AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES (6/14): Kanner’s debut reviews Punk’s vignette, MJF vs. Cole, Wardlow & Arn, Skye vs. Storm

Greetings! My name is Gregg Kanner and I’m honored to be writing the AEW Dynamite Hits & Misses column for as long as PWTorch will have me! I’ve been a pro wrestling fan since the mid-1980s where I followed many of the territories thanks to some sweet rabbit ears on my family TV and reading a ton of magazines. My favorite moment as a young fan was shaking Andre the Giant’s hand at a house show in 1986.

I have been a diehard AEW fan from day one and I consider myself an optimistic viewer. I follow most of the company’s shoulder content, so I am aware that Tony Khan books for folks like me. Because of that, I tend to enjoy AEW shows more than any other promotions. I will certainly be critical of the product when I feel it’s necessary, but plan to stay away from nitpicking. All that said, I hope you enjoy my opinions so here we go!

AEW DYNAMITE – JUNE 14th, 2023 (From my hometown of Washington, D.C.!)

HITS:

MJF VS. COLE

Wow. My first “Hit” in my first column and I am calling this a grand slam! What a great call to open the show with this match. The crowd was red hot. Great psychology early keeping the pace slow, but keeping the audience invested. This was classic heel work by MJF. He bailed from the ring, accused Cole of pulling his hair only to pull Cole’s later in the match, knocked a fan’s hat off, and used a Roddy Piper eye gouge. The chemistry between the two wrestlers was stellar. It was night and day compared to the Cole vs. Chris Jericho matches. There was the great moment when MJF “tuned up the band” against Shawn Michaels’s protege only to take a superkick to the face. All of MJF’s plans backfired and, just when you thought he was going to get pinned, you get the old school finish of 1… 2… time limit expires. GREAT job by the commentary team to not oversell or even mention the time limit so you forget it’s even in play until the end. Finally, MJF rebuffing the offer of five more minutes is right on character. Perfect match that makes you want to see it again and soon.

C.M. PUNK PROMO

Love him or hate him, that promo likely got you to want to hear what he had to say on Saturday night. Mission accomplished.

STING AND JERICHO FACEOFF

Sure, the Sammy Guevara face turn is going to take some work and I’m not sure if it’ll be a success or even if it’s a good idea to try. But you can give me Sting and Jericho all day. It’s amazing to remember that I was in attendance in that exact building in D.C. back in 1998 when Sting joined the NWO Wolfpac and, 25 years later, he’s going face to face with Jericho. I have to say I dig it!

MFJ’S RESPONSE TO TANAHASHI

Classic MJF. He had me at “rando from a rinky dink indy fed in Japan.”

Side “Hit” – Good job this year by AEW by slowly introducing a lot of the New Japan wrestlers in matches, promos, and video packages. I have a friend who wasn’t enthralled with last year’s Forbidden Door show because he didn’t watch New Japan and didn’t know any of their wrestlers. This year, AEW is doing a much better job of putting those guys on the air and explaining who they are and why they are worth watching.

HANGMAN PAGE/YOUNG BUCKS GRAPHIC

“Formerly known by a sexually suggestive & anatomically misleading team name” – That’s gold. (Yes, I have the sense of humor of a 12 year old!)

THE OVERBOOKED END OF THE SHOW

Yes, I still make this a “Hit.” Sure, it was a lot and I’m not sure why we needed the Eddie Kingston return when it was immediately overshadowed, but I’m hoping there’s a good reason. I enjoyed the end of the show simply because it was cool to see all those stars in the ring. It got me even more excited to see Forbidden Door and find out how everything is going to shake out.

MISSES:

ALL-THINGS WARDLOW (AND ARN)

While there is a pocket of fans who are still solidly behind Wardlow, he has remained stale in my opinion and needs something or someone to make his matches and segments mean something. Arn Anderson is not it. I love Arn, but from the Ultimate Warrior-like gibberish promo from Rampage last week to the disturbing “take the gun out of his jacket” move, this doesn’t work for me. Wardlow works hard and is willing to do anything asked of him, but there is something missing and a feud with Luchasaurus is unlikely to make much of a difference.

THE FINISH OF STORM VS. BLUE

Again? Really? Every week, the Outcasts group interferes. Every week, the babyfaces look like idiots for not bringing help and falling victim to distractions. Skye Blue is still green, but didn’t look out of place against Toni Storm and had the fans behind her as she took another step towards a bright future. The spot with Blue having her own spray paint was great (and nice catch by the fan), but why not have Storm barely kick out and end up winning clean. If that happened, then Blue was close and can try again another time and Storm looks like a tough champion who doesn’t need distractions to win her matches against up and comers.

To recap, in my opinion, this show had 3 goals:
1. Put on an exciting 2 hours
2. Get you excited for the debut of Collision
3. Set up Forbidden Door

Check, check, and check.