AEW Dynamite returns with a new look just after New Japan holds their annual Tokyo Dome Wrestle Kingdom show, which featured the long-awaited debut of Mercedes Mone – the former Sasha Banks – who challenged reigning women’s champion KAIRI to a match for the title by laying her out. Oh goodie, a Sasha Banks vs. Kairi Sane WWE-style match. That’s going to get me excited to watch New Japan.
In all seriousness, though, I wish her nothing but the best in her current endeavors, whatever they may be. Said current endeavors probably doesn’t include AEW, where she had been teased (and hyoed by fans) as Saraya’s mystery partner in her upcoming match against Dr. Britt and Jamie Hayter. And then we found out that said partner would Toni Storm, which Saraya announces while also sitting next to former women’s champion Hikaru Shida, who seemed somewhat miffed at this rejection.
I’m watching this scene and two thoughts come to mind; first off, those Sasha Stans are going to be pissed. And you know what? Fuck them. The other thought is that this blatant disregard for Shida on Saraya’s part leads me to believe that there is a possible heel turn in her future. Let me tell you folks something; Shida was the one being wronged here, so as far as I’m concerned, she’s the babyface.
Other than that, this was a pretty good Dynamite., which introduced a new look of having a bunch of screens show a bunch of lines in a bunch of colors. On the one hand, it looks fresh; AEW’s original set design was somewhat unique, but clearly something needed to change or at least be refreshed, especially if said set has been used for nearly every AEW show, including some of the PPVs. On the other hand, though, the new design being a bunch of screens reminds me of WWE’s own minimalistic set design, though nowhere near as massive. It’s something I’m going to eventually get used to, but it loses the uniqueness that AEW once had… which is something of a recurring ailment with the company in recent weeks.
Show opens with Ricky Starks defeating Chris Jericho in one hell of an opening match. Highlight was Jericho holding Starks in the walls and Starks doing whatever he can to reach the ropes, only to get clobbered with a bat by one of the Jericho Jabronies and all hope is lost… but Starks manages to recover and reverse the walls into a cradle for a two count. Honestly, I wish that had been the finish instead of the spear that came after, but whatever. This was a fun match, Ricky Starks is starting to find some momentum, and even Jericho was in top form, which
And then the Jericho Jabronies put Starks through a table… the plot thickens, I suppose.
Hangman Page comes out to cut a promo regarding his upcoming match with Mox; he’s upset because Mox treated Hangman’s head injury like a joke and then Mox showed to offer his rebuttal. Good back and forth exchange.
AEW Tag Team Champions The Acclaimed defeated Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal to retain the titles. Panic attacks were felt around the world when they teased Jarrett pinning one of the Acclaimed guys (Bowens) for the win, only for the decision to be reversed when it was pointed out that Bowens had his foot on the ropes before former TNA star Sonjay Dutt forced it off without the ref seeing it. It was a fun match, but I don’t think the world needs another Jeff Jarrett title run. Isn’t it bad enough he’s kept his TNA music? Do we really need his TNA booking as well?
Is Billy Corgan hiring? He might need a new top draw for the NWA now that Nick Aldis is gone. Might as well go with… never mind. Forget I said that.
Bryan Danielson beat some guy and then called out MJF. MJF challenges Bryan to retain an undefeated streak in order to get a title match at the upcoming Revolution PPV… oh yeah, we have one of those, don’t we? Bryan initially says no because we’ve seen this shit before, but decides to accept after goading “MaxiPad” (is that a thing now?) to accept Bryan’s challenge to make said match an hour-long Ironman match, which actually gets a round of applause. I would like to remind folks that the last time there was an ironman match on PPV, the people shat on it, didn’t care, did their own countdowns, booed when the clock went bye-bye, and then popped when the clock came back. And that match was only a half-hour Ironman match. Now, mind you, that was a WWE match and AEW’s audience generally has a greater appreciation for excellent professional wrestling, but an Ironman match where whoever scores the most falls within a time limit wins and thus people will only care within the last few minutes is a tall order, especially in this day and age. I wish them all the best, but my hopes are not high.
There’s a match with Jade and the Baddies that I skipped for a bathroom break and then I come back to see Darby Allin defeat Samoa Joe for the TNT title, who had defeated previous champ Wardlow last month for the title. A pity that Joe couldn’t keep the title as I dug his king of television gimmick, but Darby winning was a nice way to end the show and got a huge reaction, so clearly the right call there. Anyway, this was a fun main event.
I haven’t watched a whole lot of Dynamite lately – only bits and pieces here and there – and this is the first time I’ve sat down to watch an entire episode in a good long while. Maybe the show has gotten better or maybe it was the long break, but I really enjoyed this show and I’m looking forward to the next one. We’ll see if it merits a similar write-up, but so far 2023 is off to a good start for AEW.
dtm666 