-Swerve Strickland was tremendous in his show opening promo this week. He struck a perfect balance of intensity and likability surrounding his match with Will Ospreay at Forbidden Door. This was an example of a top company star doing top star things for the company. Thumbs way up.
Time for Blood and Guts, but why?
-The Elite interrupting Strickland and announcing Blood and Guts was newsworthy, but man, they need to introduce stakes for the match. Right away. The Elite won Anarchy in the Arena — and won nothing. Why are they suggesting this match? Tony Khan is back making matches via Christopher Daniels and there just hasn’t been any type of meaningful fallout or steps forward in The Elite vs. AEW story. Blood and Guts is a perfect way to reintroduce meaning into this, but they have to take the time to do it. It’s smart to put Swerve at the head of Team AEW as the babyface champion of the company. He’ll play that role well.
-Jack Perry is heading to the TNT Championship Ladder Match at Forbidden Door after beating Dustin Rhodes on the show this week. No surprise and I think he’s the choice for TNT Champion coming out of the PPV in a couple weeks.
-Ok, the Mark Briscoe promo this week was hilarious. So, “Mark Briscoe,” and perfect. Briscoe isn’t going to be a mainstay fixture in AEW, but even as ROH World Champion right now, there is still untapped potential with him in Ring of Honor.
MJF merges into AEW traffic
-A nice brawl between Rush and MJF. Simple, but effective in building to their match next week. I like the idea of doing the match on television, but this match will certainly lead to a rematch with a stipulation at Forbidden Door. As long as MJF dusts Rush relatively quick to finish the “feud,” this will clock in as a fine way to reintroduce MJF into the show.
-Goodness! The six-man tag match was filled with action that the audience loved. Hard to argue with AEW giving the audience a heavy dose of this style on a week-to-week basis because they react to it every time. I’ll say this, though, Orange Cassidy and Konosuke Takeshita have outgrown stuff like this. Sure, they make the match very good, but both of those guys need to have their own stuff going on.
-As I said last week, I’m in on Samoa Joe and Hook destroying teams in less than five minutes each week. Thumbs way up. LOL.
Mone gets her mojo back
-It’s so important for Mercedes Mone to be working matches in the ring for AEW. Her introduction into the company was stunted because she wasn’t able to utilize her best asset — her in-ring work. The match with Zeuxis was strong and if Mone keeps performing matches like this, she’ll shed the poor perception around her in AEW very quick.
-It’s time to pull the plug on the Chris Jericho Learning Tree stuff. If you thought last week was bad, and I did, this week was worse. First, Jericho was awful, way over the top, and just lost in the gimmick and character. Second, Private Party should probably listen to Chris Jericho? Right? I mean, they are in need of help and the fact that they are babyfaces standing opposite Jericho hurts the psychology of the entire thing. This is bad and nobody is benefitting right now — including the audience.
Top stars doing top star things
-Will Ospreay vs. Rey Fenix was excellent as expected. Just a special high-flying affair that everyone wanted to see. Good stuff. The post-match stuff with Ospreay and Swerve was tremendous. The best stuff on AEW television in weeks. Ospreay and Swerve created tension and intrigue around their match. They were able to orchestrate a feeling of respect and disdain between one another and in manifested in investment from the audience. The crowd hung on every word each guys said. This match needed this moment and it got it. Like the opening segment with Swerve, top guys stars doing top guy things here.
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite. Let us know in the comments!
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I think it's weird MJF made those comments last week about The Elite and Swerve Strickland,yet none of them addressed it this week. I thought The Elite would make something of it.