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Video Package on Katsuyori Shibata: MISS
I commend AEW for trying with a video package, but the only thing I learned is that Shibata is a Japanese wrestler coming back from injury. Nothing about who he is, what he stands for, what’s his style, or why a match against Cassidy with Mike Tyson on commentary should feel special. I’m sure some of those questions will be answered in the match itself, but at least give me enough of a teaser in a video package to keep me from changing the channel.
Orange Cassidy defeated Katsuyori Shibata to retain the All-Atlantic Title: QUALIFIED HIT
As a match, this succeeded. As an introduction to who Shibata is, it underdelivered. I couldn’t tell if he’s a tough guy who is trolling Cassidy with his own comedy or if he actually employs similar comedic “mind games” in his own matches. You could have replaced Shibata with a lot of other people on the AEW roster and it wouldn’t have compromised the match quality, and may even have been a better story.
Mike Tyson was okay on commentary. He definitely didn’t phone it in, although he seemed to over-praise the match. I highly disagree that what we saw tonight was anything close to “legendary,” for example. While we can’t blame him for trying to put over talent, it shouldn’t be at the expense of his credibility if AEW brings him back for this. There was also one awkward moment where Tyson seemed to be miffed with JR from bringing up a tangential point while Tyson was trying to call the mat work.
Toni Storm Backstage Interview: HIT
This was fine. I remember they aired a brief video package explaining Toni Storm and Jamie Hayter’s history on Dynamite, but it ended quite abruptly. This felt like a “good enough second half” of that video package where you go from talking about history to hyping up the match.
Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and William Regal) Backstage Interview: MINOR HIT
Claudio was a little awkward, but Danielson and Regal were good. The point of this segment was to present themselves as challengers to Chris Jericho, considering their history with ROH. While I had no issues with this in a vacuum, I think it would have been better if they threw their support behind Claudio to take down Jericho while Danielson deals with Garcia (see below).
Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter defeated Skye Blue and Madison Rayne: NARROW MISS
Mellow crowd (despite being live), and a long commercial break. I don’t think the match was bad, but it never really clicked.
Post-Match Segment: HIT
After the match, Britt Baker cut a promo responding to Toni Storm’s words from earlier tonight. Then Toni Storm came out, took out Rebel and Baker, and brawled with Hayter. Baker then laid out Storm with the title belt.
Effective segment to build heat for the Full Gear match.
Lamar Jackson’s Reaction to being Called Out by Jericho on Dynamite: MISS
I would not have aired that reaction on television. Jackson made it come across like just some fun, silly wrestling thing (which it probably was). However, that completely undermines any seriousness of Jericho’s threats. I understand part of Jericho’s character is his exaggeration, but we’ve actually seen him take out non-wrestlers recently. The optics of an empty threat to a football player just reinforces people’s stereotype of pro wrestling as a goofy hobby where men who can’t hack it in “real sports” pretend to fight.
Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara Backstage Interview: MINOR HIT
Interesting development here. Jericho challenged Danielson, Castagnoli, AND Guevara to a four-way match. He’s expecting Guevara to “do the right thing” for him and lay down once they have dealt with the BCC.
Ordinarily, this would be a great way to split the young, rising talent from under the wing of the veteran heel and give him a big babyface push. However, we’ve seen the failure that was Guevara’s recent babyface run, and I don’t buy he will turn again so quickly.
This segment also didn’t do Guevara any justice. He didn’t say a single word. I know he’s meant to be a cowardly heel these days, but given that he wants to challenge Danielson to a serious match (see below), he shouldn’t have been emasculated like this.
Ricky Starks Promo: QUALIFIED HIT
After a Dynamite that featured Jeff Jarrett, but seemingly couldn’t find time for Ricky Starks or Miro, I’m happy we at least got Starks tonight.
Overall, this was a strong promo hyping himself up for the upcoming tournament to crowd a number-one contender for the World title. However, I have some minor quibbles with some of his quotes:
Quibble 1: “People online wanting to see Ricky Starks on TV.” Given time, I can find an online fan club for anyone, including Kip Sabian. Let the heels tout their online following. Don’t turn into a discount Logan Paul.
Quibble 2: “I’ve never had to beg or plead any of you to have my back, did I?” I’m not sure why he felt the need to say this, but technically it’s not true. If we’re going to assume that most fans are on the internet looking up Starks-related content, then I’m sure they came across the on-site reports from the night Hobbs turned on him. Apparently, right before that happened, while they were still in commercial, Starks took the microphone and made a plea to the crowd, stating that he’s “trying” for them and giving them his best. That sounds like pleading for cheers to me.
Quibble 3: “You like me because I do the pose!” Not sure about that one, buddy. Perhaps he said this as a self-deprecating joke, but it didn’t help. There’s a way you can get away with it, such as when the Rock would mention his People’s Eyebrow, but he spent several consecutive weeks on television getting that over as a heel before people came to think it’s cool. Starks’s push, meanwhile, has been very start-and-stop.
Sammy Guevara Backstage Interview: MINOR HIT
Guevara wants Danielson in a two out of three falls match. This was okay. One of his better solo promos.
Main Event Promo: NARROW MISS
It’s very clear from this promo that the main event is just a time filler to get to some kind of post-match angle. Wardlow didn’t even address Gates of Agony and focussed on Powerhouse Hobbs. To be fair though, what exactly is he going to say about Gates of Agony? Their identities and backstories haven’t been elaborated on, other than the fact that one of them comes from a royal family in Cameroon.
They did also plant a bit of intrigue here with Wardlow cutting off Samoa Joe. Curious if that plays into things at some point.
WarJoe (Wardlow and Samoa Joe) defeated Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona): MINOR HIT
A fine made event and another tag match where Wardlow was made to look strong. However, it’s going to take a lot more than two Gates of Agony main events in a row to keep me awake at this hour.
Post-Match: MINOR HIT
Very basic stare down between Wardlow and Powerhouse Hobbs to close the show. It was distracting to listen to Excalibur hyping up other things while this was going on, but it was okay.
Commentary: MINOR HIT
Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Tony Schiavone tonight. Tyson joined for the opening contest, and I gave my thoughts there.
Overall Show: MINOR HIT
If you’re a Shibata fan, watch the opener. Otherwise, it’s just a generic good match with Mike Tyson over-praising it. The one thing for everyone to go out of your way to check out is the Ricky Starks promo. By no means was it anywhere close to perfect, but it’s the kind of stuff we need to see more of. I also dug the Toni Storm promo, but we’re probably going to get a version of that in the weeks ahead too.
As for the rest of the show, they moved some stories along, but reading recaps is sufficient to fill you in.
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