AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES (10/10): A tone deaf Jewish “money” angle, Hobbs squashes Jericho, Danielson vs. Swerve, Shida’s big win, more

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By Gregg Kanner, PWTorch contributor

It’s a special Tuesday night edition of AEW Dynamite. Did you hear about it?? Apparently, AEW is going up against NXT and both companies seem to find it VERY necessary to win the ratings battle. I wish Tony Khan would just worry about putting on a good show with high-quality matches and storylines and not concern himself with matching up against WWE, which apparently called everyone short of Hulk Hogan to appear on their show. Put on a good product and people will watch and start coming back to the arenas. Here we go.

Now before we get to the show Hits & Misses, I feel the need to address something first…

HORRENDOUS MISS THAT THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF

In four years, there have been very few instances of angles or decisions that AEW should be embarrassed of. Deciding it was a good idea to do a Jewish “money” angle with Juice Robinson and MJF is the worst of them all. It’s beyond tone deaf.

With the horrendous stories coming out of a terrorist attack in Israel this week, you stay the hell away from something like that. I’m extremely disappointed they would put that on TV.

MJF should have said “no,” Juice should have said “no,” the segment producer should have said “no,” and most importantly, Tony Khan should have said “no.” It ruined what was a solid segment that brought seriousness to the AEW World Title program. An apology should be forthcoming.

Okay, now back to the rest of the show.

HITS

SWERVE VS. DANIELSON THE MATCH

The match was a fantastic opener to the show and proved how good both wrestlers are. They can both wrestle multiple styles and have good chemistry with each other. I’d watch them face each other every week, but it was the finish in this one that left me wanting more. (See below.)

POWERHOUSE SQUASH

Yes, Chris Jericho loses a lot. But losing that way allows Powerhouse Hobbs and the Don Callis Family to continue to build themselves into an unstoppable faction that should wreak havoc over the company for years. It was the right decision. They are getting good heel heat. Jericho will be fine whether he continues to be a part of this “feud” or not.

ORANGE CASSIDY IS THE CHAMP AGAIN

I’m not sure what the original story plan was for Jon Moxley and Orange Cassidy, but considering the injuries to Mox and Rey Fenix, it made perfect sense for OC to regain the title that he made relevant. That title is made for him, but I’d love to see them go with another angle this time getting him involved in some solid feuds rather than just open challenges. That story has been told.

SHIDA IS THE CHAMP AGAIN

I just finished listening to Hikaru Shida on Chris Jericho’s podcast and she really impressed me by doing a 50 minute interview in English. She’s very likable and I was thrilled to see her win the title again. I understand it’s been a little “hot potato” recently, but I get that they wanted Saraya to win it at Wembley. Saraya is not the same performer she was years ago so it was necessary to get the belt back on someone who can fulfill what you need a champion to be. Shida is that wrestler and I’m hoping she keeps it for a while this time.

COPELAND MAIN EVENT

The in-ring debut of Adam Copeland was a success. They told a nice story to allow Copeland to ease his way into a match where he fought from underneath and ended up victorious at the end. Nice brawl with all the wrestlers to close the show and lead towards future match-ups. It was a good idea to make sure Copeland and Christian did not touch. I would have liked for them to promote more than one match for Collision in order to improve ratings.

MISSES

BUY-IN MATCH (EDDIE KINGSTON VS. MINORU SUZUKI)

It’s not a “Miss” because of the match. It’s a miss because the only reason I found out about it is I happened to have YouTube open and saw it was coming up at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time. I don’t understand why they don’t promote things like this properly. There are so many things that fans would love to see, but not enough of them are constantly glued to social media. You had Rampage and Collision to make people aware. Use social media as well, but also use that thing called “your programming.” I’m sure many people missed what was a VERY physical hard-hitting match with fun commentary including Excalibur taking a little shot at J.R.

SWERVE VS. DANIELSON THE BOOKING

I know it would have set up a heel vs. heel TNT title match on Saturday, but Swerve really took a big step forward by beating Hangman Page at WrestleDream and once again, he’s back in the loss column. Swerve really has a chance to be a breakout star and they should be building him up. He should not have been in this match if it was just to see him lose. I can think of a couple other options to go against Danielson who would have spared Swerve another loss. They need to build stars. Swerve is one.

NO BUCKS OR KENNY

It was a packed show and it was very good, but I can’t believe this special show was put together and you leave off your EVPs. The Bucks are one thing as they have been marginalized over the years, but for Kenny Omega to not be on this show says a lot. It’s a continued missed opportunity.

FINAL THOUGHTS…

I’d love to grade the entire episode on its wrestling merit, but I just can’t get over the “roll of quarters” decision and it clouds my judgement of the show. I’m going to stop writing now and hop online hoping to see some evidence of remorse from someone in the company.

OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s NXT Hit List: Carmelo Hayes vs. Bron Breakker with John Cena and Paul Heyman at ringside, Ilja Dragunov vs. Dominik Mysterio for the NXT Title with LA Knight as special referee, Asuka vs. Roxanne Perez