AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES (8/23): MJF, Jericho-Ospreay build, Everybody Hates Christian, Tone Deaf Transition to betting sponsor plug

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

HITS

MJF

Whether he is referring to his “tight trunks,” “the Jewish public speaking version of Davey Boy,” or showing love to the “crooked teeth Brits” while promising Tony Khan is going to buy them beer, this guy is GOLD. He’s untouchable on the mic and never disappoints in big matches. Then he went from cracking up the audience to a serious go-home promo that may very well be the best of his career. He acknowledged the trust issues that all viewers have been pondering, while cementing a full babyface turn if Cole turns on him Sunday. Should Cole turn heel and win the title, you have a fantastic story where MJF seeks his revenge and chases the title as a big time babyface. That’s my hope for the story, but we’ll see. Either way, Max is killing it.

Meanwhile, in Cole’s interview, he says MJF “reminded him who the real Adam Cole is…” We may indeed find that out.

FENIX VS. MOXLEY

Stellar match. I’ve always thought Rey Fenix is a guy who deserves a singles push. Great back and forth battle with Jon Moxley here that got the crowd fired up. It’s a shame he won’t make it to London as he certainly deserves to perform in front of a crowd of that size. Solid post-match angle as well that saw the return of Santana and Ortiz. Santana looks huge! I hope he retains his quickness with the new bulk. Mission accomplished setting up the Stadium Stampede which I’m sure will be fun. Eddie Kingston continues to be a joy to watch as well.

JERICHO’S PROMO

You have to hand it to Chris Jericho. I’ve listened to and read all the opinions of pundits saying they aren’t excited by this match and it won’t be good. Yes, the build last week was confusing at times, but Jericho knows how to perform and that was a great go-home promo using real life situations to get fans excited for the match. It worked for me. I want to see it more now than I did yesterday and clearly that was the goal.

EVERYBODY HATES CHRISTIAN

Those were some harsh words from Christian, but he knows how to get the job done and add stakes to a match. Obviously this was another match that needed to be altered, but I think they made it ten times better with what they did in this segment. I’m not sure of the reason behind A.R. Fox being written out of All In, but I feel bad that his push seems to be ending pretty quickly. They tried to save it a bit with Darby forgiving him, but it’s likely he’s headed back down the card. Meanwhile, this coffin match gets a big jolt with the addition of Christian and his personal attacks on Nick Wayne. There are stakes now that really weren’t built in before and that makes me much more excited to see it.

PROMOS, PROMOS, PROMOS

It could be argued the build to All-In should have started earlier, but the promos we got on this show all did a great job setting the stage for Sunday. The Young Bucks proved they should be doing more of this. They were solid as were FTR and it built some nice drama.

Did I need a Trios title match on Sunday? Perhaps not, but am I now excited for “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed vs. The House of Black? Yep. Sure am!

This show did not need the non-stop wrestling we usually see on Wednesday nights. It needed a final build to Sunday and they accomplished that in spades.

MISSES

FIND A GOOD PRODUCER

I’ve been a TV Sports producer for nearly 30 years, but you don’t need to have experience putting shows together to know not to follow a “serious” injury angle with a dumb betting app promo. It does not take a lot of effort to move that promo to the next segment. They did a great job setting up the drama with Rey Fenix, then put a pin into a balloon and it’s right back to it being just a “show” with sponsored elements. Please do better.

That’s my only “Miss.” I thought this show was great. Some decent matches, but more importantly a fantastic job of previewing Sunday. It should be a memorable weekend.

Finally, rest in peace to the legendary Terry Funk. It was a pleasure watching you work!

OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: MJF and Adam Cole, Aussie Open vs. Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy for the ROH Tag Titles, Jon Moxley vs. Rey Fenix, Will Ospreay and Chris Jericho contract signing