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AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES
Brody King Defeated Darby Allin – MAJOR HIT
This was an excellent elevated squash match. Darby did a great job as the smaller underdog, consistently being in a position where he was one or two moves away from a comeback. King was excellent as the madman with mammoth momentum. When the House of Black first formed, they, like the Blackpool Combat Club after them, wrestled for the violence of it. Even though the BCC treat their love of violence as a sport, the HoB consider it their religion. King made that shine through with his performance tonight, and likely earned some new fans.
One thing to note: I used to appreciate how Tony Khan used to celebrate the fact that their opening match was always commercial free. I personally liked that because it made the opening segment feel special. Seeing them phase that out makes sense, but hurts nonetheless.
Post Match Angle with Sting and Malakai Black – HIT
Great segment building heat for the House of Black. Black got more heat here than he ever did against Cody Rhodes. Miro’s pop felt a little subdued but seeing him get cheered is still nice.
Cole Karter/Ricky Starks Segment – MINOR MISS
This was your typical “AEW talent cracking jokes at NXT expats dead gimmicks”. Nothing special about this one way or the other. Seeing Hobbs’ confidence build is great. He’s starting to steal the spotlight from Ricky Starks.
Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta Defeated Best Friends – MAJOR HIT
My fiancé asked me an interesting question as entrances were made:
“Sometimes I feel like Justin Roberts tries too hard. What do you think?”
Yes, but,
That’s not a bad thing to me. Announcing is one of those elements of a show that can fade into the background or can really add to an experience. Roberts tries to add to the experience. When he yells “JEE-YAWWWWWN MAWKS-LEE”, it gives the match a big match feel to me. He’s not as good as Michael Buffer, but I’d rather him shoot for Buffer vibes than settle for less.
This match was great as well. Mox and Yoots told a great story and really helped elevate Best Friends. They’re not at the level they were at in the early days of Dynamite but a few wins and quality performances like this could get them there.
Jonathan Gresham/Claudio Castagnoli Segment – MINOR HIT
Simple promo putting over the ROH world championship match on PPV this weekend. Gresham was great and exuded charisma.
Swerve in our Glory/Smart Mark Sterling Segment – MINOR MISS
As is par for the course with Mark Sterling segments, it was better before he came on screen. The dynamic between Swerve and Lee is awesome. The way they can switch between teammates to competitive is great. The throwback to Tommy Gunn’s attorney from Rocky V with the “touch me and I’ll sue” lines from Sterling will pop a very specific niche of the Dynamite viewership.
Alex Reynolds, John Silver, Butcher and Blade Segment – MINOR MISS
This felt like the wrestling equivalent of the “shampoo is better! Conditioner is better!” bit from Billy Madison. It’s really dumb but has a charm that kind of sort of makes it work. Silver is such a dork that it’s hard not to laugh at his dumb jokes.
Luchasaurus and Christian Cage Defeated Varsity Blondes – MINOR HIT
Simple squash match. Luchasaurus was dominant and Cage played his heel character well in the ring.
Post Match Angle with Jungle Boy – JURASSIC HIT
Hey look! It’s Jungle Boy! And he’s wearing a leather jacket! He sacrificed animal brethren for fashion! This is Dark Jungle Boy!
This pop was fantastic and showed the fan appeal for him. I’m not big on the Luchasaurus pseudo turn. It just doesn’t make sense. Why turn him so quickly? The heel dinosaur could’ve been a fun angle to run with concurrently with the Cage/Boy feud.
Ass Men Segment – MINOR MISS
Not much to this. Continuing the story between the Family of Asses and the Acclaimed. Hard to care about the Gunn involvement in this but a rap battle could be cheesy fun.
Ricky Starks Defeated Cole Karter – HIT
Karter did well in this match, but Starks was on another level. It feels like Ricky is starting to develop into the star he always could be, but I want to see more consistently good performances before confidently saying that.
Post Match Promo – HITHAUSEN
Danhausen got a fantastic pop across from Starks. Ricky’s crack about needing to let his neck heal was a great line, and Starks impression of Danhausen was hilarious.
Kris Statlander/Athena/Willow nightingale Segment – MINOR MISS
Nice little segment giving Willow and Athena some screen and mic time. Athena and Nightingale played well off of each other and sold the upcoming match well.
FTR Segment – MAJOR HIT
Fantastic segment putting over the match against the Briscoes this weekend. Cash’s story about his daughter was incredible, and a testament to them as a family, to her as a child and Cash as a father. The “I’m going to fight you like an eight year old girl” got a bigger pop than some of the opening acts. That’s how over FTR is.
Jay Lethal/Sonjay Dutt/Christopher Daniels Segment – MISS
Perplexing segment with Daniels coming in to challenge Lethal and prove a point. Perplexing in the choice rather than the segment. Daniels is basically an afterthought on the depth chart, but has a specific level of love from the early Dynamite adopters.
Jade Cargill and Kiera Hogan Defeated Athena and Willow Nightingale – MINOR HIT
The pre match promos from Stokely and Cargill were fantastic. Cargill looked like a star and sounded like a contract extension. Stokely did a good job turning the Leila Grey negative into a no Statlander positive, and walking down with Jermaine Dupri was a nice touch.
The match lived up to this big fight feel. Kinda. There was some clunkiness and some of the moves and rope running lacked fluidity, but the ladies did a decent job. The Nightingale pin makes sense, as Athena and Statlander need to stay protected for now. The Athena/Cargill confrontation got a great pop.
ThunderStorm Segment – MINOR HIT
Thunders segment was excellent, whipping out some Japanese to sell her travels and her upcoming match. As soon as Britt came out, the air was sucked out of the segment. I thought it was interesting that the crowd noise wasn’t played during the segment. Could be nothing. Could be something.
Chris Jericho Defeated Eddie Kingston – HIT
This match had a lot of layers. Some of them good, some of them bad. In total I enjoyed it, and I thought it was better than it’s build. It seemed like each man was motivated to outdo previous mistakes. Chris with his awkward landing in the first Blood and Guts match, and Kingston’s overacting in Jon Moxley’s Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match. They largely succeeded. The gore was better. The story played better. I’m not as against the interference, as these matches always have it. The Anna Jay turn is interesting. Dark Order needs to start a new recruitment campaign. Their numbers are dwindling at a rapid pace. People are bashing Tay over the key botch, but her name isn’t Tay Locksmith! Her character is *gestures vaguely* MMA fighter? I kind of just hope this feud ends. It should’ve ended a long time ago. Kingston is so over with the crowd and a Mox vs Kingston PPV main event for the belt would more than make up if Punk hasn’t recovered in time. I think we should rename Cody Island, now that Rhodes has gone out to see. Developing talent are still being trapped there. On the Isle of Jericho.
Overall – MINOR HIT
This was a wild show. The opener and main event were hot. The women’s tag match wasn’t bad. FTR tore the dang house down. This wasn’t a consistent show by any stretch, so that obviously makes it lose some points, but the highs definitely made up for the lows.
CATCH-UP: 7/22 AEW RAMPAGE TV REPORT: Fyter Fest night two, Dante Martin vs. Lee Moriarty, more
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