Three weeks into this journey and I have not been disappointed yet. I am writing my reactions this week as I watch. So what you will read are my reactions as things happen. I love that AEW is 2-0 in the ratings on Wednesday Nights thus far. I hope they keep it going. I am glad that I can look forward to watching wrestling again.
AEW is so clean and well produced. It’s back to the roots of what I love about wrestling. Good matches, unpredictability and great story telling. Here we go…
Tag Team Championship Tournament (First Round) – SCU def. Best Friends
It is official, this match proved to me that AEW’s tag team division is exactly what the Cruiserweight Division was for WCW. Every match of the tournament thus far has been electrifying. SCU was attacked by the Lucha Bros during their entrance leaving Scorpio Sky to compete after the injury. On top of that, he competed in skinny jeans and no shoes. The crowd ate it up. After Sky’s promo on a previous show and seeing him in ring, I like him and I am excited to see more of him. Another high flying and exciting match to kick off Dynamite.
Grade: B+
Santana and Ortiz Squash Match / Jericho Promo
Santana and Ortiz of Inner Circle squashed some random dudes. They’re finishing move is absolutely nasty. They are total psychos. After the match, Jericho once again put his guys over popping up on the jumbotron to hype their match with The Young Bucks at Full Gear. I am pretty hyped for that.
Grade: C (I can’t give a higher grade for a squash match)
Cody Rhodes Pre-Made Promo
I love that AEW is doing pre-made promos to hype their matches. The entire promo was everyone talking about how he is building his legacy through AEW. His wife talks about how he needs to beat Jericho at Full Gear to cement his legacy. I am such a huge mark for Cody for creating this new promotion. I love that they are using real life to tell their story too. It gives it that very real feeling. It breaks Kayfabe in a great way.
Grade: A+
Riho def. Britt Baker (Retains AEW Women’s Championship Match)
After being unimpressed last week by the women, they delivered this week. The match started slow with a few botched moves, but boy did it pick up! It was filled with some great near falls and ended with Britt Baker dominating Riho only to get too focused on applying her finishing move, lockjaw. That set up a stolen victory on a roll up for Riho. One of the things I enjoyed was Riho overselling Baker’s strikes. Not to the point of pure laughter, but just slowly falling to the canvas.
Grade: B+
Tag Team Championship Tournament (First Round) – Lucha Brothers def. Jurassic Express
Hoooooly Shit. Scrape everything I thought about the tag team division before. Magnify it by a million. I was pumped to see Jungle Boy in action for the first time. I loved him. But damn, the Lucha Brothers are absolutely insane. They are ruthless heels. Impactful strikes, high stakes moves and just nasty. This was easily the best tag match of the tourney thus far.
Grade: A
Kenny Omega & Adam “Hangman” Page def. PAC & Jon Moxley
Before the match even began, there was a stare off in the ring between the teams. Happy Birthday chants erupted for Kenny Omega. Fucking awesome. They are doing some great building with these two rivalries and what we can expect with Jon Moxley. Omega and Moxley were obviously the centerpieces of this match. They once again teased us with a standoff of barbed wire foreign objects. That was before PAC threw the weapons out and told Moxley use his head. Moxley went full heel, gave him the two middle finger salute, hit him with the Paradigm Shift and walked his happy ass away. Page and Omega capitalized and finished him off.
Grade: A+
Darby Allin v Chris Jericho (AEW Championship Match) Street Fight
Jericho heads into this match 4-0 in AEW. He meets Darby Allin who was rocking his half body paint with champ written all over him. That was pretty dope. I love Darby Allin’s look, song and gimmick. The guy rides a freaking skateboard down the ramp. But, he’s also facing Chris Jericho. He just continues to make a case for my favorite wrestler ever. He runs matches and when he wins, he has such a great ability to put others over in victory. He did so tonight being a total heel and taping Allin’s hands behind his back. That led to an amazing offensive output by Allin using his body as a weapon using the ropes and turnbuckles to spring himself into Jericho. The match ends with interference from Jake Hager leading to Jericho locking the Walls in for a submission. Inner Circle celebrates with A LITTLE BIT OF THE BUBBLY!
Grade: A-
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