it should have without a good reason.
-The best part of the new Brawling Birds tag team was their promo this week. That was tremendous and an example of both talents maximizing their personalities together.
Get well soon
-Yikes. All signs currently point to Penelope Ford legit hurting herself and then not returning to the tag match this week against Babes of Wrath. Everything in the match that happened after that injury felt off and that’s because it was.
-Not exactly a squash match for Brody King this week over Mark Davis, but a strong win nonetheless. After a couple weeks of relevancy opposite MJF, it feels like King has lost steam already.
-Kyle Fletcher was not a very good heel this week. The guy has very few equals when it comes to in-ring prowess, but he needs to decide on a character. Get hated or be liked. Fletcher is walking the middle of that line and it comes across like a conscious choice he’s making. That’s a mistake.
Excuse me??!
-Just a wild Mile High Madness main event. Tables, tables, more tables, garbage cans, and plenty more. This is the kind of match that the core AEW fanbase love=s. They were super served here. Not much to call out in terms of a finish and booking, but the match very well worked as a way to be entertaining at the end of the night.
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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