AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES (8/13): Hangman and MJF, Rushed Announcements, Copeland and Christian, Mox and Darby and Ospreay and Knight

The build to Forbidden Door continues in Cincinnati with a face-to-face meeting between “Hangman” Adam Page and MJF and a bunch of matches from a hard-hitting battle between Jon Moxley and Kevin Knight to a six-woman tag match to a “clash” between Adam Copeland and Big Stoke. I’m not expecting a major news-worthy show, but there is plenty to give us two hours of enjoyment, so let’s see how Dynamite went!

HITS

HANGMAN AND MJF

This was a strong start to the show. Your biggest babyface and biggest heel going at it on the mic and telling a great story. Oftentimes, one wrestler has to be portrayed as dumb or weak in order for the other to get one up on them, but in this case both wrestlers were smart and attempted to use mind games to get what they wanted.

Both guys were truthful in what they were saying and Hangman showed growth in his character that he did not fall for MJF’s tactics and lose his temper. He was able to use what he has learned about MJF’s character that he will often get rattled and say something impulsive and that’s exactly what he did in goading Max into using his contract for Forbidden Door. (On a side note, I’m very glad both contracts were used to set up matches rather than the WWE-style “cash in.”)

It was also a good idea to bookend the show with this program as MJF likely spent two hours stewing in his locker room upset that Hangman turned the tables on him that he lost it and attacked him to end the show. This was well done all around.

MOX, KNIGHT, DARBY, OSPREAY AND THE REST

This was another week where Jon Moxley gave a lot to his opponent and this should only help Kevin Knight, like it did “Speedball” Mike Bailey last week, feel stronger in the eyes of the fans.

It was a tough sell to get a big reaction for Darby Allin considering Moxley was in his hometown, but having him going after Wheeler Yuta was a good idea as it was clear the fans hated Yuta!

I didn’t expect Will Ospreay to return so soon, so it was a surprise and got a great reaction. I’ll get to the accelerated booking of the cage match below, but this certainly adds another big-time match to the card next week as it seems Tony Khan wants to reward London for fantastic ticket sales so far for Forbidden Door.

COPELAND (AND CHRISTIAN)

The match with Stokely Hathaway really worked for me. He was over-matched and it was treated that way. The crowd LOVED this. They were going nuts and it was smart to have Adam Copeland play to the crowd as it went along. I loved when he talked with the fans at ringside. You take a chance by doing that, but it paid off here. The “fight forever” chant got me good as did the commentators coming up with other definitions for “hoes.” This is a good use of Copeland.

Now to the Christian part. I thought this segment worked perfectly. (The later announcement I had a problem with, which is explained below.) Christian coming out to help Cope under the guise of him returning the “Spike” weapon was not lost on me. It was very smart not to have Christian all of a sudden be bought in, but it is completely in Cope’s character to initiate the reconciliation with a hug. I loved the fact that Christian did not smile at all and then left.

QUICK HITS

– Taz line of the week: “Shades of Dino Bravo” during Queen Aminata’s “chocolate kisses.”

– The women’s tag match was up and down. The Alex Windsor push continues and I continue to like the chemistry with Toni Storm. Skye Blue is becoming a very good seller who is making her opponents look great with the way she takes big moves. The Queen is still a work in progress. Her presentation is strong and the moveset is coming along, but too often many moves lack impact and come off looking weak. It was nice seeing the top four women showcased at the end setting up a tag team match for Dynamite next week.

– I enjoyed the followup this week with the Young Bucks. It was not as over-the-top as last week, but got the same message across. Poor Justin Roberts. Tough way to get the last third of the show off!

– It is a good choice to have Takahashi as the opponent for Kyle Fletcher at Forbidden Door. He’s a veteran who still looks strong in the ring and will be a nice win for Fletcher to have in his pocket as he builds his TNT Champion character.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: CLICK HERE (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)

MISSES

RUSHED ANNOUNCEMENTS

I was ready to have a column with no “misses,” but, alas, I was floored when Tony Schiavone just laid out these two huge matches on a graphic just before the main event.

First, the cage match. There was follow up with Ospreay earlier in the show with him hinting he’s not completely healthy and that he was going to have Hiroshi Tanahashi as a part of this match along with a couple others. There was a lot of story here that seemed to be skipped over. Why not shave a minute off of the earlier matches giving you a couple more backstage segments where Ospreay is on the phone and gets a verbal acceptance from Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi? The Mox and Young Bucks meeting could have been earlier right after the Bucks match and then have a follow up where you overhear them discussing the other guys?

Then, they should have had Tony Schiavone clearly explain that both Ospreay and Mox went to Tony Khan with their names for the teams and here we go! It also could have been finalized next week, but I assume there is a reason they wanted to get this match on the books this week. Perhaps ticket sales?! They are already doing a great gate in London, but this could push it further.

Now to Christian/Cope. They had set this up as perfectly as they could have considering the amount of time they had to turn Christian was not ideal. This needed to have one more week of Christian thinking things over and agreeing to tag with Copeland.

It should have been Copeland’s idea and there could have been a backstage segment where he presents it to Christian. Or you could have explained that Tony Khan is a huge wrestling nerd and wanted the reunion for this show and kind of forced it to happen before they were ready. Either of those options or another one would have been better than just announcing these on a graphic.

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 and one major discussion this week will be the WWE continuing to counter-program AEW PPV’s. Search “pwtorch” on your podcast app to subscribe. Send questions and comments to allelitecc@gmail.com.