It’s the Forbidden Door post-show edition of Dynamite and it also happens to be the first episode of Dynamite (or any semblance of AEW – TV or PPV) I’ve watched since May. And yes, we’re sticking with the TK Neckbrace banner for now… because it amuses me.
But did this show amuse me?
Well… kinda… sorta…
We have Owen Hart tournament matches on here, as Bryan Danielson defeated that “no good motherhuggin limp weinie bastard” PAC* to advance to the finals while we still have to quarters to fill the other semi. Jeff Jarrett, fresh off cutting an impassioned babyface promo about the importance of winning the Owen – damned fine promo and probably one of Jarrett’s best in years; give it a watch – ended up falling short to the returning Hangman Page, brought back by the Elite as their Wild Card, but wanting nothing to do with them because he’s focused on winning the Owen… since, you know, he wants a shot at the World title at All In. The title held by Swerve. Who beat Hangman thrice… and so we need another match between the two at Wembley because… eh?
On the one hand, I guess we gotta continue that story going forward and to be fair, I like that Hangman has gotten so unhinged that he’s only in this tournament to get his hands on Swerve. He didn’t come back and go back to his usual cowboy shittin’ ways. He’s got shit to take care of and he wants to get back at the bastard by any means necessary. I’d imagine he DOESN’T win the Owen and he ends up joining the Elite in that Blood & Guts match in a few weeks since I’d like to think that Swerve is going to throw his hat into that particular mix. I mean, no offense, but who the fuck wants to see Swerve defend his title against a guy who lost to him three times already? Why even go in that route?
Part of me does feel bad for Jarrett, though. After that promo he did, I almost wanted to root for him to win the whole thing in Owen’s name, but you sort of killed that momentum the instant it was announced that the Winners of the two tourneys will get title shots at All In… and I don’t think a World Title match in Wembley is in Jarrett’s future. A bit of a shame, really.
Speaking of the other tourney, Willow Nightingale defeated Kris Statlander in a pretty decent match to advance to the finals… so I guess that feud we’ve started back in Double Or Nothing (I’ve kept up as best as I could with reports) is over and done with. Nice knowing ya, Kris. Maybe go back to the alien colony you came from and rediscover your routes because this ain’t working for you, grand leader.
Dr. Britt Baker DMD returns to cut a promo, talking about injuries and mini-strokes before getting interrupted by reigning TBS champion Mercedes, who does her usual Mercedes gimmick before Britt challenges her to a match at All In. Mercedes, naturally, throws a fit because that’s a thing she does. Dr. Britt’s presence was greatly missed ’round these parts and I’m glad she’s back in the fold. Hopefully, she gets some meaningful stuff to do because she’s more than earned it. Also, happy to see Mercedes embrace her total divaness with this gimmick. Now people can boo her more openly.
Main event saw International Champion Will Ospreay – fresh off his loss to Swerve Strickland at last Sunday’s PPV, which I did not see, but heard good things about…mostly – defeated Daniel Garcia in another pretty fun match to retain the title… and then MJF, who has been coaching Garcia for some reason, gives him a bit of a pep talk before ol’ Max kicks Garcia in the balls. So yes, the great MJF babyface experiment is over; we’re going full-fledged into the heel portion of our HHH tribute act, where MJF presumably gets his own World title as well as minor creative control or something… wait, what was I talking about?
Yeah, so MJF going back to being a heel… when he and Adam Cole were doing the comedy bits and all that, I wasn’t a fan. I didn’t care for it. And the Devil story that came along later… the reveal was shit, but everyone got hurt, so it really didn’t matter until MJF’s return with the HHH gimmick denim. I’ve seen a couple clips of babyface MJF and while people were into it, none of it rang true. To me, MJF was at his best as a despicable heel; something that he was easily able to switch back on in the post match shenanigans. And no doubt, once Garcia returns, he has a built-in rivalry with MJF to look forward to. Whether that’s Wembley or not… I hope not. MJF needs a bigger match than that.
Oh, and Chris Jericho threw a fireball at Hook and poor Hook got carted off… he’ll be back in time for Fyter Fest in two weeks… is that still a thing?**
You know what? That was actually a pretty decent episode of Dynamite for the first time in what seems like forever. Either they upped their game somewhat or maybe the time away allowed the minor gripes I had to sort of fade away into nothingness in the interim. I don’t know for sure. All I know is that for once in 2024, I actually enjoyed an episode of Dynamite and am anxiously looking forward to next week’s edition, which is where the Owen finals are taking place since it’s in Calgary.
I’d imagine Bret won’t be in town… either that or he’s doing another interview badmouthing Bill Goldberg again. We’ll see…
*I do not have the heart to capitalize every single word, so quotes are all you’re getting.
**I didn’t mention the six-man tag because I’m skipping anything involving Jericho’s current gimmick, which I don’t care for because I think it’s stupid. When he decides to undergo another gimmick reboot, maybe I’ll let ‘im back in the fold, but until then… nope.
dtm666 