-So, a bit of a miscalculation on the American Championship wouldn’t you say, MJF? The US crowd in Nashville loudly cheered the red, white, and blue title belt and raucously chanted “USA” when MJF announced he renamed the International Championship too. Not exactly heat. MJF was able to pivot the crowd, so I’ll give him that, but I don’t think the feud with Will Ospreay needed this kind of angle. There is regular pro wrestling style heat in their story because MJF cheated to beat Ospreay. That’s the story and that was enough. MJF vs. Ospreay 2 is on for All In and that’s a smart match to go to. Though I wouldn’t have done this USA vs. the world type story here, it’s not going to hurt the match either.
Master of the mic
-How about Ospreay’s response to MJF? He was great. Just tremendously authentic, real, and a guy that is easy to root for. You knew he’d deliver in the ring when he came to AEW, but he’s holding his own on the microphone as well.
-Pause. What the hell was with that opening segment with Ospreay, the car, and Alex Marvez. This was horrendous. Marvez was terrible, Ospreay looked like a goof, and it made no sense in the broader outline of the show. Did they produce this and forget to take it out on accident? That’s what it felt like.
-Chris Jericho vs. Minoru Suzuki exceeded expectations. The expectations weren’t high, but facts are facts. Look, if Jericho alters his style to something more in the area of Suzuki he’ll prolong his in-ring career. This isn’t a match you’ll want to see five weeks in a row, but for better or worse, it’s the high end of what Jericho can produce right now. The Learning Tree gimmick is still trying to find itself.
-Shibata ran out to make a save for Suzuki who was attacked by Jericho and The Learning Tree, but that’s not a tag team AEW needs at this point.
Get serious, Danielson!
-Alright, time for a rant. Can’t we just get a Bryan Danielson who wants to win and who cares about the world championship? I mean, what are we doing here? Jeff Jarrett has to convince Danielson to get his head right and take his title match seriously? People don’t want to see an unsure Bryan Danielson — not here at the end of his full-time career. They want “best in the world” Danielson who wants to prove he’s the best and that is confident in being the best. There is no reason to hedge and tell a story of him being unsure of himself at this point. Nobody buys that he is. Also, it’s Jarrett giving that speech? That dude is something else.
-Britt Baker showed some rust out there for her first match in 10 months, but nothing that outright devastated the match. Baker and Hikaru Shida have history and chemistry and that helped cover up for some of the sloppiness. The real story is Baker being tremendously over as a babyface right now. Her performance in the match didn’t slow that up.
Huge debut
-Kamille debuting alongside Mercedes Mone is perfect booking. Just perfect. There is a large portion of the AEW audience who has no idea who Kamille is and this immediately positions her as a big time threat, but as a talent who won’t have a responsibility to carry segments. She’s a heavy role player for Mone and for right now that’s the exact spot she should occupy.
-Another week and another good night for Mariah May. This week she debuted a new look and gimmick, but also definitively won a squash match in which she looked strong. She’s reestablishing herself and doing an effective job at it.
-The surprise encounter and brawl between May and Toni Storm got over well with the audience and there is a palpable hatred you can feel between the two women. Thumbs way up.
Blood & Guts train wreck
-Blood & Guts was an absolute train wreck. Without a narrative going into it or stakes around it, the match floundered from spot to spot more as a circus stunt show than competitive engagement. The violent spots felt like they happened without consequence or meaning, which rendered almost all of it impossible to invest in. Also, do people really want to see Darby Allin light Jack Perry on fire? Darby is a likable character, but threatening to murder someone isn’t likable at all. That rubbed me the wrong way in execution, but the concept was bad too. The entire Blood & Guts match existed to just get Darby a shot at the TNT Championship? The match wasn’t cohesive and needed a common storyline thread to go back to in order to keep things straight. It didn’t have that, so the madness hit quick, but then faded away to nothing.
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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