SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Last week AEW returned home to Jacksonville and put on a good show for that audience who were willing to stand in the open air in the chilly temperatures. It wasn’t Chiefs vs. Dolphins cold, but it was still chilly especially for Florida. That said, tonight we start building towards the AEW Revolution PPV in March.
We’ll hear from a team with their eyes on an Icon. We’ll see a young wrestler jump in the deep end of the ocean and see if he can swim with the baddest of great white shark out there. To quote Bette Davis as Margo Channing in All About Eve, “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s gonna be a bumpy night.”
Samoa Joe vs. Hook; Samoa Joe vs. Hangman Page vs. Swerve Strickland
Tonight on Dynamite, Samoa Joe defends his AEW World Title against Hook. They kept the build to this short and sweet. Hook, complete with new Hook signal, came out and got in Joe’s face, poked the title belt, said “One week,” and here we are. Hook is going to the lose this match. The point of the match is to test Hook, to see if he can believably hang with the big boys. He’s thrived mostly on matches where it was largely one-sided. It’s time to see how he does in the deep water, going 10-12 minutes with the champ. For Hook, the victory will be in looking good, not looking out of place, and getting the crowd behind him.
Lurking in the background of all of this are Swerve Strickland and “Hangman” Page. Both men declared interest in Joe’s title in an excellent promo segment last week. The question coming out of the segment was: Is a triple threat match being set up? While this would be on the highest end of triple threats, I don’t think that’s the best course of action.
Joe mentioned that there is now a WCW-style championship committee in place to determine title challengers. If that’s the case, the default position of this championship committee should be a singles match. To that end, Swerve feels like the obvious singles opponent for Joe. Last week I predicted he and Hangman would have a Hell of War match at Revolution. Why not move that match up and build an entire episode of Dynamite around it a la Blood & Guts?
Give them 45 minutes to go out there and beat the hell out of each other and the winner gets the match with Joe? If the plan is for Will Osperay to walk out of Wembley with the World Title, Swerve has to win it ASAP so his isn’t super-short and I don’t think he should win it in a triple threat where he doesn’t even pin the champion.
Grade: A+; A+
Ricky Starks & Big Bill vs. Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara:
Guevara beat Starks in an awkward finish to a just alright match. On Battle of the Belts IX, Starks & Bill retained the tag titles in a match that was what it was. All four guys worked hard and there were some crazy bumps including Sammy’s dive which resulted in his own demise. Of note, the Callis Family interfered in the match so clearly Jericho & Guevara are moving into a feud with them (The Callis Family should go over) and Ricky and Bill can move on to… other things.
Grade: B
Toni Storm vs. Deonna Purazzo
Toni Storm continues to be extremely entertaining. She once again mentioned Wendi Richter in her promo (for those who don’t know, Wendi Richter won the WWE Women’s Title at the first WrestleMania) so I’m expecting a Wendi Richter cameo at some point. She also comically mispronounced Deonna’s name. Deonna has a nice match against Red Velvet. That Venus de Milo finisher looks very painful. I expect these two to talk about each other without actually talking to each other for a little while longer.
As an aside, I watched “All About Eve” in the last few days. I definitely recommend it. It was a great movie. More importantly though, it’s something of a road map for where the Toni and Mariah story is going and both women are playing their parts well. I’ll say this: Margot Channing (as played by Bette Davis) wasn’t really heelish per se so I’m not sure why Toni is being a heel. That said, if all goes according to plan, Mariah is going to be a mega heel and Toni will end up the sympathetic babyface.
Grade: A
Sting & Darby Allin vs. Don Callis Family
Sting’s retirement tour hit Jacksonville where he & Darby took on Takeshita & Hobbs of the Callis Family in a tornado tag team match. This one was wild from the opening bell. Both Sting and Darby threw caution to the wind. Darby got swung across the ring, doing two or three revolutions in the air before landing neck first on the bottom rope.
In the end though, Sting took the craziest bump, executing a Scorpion Death Drop in Hobbs off the wall of the seating area through two tables. Well, it was supposed to be through two tables. Unfortunately, the table were too close so Sting overshot the first table and only hit the second which, upon second viewing, didn’t break as much as the legs snapped and the table flattened out. It was a rough bump for a 64 year old to take and he probably shouldn’t have done it especially with his retirement match looming.
After the match Tony Schiavone attempted to ask Sting who he wanted his last match with when The Young Bucks, complete with villainous mustaches, made their return. We’re scheduled to hear from the Bucks on Dynamite. Suffice to say, it seems like Brothers Jackson will be challenging Sting and Darby in Sting’s retirement match.
I think a good way to infuse some stakes into the match would be if along the way Sting & Darby challenged Starks & Bill for the tag titles and won. They’re undefeated as a team, so they certainly have a claim. If they were to win the belts and carry them into Revolution, suddenly it’s a tag team title match and there’s the potential that Sting could retire as a champion which I would suggest.
