SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Wow, what a packed show this was. Coming off a fun weekend of shows in Japan and a little over a week after Worlds End, I was looking at this episode as a great opportunity to set in motion all of the storylines that will build up over the next couple of months. I was very intrigued about the return of Kenny Omega and how he would present himself. Let’s see how it all worked out.
HITS
OSPREAY VS. BUDDY MATTHEWS OPENER
It was a great idea to open the show with the best entrance the company has. After a week without Will Ospreay, it was nice to see him back. He had a heck of a match (as usual) against an opponent who has been slowly gaining momentum over the last couple of months, especially with the fans. After the match, Ospreay grabbed a mic to put over Buddy and nothing else. I thought this was another great sign that Ospreay is not only being portrayed as the company’s number one babyface, but a leader in the locker room.
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CASINO GAUNTLET
I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of star power that entered this match in the first two-thirds or so. It was legitimate high-on-the-card stars for the most part and made the match feel important since it was for a World Title shot. Now, they chickened out a bit at the end by putting mid carders in there, but Tony is gonna Tony so what can you do!
I did love the surprise winner being Powerhouse Hobbs. It’s perfect for a TV main event title match and it adds the aura of unpredictability to matches like this moving forward.
KENNY OMEGA
I was hoping throughout the show that when Kenny returns, we would see the Kenny I saw in Japan over the weekend and not the silly “Being the Elite” version that we saw in AEW for years prior. I was relieved to see that he was serious and there was no attempt at trying to be clever or jokey.
I thought it was smart to have him call this a new “version” of Kenny Omega who was not concerned with money, power or revenge, which will be important when the Young Bucks return. I do think they’ll need to handle what happened the last time they interacted, but that’s for another show.
I loved that when Don Callis came out, Kenny immediately looked around and knew it was a set-up and figured he’d get as many shots in at Callis before he was overwhelmed. It was also nice to see Will Ospreay be the one to help to solidify Kenny being a babyface if it wasn’t already obvious!
I would definitely recommend seeking out the 4-5 minute post-show video of Kenny addressing the crowd that is on YouTube. It was actually a little better than his promo because you could tell he was speaking from the heart. It’s worth a watch.
QUICK HITS
– If the Hurt Syndicate does not have a major, top of the card storyline ready for them, it makes perfect sense to me that they go after the tag team titles. I like Private Party, but if Lashley and Benjamin hold those titles, they immediately get an upgrade and you can look forward to some great tag matches moving forward.
– I don’t mind MJF being in a (hopefully short) program with Jeff Jarrett. It made perfect sense for MJF’s character to try and find an easy way to regain the championship and offering to help JJ and then take advantage of the guy. It is just so “MJF.” If JJ ends up pinning Max in a match, then we can revisit this, but I doubt that’s going to happen. I like having MJF on TV so I’m fine with this as long as it’s short-lived.
– The women’s three-way for the #1 entry into next week’s Casino Gauntlet was fun. It makes such a difference when there are stakes and I had no idea who was going to win it. I have a feeling we are towards the end of the Toni Storm amnesia angle, but I assume she will have a feel-good win next week to get into the main event in Australia and after a week or two, perhaps we see the real Toni return.
MISSES
So here is the situation with “misses.” I have written this column for a year and a half and I always promised myself I would not force a “hit” or a “miss.” I’m not going to come up with one just to come up with one.
There may have been things on this show that were not perfectly done or may have benefited from some tinkering, but I truly felt there was no real “Miss” on this episode. If there was something you readers felt strongly about that stunk, please write to the email below and I’ll be happy to talk about it on the podcast with Joel Dehnel this week.
This was a solid episode of Dynamite with a lot packed into two hours. I’m looking forward to seeing how all the storylines shake out.
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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