-MJF and Rush had a helluva match to kickoff the show this week. MJF got a little too silly at the beginning with his hip swivels and whatever, but by the middle he was in full on bad ass wrestler mode. That’s the sweet spot for him as a top draw. Rush really played his role well out there and beat MJF to pulp for most of the match. He was vicious and it gave the match a grand sense of danger that doesn’t accompany many AEW matches these days. Great stuff all around.
More Briscoe
-I continue to love the Mark Briscoe promos. He teeters on the edge of “too much,” but doesn’t cross the line. Good character and it makes sense for him.
-Ok, so about that in-ring face to face between Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay. The good first. Both guys really looked the part of top stars. They talked like the owned the AEW ring and what manifested was a respectful rivalry. It’s fun seeing both guys channel babyface reactions in different ways. Ospreay takes the more straightforward approach with fans knowing him and liking him. Swerve taps into his journey — one that audiences have been on with him. Both work, but they are different and thus intriguing. Now, the bad. Why is Swerve saying that basically “it’s no big deal” if he loses the AEW World Championship? Huh? It should be a very big deal and someone backstage needs to check his material before he goes out. This was bad judgement on his part. Finally, did the Don Callis Family get brought up because they are going to get involved in the finish at Forbidden Door? At this point, I say yes and that would be a brutal way to book the first Swerve vs. Ospreay match.
-The big all-star tag was total madness. In a good way. It made me think of the early days of AEW for some reason.
-Nice to see AEW roll out another video package for Mercedes Mone vs. Stephanie Vaquer. The match needs context and this gave it some. Thumbs up.
-Man, The Acclaimed beating The Young Bucks was not on my AEW bingo card this week. I like surprises, but we know what will happen here. Acclaimed gets a title shot and of course, they won’t win THAT match. We’ve seen this play out many times and it’s too easy to predict, even if the initial trigger for everything was out of left field.
Who has the power
-Did everyone hear Tony Schiavone talk about the power dynamic between The Young Bucks and Tony Khan? He very much butchered whatever story they’re trying to tell because he said out loud that Khan needs to approve everything that The Bucks “book.” Ok, so The Bucks attack Tony Khan, they then win the Anarchy in the Arena match, but now can’t really throw any weight around because Khan is back and in the driver seat? Really? It’s like we are right back where we started before the big Khan attack angle. They’ve lost the thread.
-I’m a fan of the Toni Storm, Mina Shirakawa, and Mariah May love triangle. It checks a lot of boxes — first, it gives a story to random Forbidden Door match. That’s a thumbs up. Second, it continues the May and Storm storyline, which inevitably will come to a head very soon with a likely match set for All In.
Shirakawa to WWE?
-Mina Shirakawa has tremendous charisma. If I’m Tony Khan, she’s high on the list of Japanese talent to bring in. Same thing with Triple H.
-Kris Statlander beats Nyla Rose to advance in the Owen Hart Cup tournament. No surprise there — especially with Willow Nightingale on her side of the bracket. That should be a strong match when it happens.
-Speaking of the Owen Hart Cup Tournament. What’s up with the men’s bracket? Top guys like Kazuchika Okada, MJF, Jon Moxley, and Samoa Joe have no interest in headlining All In? No interest in the world title? It doesn’t do the show any good to have your top guys not aiming for the world title. Yes, it’s an easy tournament to book without them in it, but their absence hurts the structure of the show.
-Daniel Garcia is getting squash matches??? I’m in I guess. Let’s see if this is the start of something for him.
That works
-PAC vs. Claudio Castagnoli delivered in the main event. I had Claudio winning and going on to wrestle his Blackpool Combat Club brother, Bryan Danielson in the next round. PAC vs. Danielson works well too.
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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