Grade: A+
Christian Cage vs. Adam Copeland
I was sincerely hoping that these two guys were going to get away from each other after their hard-hitting match at Worlds End. Copeland, in particular, needs to expand his horizons as he’s been tied up with his former best friend since he came in the door at WrestleDream. Instead, these two guys are still feuding though not actually interacting with each other. Copeland is hosting an Open Challenge weekly on Collision as means of earning another title shot. So far, he’s fought Griff Garrison and Lee Moriarty, two ROH regulars.
Christian, on the other hand, decided to target “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes this past Saturday simply because Dustin teamed with Copeland on Dynamite. He cut a promo on Dustin after Dustin’s match with Willie Mack. (Note: I would’ve given Dustin a different opponent he could’ve beaten faster and done this segment in the ring.)
The promo was trademark Christian smarm up to and including invoking Dusty Rhodes because it’s not a Christian promo unless he’s attacking someone’s dead father. (Note: Shayna Wayne’s new look was absolutely tremendous. She’s got that part figured out even if her mic work is so-so.) Dustin fired back and then challenged Christian to a TNT Title match. Dustin is so good on the mic. He’s passionate, he’s believable, there’s no BS. Honestly, his brother could learn a thing or two but that’s another conversation.
I like this matchup. I like the setup for it. I don’t think it needs the title. I love Dustin. As a big fan of early-’90s WCW, I’ve been a fan of his for a long time and I don’t have an issue with him challenging for the TNT Title but I think it’s false importance. Just let this match be about Dustin defending his family name and his father’s legacy. That’s plenty. Christian’s going to retain the title; that’s obvious. He continues to treat Killswitch like the Christian family pet so that turn continues to build. I’m not sure how they’re going to get to the Copeland vs. Christian match at Revolution, but that’s where we headed.
Grade: B+
Ruby Soho & Angelo Parker
This story took a big turn this week. During a backstage promo Saraya played a video showing Harley Cameron approaching Cool Hand Ang in the parking area and then kissing him. Saraya conveniently paused the video at that point. Ruby was devastated. Ang then showed up singing “Happy Birthday” to Ruby with a cake in hand. An angry Ruby smashed the cake in Ang’s face and walked off. Saraya put the remote in his hand and smugly remarked that she “always wins.” I’m assuming Angelo pressed play because the video resumed and clearly showed Ang pushing Harley off of him. That Saraya manipulated Ruby on her birthday no less is just not nice. It certainly makes you want to see Saraya and Harley get theirs from Ruby which is exactly what wrestling is about. Now we just have to see how long it is before Ruby discovers she’s been lied to by her supposed friend.
Grade: A
FTR & Daniel Garcia vs. House of Black
The trios match on Collision was predictably great because these six guys are very good professional wrestlers. A particular favorite spot of mine was Danny Garcia and Dax Harwopod teaming up for a Steiner Dog on Malakai Black. In the end, Buddy Matthews pinned Dax with a stomp. After the match HOB attempted to assault “Daddy Magic” Matt Menard who had been sitting in on commentary before FTR and Garcia ran them off with chairs. Clearly, this feud is far from over and that’s alright by me because it’s a pleasure watching these guys wrestle. Plus, the more time Garcia can spend around FTR, the better for him.
Grade: A
Undisputed Kingdom vs. Bullet Club Gold & The Acclaimed
We got another promo where Anthony Bowens pushed the idea of The Acclaimed uniting with BCG to go after the Undisputed Kingdom. Austin Gunn seemed receptive to the idea but Jay White mercifully said they’d sleep on it. I really, really hope they don’t team up. BCG do not need to be associating with the Acclaimed. If anything, they should be the ones to take trios titles off of the Acclaimed. Along the way they can set them up and then abandon them to be destroyed by UK. Speaking of the UK, Roddy Strong quickly dispatched of Bryan Keith after which Adam Cole cut a promo that sounded very similar to his previous one.
This group has a lot of work to do to be ready when MJF finally returns. They need to be dominating. MJF needs to be saving us, the viewers, from something. The World Title is out of reach right now. Taven and Bennett should be aspiring to win the AEW Tag Titles because those ROH Tag Team Titles aren’t going to cut it. Roddy will probably beat Orange Cassidy when the time comes.
Wardlow needs an attainable goal. This group needs as much gold as possible. They also need to start leaving people lying. They need to be seen as a threat. It’s difficult to be the top heel faction when you’re fighting for oxygen with the Don Callis Family and Bullet Club Gold, but the Undisputed Kingdom has to be prioritized.
Grade B-
Kris Statlander/Stokely Hathaway
The movement on this storyline was very slight. As she came down to the ring for the eight-woman tag she was in, Stat encountered a fan holding up a sign encouraging her to let Stokely manage her. Stat lowered the sign to discover the “fan” was Stokely himself with a big Cheshire cat grin on his face and then raised the sign back up. It was a quick funny moment. I’m ready to something happen, though. We need some real movement on this thing or risks getting lost in the shuffle of storylines.
Grade: B+
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