SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
It’s Shark Week! Not really sure what that means for AEW Dynamite, but I’m sure there will be a shark somewhere on the broadcast! It’s week 2 at the Chicago residency and I expect it to be another hot crowd like it was last week. There are some interesting matches on the card with both the men’s and women’s world champions in action. Let’s see if they can match last week’s exceptional show.
HITS
HANGMAN VS. YUTA
AEW set the tone well, bringing out the World Champ, “Hangman” Page, to start the show. First, there was a solid tease to a future title match with MJF, then a revenge match against Wheeler Yuta to make them pay for attacking Colt Cabana on the previous Collision episode. The crowd was hot from the start and this was a quick dominating win, which is a nice change of pace from the typical 15-20 minute matches on Dynamite. Like a true babyface, Hangman did not choose to “hang” Yuta but sent his message loud and clear. This was a great opening segment.
FTR VS. JET SPEED
When fans discuss the early years of AEW and how the tag team division stood out, it was these types of matches that led the way. This was a stellar battle between FTR and Jet Speed that had the fans engaged from the ring of the bell. What could have been described as a clash of styles, both teams were able to be true to themselves and the chemistry was off the charts. Either Speedball Bailey is an Oscar award-winning seller or he’s one really tough guy to do what he did after tweaking his knee early on. The near fall on Knight’s crucifix pin on Dax was one of the best I’ve seen. There was about a centimeter of space between the refs hand and the mat. I would have loved a clean finish, but I understand they want the heat on FTR and Stoke so the payoff later is better received. This was a PPV-quality match and a perfect one to kick off the tournament.
MARK BRISCOE VS. CLAUDIO (POST-MATCH ANGLE WITH MOX & HANGMAN)
The main event segment started with MJF and Mark Briscoe continuing their feud from before All-In. Both guys did a good job on the mic and it was followed by another great match on this show. Briscoe continues to get all the love from the crowd week after week and it paid off with a big victory. He may lose the war with MJF, but I’ve been clamoring for months in this column for Briscoe to get more quality wins to build him up and he is now getting those wins.
Afterwards, Jon Moxley made good on his menacing backstage promo from earlier in the show by attacking Briscoe and calling out Hangman Page. Mox’s desire for a rematch and not giving up is true to his character and it seems the lack of confidence from last week was short-lived. And talk about a way to get the building packed again for the third week in a row! Mox gets his rematch, and what do you know?! A smart babyface making the stipulation barring everyone from ringside. It immediately makes next week’s show a must-watch.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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QUICK HITS
– The backstage promo at the start of the show with Athena was nearly perfect, but I definitely would not have had her wear the stupid “Shark Week” fin on her head. Athena needs to be portrayed as a serious threat to Toni Storm and you can’t do that if you are sucking up to advertisers. Have someone else do that. Billie Starkz was impressive in her match with Toni and the post-match set up Athena-Alex Windsor for Saturday’s Collision.
– Big Stoke is getting some solid heat from the crowd.
– The Hurt Syndicate apparently is the new APA as muscle for hire. It’s a bit confusing with the Syndicate going full heel over the past month or so, but it’s likely a bit of foreshadowing that FTR will win the tourney and face them for the titles at Forbidden Door.
– So often when wrestlers have short-term injuries, AEW tends to keep them off television with very little explanation until they return. It was a nice change to see Will Ospreay get the opportunity to come out and explain why he’ll be gone for a little while. Whether he was 100 percent truthful on what is bothering him, what matters is the viewers now know he’s taking a short break and hopefully will return in a month or so. It was also way cool to have Swerve come out and have the fans chant “Ospreay, Ospreay!” as Will mouthed “I’ll be back.”
– The Swerve-Hechicero match was really good until the dumb DQ finish.
– There was no “All-Star Eight-Man tag team match” on this show!
MISSES
NO YOUNG BUCKS FOLLOW-UP
After some great segments last week showing the ramifications of the Young Bucks no longer being EVP’s, there was no mention of them at all this week. This was one of the more talked about parts of last week’s show and it does them no favors to have this storyline be start-and-stop. If they didn’t have time for anything big, they certainly could have shown a 30 second video of Matt and Nick having a little temper tantrum and saying they aren’t going to show up this week. The entire EVP storyline was a mess because of a lack of consistency. I hope they do not make the same mistake here.
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.
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