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Welcome everyone!
I have not written anything since the Pac tribute show. The show was so touching and heartfelt, there was nothing I wanted to be negative about. So I just let that week sit. Between the Pac and Butcher episodes, we have had some heavy shows.
Last week’s Dynamite, while not hyped, felt very much like a Grand Slam episode. A show that has some big matches, but really felt like a full-fledged match-centric house show.
Let’s see who I thought stood out the most.
RISING STAR OF THE WEEK
KYLE FLETCHER
I know Fletcher lost to Darby Allin last week, but I don’t think that matters in the long term. The match they had for the TNT Title was really good, but it’s the first time as I watched the match that I thought this title is beneath Fletcher.
Fletcher, since debuting, has really gone an accelerated route of a Bret Hart. Started out as a tag guy, and while Bret had the shadow of his father to overcome, Fletcher had to overcome being called a Will Ospreay clone. I think in the last few years Fletcher has shed that.
Fletcher is a well-rounded character who is ready for a huge 2027. If Ospreay were to lose the AEW World Title in 6-8 months, I think Fletcher winning would be a great story to tell. You can do all kinds of callbacks. One way would be to do something similar to when The Rock won his first world title. You make everyone think Fletcher is turning face just for Callis to help him win the title in the end. There are a lot of other stories they could tell, of course.
I will be curious to see what Fletcher is doing after the tag match he is having against The Young Bucks at WrestleDream. Hopefully it’s him headed back to singles action and moving up the card.
RUNNER UP – AEW AS A WHOLE
This one is going to be unconventional.
I think AEW as a whole company needs praised for the Pac tribute episode of Dynamite. Everything came across so well and very touching. While I enjoyed it, because it was therapeutic, the episode was hard to watch.
Sadly, AEW has been able to perfect tribute episodes. The Brodie Lee episode comes to mind and, of course, the more recent Andy Williams Collision.
AEW reminded me why I am a fan of them during the Pac show, yet again. They do things on a consistent basis, but this was a puff your chest out “that’s my company” moment for AEW and their fans. Just beautiful.
We all miss you already Pac.
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FADING STAR OF THE WEEK
JAY WHITE
Sometimes it’s just not meant to be for certain athletes. Sometimes it takes a change of scenery to bring it out. Sometimes injuries just derail careers at certain times. Personally, I am a Baltimore Orioles fan and that was how I felt about Adley Rutschman when he was traded. The fanbase cried and I thought the guy was injured way too much.
This brings me to Jay White, a guy who so many people thought would walk out of the New Japan main event scene and right into the AEW one. The latter has not happened and a chunk of it can be blamed on injuries.
White lands on this list because he is once again injured. Sadly, White was not lighting up the screen during his time back. That said, it was still early and AEW does like to slow start guys coming off injuries. So what does White do when he comes back?
I think, to protect him, just make White and Juice Robinson a tag team. It feels like we are in the midst of a huge tag division rebuild and a former IWPG Champion vying for the AEW Tag Titles sounds pretty good to me.
