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.
-So, that opening promo? Yikes. All kinds of awful. Let’s touch on a couple things, though. Why are the two babyfaces putting over the heel as a guy “they respect.” In what world does that make any lick of sense? Between running down each other AND calling out Guevara as a “respectful guy,” both Darby Allin and Jack Perry came across as very unlikable.
-The little promo that Sammy, Darby, and Perry tried to cut pulled each of them down so much that MJF got a babyface pop by the time he came out to interrupt things. Not what you want for your top heel and your top star in the company.
-Finally, MJF vs. either Guevara, Allin, or Perry doesn’t pop well for a title match at one of AEW’s four major PPV’s of the year. Feels like a step down from a host of other matches they could put on in the spot. I’d like to see MJF’s title reign matter a lot by the time it’s over and this won’t be a good chapter in it if it keeps going this way.
-A fine women’s tag team match. Jaime Hayter continues a nice run of matches and it would just be good to get her something more notable in terms of an opponent that she could have a full one title feud with. Nobody in The Outcasts are interested in the championship?
-Thumbs up to serious Kenny Omega. Omega in that role gives The Elite a significantly bigger range of things they can do in AEW. The BCC vs. Elite match will be a spectacle on PPV and better be because it’s consuming a ton of top company talent leaving things exposed elsewhere.
-Didn’t like Wardlow vs. Hobbs and REALLY didn’t like Hobbs losing. So, he pairs up with QT Marshall and is supposed to thrive and then he loses almost immediately? Look, are you going with Hobbs or not? If you are, this can’t be how he’s booked. If there is a need to protect Wardlow — and I get that — stop booking the two of them to wrestle one another.
-I liked the Jay White vs. Komander match. This can’t be how Jay White is going to be used in AEW, right? Like, White was a major get for the company. He needs to be against stars that tell the audience to think of him as a big time get. White against Komander and tangling with Shawn Spears while siding with Juice Robinson isn’t it.
-Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett are with Mark Briscoe now? Ok? When did that happen?
-So, the Adam Cole and Chris Jericho promo itself was very good. They both looked like stars and both established why they’d eventually fight one another.
-The angle with Britt Baker? Yuck. The crowd wasn’t buying any of it and therefore it looked minor league. Here’s the deal. If you are going to go there and use Britt, you have to go all the way with it. Saraya beating up Baker while Cole looked on and hated Jericho for it is a stretch that extinguishes the heat that the angle is designed for. So, if you do this, Jericho needs to be the one that takes the shot. That way, the heat is directly on him with Cole. Now, you absolutely shouldn’t do that on television, therefore, cut this idea out. Cut it out of the show rather than piece meal a way to it via other avenues.
-A solid Acclaimed win. That’s all it was, but it’s good for Tony Khan to book these types of matches for top acts, so they get W’s under their belts even when they aren’t in a specific program.
-A fine main event from a match perspective, but a convoluted finish. What are we doing? MJF helps Guevara win, I get that. There just isn’t heat in this at the moment and it looks like Darby Allin vs. MJF will be the title match at the PPV. That’s probably the best option at this point, but not a good one.
Show was a bit crap.
they’ve dropped the ball with Hobbs.