AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES (11/22): MJF and Samoa Joe, start of Continental Classic, Christian Cage’s performance, Copeland’s Con-chait-to,

What a week it’s been in AEW. Coming off another standout PPV, this week’s Dynamite was set up to build upon Full Gear but also introduce everyone to the beginning of the Continental Classic, and what could be another step towards the company returning to what it once was. It was also a chance to further the “Who’s the Devil?” storyline. Let’s see if they were able to keep the momentum they’ve built the past couple of weeks.

HITS

MJF & JOE

It didn’t take long for Samoa Joe to cash in his “favor” and the two men started this five week feud perfectly. MJF was his usual solid self, but Joe is just a genius on the mic these days. He’s always been good, but the calm, intense way he mapped out his plan was perfectly done. His voice never rose, but the intimidation was on point. Plus, we get to see him “protect his property” for the next month, so I’m sure that’ll be fun to watch. Bravo to all involved, even Adam Cole who continued to plant some more seeds when it comes to the Devil. Is he a red herring, though?

CHRISTIAN

I love the new intro video of Christian’s attributes on the countdown. Embracing the “fatherly figure” gimmick is tremendous. I did have some issues with the segment which is explained below, but Christian deserves praise as he continues to be the most despicable heel in the company. Nick Wayne is also doing a great job with his facial expressions.

THE CONTINENTAL CLASSIC

While I would have added Takeshita into the mix, I did think they did a pretty good job setting up this tournament and what you saw on this show were two very good technical wrestling matches that you would expect for a tournament with some prestige. Then to shake things up, Jon Moxley vs. Mark Briscoe was a hard-hitting slugfest which you’d expect from those two. I would’ve avoided the cheating by Jay White in his match, but as long as it’s done very sparingly, I can deal with it. It also would have been nice to have at least one upset to let people know this tournament can go anywhere. I’m sure there will be some in the coming weeks.

MISSES

COPELAND DELIVERS THE CON-CHAIR-TO

As stated above, I was mostly on board for the Christian segment. He continued to be a miserable heel and for once didn’t take the cheap heat by insulting a Chicago sports team. I was also on board for Copeland coming in for the save. If he’s a good guy, there is no way he should have delivered the Conchairto to Nick Wayne. Especially with Mom there. Mom should have pleaded with him not to and he should have stopped and thrown Wayne out of the ring with disgust. Also, the Luchasaurus back and forth was a little confusing. At what point did he jump back on Christian’s side? This has a chance to be a very enjoyable program, but there are too many confusing elements to it at this point. I do see Mom joining up with Christian soon after what Copeland did to her boy.

TONY SCHIAVONE SUPPORTS HEEL ANTICS

The Jay White victory over Rush was a perfect time for someone to come out and call out White, the heel, for cheating to win in such a prestigious tournament. Instead we get the same “do what you gotta do” commentary from Tony Schiavone.

If that weren’t enough, he says Big Bill & Ricky Starks deserved to brutally attack Chris Jericho because Jericho “interrupted them during the media scrum”? First of all, if you watched it, Bill & Starks were finished and on their way out when it happened. Dumb. At least Excalibur called Tony out on it, but this is not your role Tony!!

I have loved the broadcasters recently and thought they were one of the highlights of Full Gear, but Schiavone needs to be the babyface announcer here and criticize the heel when they cheat.

FINAL THOUGHTS

One other question. If Daddy Magic is so against Daniel Garcia dancing, why is he supportive of Jake Hager and his dumb hat gimmick?

I thought this was a good, not great, episode of Dynamite. I enjoyed the tournament and many of the promos. With all the wrestling, it did seem like Tony Khan packed the show full of “sports entertainment” nonsense to offset some of the longer matches. If you are a fan of all of that stuff, then you enjoyed this show start to finish! If not, well, then you didn’t!

It is clear to me that Tony Khan is giving you everything on his shows. You are going to get hard-hitting matches. You are going to get blood and guts. You are going to get good promos. You are also going to get silly nonsense. And you are also going to get a WWE-type of main event story, like at Full Gear. Some are going to hit and some are not, but it’s time every fan accepts this is what he’s going to do and hopefully what YOU like most is what they do best.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

(For more on Dynamite, the Continental Classic, Full Gear, and previews of the weekend shows, look out for The All Elite Conversation Club on the PWTorch Livecast podcast feed on Friday. If you would like to send in questions or comments, you can Gregg Kanner and Joel Dehnel us at allelitecc@gmail.com.)