-Let’s look at the opening segment from this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite from two different angles. First, if you follow the New Japan Pro Wrestling product. If so, that’s a bad ass segment to kick things off. United Empire looked really good backing Will Ospreay and the brawl was supremely entertaining. It also led to what ended up being the main event match of the night, so a good show hook early on.
United Empire confusion?
-Now, if you don’t follow New Japan, that opening segment was a giant facepalm. United Empire isn’t talked about nearly enough on AEW television to just roll up in a car and get treated as equals to The Death Riders. The moment and the match with United Empire only resonated if you had a clue who they were. If not, you were likely confused and why wouldn’t you be?
-All of that said, because of the intensity of the feud between Jon Moxley and Will Ospreay, it felt like United Empire and The Death Riders truly hated each other. That vibe comes from the wrestlers working well. Thumbs up to that.
-Sidebar. If you’re New Japan Pro Wrestling, how do you let Callum Newman out of your sight? After all the talent thievery AEW has done on the back of New Japan??? Tony Khan is so going to steal Newman sooner than later.
-Like most weeks, an action-packed trios match to start the official action this week. A train wreck, but for all the right reasons.
I heard a pin drop
-Did you hear the pop for The Young Bucks as they ran out to make the save for Darby Allin after that trios match? I didn’t either. Goodness. There barely was one. I don’t have news to break here, but it looked to me like both Nick and Matt Jackson were caught off guard due to everything being built up to their run down to the ring and the crowd not responding to it. I’m not ready to extrapolate anything from this yet, but it sure was odd.
-A fun TBS Championship match between Willow Nightingale and Queen Aminata this week. Aminata looked good coming back from injury and took a lot of the match against Willow. Willow had to win clean, though, and she did. If I’m Tony Khan, I’m working on a long pipeline of challengers for Willow and the TBS Championship. She’d be effective in a take on all comers, babyface champion role.
From The Takedown on SI
-In case you were wondering after last week, Chris Jericho is officially in the nostalgia era of his career. Jericho was Jericho out there and it all worked just fine opposite Ricochet. The “list” returning is going to pop audiences all around the country, but won’t get Jericho back into main events anytime soon. Honestly, that’s the right spot for him. Jericho has spent a lot of his career running from nostalgia. There’s a point where it comes time to embrace it and he’s there now.
-Looks like Ricochet is doing a job for Jericho at Dynasty. Not sure how I feel about that right now. The success or failure is all in the follow-up.
Ha Ha Ha
-I can appreciate some solid Kazuchika Okada comedy. But. He’s got to find a way to stay serious when it comes to Konosuke Takeshita. Fans want to see two top guys collide when they step in the ring again, not a comedy troupe routine. Much of their interaction this week had a tone of that even if they were fighting.
-With Kyle Fletcher out with injury, why not put the TNT Championship back on the waist of Tommaso Ciampa? He arguably should have held onto it when he lost it last. That wrong can be righted now. Ciampa vs. Mascara Dorada was totally fine for what it was.
-You know how I feel about random backstage attacks that are pre-filmed strictly for promo purposes. So, the War Dogs promo was a miss in that regard. With that aside, all three guys spoke well and conveyed their characters nicely. Gabe Kidd is tremendous at presenting as a guy that is centimeters away from losing his mind and falling off the edge of the earth. There’s so much authenticity there and it’s not fully being tapped into at the moment.
-A short promo by Thekla this week, but it was sweet. Her edgy demeanor continues to click and her painting the picture of breaking fingers at a strip club was not only well described, but on brand.
Darby Allin is on track
-We’ll get to the Kenny Omega promo in a second, but let’s talk Darby Allin first. Allin cut the best promo of his career this week. He came across as a guy with big goals and someone who cared about what he was doing. In the past, that part of his personality didn’t shine. It was about violence and everything else be damned. Allin was great talking about his insecurities and worry about not winning the world championship. He put himself on a journey and did so in an emotional way that hooked fans. AEW can lean into a Darby Allin AEW World Championship chase for years if they play their cards right.
-I absolutely can’t wait for the Cage and Copeland vs. FTR feud to be over. Cage and Copeland are standing together as a team, but they don’t give off any good vibes about actually working together again. It’s not fun to watch and they don’t tap into the charm that their old tag team had. Either go with the nostalgia act, or don’t. You can’t really do both at the same time.
-A wild main event match between The Death Riders and United Empire. Crazy action and some really unique physical spots between Henare and Claudio Castagnoli. My question is regarding the finish. Why have Ospreay pin Moxley before their big match on PPV at Dynasty? That’s the visual that should be saved. It’s the big payoff. Giving it away here was odd, but we’ll need to see the follow-up in order to judge it properly.
There he is
-If you were waiting for Kenny Omega to show up and show out as a generational talent in AEW, you finally got it this week. And yeah, he didn’t wrestle. Omega’s promo to close the show was a masterpiece. He looked like a star and talked like the best in the business. That tone with the AEW World Championship in his focus was the perfect mix. Omega generated investment. Because of that promo and the personal touch he gave to it, fans now want to see Omega win the world championship. Not just have a good match or a great match, but they want to see him win. They are actually invested in the outcome of the match. A money promo for that reason.
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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