AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES 8/31: Moxley and Punk hit with All Out build, weak overall final hype for PPV

Jon Moxley Segment – HIT

Moxley walked out with a slow gait. Even for him. He’s earned it though. Justin Roberts was quick to add “undisputed” to his name announcement. He’s earned the stride. He’s earned the praise.

Once Mox got to talking, he really tried to lean into his heelish tendencies. Asking Punk if he had 57 more minutes in him during their title match set the crowd off. Proclaiming Punk to have “fragile ego, fragile mind. Weak body, weak spirit” is a great line. The open contract is a fun idea. My initial hope was a swerve with Mox and Okada. That will need to wait.

Post Segment Angle with Ace Steel – MINOR HIT

Well that answers the question of who the opponent will be.

Chris Jericho Segment – MINOR HIT

Good promo ahead of Jericho’s match with Bryan Danielson. Answering Danielson’s question on who Owen and Stu would prefer was an interesting answer but fits the character. His comments to Garcia are interesting as well and seems to imply someone will be turned on.

Bryan Danielson Defeated Jake Hager – HIT

Good match with simple story. Hager leveraging his size advantage over Danielson always works and Bryan is great at selling for those types of matches. The build back up really worked the crowd up

Post Match Angle with Jericho Appreciation Society and Blackpool Combat Club – HIT

Standard brawl between factions to sell a match. Garcia coming out and averting Jericho’s attempts to hurt Danielson makes the match Sunday pretty interesting.

Wingmen/W. Morrissey Segment – MINOR HIT

Good squash segment to reintroduce Morrissey. William looked great beating them up and the choke slam to Drake was impressive. Stokely Hathaway coming out is surprising, and makes you wonder how long Morrissey will be on AEW TV, or how long Stokely will be confined to AEW TV.

Stokely Hathaway Segment – MINOR HIT

Schiavone standing up for himself and pushing Stokely to talk was a nice change of pace. Tony was super over as a face.

Will Ospreay/Don Callis Segment – HIT

Great segment with Callis continuing to put over Ospreay as a competitor for the American audience. This is the best possible version of Callis and he did his part beautifully.

Hikaru Shida and Toni Storm Defeated Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter – MINOR MISS

Good match with a little sloppiness, but overall all four women worked well together and put on a good match. This was all about trying to put over the idea of the match crowning the interim Women’s title, and they gave a good appetizer of what to expect Sunday.

Kip Sabian Segment – MINOR HIT

This was intriguing. Reintroducing Sabian as a pseudo-Riddler type is a fun idea. The segment was well put together and lays out the stakes and story of the title match well.

Miro, Sting and Darby Allin Segment – HIT

Fun segment setting up a trios match between these three and the House of Black. Sting went off the rails and that totally sells me on the match.

CM Punk Segment – HIT

This was great. Punk being stoic and ready to throw in the towel perfectly contrasted against Ace Steel coming out and riling up the crowd. Once Punk got revved up he hit a new level, walking through the crowd and preaching to the crowd.

Christian Cage/Jungle Boy Segment – MINOR MISS

I wish they would do more sit down interviews like this. JR is a great moderator in these situations and letting both guys get their words in always works well. Cage put in his final comments before the match and reiterated his themes. Of course Jungle Boy’s dad was brought up again. Mr. Boy did a great job amping up the energy on his part to show that he can stand on his own on the mic.

The awkward part is though that even five minutes after it aired, I completely forgot it happened. The scripts worked and the performances were good, but once you get past the dead loved one jokes, the story hasn’t really held my attention. I’m more excited for Jungle Boy to move on to new things than I am for the finale of this story.

FTR/Wardlow Defeated Ren Jones/Silas Young/Vic Capri – MINOR HIT

Squash match putting over the dominance of FTR/Wardlow. The physicality was good and showcased how powerful they are.

Jon Moxley Segment – HIT

I like the multiple segments throughout the night putting over the title match. It makes the match feel like a big deal. The performers feel like a big deal. The title is starting to feel like a big deal. Moxley accepted his call and signed Punks death certificate. Simple as that yet very effective.

Dark Order/Andrade El Idolo Segment – MINOR MISS

Interesting segment setting up the Dark Order story heading into their finals match Friday. Seems like they’re going in with Hangman taking the third spot against The Elite at All Out. Should be a blast.

Wheeler Yuta Defeated Rush, Fenix and Dante Martin – HIT

Really fun spot fest showcasing the athleticism and agility of the performers as well as the strength. Rush looked very strong, mixing power and agility and Dante Martin literally flew off the screen. Yuta liked strong and smart getting the pin.

Dark Order/Hangman Page Segment – HIT

This officially set up Page as the third member of the team for the trios finals on Friday. Page had a swagger that he hasn’t had in awhile and looked less stressed. It’s a nice but welcome change.

Young Bucks and Kenny Omega Defeated Will Ospreay and Aussie Open – HIT

This match felt like exactly what it needed to feel like. The action was fast and furious Tokyo Drift right from the start. Ospreay wasted no time digging into Omega. Will really showed his unique power to quickness throughout the match. Kenny Omega looked noticeably smoother and more comfortable. His snapdragon suplexes looked noticeably snappier than they did last week. It’s allowing him to rely on his body and not think about what he’s doing and focus on projecting his character to the crowd and camera. I dare say this may have been some of the best of Kenny Omega that we’ve seen on AEW, long sleeve shirt be damned.

Overall – MINOR MISS

I know the math doesn’t really check out on this rating. Individually, all the segments tonight were fun and this would normally be a solid episode of Dynamite. This is a go home episode to a PPV, though. This episode lacked urgency. It lacked fuel and energy. It didn’t feel like it was saying “please spend money to watch us Sunday”. This easily feels like the weakest go home episode AEW has done thus far, and it’s sad how quickly and confidently I can say that. It doesn’t feel like a great setup to a PPV, but maybe the card can coalesce and really create a sum that’s as great as the parts.

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CATCH-UP: 8/31 AEW DYNAMITE TV RESULTS: Keller’s report on final All Out hype, Hager vs. Danielson, Ospreay & Aussie Open vs. Omega & Bucks, Storm & Shida vs. Baker & Hayer