AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES 2/9: Pinnacle with a hit to open the show, championship main event delivers, Jay White appears, more

Pinnacle Segment – HIT

This was a great way to start tonight’s episode. The clear and blatant disrespect to Wardlow reignited any lost fire from last week’s actions in the main event for an upcoming breakup from the Pinnacle.

Punk, Darby and Sting really made this fun, and thankfully kept from copying the Labors of Jericho and Rhodes to the Rematch, limiting it to one match deciding the fate of Punk’s rematch. MJF’s stipulation was a great way of making the somewhat simple match a little more complex.

Andrade/Darby Allin Segment – SOFT MISS

This was alright and did a good job of furthering the storyline as well as Darby and Andrade’s intentions of competing for the TNT championship, but it kind of just felt like it should’ve been on Rampage. That’s not meant to sound like a negative, but rather a way of breaking the pace of the episode that didn’t hit the way it meant to for me.

Wardlow Defeated The Blade – HIT

Blade was a great next level opponent for Wardlow. This match was paced well, showing that Blade was tougher than your typical squash candidate, yet not talented enough to truly test Wardlow. Wardlow sold just enough to show he’s mortal and came right back to conduct the Powerbomb Symphony. The Spears’ interjection after the match was another great shot for Wardlow to continue developing his distaste for his Pinnacle-mates.

Penta El Zero Miedo Video – HIT

This was a great concept. Allowing Abrahantes to continue his role as mouth piece for Penta, and using fun settings, editing and the reveal of a dark mask to hint at the introduction of Penta Oscuro (Penta Dark). This made a rematch with Malakai Black seem much more interesting and feel bigger.

Inner Circle Team Meeting – HIT

This was great storytelling. Both sides had arguments they were able to back up which blurred the lines between who to root for and against. It felt like a legitimate family dispute. Jericho snapping at Sammy was a great way to segue to one of the better face promos he’s done so far. It wasn’t completely smooth but worked well enough for the viewer to buy him walking out. While the match doesn’t feel as big as it should due to the Inner Circle taking a backseat to other performers and storylines in AEW, Santana and Ortiz vs. Jericho and Hager feels like it will be brutal and could blow up like a pressure cooker.

Roppongi Vice Segment – MAJOR HIT

While it’s great to see Rocky Romero healthy, energetic and ready to take on The Young Bucks, the introduction of Switchblade Jay White was perfect.

Having it framed as walking forward into screen and seeing the logo on the back of his leather jacket was absolutely perfect. It instantly reminded the viewer of the Mandalorian or Book of Boba Fett, borrowing from Western imagery. Seeing and hearing the reactions of the Bucks and Excalibur instantly made him feel like a big deal, and his cockiness and ambiguous interaction with the Bucks and Cole made one thing clear: Fans will want to see more of White, and White has such sights to show.

Keith Lee Defeated Isaiah Kassidy – HIT

By the time the Kassidy came out, it seemed clear the mystery opponent for Isiah wasn’t going to be Jeff Hardy or (blegh) HHH or Shane McMahon, but the certainty by which it seemed to be Lee didn’t make the reveal worse.

The crowd popping and JR gushing over him made him feel big time, and his charisma was off the charts in the beginning of the match. His cardio seemed to be less than Limitless tonight, but that could be ring rust/lingering effects from long COVID. Hopefully being in a new environment where he feels more comfortable will help him feel more comfortable and increase his drive to live up to his moniker.

Britt Baker/Thunder Rosa Video Package – SOFT HIT

Keeping this as a video package with the editing and soundtrack helped make this feel bigger than it is, and kind of diverts away from the central issue with this video.

Can Mercedes Martinez not win a match without weapons? Is that something to hang your hat on? Because it kind of frames Martinez as less than the competition, similar to how some hockey players stick to being enforcers when they don’t have the technical skill to skate with other more talented players.

Sammy Guevara “Promo” – MISS

All of the goodwill Sammy built with his performance during the Inner Circle Team Meeting went out the door with this. The cue card thing is incredibly played out, and at this point just feels like a way for AEW to squeeze in an extra picture-in-picture commercial. If you have to try that hard to fill time, just go to a regular commercial. Sammy deserves better and so do the viewers.

C.M. Punk and Jon Moxley Defeated FTR – MAJOR HIT

This was an immense amount of fun. The crowd ate this up like the Reese’s “two great tastes that go great together” matchup it was.

Punk is continuing to push himself in understanding what his baseline wrestling speed is, and the more he continues to push himself the more believable his performances become and the more fans get pulled in. While this started to border on overbooked near the end, the chemistry between Punk and Jon was spectacular, and quickly made me want Punk to abandon his feud with MJF and sign themselves up for a tag title match against Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus at Revolution.

Jade Cargill Defeated AQA – HIT

Jade seems to be improving exponentially in the ring. Specifically, she’s learning not to rely on the awkward showboating in between moves and instead stringing spots together organically. It makes the times she does do it mean more. She’s earning the match times and making the most of them.

Giving the little promo spot to AQA was a smart production choice. It gave a personality to the wrestler being fed to Cargill and showed that she’s more than just a jobber.

I hope they keep a recurring open challenge format for the TBS championship. It will help highlight more women and will give Jade a more diverse variety of styles to compete against. Considering what it did for Cody during his time as TNT champ, it could really elevate Cargill as a true ratings draw.

Young Bucks/Adam Cole Segment – SOFT HIT

This was alright. It promoted the upcoming match on Friday between the Bucks and Roppongi Vice and planted new seeds of doubt in the Bucks of Adam’s true intentions. With the Bucks reminding fans of Kenny Omega, something tells me he may be coming back sooner than later.

Serena Deeb Defeated Katie Arquette – SOFT MISS

The 5-minute challenge and promo down the ramp was a great way to try and frame Deeb as a heel, but it’s still somewhat tough to find her believable in that role.

Serena made the most of it though, and even if it seems awkward, Deeb is such a good performer it’s hard not to pay attention when she’s on screen.

Hangman Adam Page Defeated Lance Archer – Home Run

This match was a blast, with violent spots and some solid ring logic. It was a rather ingenious move by Lambert to remove the top rope from the ring so as to throw Page further off his game. At least when AEW removes the top rope in a match, it’s not meant to bury a performer. Hangman gave in and accepted Archer’s Texas Death Match. A match that Archer previously used to put down Jon Moxley,

Having to deal with that and removing the safety blanket of a powerful move brought the Man in Black out of Page. This match required Hangman to dig deep and prove that he can hang with someone as volatile as the Murderhawk Monster. The final spot was spectacular and showed how Page can be vicious in his own right, yet able to show the creativity necessary to be a champ.

Cole coming in after the match instantly makes Revolution much more exciting, and at least for now, I’m not sure if keeping the belt on Page would be an easy call.

Overall – HIT

This episode was an incredible ride, with great pacing overall and a great balance between story-driven segments and in-ring action. While there was spotty issues and while I wished they would’ve kept similar hype segments before commercial for the main event this week as they did last week, the action and surprises showed this was a great step in the right direction in terms of finding that second million.

CATCH-UP: 2/9 AEW DYNAMITE RESULTS: Keller’s detailed report and analysis on Hangman Page vs. Lance Archer, MJF speaks, new mystery wrestler debuts against Kassidy, Inner Circle meeting