AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES 6/8: Jon Moxley a hit top to bottom, Adam Cole misses on Okada involvement, more

AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES

Kyle O’Reilly Won the Casino Battle Royale – MINOR HIT

Battle royales are tough to pull off. They’re naturally in a lose-lose situation because of what’s needed to pull them off. There’s a synergy and chemistry that needs to be present between the guy calling the shots in go position and the live feed producer. These types of matches live and die on the idea of having performers in a perpetual state of rest gold and waiting for their time to shine. From the bonkers perspective it’s not any different than any other multi man match: decide who you want to showcase and when and having a standard for what to do when you’re not being featured. It’s not impossible, but it was a much easier thing to pull off when matches were being seen by only the fans in attendance and there was no internet to analyze and scrutinize.

AEW largely succeeded in that tonight. There were multiple future matches teased, team breakups teased and most performers got some time to shine. O’Reilly is an interesting choice for winner, but should mesh well with Moxley in the main event.

Jon Moxley Segment – HIT

Excellent work from Moxley. This felt like the guy who carried AEW through the pandemic and who was the top guy for some of AEW’s top ratings draws. Should Moxley win the interim belt, the build to a match with a healthy Punk should be fabulous. Especially if Punk goes more heel and tries to use Moxley’s stint in rehab against him.

All-Atlantic Championship Announcements – MINOR MISS

This was just weird. I love the idea of incorporating wrestlers and fans from the rest of the world, but naming the belt the “All-Atlantic” belt feels oddly restrictive for a title meant for the majority of the world’s performers. I guess as long as they deliver on great wrestling, people won’t care.

PAC Defeated Buddy Matthews – ATLANTIC HIT

Excellent match that acted as a nice palate cleanser for the battle royale. Very little acrobatics to this match. Instead focusing on who can turn their opponent a deeper shade of purple. Showcasing this style of match consistently could give the All-Atlantic field a nice contrast from the rest of the roster. Less flips. More Brits.

Eddie Kingston Promo – MINOR HIT

Good promo furthering the story with the Jericho Appreciation Society following the Battle Royale. Took awhile to get going, but once it did it was effective.

Trent Beretta/Will Ospreay/FTR/United Empire Segment – MINOR MISS

Decent mic work from Beretta in putting over a rematch with FTR. The crowd helped a lot in putting Ospreay over, but the AEW commentary team had a hard time putting him over for some reason. Should be a fun matchup though.

Kyle O’Reilly/William Regal Segment – MAJOR HIT

The Lord Regal did a fantastic job putting this match over. He made Moxley sound like an absolute killer, and Moxley came off like the guy to bring him down. Really great work.

Hangman Adam Page Defeated David Finlay – HIT

Great match setting the stage for the NJPW action mixed with AEW stuff. The action was crisp and both men had good chemistry together. It was important for Page to win and even more important for him to hit that Buckshot. Making it look effortless and smooth is

Post Match Angle with Adam Cole – MINOR MISS

This was a fun promo from Hangman. There were rumors that there were plans in place for him to face Kazuchika Okada at Forbidden Door, and verbally challenging him for the IWGP belt made sense and popped the crowd.

Then Adam Cole opened his mouth.

His argument that Jay White might win the belt from Okada before Forbidden Door makes sense, but that was the only part that did. His logic that because he won the Owen means he should get that title shot makes no sense, especially when he was never able to beat Hangman when Page had the AEW belt. Hell, one could make the argument that the only reason Cole won the Owen Hart Tournament was because Page wasn’t in it at all. I’m not sure where this will go but I feel like both performers need to branch away from each other.

Thunder Rosa/Marina Shafir Segment – MISS

This was fine, but Shafir comes off like a boring opponent. Her last match in AEW against Jade Cargill did not go over well and they’ve done little to nothing with her since then.

Wardlow/Scorpio Sky Segment – HIT

Wardlow seemed more comfortable on the mic and had a projection to his words that was more evident tonight than it was in his last major promo a few months back. Calling out Sky is smart. The other Men of the Year can interfere in the match and Wardlow can remain protected. Everybody wins.

Smart Mark Sterling Segment – MISS

This was ok but definitely did not need to be on TV. Save this for Dark and Elevation.

Young Bucks/Jurassic Express/Hardy Boys Segment – HIT

Decent segment setting up their ladder match for the tag titles. Bucks came off focused and the Bucks and Jurassic in a ladder match sounds amazing. Adding the Hardy’s in for promo purposes could be a great call. Bucks and Jurassic can handle the bulk of the action and the Hardy’s can play smart, not hard.

Thunder Rosa Defeated Marina Shafir – HIT

This match made me sad. The crowd was cold as hell for Shafir but Marina and Rosa did their best to put on a banger. Shafir more than made up for her sloppy match against Cargill and came out of this match looking better.

Post Match Angle with Marina Shafir and Toni Storm – MINOR HIT

This was fine. I don’t know if Shafir earned this angle or not but it worked fine regardless. Setting up a program with Storm is a great choice and her and Rosa should be able to put on some great matches together. Hopefully a quality opponent like Storm will invigorate Rosa.

Stokely Hathaway/Jade Cargill/Baddies Segment – MINOR MISS

Stokely and Jade did a great job of putting over the faces. They did their best to put over Velvet as a competitor, despite her not having many wins on tv. Stokely calling Statlander Kristin Highlander was funny.

Jon Moxley Defeated Kyle O’Reilly – MAJOR HIT

This was a remarkable main event. Both men played to their strengths in this match and focused on inflicting as much pain as possible on their opponent. Moxley may have won but O’Reilly looked like a million bucks in defeat. It’s an interesting set up for the Forbidden Door PPV as they’re trying to get Mox back to the level he was at when he held the title belt last. With William Regal putting him over on commentary, the style of promo they aired earlier in the night and this style of match, they may just be able to do it in the short amount of time they have.

Overall – HIT

Good episode of Dynamite with some great action spread throughout the show. The build towards Forbidden Door is ramping up at the right time. With two more episodes until then I’d expect things to start ramping up in a big way.

CATCH-UP: Hook reveals his ultimate goal in pro wrestling