AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES 6/10: FTR’s in-ring debut against Butcher & Blade, Guevara vs. Colt, Cody vs. Marq Quen, Cage-Moxley angle, Darby-Tony Hawk

•The Butcher & The Blade vs. FTR – HIT: FTR as the sport-like wrestlers AEW needed. Tony Khan has preached about AEW being a sports oriented presentation of wrestling focusing on the athletes and their win-loss records. As the tone of Dynamite has shifted to being lighter, the show was in need of some no nonsense bad asses. FTR fills that void delivering a great traditional match against The Butcher and The Blade. Throughout the match, managers like Tully Blanchard appeared to be scouting them to add them to their stable. In the post-match, another brawl broke out after The Young Bucks entered the ring to introduce themselves. FTR remained neutral as they only fought off The Butcher & The Blade. Kenny Omega and Hangman Page came to help which signalled FTR may be coming for the championships sooner rather than later.

•Kris Statlander & Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose & Penelope Ford – MISS: Penelope Ford pinned Hikaru Shida after hitting her with the belt. Shida needs competent challengers, but her character feels at risk. A couple weeks back, she was outshined by Christi Jaynes and now she is getting pinned by Ford. I’m willing to take a wait and see approach, but Shida needs to be that dominant female baby face that AEW needs. The women’s roster is running thin due to injuries and travel restrictions making it critical to utilize the talent they do have to the best of their ability.

•Inner Circle vs. Orange Cassidy & Best Friends – HIT: Chris Jericho felt a bit overpowering in an already clustered commentary booth. The match was about his group, but it was too much when he had three other commentators beside him. Orange Cassidy shined showing off his athleticism leading to an upset pin over Ortiz. In the post-match, Jericho marched towards the ring with his baseball bat to take out Cassidy. He bloodied his head before proceeding to beat him with a bag of oranges. Jericho retained some of his edge with the viciousness of the beat down, but it was parodied with weapon being fruit. The performances have been solid for this feud, but Orange Cassidy is undermined without a real crowd.

•Sammy Guevara vs. Colt Cabana – MISS: A fine match with Guevara securing a singles victory. The story being Colt Cabana came in hot earning a string of wins before losing to Lance Archer and several opponents afterwards. Mr. Brodie Lee and the rest of Dark Order are now trying to recruit him to their team of losers. Lee helped Cabana back to his feet before leaving the stage. If Colt Cabana joining the Dark Order seems like a terrible fit, well that’s because it is. I suspect Cabana, a jovial comedy wrestler, isn’t set to make a huge character shift as a feud with Mr. Brodie Lee would make sense. Guevara remained in the ring claiming he is the best before being confronted by Matt Hardy. Hardy switched between regular Matt, V1, and Broken Matt. The transitions between personalities have become a centerpiece of the overall Matt Hardy character. While I believe aspects of Hardy will click with the crowd, the sudden personalities changes have become too goofy for my liking.

•Cody vs. Marq Quen – HIT: Marq Quen is still improving, but he looked better coming out of this match. Quen looked competent against Cody with the story being that his previously injured knee played a role in holding him back. Thus far, AEW and Cody have done an excellent job using the TNT Championship to elevate wrestlers who wouldn’t normally be in the main event slot. The post-match setup with Jake Hager was booking 101 giving the viewer a reason to want to see that match. Hager didn’t shine in his empty arena contest against Moxley, but Cody has a history of elevating opponents with his storytelling.

•Darby Allin Segment – HIT: The segments to rebuild Darby Allin have been on-point. The use of Tony Hawk definitely taps into the late 20’s early 30’s demographic. The Tony Hawk Pro Skater games were a staple of that generation providing some quality nostalgia.

•Cage-Moxley – HIT: For a “B-level” world championship match, I’m excited for this one. Moxley cut a vivid promo about what he is going to do to Cage come Fyter Fest before he was ambushed. This feud is keeping it simple and intense.

CATCH UP… AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES 6/3: Jericho vs. Colt, Omega & Page vs. Havoc & Sabian, Rose vs. Swole, Cody vs. Jungle Boy, FTR sitdown with Schiavone