-Probably the best Copeland and Christian segment yet. Those two guys finally looked like they were enjoying themselves out there and FTR is a strong heel team to work against.
-AEW did their best to try and retcon the awful finish to the FTR vs. Brodido vs. Hurt Syndicate match at Forbidden Door, but they didn’t land the plane. At this point there isn’t too much harm in just moving on, but the stench of that dreadful finish will linger for a while. It’s crazy that FTR don’t have the tag titles for the match against Cope and Cage. Seemed like a layup and would help the novelty of the feud.
Darby the character
-A cool Darby Allin vignette this week. Struck the exact right tone and highlighted the current Darby mission statement of destroying Jon Moxley and The Death Riders. Moxley didn’t accept Allin’s challenge for a match at All Out … yet. Obviously, that is on the horizon and is a big match for that PPV. I think it’s safe to say you can expect plenty of violence and gore.
-Is Daniel Garcia about to be a Death Rider? It sure looks that way. Moxley and Garcia having a discussion after their match and it being caught by the camera certainly wasn’t an accident. It also looked like Moxley calmed Garcia down after the loss. Garcia fits that group nicely, but would be yet another turn for him. Pros and cons to that. Garcia and Moxley wrestled a nice match together.
-Hook suffered a major downgrade in entrance music now that AEW has pulled his Action Bronson theme and replaced it with whatever that was this week. Hook looked like he packed on some muscle. Him coming back is nice added depth for AEW when they really need it thanks to Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland being sidelined. He’s a unique character with a lot of investment behind him from fans. Can he find the spark that ignites some big time momentum again? Time will tell.
Willow Nightingale and the never-ending story
-Nothing wrong with the women’s tag team match this week, though it all served a tease of Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale getting back together. Here’s the thing, Willow joining Statlander again is a huge step down for her. Her popularity and overness has outgrown the little story with Statlander. It holds her down and holds her back.
-A bit of a lame belt celebration for Mercedes Mone. It didn’t look that extravagant, which doesn’t vibe with her character. Plus, because Mone has beaten everyone, AEW is forced to position challengers like Alex Windsor in a slot that they sell as bigger than it really is. Mone is a key act on the show each week, but has to work her way back into true AEW cannon sooner rather than later.
That’s it??!?!?!
-Preventing someone from cheating in a wrestling match is absolutely reasonable revenge for almost GETTING SET ON FIRE! Hardly! Look, the Mark Briscoe follow-up this week on the MJF stuff from last week is exactly why you don’t do the fire thing to begin with. There was almost nothing Briscoe could say to address the gravity — and silliness — of that move.
-Josh Alexander did something for The Don Callis Family! It’ a god damn miracle. Finally.
-Glad to see Adam Page address Will Ospreay in his in-ring promo this week. It sells not only the gravity of Ospreay’s injury, but the importance between Ospreay and Page as partners. Page vs. a member of The Don Callis Family for the AEW World Championship tracks. AEW loves that holding pattern for babyface champions.
-The Hurt Syndicate legit don’t care they lost the tag titles at Forbidden Door I guess? WWE does this all the time and it’s awful. You can’t generate a narrative around world championship gold unless all the acts on the show are angling at that championship. A UFC fighter would be devastated about a title loss and that’s the type of emotion AEW should try to foster at all times. Emotion creates investment.
Broken Darby
-A very strong main event this week between Claudio Castagnoli and Darby Allin. Allin continues to work an insanely physical style and took a beating during the bout. He got the win, though, which gets him one step closer to the Moxley match being made official for All Out.
What did you think of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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