SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NEWS & NOTES
•Grand Slam Australia moved from SunCorp Stadium to the smaller Brisbane Entertainment Center. Tony Khan turned out to be too ambitious booking the first venue. Part of the issue is that AEW doesn’t have the reach in Australia that it does in the UK.
•Ricky Starks, who reappeared in GCW a couple weeks ago, was pulled from further appearances with the promotion after its star Effy disparaged AEW on a podcast.
•The inaugural International Women’s Cup kicked off last week with qualifying match between Jamie Hayter and Queen Aminata. Hayter won after hitting the Hayterade lariat despite Aminata blocking it three times. After the match we got another tease of Julia Hart targeting Hayter. Hayter will now face the winner of Serena Deeb vs. Willow Nightingale scheduled for next week’s Collision for the right to go to WrestleDynasty.
INTRO
Dynamite will be emanating from some random town in Indiana. Seriously Fishers, Indiana. I don’t understand the strategy of going to these small towns. It feels like the show is handicapping itself. That said the show on paper is pretty good. 2 C2 matches and the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal. If nothing else the C2 matches should be worth the price of admission by themselves.
Jon Moxley vs. Jay White vs. “Hangman” Page
Latest Developments
Hangman explained his actions from Full Gear and reaffirmed his desire to be world champion but was immediately interrupted by Jay White who rightfully pointed out that he deserved the world title shot. Both men wound up on the receiving end of an assault by Mox and the Mechanics.
Analysis
Hangman came to the ring and explained that he and Christian made deal in which he would help Christian win the world title in exchange for the first title shot. Despite Christian’s failure, Hangman declared that he not only wanted to be champion, he deserved to be champion. That brought out Switchblade Jay White who rightfully pointed out that he beat Hangman twice and if anyone should get a shot at the title it should be Switchblade. Just as White made it to the ring, Mox and the Mechanics struck. PAC attacked Jay White from behind and Wheeler Yuta did the same to Hangman. Hangman couldn’t resist going after White which allowed Marina Shafir to hit the ring and clobber Hangman with Steve McMichael memorial Haliburton briefcase. She was going to hit White but he ducked and set her up for the Blade Runner. Mox made the save, applying a rear naked choke, which allowed Marina to get a shot in on White and apply her Mother’s Milk choke on White until he was unconscious. To add insult to injury, PAC bashed an already out cold White over the head with the briefcase anyway.
There’s been a lot of discussion about whether the Mox story is progressing or not. I understand where that thought process comes from, but I think people are focusing on the wrong aspect of the story. Much like WWE’s Bloodline story, the basic premise of the Mox story, someone stepping up to try and topple Mox and save AEW could get a little repetitious. That applied to Roman’s long run as well. The thing that kept that story interesting was the intra-group dynamics, the family soap opera. Conversely, the thing that is or should be the focus of the Mox story is Team AEW. We know why Mox is doing what he’s doing, what his goal is, and that the title gives him the power to do it. The fluid part of this storyline is the opposition. First it was Orange Cassidy waving the banner of AEW against Mox. Now Jay White has stepped up. Much like “Rowdy” Roddy Piper in the fall of 1996, White isn’t or shouldn’t be pounding the drum for AEW. His desire for the title is a personal one. It doesn’t make him any less of a babyface but he’s not doing it for AEW.
The wildcard here is Hangman Page. He doesn’t technically deserve a title shot. He can be dealt with by Mox and Mechanics without one. This would be an instance where Tony Khan intervening and making the match between just White and Mox would make sense. That said what transpired on Collision was interesting. Hangman defeated Wheeler Yuta. Part way through the match Mox, PAC, Claudio, and Marina came out into the crowd and watched from a distance as Hangman not only beat Yuta but beat him up afterwards. Mox was not only disinclined to help Yuta, he actually seemed impressed by what Hangman was doing. Later in the show, Hangman turned down an interview from Lexi Nair only to run into Christopher Daniels who said that he could be the champion that AEW needed if he got himself together. Hangman flipped out on CD and walked away.
That’s where the focus of the story lies. It’s pretty much assumed that the Bucks are returning as faces so the interest is going to be in them patching up their differences with Kenny Omega and reuniting to save their company from Mox and to see if Hangman can be brought on board too. At that point it becomes a matter of whether Omega or Hangman is chosen to fight Mox while the other three fight for the trios titles. Darby Allin is still out there as well. That’s for the new year though. Right now, it remains to be seen exactly what kind of match we get for World’s End and if Mox extends an invitation to Hangman to join his cult. That would be an interesting twist and if it happens I fully expect Hangman to turn him down without verbally doing so.
Grade: B+
Mina Shirakawa vs. Mariah May
Latest Developments
Mariah May attacked Mina Shirakawa during an interview segment on Dynamite. A match was made between the two for Winter is Coming.
Analysis
Mina Shirakawa cut a promo basically saying that after what Mariah did to Toni Storm, she (Mina) knew could do the same thing to her. Before she could finish her promo Mariah came in from behind and smashed a champagne bottle over her head before beating her with the title belt.
This segment was good. Mina explained herself as best she could. It’s hard to be completely sympathetic given that she was aware that Mariah is sociopath and still chose to trust her but at the same time, Mina never supported or even acted indifferent to Mariah’s behavior. She also didn’t completely trust her or she would’ve been clobbered at Full Gear.
