AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES (2/25): The two-headed coin backfires on MJF, Mile High Mayhem, Brody King vs. Mark Davis, more F-Ice chanting, Knight’s spoiler slip-up

HITS

SWERVE’S HEEL PROMO

When a company decides to turn a fan favorite heel, the follow up is just as important as the act that completes the turn. I thought Swerve Strickland’s promo did a great job to explain the reasons behind his actions. Are they good reasons? That’s for the viewers to decide, but he stated his goals and his realizations that this is the person he needs to be in order to regain the World Title.

Continued follow-up is important and with Prince Nana starting out talking down to the crowd, you can cross him off the list of people Swerve will turn on. I felt if you really wanted Swerve to be hated, beating up on a confused Nana would have done the trick, but they aren’t going in that direction. Brody King will be his first major opponent at Revolution and that should be great.

MJF AND HANGMAN PICK STIPULATION

This segment was a lot of fun. It was another in-ring segment between Max and Hangman that was well put together and well executed. MJF continued his string of great heel promos that stayed away from cute comments and focused on serious topics. I love that he referenced his history of being the guy who cost Cody Rhodes his World Title chances six years ago.

Small shoutout to Tony Schiavone, whose facial expressions when MJF threw his gum into the crowd was priceless. Tony is very hit and miss these days, but that disgusted look was perfect to convey how despicable Max is.

“Hangman” Adam Page was also exceptional. He avoided threatening death for one of the few times in his promo and kept his voice calm, but serious the entire time. This was a very effective Hangman.

The shenanigans with the two-headed coin was fun as well. Yes, we all saw that coming, but it’s important that Hangman did not come across as a dumb babyface. He let MJF get away with it for a couple of seconds and then called him out for it while relying on his friends to make sure Max was held responsible. I loved that at the end of last week’s segment, Hangman had a concerned expression on his face after making his decision to put his title contention on the line and this week, it was Max sitting in the ring with a similar expression of “what have I done?!”

This was a great segment that gives us a very compelling Texas Death match for Revolution that can go either way. That’s good booking!

THE MAIN EVENT

Wow! What a main event! When this was promoted throughout the night, I was thinking to myself, it’s kind of a weak main event to have a 10-man tag match, but they proved me wrong. Like, soooo wrong.

First, I loved the Tarzan Boy song playing throughout the first part of the match. It really fired up the crowd as it turned into an “Anarchy in the Arena” environment. The crowd really made it feel like a party atmosphere, taking you back to the early days of AEW where you watched from home feeling it was a place you wanted to be.

All 10 of the participants shined. The spots were off the charts. The vacuum spot was great, the quintuple super kick to Toa Leona was awesome. Jack Perry’s crazy spot flipping onto the table was nuts as was the double Spanish fly through the table. And speaking of tables, the crowd chanting “Two more tables…”, then “One more table…”, then “No more tables”, was so great.

This was not only a terrific match but one that brought everyone in the building and at home into the fun. This was back to back weeks with amazing main events, but give credit to AEW for providing two amazing matches that were entirely different.

QUICK HITS

– Jon Moxley vs. El Clon was a solid match for an opener. The crowd, which was great throughout the night, was very much behind Mox. It was a typical Moxley hard hitting match that, while going a little longer than it needed to, still kept viewers engaged. I say again, it’s time to break him away from the Death Riders.

– The “Lost Roddy” graphic and signs in the crowd that promised a $15 gift card as reward was perfect for the Orange Cassidy character.

– Gabe Kidd needed a match to showcase how physically imposing he can be and his victory over Orange Cassidy certainly accomplished that. I was worried he would dominate and then OC would find a way to win, but this result was much needed to build Kidd up as a compelling heel character worth fearing.

– Brody King vs. Mark Davis was a fantastic big man match. Davis continues to impress in the ring and play his role well. King is still very over with the crowds as they were on their feet for much of the match. Speaking of the crowd, I loved the “F-Don Callis, F-ICE too” chants.

– I’m glad they are giving airtime to Kevin Knight, both to show off his talent in the ring and to work on his mic skills.

HOWEVER….

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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MISSES

USE COMMON SENSE, KEVIN KNIGHT (OR AEW)!

Is this going to be a major screw up? No. Would this go over many people’s heads? Perhaps. Kevin Knight spoiled the all-important MJF-Hangman Page segment by revealing MJF’s stipulation. Knight said “Whether it’s a one-way disqualification match or a Texas Death match…” during his post-match promo.

There HAS to be communication and common sense used in this situation. Knight has to realize that MJF’s stipulation had not been revealed at this point so leave that out of the speech. Now, AEW puts a lot of content on social media, so if the “one-way disqualification” was mentioned online somewhere prior to Dynamite then the blame is lifted from Knight. However, I am a hardcore AEW viewer and if I didn’t see it, then a very large percentage of the viewers also didn’t see it and it was spoiled. Either way, this was an error that needs to be addressed moving forward.

INCOMPLETE

THE WOMEN’S TAG TITLE MATCH

I was ready to criticize the finish of the match and make it a major “Miss” in this column, but it was reported that the finish was changed mid-match due to the injury sustained by Penelope Ford on her moonsault to the outside. First, I feel awful for Ford, who can’t seem to stay healthy after finding a perfect role as a teammate with Megan Bayne. Second, I can’t say if any blame should be placed on Willow Nightingale or Harley Cameron for not catching her. I don’t have the knowledge of how that move was supposed to be carried out or where each wrestler needed to be, but I do know they allowed Ford to land hard which I’m sure increased the chances of an injury.

As for the audible that was called during the match, I’m fine with making that change. Perhaps Ford & Bayne were going to win the titles, though I find that unlikely, or that Ford was needed to take the pin and they figured a disqualification was in order. I would have told Lena Kross to wait until Bayne was really in dire straits before interfering. The way it was executed didn’t make much sense. I understand the decision was likely made quickly but it could have been executed better.

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