SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
A memorable Double or Nothing is behind us and now it’s time to start building All-In. This week’s episode of Dynamite did not have the most intriguing matches set up, but they did promise to give us Hangman Page addressing the fans as well as a meeting between Toni Storm and Mercedes Mone. I’m sure there will be some fun moments not only with those two promos, but in the rest of the show as well so I’m excited to see how this episode is able to follow up a great PPV and then pivot to the biggest show of the year.
HITS
TOP STARS OPENING PROMO
Do you want drama? Do you want long-term story-telling? This is it. It would have been easy for Swerve to come out to join Hangman and all was forgiven and they got together with Will Ospreay to take on Jon Moxley and the Deathriders. However, if you have been watching AEW for years, you know that it just can’t happen at this point and possibly ever.
I loved that the three top babyfaces in the company shared the ring and all had a common goal, but they just can’t come together. Will they be able to do so in six weeks? That may be where we are going, but it’s going to take a lot of healing to get there. I’m here for it all.
SIX-MAIN TAG OPENER
I’ve written it many times, but I’ll say it again, Mark Briscoe is a joy to watch. He brings so much energy to whatever match he is in. This match had three crowd-favorites on one side and some badass tough wrestlers on the other. I thought it was a great choice to bring these six together. It was a perfect TV match. The crowd was red hot for it. Gabe Kidd is a future star and a perfect “friend” for Moxley. I wish Briscoe wouldn’t be the one losing so much, but someone had to be the one on the babyface side. All in all, this was a blast.
MERCEDES AND TONI STORM
First of all, I’m thrilled they made this the last thing on the show. This match should be a HUGE deal, and this was the first step in making it a legitimate co-main event of All-In. It may not be her strength, but I thought Mercedes was pretty good in this war of words. This IS Toni’s strength and she was great as usual. “I am the Toni Storm of professional wrestling” was a great line.
The end of the segment reminded me a little bit of the original Goldust character where one of the participants makes the other very uncomfortable which makes them lash out physically. Let the mind games begin!
This was a solid first step in the build for this match, which should be one to remember.
QUICK HITS
– The Hurt Syndicate backstage promo was very well done. I loved how it was 100% serious. No joking around by MJF. They portrayed themselves as a dominant force. Awesome.
– Tons of credit to Harley Cameron for battling through a likely broken nose. If it was a work, then she did a great job making it believable. Either way, great performances by all in that no DQ tag match.
– Adam Cole had his best performance since his return and reminded all of us how much the fans like him and get behind him. The TNT title match with Kyle Fletcher was very good, but didn’t earn a full “Hit” because of the DQ finish. I did enjoy the follow-up backstage promo that showed this feud is far from over. It’s nice to get Cole into something important.
– What a night for accidental injuries. Josh Alexander’s face was a mess after the Brody King bout. That was a solid hard-hitting match that delivered. I’d like the Callis Family to get more wins, but it’s important that Brody wins as well. I’m just glad AEW does not cop out very often when it comes to finishes.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: CLICK HERE (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
MISSES
BURYING UPCOMING MATCHES
If I missed a mention earlier in the show, then I take this back, but I believe it was 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 10 seconds before any mention was made on the show that Adam Cole would be defending the TNT title against Kyle Fletcher. That’s a huge match. Why wouldn’t you give a rundown earlier on what’s going to be on the show?? You had plenty of time during the Death Riders entrance after the opening promo to do it. This kind of thing drives me NUTS!!
THEKLA DEBUT
Full disclosure, I had not heard of Thekla prior to reading about her signing with AEW. There are a lot of folks online who have great things to say about her and how she’ll be a big star in AEW. That could certainly happen, but her debut seemed to be majorly rushed and did not have the impact I would have thought they were looking for. All she did was beat up Jamie Hayter for about 10 seconds then posed for the camera and Excalibur quickly threw to a pre-taped video package on Mistico. They will have plenty of time to make this right, but for one night, this was a missed opportunity.
Don’t forget to check out the weekly free podcast I’m part of, “The All Elite Conversation Club” that typically drops on Fridays the PWTorch Dailycast lineup. Joel Dehnel and I have a great time breaking down all things AEW. Search “pwtorch” on your podcast app to subscribe. Send questions and comments to allelitecc@gmail.com.
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