AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES (4/10): The Punk-Perry footage, Copeland vs. Penta, Samoa Joe-Swerve angle, Shirakawa-Mariah, Ospreay mentions Triple H

Coming into this week’s show, I knew it was going to be a challenge writing up this column. I’ve been writing for weeks that AEW should just worry about themselves and continue to build on what has been many months of mostly good programming. However, they cannot help themselves and feel the need to respond to WWE and C.M. Punk.

Perhaps they view WWE and Punk as bullies and feel they need to fight back. Perhaps they are embarrassed that they have had declining ratings and attendance issues and feel that a public response on their show would get fans to tune in and see what they have to offer. That all makes sense, but in the big picture and the way the world (and especially the United States) is these days, you really can’t win by doing this.

After a lot of thought I decided to share my Hits & Misses mostly about the Punk footage reveal and then a few notes on the rest of the show.

THE PUNK FOOTAGE REVEAL

MISS: Showing it. For most viewers tuning in, I’m sure that it was mostly curiosity of what exactly the video was going to show. And for most viewers, I’m sure what they saw was pretty much what they expected to see. Punk spun his story during his interview last week to make himself look as good as possible. We all know he’s a hot-head and the video clearly shows he initiated the physical part of the incident. We still don’t know exactly what was said. Either way, this likely won’t change many fans’ opinion on Punk. If you loved him, you still do. If you disliked him, you still do. This did not need to be shown as it screams pettiness from AEW, and if you are trying to win back fans and increase viewership, this is not the way to do it.

HIT: Turning it into an angle. If you were going to show it and there was no way of talking Tony Khan out of it, then turning it into an angle with The Bucks and FTR was smart. The fans who just want to move on can get behind FTR rather easily. Dax’s promo was fantastic and summed up the sentiment of many fans who just want to move on and see them focus on building the company back to where it was a couple of years ago.

MISS: Punk chants. The LAST thing you want on your show are C.M. Punk chants. By showing this footage and having the heel Bucks be the ones doing it, you invite your fans to chant for a guy who is no longer there. You can imagine the grin on the face of Phil Brooks as he watched that part of the show.

I could go on, but as I want AEW to do, I’m going to move on with the rest of the show. Let’s hope this is the end of the petty back and forth stuff.

QUICK HITS

COPELAND VS. PENTA: Great opening match. I was hoping to see Adam Copeland take a step up in competition in his “Cope Opens” and he did that. This was hard hitting and enjoyable and they did a good job setting up the tag match next week with the House of Black. It was nice to get Willow involved as well. (Shout out to Stokley for a laugh out loud moment in the backstage interview suggesting Willow fight Copeland for the TNT title)

SAMOA JOE-SWERVE: I thought it was a nice angle to start the show with the retaliation attack by Swerve on Joe that put the main event in question. They followed that up with a nice show closing angle to further hype up the main event at Dynasty.

WILL OSPREAY PROMO (MINUS THE TRIPLE H REFERENCE): Outside of the needless shot at Triple H, Ospreay continues to deliver great promos that are full of energy. He is extremely likable and, barring a glaring mistake on the part of the booking, he should be the face of the company for years to come.

QUICK MISSES

OSPREAY MENTIONS TRIPLE H: Again, this comes off as petty and is just not necessary. Take the high road. You do not need to acknowledge everything that comes out of WWE right now. They are red hot. They are firing on all cylinders. You can’t compete with them… right now. Worry about yourself and build back trust, viewership, and attendance. That will be the best way to respond.

WOMEN’S TITLE PROGRAM: With Toni Storm being a tweener and much of the audience enjoying her shtick, it makes it very difficult for an opponent to get over as a babyface. Thunder Rosa has an uphill battle and I’m still not sure I know what role Deonna Purazzo is playing. AEW released a backstage video of Thunder Rosa after the beatdown on social media that was pretty good. Please put THAT on the show. AEW often has great backstage promos that they just air on social media. That is a waste of good content.

JUST PLAIN WEIRD

MARIAH MAY AND MINA SHIRAKAWA: I’m not quite sure what I witnessed here. I appreciate the quick backstory by the announcers but this was just odd! I hope there is a follow up with this fairly quickly and it sets something up with May and Toni Storm because I see a lot in May. She has the skills and presentation of a champion and they could use someone to knock off Toni Storm so she can focus on her character and not have it interfere with the title scene.

After a run of good shows, I would call this one average. It’s going to get a lot of attention for the wrong things and as I write often; my hope is that this will be the end of the responses to WWE and they put together a big go-home show next week to get people interested in Dynasty.

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OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: CM Punk and Jack Perry All In altercation footage, Will Ospreay promo on Paul Levesque, AEW World Champion Samoa Joe vs. Dustin Rhodes in an eliminator match