HEYDORN’S DYNAMITE RECEIPT 3/2: C.M. Punk and MJF lead with final Revolution hype, world title program falters

This week’s episode of AEW Dynamite has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.

-The Tony Khan announcement was worthy of the hype, but ultimately and significantly impacts the business of AEW more than the product itself. With the ROH tape library in his possession, a streaming deal is imminent.

-Very cool for Tony Khan to book Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels directly after the ROH announcement in an ode to the first-ever ROH main event. Watching them go felt like watching two long lost friends picking up where they left off the last time they saw each other. Chemistry was off the charts. Glad AEW used the match to further Danielson’s heel character rather than lean strictly into nostalgia.

-It’s possible AEW pivoted away from the Danielson/Moxley stable storyline. When addressing each other, neither brought that topic up and it wasn’t the focus of the story. An interesting pivot.

-The Tag Team Casino Battle Royal was one of the better battle royal style matches that AEW has put on. The Young Bucks were the obvious winners going in, but the match and drama with Top Flight put some doubt out there. The Bucks helped milk that and Top Flight looked like stars because of it.

-Well, how about that C.M. Punk/MJF feud huh? Not sure you could expect much better from these two. After last week’s emotional and as it turns out, manipulative promo from MJF, this week Punk responded tactically and perfectly for the situation. He expressed his doubt about MJF’s sincerity and sympathy successfully. It was balanced and precise. Punk had to be perfect here, so as not to come across as gullible. He was and when the turn happened, the heat was scorching. The angle with the blood was intense, but effective given the match that is on the horizon this weekend. A+ stuff and AEW’s best PPV go-home segment to date.

-Another solid outing for Wardlow. His push is simmering and everyone around it including MJF and Shawn Spears are helping move things along.

-MJF slapped Wardlow silly. And I mean silly. MJF playing in both the C.M. Punk pond and being the facilitator for Wardlow shows his range and effectiveness as a performer.

-So, the main event was good as expected, but lacked the hype needed for the Page vs. Cole world title match on Sunday. Sure, they did an angle and that’s fine, but we needed to hear from Page and Cole in a more impactful way. AEW will do their usual pre-PPV hype special, which I’m sure will involve something between those two, but leaving a verbal interaction out of the go-home Dynamite is not a prudent way to position the world championship match ahead of a major show.

CATCH-UP: HEYDORN’S NXT 2.0 RECEIPT 3/1: Strong promo work from LA Knight elevating Grayson Waller