-The opening bit of the show this week with MJF and all the bald guys in AEW got a chuckle out of me. Admittedly. That said, chuckling isn’t the tone I’d be going for regarding the world championship.
Do what you do best
-Your run of the mill ten-man tag team match as the show opener this week. AEW does well with these and the one this week was just fine. It was entertaining and progressed a couple storylines at the same time. Cage/Copeland vs. FTR got a little juice and so did the Stadium Stampede program anchored by The Elite.
-Can both of these things be true at the same time? The Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley pre-tape video from the roof of the venue was entertaining. AND. The storyline still doesn’t make a damn bit of sense. Moxley coaching up Ospreay and Ospreay intently listening without a shred of worry or anger was compelling television. At the same time, that bit of compelling television is still being built on a storyline foundation of Ospreay being kidnapped without explanation or worry on his part. Pretty far-fetched and with some silliness that’s hard to ignore.
-The Stadium Stampede at Double or Nothing this year is landing in a perfect spot. They’ve earned the stipulation, given the depth of story between Ricochet and Chris Jericho, but it’s still a middle of the card match. This isn’t trying to be something it’s not.
From The Takedown on SI
-Both Kevin Knight and Mike Bailey had strong singles matches this week, but for totally different reasons. Bailey got a squash win over Westbrook. Hell yeah. Squashes don’t have to be saved for big guys. They are useful for storytelling. In this case, because Bailey defeated Westbrook so easily, the perception of Bailey grows in a positive direction. As for Knight, he had a straight up good match against the returning Brian Cage. Shined, but in a different light.
Mr. Genuine Mike Bailey
-Real quick on Mike Bailey. His promos coming out of anyone else's mouth would land as lame. Bailey nails them. Super genuine and authentic.
-Ok, the lineups for both the men’s and women’s Owen Hart Cup tournaments are weak. That doesn’t mean they’ll stay weak, but as of now? Weak. This tournament is for the richest prize in the game for AEW. A world title match at All In. That’s the WrestleMania of AEW. Kenny Omega? Jon Moxley? Kazuchika Okada? Mercedes Mone? Kris Statlander? Andrade? None of these top company acts want that opportunity? If the brackets stay as is, Will Ospreay and Alex Windsor as the winners is a layup of a pick. Ideally, you’d have more drama around that outcome.
-I swear the pop for Will Ospreay this week was notably quieter than normal. He got a win over Ace Austin and the match was fine, but fans don’t know what to think of him. He’s getting manipulated by Jon Moxley. Not exactly a likable trait. Ospreay has yet to clue the audience in on the fact that he’s got a plan and is in control. Establishing that would go a long way in dictating that it’s time to fully get on the Ospreay train.
-Kind of a filler six-woman tag team match this week that just so happened to feature the champion and a few talents in the women’s Owen Hart Cup tournament. The match was good enough, but there wasn’t a ton of drama in it. Watch out for Alex Windsor. She’s got talent and a personality. A great combination for a pro wrestler.
It’s all about Darby
-Darby Allin is out of his damn mind. The Blue Thunder Bomb bump that he took on the unprotected floor during his main event world championship match against Konosuke Takeshita was sick. Sick as in very cool, but also sick as in good god, Allin’s insides are now his outsides. He hit the ground with a thud on that.
-Allin is doing violent things in his matches. I don’t like violence for the sake of violence, but this has a purpose. The all out and extreme title matches are exactly the type of matches the character of Allin would have as world champion. It matches up perfectly. It’s consistent. The violence serves the intent of telling the Darby as world champion story. This couldn’t really go another way. If Allin said that he wanted to stop with the violence tomorrow? So be it. He can still have a memorable run as world champion without it. Is the story and the television better because it’s there? Absolutely. Ahhh the brutality of pro wrestling in a nutshell.
-Sidebar. Odd to see Konosuke Takeshita do a job in the main event against Allin. It’s Allin and the world title, so not much shame in a loss like that. At the same time, Takeshita has a huge singles match against Okada next week. Why risk halting his momentum when a different card would’ve been easy to play instead.
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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