-The go-home promo between Will Ospreay and Adam Page ahead of their showdown in the Owen Hart Cup Tournament at Double or Nothing was nothing short of tremendous. The best promo segment AEW has put on in years and in the conversation of best AEW promo segment ever. This felt real. Page and Ospreay were both babyfaces and laid out very likable reasons why they needed to win the tournament in order to wrestle at All In for the world title. Those reasons were very different. It’s compelling stuff. Plus, the way both guys spoke about the match sold the importance of All In, the world championship, and in the end increased the overall aura of the Owen Hart tournament. Sharing a beer together was a nice touch. Overall, just a money segment between two money guys in AEW.
That’s a tell
-Swerve Strickland getting the victory for his team in the opening trios match was a tell for Double or Nothing. I’m looking at the heels winning at Anarchy in the Arena at the PPV now. The match was solid, but a very typical AEW style tag.
-The Hurt Syndicate stuff is inching closer and closer to falling off the rails. This week MJF officially signed his contract to join the group and as he did MVP ripped on fans in a very heelish and unlikable way. Here’s the problem, nobody was really booing that. Fans want to cheer Hurt Syndicate. Nothing seems to be stopping that tidal wave — including MJF joining the group. The end result is the audience having no clue how to feel about this story, faction, or stars involved. It’s a problem. The more this goes on, the less of a good fit MJF is for the story.
-Did Dustin Rhodes copy and paste his promo from last week to this week? Yeah, kinda. Rhodes was awful. Poorly delivered and repetitive with fake fire that wasn’t authentic. Sammy Guevara wears a three piece suit now? Since when? He’s another guy that just hasn’t been able to find himself as a wrestling character.
Go Ricochet go
-Good to see Ricochet get a strong win over Anthony Bowens. Ricochet is a star that should be beating guys like Bowens right now. It’s not great for Bowens, but that’s life. Ricochet is putting himself into an upper mid-card position where if used properly, will be someone that can challenge babyfaces for world titles. He’s doing great work.
-Just like the Ospreay and Hangman promo, Jaime Hayter and Mercedes Mone being interviewed backstage by Renee Paquette was an effective way to put some narrative behind their Owen Hart Cup Tournament finals match at Double or Nothing. It was good, but not as good as Ospreay and Hangman. Hayter and Mone don’t have the same chemistry as those guys and the stories of both women are different from the men. Mone was fine and Hayter laid out a reasonable mission journey and why this win is important. They did enough to make this more than just a match in tournament final.
-No surprise seeing Mina Shirakawa beating Julia Hart, but the heelish attack on Toni Storm was a little odd. The match between those two needed heat, but this was an odd way to get it since Mina is a pure babyface at this point — just like Storm.
Teasing anarchy
-The brawl to end the show with all members of Anarchy in the Arena fighting was a fine way to go off the air with that match being highlighted. It isn’t the main event and shouldn’t be, but this was a good way to showcase what the hell Anarchy in the Arena is. I’m over this concept, but the audience reacted well enough to the fight and there seems to be genuine interest. Question. Why isn’t Gabe Kidd in the match? He really should be, especially when it’s a virtual certainty he will get involved somehow. Seems odd, but we’ll likely know why by the time Anarchy in the Arena is over. Eddie Kingston?
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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