SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…
AEW is going from a packed house of wonderful, engaged fans in London to one of the most iconic venues for wrestling fans in Philadelphia for this week’s Dynamite. There are a lot of questions surrounding the future of the company after it looks like they are losing two of their top babyfaces in Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland for the foreseeable future. Let’s see if they are able to start this new era strong as we begin the build for All Out.
HITS
EXPLOSIVE START
It’s amazing that you can go from nearly 20,000 fans on Sunday to just about 1,000 in the Philly venue and still get chills from the emotion emanating from the crowd. After a cookie-cutter heel intimidation segment from FTR, the place went nuts seeing Adam Copeland and Christian come out.
This was a very effective segment in setting up the expected match at All Out. Christian remained the A-hole character, which plays perfect, especially in that venue. With the loss of the two big stars mentioned above, having a red hot program is important and the wrestlers involved and the crowd made sure this one got off to a great start.
HANGMAN’S ADDRESS/CALLIS INTERRUPTION/KENNY REUNION
It was very cool for Hangman to come out and talk about Will Ospreay and show him the respect he deserves for what he has done for AEW and you could tell he was speaking from the heart. That is one thing that Hangman has developed over the years is the ability to speak with meaning and emotion to the live crowd.
Having Don Callis initiate the next feud for Hangman is good. Having the bottom tier of his “Family” come out was not as imposing as it could have been if we’d have seen Okada, Fletcher or Takeshita.
What WAS cool was having Kenny Omega come out to help the champ and the former tag champs had a nice moment in the middle of the ring. It’s great to see Omega sticking around as he’s an important piece to add to the top of the card with the injured guys gone for a while.
DARBY IS A MADMAN
While watching Darby Allin’s falls count anywhere match with Claudio, I could not help but think back to the beginning of AEW when I saw Darby for the first time. I thought he was going to be a lower card guy with potential to perhaps make it to the midcard as a fan favorite that helps put over his opponents. What a 6 years it’s been for him.
First, he’s a crazy person. We know that. However it’s not like he’s a stunt man who just does crazy bumps. He is a lovable underdog who has the resilience to win big matches and he does so week after week. I can now see him winning a world title someday even though he’s said he does not need it. The match with Claudio was a mix of crazy bumps and solid storytelling proving that Darby is so tough, he keeps coming back for more. And the crowd loves him for it.
He is certainly a guy who can help make up for the losses of the top babyfaces. He is a complete character and one that rallies the fans behind him.
QUICK HITS
– I loved the video package from Darby in the first segment of the show. Writing “All Out” in blood certainly got my attention and it was a quick, and easy to follow, declaration of his intentions.
– I’m intrigued with the Moxley-Daniel Garcia interaction. Garcia can certainly use a refresh and joining up with the Death Riders can be something worth investing in.
– I was very impressed with the intensity from MJF in his post-Forbidden Door match backstage promo. We know that match is going to be big and it’s likely going to have an intriguing stipulation.
– The women’s tag match with Kris Statlander and Harley Cameron was a lot of fun. The crowd was really behind Stat which makes me hope that they can pick a direction and end the ridiculous back and forth aspect of her character. For months, I haven’t been able to tell whether we should be cheering or booing Stat. Hopefully this was the beginning of making it clear she’s a babyface and we can move on from there.
– Mark Briscoe’s video once again showed how much of a fan favorite he is and how he can be one of the guys who can help overcome the losses of Ospreay and Swerve. However, it’s important that he gets some big wins, so while challenging Kyle Fletcher promises us a great match to look forward to, it’s likely going to be another loss for him. I am hoping Tony Khan can get behind him and give him some big victories as we move forward, but I fear he is stuck in the spot he’s currently in for a while longer.
– The eight-man tag was a crazy good time It showcased the immense athleticism of what AEW has to offer and the crowd was eating it up. It also initiated the Takeshita babyface turn that is expected with the issues between him and Okada. If they tell this story well, it has a chance to be the most anticipated match of the fall.
– I’m not sure what to think about MVP’s involvement in the trios title match. The match was a hard-hitting blast to watch and I understand the storyline reasons for him getting involved; however, the backstage reports of the Hurt Syndicate not wanting to “do business” puts a sour taste in my mouth. We also still have no idea if we should be cheering or booing the Syndicate.
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
LACK OF PROMOTION STRIKES AGAIN
The inconsistency of match promotions is back. It took 80 minutes for the broadcast to mention that “Hangman Page” would be addressing the crowd. That is something that should have been teased throughout the night. Oh, and there’s a trios title match? That would have been nice to know earlier and perhaps add a backstage promo to get fans excited for it.
The better episodes of Dynamite have the announcers give you a rundown of the matches on the show within the first 10 minutes. Some of these promotable matches just come out of nowhere and they’d have better audience retention of casual viewers if they give them something to look forward to. Seeing the World Champion and a fan favorite like Samoa Joe is something that should be mentioned early and often.
As far as reset-shows go, this was a solid episode of Dynamite.
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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