On Collision Mariah had a pre-taped promo recorded immediately after her attack on Mina. While she referenced Mina teaming with Toni as her “running around Japan with a ghost of my past”, her ultimate reason for turning on her was that she saw Mina as a potential threat and wanted to neutralize her.
Doing the promo from the scene of the crime was a nice touch. Mariah is just pure evil. There’s no two ways about it. She turned on her best friend because the only thing she cares about is the title and she saw Mina as a threat. How cold and depraved is that? The match should be good. I’m a little surprised it’s happening at Winter is Coming rather than World’s End but maybe Mariah cheats and we get a rematch at the PPV. In the meantime I’m curious how the return of Toni Storm is set up. She has to be coming back soon. I wonder if we get vignettes or just a surprise return.
Grade: B+
Check out the latest episode of the “All Elite Conversation Club” with Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
Mercedes Moné
Latest Developments
Mercedes was set to fire Kamille but Kamille quit before she could. On Rampage Kamille was found unconscious in the back with a chair wrapped around her head.
Analysis
Mercedes was interviewed by Tony Schiavone. She talked about her victory over Kris Statlander and how she did it without Kamille’s help. That led to her reaching the conclusion that she didn’t need Kamille. Before she could actually fire her though, the Brickhouse quit and walked away.
I thought this segment was absolutely necessary. Mercedes beating Stat clean by herself demonstrated that she doesn’t need Kamille. Couple that with how inept Kamille has been shown to be the last few weeks, Mercedes firing her was the next logical step. She’s much better as an arrogant obnoxious heel who backs it up in ring. Kamille quitting and walking away worked for me because it didn’t feel like the segment was designed to garner any sympathy for her. To me that’s a good thing because I don’t think Kamille works as a babyface. She’s not great in the ring and she doesn’t have the charisma of a Kevin Nash or Sid that could use to mask her deficiencies. Just moving on would’ve been the best course of action. Instead, she was attacked setting up a whodunit angle with Mercedes as the only obvious suspect. Clearly, Kamille is going to off TV for a bit. I do wonder what the plan for Mercedes is though. I wouldn’t mind of she and Stat ran it back at World’s End.
Grade: B
Adam Cole vs. MJF
Latest Developments
Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly declared themselves for the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal.
Analysis
Adam Cole came out and began to cut a promo on MJF. He didn’t get very far into it before Kyle O’Reilly interrupted him. Kyle insisted that Cole allow him to handle Max for him. The two disagreed and that brought up another weird video from MJF this time with him playing the piano. He brought up he Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal as his focus. That prompted both Cole and KOR to declare for the match.
This continues to be the low point of the show every week. Once again the segment was needlessly overcomplicated. In his first promo back from injury last month Adam Cole said he wanted to go after MJF alone. Since then Roddy Strong and now Kyle O’Reilly have both tried to fight Cole’s battle for him. It makes Cole look weak. If his friends don’t think he can fight his own battle, why should the fans get behind him? This is not how to get the fans to rally behind Cole. Additionally, these videos from MJF are really an insult to the intelligence at this point. The idea that he’s interrupting the segment from some undisclosed location as though he’s watching it live is just ludicrous. Trying to tell this story while Max is off filming a movie is just a bad idea. Cole desperately needs a motivated, focused MJF to play off of if there’s any hope of salvaging something out of this angle.
As for the annual battle for the Dynamite Diamond ring, my guess is Kyle O’Reilly wins the match and the right to challenge MJF for the gaudy ring so as to delay the eventual Cole/MJF match for PPV although the sooner they get to the match at this point, the better.
Grade: C+
Swerve Strickland vs. The Hurt Syndicate
Latest Developments
Swerve got into an altercation with Max Caster backstage setting up a match between the two tomorrow night.
Analysis
The Hurt Syndicate opened the show with MVP cutting a promo in-ring part of which was him gloating about Lashley’s win over Swerve. The other part was setting up Shelton for the C2. Backstage Swerve was being interviewed by Renee Paquette when Max Caster wandered into the scene. He made a smart remark about Swerve’s loss and that set off Swerve. He tossed Caster around the area, slamming him into road cases and such.
I know on its face it doesn’t seem like it actually involves the Hurt Syndicate but I believe it does. MVP has been courting Caster for weeks. Caster has seemed interested in what MVP has to say unlike Anthony Bowens. I expect Swerve to mop the floor with Caster leading to him finally breaking with Bowens and joining the Hurt Syndicate. Perhaps Bowens then teams with Swerve to fight his former partner.
Grade: B+
Stay right here and keep the flow going. We think you’ll like to read this next…
RECOMMENDED NEXT: AEW COLLISION RESULTS (11/30): Continental Classic, Ospreay rebounds from Full Gear, Hangman stands against the Death Riders, Okada-Garcia
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Juice Robinson out of the AEW Continental Classic, replacement named
(You can always reach PWTorch editor Wade Keller at kellerwade@gmail.com. You can also send live event results and news tips to pwtorch@gmail.com. Also, we’re always looking for volunteer contributors to help us round out of coverage of the pro wrestling scene.)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.