SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
This week’s episode of AEW Dynamite has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.
-That’s a good looking stage. Nothing too polarizing about it, but major league, which was an important box to check in my eyes. I’d change the music also, but hey, some kind of refresh is better than none. This works really well.
-Ow! Ricky Starks vs. Chris Jericho was a hot opener. They wrestled a great match for what the goal of it was. Starks looked tremendous and secured a big win. The post-match beatdown effectively continued the feud, too. Good match. Good booking.
-Great work between Jon Moxley and Hangman Page. They finally ditched the concussion part of this story and locked it into something more intriguing and that doesn’t make Page look so awful. Moxley was great and he’s brought out the best of Page to this point on the microphone.
-Another promo hyping the main event. Joe was great and the strategy to do this at all is an important tweak in how Tony Khan has been presenting AEW Dynamite.
-Well, they got me. I genuinely thought that Jeff Jarrett was able to con his way into a tag title run, because well, it’s Jeff Jarrett alright?! He may be more of a roach than Vince McMahon is at this point! Needless to say, The Acclaimed went over and retained the belts. Obviously, that is what needed to happen in the end and it did.
-Why is Bryan Danielson wrestling Tony Nese? Good thing this was about three minutes in length.
-MJF laying out ANOTHER gauntlet for a challenger to earn a shot to face him is going to ruffle some feathers. Here is why it’s ok. MJF needs to continue doing whatever he can to get heat. This accomplishes that, so I’m fine with him playing the card one last time. It’s the last time. After this, there has to be a more efficient way to line up opponents for him that isn’t him making his own rules.
-A 60 minute Iron Man Match between MJF and Danielson interests me. You’d think it wouldn’t, but it does 100 percent. Get ready for a seven hour Revolution PPV!
-Swerve vs. AR Fox? Thumbs up.
-Alright, so Toni Storm is Saraya’s partner for next week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, eh? Hmm, seems like a red-herring to me. Why go through all the trouble or indicating a special mystery partner only to reveal the most obvious in choice in Storm a week before what should be the reveal?
-Jade Cargill needs to be on AEW Dynamite more. She’s a strong part of the women’s division, but is often tucked away on Rampage. The bigger audience is on Wednesday nights and it makes sense for Jade to appear there. Hopefully this tag appearance was the first of many for her in 2023.
-Awesome main event. You could have gone either way on the finish, but Darby winning was feel good and nice way to cap off the “new era” show. Darby Allin sold his ass off for Joe — so much so, that Joe just doesn’t lose much at all.
CATCH-UP: AEW Dynamite viewership and key demo rating down from last week, way down from year ago
Disagree; Jade Cargill needs to be on Dynamite less, on Rampage less, and on TV less. Go-away heat for me, but maybe I’m in the minority. I don’t see the talent; I see a glorified powerlifter, the gift that Cody Rhodes gave us that keeps on giving.
Same here. Jade is change the channel cringeworthy.