This was a messy show, but one which did offer positives in and out of the ring. I enjoyed the build for Mina/Toni, the in-ring action was solid, though no match went beyond 4 stars which limits the rating. The crowd did what it needed to but nothing more, occasionally not giving the desired reaction (Ishii got absolutely no reaction whatsoever). There was some poor segments, particularly The Learning Tree and some underwhelming inclusion of ageing New Japan Stars, and the lame DQ finish really undercut an excellent 6 man tag. Not a terrible show, and one with positives, but mostly just functional advancement of varying quality, and an underwhelming go home show.
Tonight on AEW Dynamite, Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay team together against The Gates Of Agony ahead of their Forbidden Door clash. The same is also happening on the Women’s front, as Mariah May, Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa take on Saraya, Harley Cameron and Anna Jay. Elsewhere on the card, Jay White takes on Rey Fénix in the Owen Hart Cup Quarter Final and Zac Sabre JR battles Kyle O’Reilly. Let’s get at it!
GOOD MJF/Garcia Promo
A lot of subtlety here surrounding MJF’s ego. It was quite long winded at the start with MJF and Garcia stroking each other’s ego for what felt like 5 years, but once Ospreay came out I understood why this promo existed. It is ultimately sowing the seed for MJF’s primary conflict, which is what happens when MJF no longer has the power, and newer shinier toys take the spotlight. I am legitimately curious to see where this promo takes MJF, but I do wish it was cut in half as it was really dry to sit through until Ospreay came out
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 3 Stars
Swerve accuses Ospreay of putting the cart before the horse. Which is entirely fair.
GREAT BCC vs Takagi, Takahashi and Titan
This was a very good match and was on course to be higher until the lamest of lame DQ finishes. Takahashi and Yuta had amazing chemistry, as did Titan and Claudio, but that didn’t amount to what it could’ve because of the DQ which was incredibly frustrating. The post match also felt odd with Naito taking 3-5 business days to get in the ring, but it builds fine to Forbidden Door
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 3.5 Stars
GREAT Jay White vs Rey Fénix
This was great fun and expectedly energetic between two great talents. All the lackeys were immediately ejected allowing these two to focus solely on their technique which they did very well. Some great Blade Runner counters to boot, and a fascinating post-match tease for The BBG and The Patriarchy. I could see this perhaps as a long term alliance over a feud?
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.75 Stars
The Bucks chastise The Acclaimed for cheating during their match and say that their hand picked Wild Card will win the Owen. Plays more into my prediction of it being Hangman though how they narratively justify it will be fascinating.
ABOVE AVERAGE The Acclaimed Promo
This was a well delivered promo from Bowens and Caster so rating wise it gets a okay score, but I’ll admit the whole thing left me cold. Much of the reason for that is the rushed and botched inclusion of Tanahashi. There could’ve been such a cool story here about the power dynamic between the EVP and President roles, two wrestlers also taking charge of companies but on two different sides. This really didn’t need The Acclaimed at its centre, and certainly needed more than a week’s build, rather than a shambled together ‘remember me and Okada’ package. That really disappointed me honestly.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 2.75 Stars
More fun ranting from Mark Briscoe, but this could quickly see diminishing returns if too overused so care is needed.
GOOD Toni Storm, Mariah May and Mina Shirakawa vs Saraya, Harley Cameron and Anna Jay
In truth this didn’t really have much to do much in ring wise, and at 7 minutes wasn’t much, but it did just about what it needed to to entertain. The faces were all great value and the heels worked functionally well. Not much to the match then, but the story, both before, during and after the match was terrific. From a purely story perspective, this is the best built match going into Forbidden Door.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
Mone and Vaquer have another solid package before Mone cuts a short backstage promo essentially promising a face to face after Vaquer’s match on Collision. I’ll be curious to see what that entails.
AVERAGE The Learning Tree Promo
This was a snooze of a segment to set up a match I really don’t want to see between Suzuki and Jericho. Suzuki is my favourite Japanese wrestler of all time, and so perhaps if this is on TV I might be interested. If they decide to put it on the PPV though I will be really annoyed as two more older guys is not what this card needs. Shibata’s insert was the funniest thing in the segment, everything else was painfully awkward and quite boring to sit through.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 2.25 Stars
AMAZING Kyle O’Reilly vs Zac Sabre JR
I mean it’s Sabré and O’Reilly, what more do you expect. While I could’ve had this go half an hour, they made the most of their 10 or so minutes with some truly impressive submission and technical work, with the energy of Gabe Kidd at ringside providing some great youthful exuberance. Where he’s been through the Forbidden Door build I will never know. The post match is a melee of people who I’m sure will have something to do on TV and the buy in.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4 Stars
GREAT Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland vs Gates Of Agony
This, like the women’s match earlier, did the ‘can they coexist’ storyline well enough, and the teams had good chemistry, but it really was a greatest hits parade for the two men. Ospreay, Swerve and even GoA are so good that that can still be great fun, but it was nothing spectacular. Vicious finish, but not much more beyond that besides exactly what you expect
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
Overall…
This was a messy show, but one which did offer positives in and out of the ring. I enjoyed the build for Mina/Toni, the in-ring action was solid, though no match went beyond 4 stars which limits the rating. The crowd did what it needed to but nothing more, occasionally not giving the desired reaction (Ishii got absolutely no reaction whatsoever). There was some poor segments, particularly The Learning Tree and some underwhelming inclusion of ageing New Japan Stars, and the lame DQ finish really undercut an excellent 6 man tag. Not a terrible show, and one with positives, but mostly just functional advancement of varying quality, and an underwhelming go home show.
Matches: 0.5/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.5/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.5/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.5/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 2.75/5 Stars
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling – June 26th 2024
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here :
