HEYDORN’S AEW DYNAMITE RECEIPT 4/12: Weak AEW introduction puts early ceiling on Jay White

This week’s episode of AEW Dynamite has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.

-Darby Allin vs. Swerve Strickland was an excellent match. The guys were creative and really got the crowd into the show right out of the gate. That’s the positive. The negative? Was this match a smart one to go with? Swerve is in the middle of introducing his faction to the world and it severely needs credibility. This is a very good example of paying things off quick with a good match, rather than go slower and protect and care for the investments being made in talent on the roster. Is Darby hotter now? Not really. Strickland is a bit directionless, though.

-As for the angle and segment with MJF? Bravo, Darby Allin. Allin has a certain believability to him when it comes to ring work, but hasn’t been able to harness it on the microphone as much. He did with his promo on MJF. Darby did a nice job of drawing the line in the sand between him and MJF — essentially telling fans who they need to be behind. Awesome work. I know Jungle Boy and Sammy Guevara are involved in this “pillars” story, but Darby vs. MJF in a singles may be the way to go at this point for Double or Nothing.

-Watch you young-ins of AEW. Sting can still bring it!

-What’s with the car and Powerhouse Hobbs? Look, they sold this as a huge issue for Hobbs and tried to get people to buy how much he loved the car, but c’mon. If this is the angle that is planned, have Hobbs show up with the car more often? AT LEAST one more time? Something because this fell flat as there was zero investment made in the car.

-Ohhhhhh there is a Jay White problem in AEW already. Already! Jay White should not be presented as equal to Juice Robinson. I get that it’s Bullet Club Gold, but no. No, no, no. White is one of the biggest signings that the company has had. Sliding him over to some side faction with Juice is nowhere near fulfilling his potential. AEW needs him to be a star and folding him into the things the way they did this week doesn’t present him in that way. Bad.

-Another really strong match with Orange Cassidy — this time against Buddy Murphy. Cassidy may be the only one interested in getting that International Championship over because he’s had four or five tremendous matches with it on the line.

-So, Jeff Hardy is back in AEW. I mean, good for him. I want to see Jeff better and with his demons under control. That said, we don’t need to see daredevil Jeff Hardy on a regular basis. The stuff that that guy did early in his AEW run that was not on PPV and had zero follow-up is unacceptable at this point. A fun moment, but if Hardy is more than a role player at this point, that tells me AEW continues to have issues.

-Kenny Omega cut his best promo to date in AEW this week on Dynamite. Omega was serious, dark, a little twisted, and talked about wanting to win. If we are to see a CM Punk vs. Omega match at some point in time, this is the Omega we need on the regular.

-BCC and The Elite have a very good story going right now. It’ll attract some eyes and will payoff great at Double or Nothing or Blood & Guts. Jon Moxley has to be careful about being too much of a fighting heel. It felt like the audience wanted to cheer him but didn’t. That heel turn continues to be a tough putt for AEW to sink.

-More for the Outcast vs. OG story this week in the women’s division. Next week is THE match, though. Storm/Soho vs. Baker/Hayter? Thumbs up. I’m in there.

-The main event was a fine little match, I suppose, but Lee and Jericho didn’t seem to have much chemistry together at all. Just not sure this was a main event level match. Period.

-Strickland vs. Lee is on and Jericho vs. Adam Cole is on too it seems. Did you hear that pop for Cole? It’s gonna mean something if he ever gets his hands on the world championship.

CATCH-UP: Kenny Omega AEW contract update