AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES 6/1: MJF pipe bomb a massive hit, Wardlow disappointing, more

AEW Dynamite Hits and Misses

C.M. Punk and FTR Defeated Max Caster and the Ass Boys – HIT

Excellent opener for tonight’s show. The crowd was white hot and these performers took advantage of it. Caster’s rap struck vanilla but effective nerves and the action was great. It would be nice if AEWs faces could not turn into blithering idiots when an opponent gets on the mat, but the combination GTS/Big Rig totally made up for it.

Post Match Angle with Hiroshi Tanahashi – HIT

Punk and Harwood’s promos were great, but the news coming out of this was the introduction of Hiroshi Tanahashi as Punk’s opponent on the Forbidden Door PPV on 6/26. AEW has a bad habit of not explaining who a wrestler from another company is. They don’t downplay their accomplishments, they just don’t mention them effectively. They continued that here, but the LA crowd was so hot it didn’t matter. You felt Tanahashi’s importance. The crowd let you know that you may not know why, but this guys a big deal.

MJF Segment – HOME RUN

As MJFs music played; As the fuzzy melody kicked in and the tunnels and ramp were illuminated in MJFs signature Burberry scarf print, something peculiar happened. The tick-tick-tocking beat that starts his theme mixed with the hypnotic pattern, and it was like a wormhole to a different time. As Friedman walked from the back, it was like he was walking us through to the past. To where? It’s easy to look at the heels of classic yesteryear, hut you don’t need to go that far back to properly describe what we saw tonight.

You just need to go back to June 27th, 2011.

MJF didn’t sit criss-cross applesauce like Punk did that night. He couldn’t. His intensity and anger were boiling over. He couldn’t copy Punk’s cool. When Punk aired out his grievances against the McMahon’s John Cena and The Rock, he did so as the rebellious kid that sat in the back of all your classes in school. He was the smart ass brother who was constantly getting grounded. That’s not MJF. Maxwell is the center on the high school football team who’s constantly getting to the second level and gets the running back to a div one school. MJF is the paralegal slaving away on a case while the partner is out on a yacht. That’s what makes MJF so good. Everything he said was true. Most heels feign accolades to pump themselves up. MJF doesn’t need to. He doesn’t need to consciously blur the lines between kayfabe and not. He views life that way. This may not get the notoriety and infamy as the pipe bomb, but to me it should. Recency bias be damned. It may not be as popular as the pipe bomb. It might just be the cult hit that finds its audience on home video like The Evil Dead or Slap Shot. MJFs monologue tonight will be the punk rock little brother of the pipe bomb. Phil Brooks must be proud.

Miro Defeated Johnny Elite – MINOR HIT

Nice to see a re-debuting Miro. The promo was more focused than they’ve been in the past. I didn’t think the jokes were a problem but we’ll see how it plays out. The match was fine. Nice showcase for Miro. The commercial break made the match last longer than it should have though.

Double or Nothing Video Segment – MINOR HIT

Nice little music video style segment showing some highlights from Sunday.

Jericho Appreciation Society Segment – HIT

Control Your Narrative made headlines a few months back by offering fans a minute to yell at a wrestler for a hundred dollars. I’d pay that to have William Regal yell things at me. Lord Regal is my ASMR and I’m not ashamed of that. Props to Jericho for sacrificing some hair for the build. The crowd didn’t seem to be into the match until then so it worked out well.

Samoa Joe/Jay Lethal/Sonjay Dutt/Satnam Singh Segment – MISS

Would’ve rather heard Joe talk. Hopefully now that Double or Nothing has passed they can finally decide if this storyline is worth continuing.

Young Bucks, ReDRagon and Hikuleo Defeated Jurassic Express, Christian Cage, Matt Hardy and Darby Allin – HIT

Sometimes it’s nice to turn your brain off and watch people do flippy stuff. No ring psychology necessary for this one. Just a barn burner of a match.

Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland Segment – MISS

Nothing important from this one. You’ll forget about it as soon as it’s over.

Athena/Jade Cargill/Stokely Hathaway Segment – MINOR HIT

Good promo work introducing Athena and Stokely. Both showed the emotion and passion you want to see in a promo and instantly makes the match between her and Jade that much more interesting. A 31-win match streak seems like a weird number but it’s what we may get before Athena wins the TBS title.

Wardlow Defeated JD Drake – MINOR HIT

Simple squash for Wardlow. Coming out and his music hitting was a nice touch. Doesn’t hit as well because we’ve seen this match from Wardlow for months before the MJF feud started. Start ramping up the build on Wardlow.

Post Match Angle with Smart Mark Sterling – MINOR MISS

I know this was played out for laughs but this didn’t hit with me. Joke just fell flat but the security guard getting the powerbomb was still fun.

Men of the Year Segment – MINOR HIT

Good, subdued work from Lambert here. Didn’t overshadow Sky and Page but still put over Dante Martin. Martin’s interruption worked well in giving him some edge to balance out his “aw shucks” demeanor.

Also shoutout to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles.

Ruby Soho and Toni Storm Defeated Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter – HIT

Great match from Soho and Storm. Both women needed this win and both looked much better coming out of this. Hayter did well as a more obvious heel with Baker playing it a little more down the middle. Interested to see what they do next with Storm and Soho. Baker is one of the biggest names on the roster so guess they take turns with Thunder Rosa now.

Jon Moxley Defeated Daniel Garcia – MAJOR HIT

Brutal, hard hitting main event between Garcia and Moxley. This match was hard to watch yet impossible to look away. Seeing Daniel Garcia improve as a wrestler and build his character is fun. He’s on the verge of breaking out. Seeing Jericho play heel and run to the ring for distraction made sense. Kingston running down as equalizer was a welcome change of pace from the increase in distraction finishes lately.

Post Match Angle – HIT

Nothing crazy. Moxley did the obvious and accepted the invitation for Blood and Guts.

Overall – MAJOR HIT

This was an amazing episode of Dynamite. An incredible CM Punk/FTR match, Miro’s return, The Buck’s, Hardy’s, Darby Allin, a Wardlow squash, AND that MJF promo. This easily has to be their best fallout episode and a major upgrade over the last few weeks.

CATCH-UP: HEYDORN’S DYNAMITE RECEIPT 6/1: For better or worse, MJF steals the spotlight