-Did Will Ospreay mean to fall into the wall after the little circle up pow wow he did with The Death Riders? Didn’t seem like it, but it helped tell the story that he’s still figuring out how the hell to integrate with those guys. The look Daniel Garcia gave him after the fall was some of the best stuff of the entire show.
-As for the Death Riders, they won a totally fine trios match to open the in-ring action on the show this week. All designed to hype up the Jon Moxley vs. Bandido AEW Continental Championship match this weekend at Forbidden Door.
Lots of balls in the air
-Both Team MJF and Team Mark Briscoe cut promos backstage this week. Like, full team promos. So, that went about as good as you’re thinking. A little cheese here and there inside of both, but what else can you deliver when the array of talent in the match is so diverse in look, style, and presentation.
-Marina Shafir isn’t heading to the Survival of the Fittest match next week to wrestle for the TBS Championship, but there is a strong argument to be made that she not only should be, but that she have that strap put on her shoulder. Shafir isn’t a great in-ring worker from the perspective of having the ability to go at a crazy pace with wild spots and moves. She’s authentic, though. Shafir doesn’t need to do much more than she is. There is a maturity in recognizing that and leaning fully into it.
-As for Haley Cameron, who beat Shafir, I miss her in the tag team with Willow Nightingale. Babes of Wrath was a fun pairing that felt like a real team. Cameron isn’t lost as a singles act, but watching her play off of Willow was such a blast.
-It’s not that I don’t like the epic Will Ospreay singles matches. Love them. I’m glad we didn’t get one this week. Ospreay and El Phantasmo had a strong ten minute bout, but nothing too wild. Ospreay needed an easy win and he got it ahead of Forbidden Door.
The right kind of bad guy for the moment
-Same thing with Swerve Strickland. A fine match, but nothing epic and it didn’t need to be. Strickland beat Daniel Garcia and that was that. Smart to have Strickland and Ospreay cross paths a bit. Like last week, Strickland wasn’t an overt heel, but by playing the role opposite the clear babyface in Ospreay, he was able to get enough heat to put the largest contingent of fans on Ospreay’s side ahead of Sunday.
-If you were looking for a major angle this week to put some heat on the Kenny Omega and Zack Sabre Jr match on Sunday … keep looking? Omega and ZSJ traded some verbal jabs, but that’s about it. This match is as “forbidden door” as it gets.
-Queen Aminata is heading to the Survival of the Fittest battle next week for the TBS Championship. I’m interested in how this heel turn goes for her. That said, she and the other contenders for the TBS Championship are far lower in the talent hierarchy in AEW than Mercedes Mone, Jade Cargill, and even Willow Nightingale were.
-A fun main event between Ricochet and Konosuke Takeshita. The match of the night for sure on what was a match heavy show.
Babyface babyface babyface
-I loved the Mark Briscoe promo. A true, go-home babyface promo. The wildness at the end was overly staged, but they got where they needed to go.
What did you think of this week’s episode AEW Dynamite? Let’s hear it in the comments!
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