Okada-Takeshita tension is a blast, Callis paintings are both impressive and cringe, but what’s up with the Blood & Guts situation – AEW HITS & MISSES (10/29)

There’s a lot on the line this week on Dynamite with two big matches to determine who will get a shot at the World Title and the Tag Titles at Full Gear. There is not a lot of suspense when it comes to the World Title four-way, in my opinion, but I can see any team winning the tag match, so I’m really looking forward to that one. I hpe there are a few surprises or memorable moments in this episode. Let’s see how they did.

HITS

FOUR-WAY TAG MATCH

First, the Young Bucks entrance was great stuff. I’m intrigued by The Bucks eventually joining the Callis Family and both Matt and Nick played that entrance to perfection. From the facial expressions to being startled by the pyro, I’m digging this story.

The match itself was a blast as all four teams gave everything they had. I loved that it was not obvious who was going to win so I could buy into most of the near-falls, especially Kevin Knight’s kick-out after the EVP trigger. It was wild fun and FTR vs. Brodido should be a classic at Full Gear! AEW is getting closer to having a top tag division once again.

THE CALLIS FAMILY SUMMIT

Those paintings are something else, aren’t they? Equal parts impressive and cringe!

I love a good, strong faction and the members did a good job giving an explanation about what the family is all about before Konozuke Takeshita came out to join the fun! The crowd really added something to this segment backing Takeshita and when Kazuchika Okada responded to the handshake offering by giving the finger. You can feel AEW is milking this story so that the explosion between the two of them will be special. It looks like they are setting this up for Full Gear, though selfishly I’d prefer they didn’t since I’ll be attending World’s End in December and I want that match for ME!

MAIN EVENT FOUR-WAY

This match was the highlight of the show. All four wrestlers did a great job and I was pleased to see that Hook did not seem out of place. Ricochet was amazing in everything he did. Some of those spots were unreal. Bobby Lashley looked like a powerhouse (no offense, Hobbs) and it should not be long until Lashley is competing at the top of the card. Samoa Joe was great as usual, although he’s just so likable that the fans cannot help cheering for him which is counter-productive. The finish made sense but was not a surprise, so that hurt it a tad, but kudos to all competitors as they were fantastic.

The post-match angle was a bit all over the place and the execution could have been better, but it was good to have Joe look smart and assume, like we all did, that “Hangman” Adam Page was one of those in costume. It was clever to have Hangman pose as Tony Schiavone as I was wondering all night why he was wearing the Phantom of the Opera mask (even though it was a Halloween show, it seemed out of place).

That was a fun way to end the show.

QUICK HITS

– The opening match was solid. Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin looked good as a team. While the outcome was not really in question, it was fun to see those four battle and listen to Bryan Danielson on commentary. It was also a nice touch showing old footage of Orange Cassidy. Now that they are six years in, there is a tad of nostalgia for showing clips of AEW’s early years.

– AEW did a great job setting up some great matches with storyline advancement for Collision on Saturday.

– As an old person, I love me some nostalgia so even though I think it’s counter-productive in the big picture, I enjoy the Conglomeration’s 90210-type entrance video.

– While a double count-out is not the most satisfying finish, I like that they furthered the story with Jon Moxley doubting himself and panicking during his rematch with Kyle O’Reilly. I have mixed feelings with the announcement of the Blood and Guts match between The Death Riders and the Conglomeration (plus Darby). It should be wild, but where does that put Jamie Hayter and her Blood and Guts challenge? Do they intend to do two B&G matches in a couple of weeks? Bryan Danielson kind of gave that away, mentioning the Penelope Ford injury later in the show. I’m not a fan of that as mentioned below in “Misses.”

– I’m still not sold on a long-term push of Kris Statlander as World Champion, but give me Athena all day long. I’m so thrilled to see her back on AEW TV and hope she becomes a mainstay and an eventual champion. I think her partnership with Mercedes Mone will be beneficial to both of them.

– Great job by AEW showing the Bandido video that included his grandmother. I watched the longer version on social earlier in the day and it was very sweet. I’ve always endorsed them showing some of the videos they put on socials because it can really help fans connect with a performer. It certainly did for me in this case.

– Marina Shafir is a solid replacement for Penelope Ford in the Tag Title Tournament.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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MISSES

TWO BLOOD AND GUTS MATCHES?

I’m just speculating here, but was there always a plan to have two B&G matches on the same show or did they realize the women’s match didn’t have enough juice so they pivoted and added a Death Riders vs. Conglomeration (and Darby) to make it bigger? To me, it’s a slap in the face to the women, who were the first to bring it up.

I understand the men’s match clearly has a better story leading into it, while it seemed like they were rushing Jamie Hayter’s challenge. Then, after Hayter brought it up about a month ago, they seemed to put the brakes on it. That’s on AEW as you had multiple weeks to build up the women’s match and make it into a big deal. They failed to do that.

In order to make B&G special, I believe it should be a blowoff to a huge feud that can happen at any time and they should not announce they are having a Blood & Guts show before announcing the match itself. Again, while the men’s match makes more sense, they shouldn’t have had Hayter bring it up until they had set up the sides much better. Once she did, it was AEW’s responsibility to build that properly and not water it down by having multiple B&G matches on one show.

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.