This episode of AEW Dynamite perfectly exemplified the pros and cons of counterprogramming. On the plus side, stacking the card to compete with NXT meant we got to see Danielson vs Swerve and Hangman vs Jay White, which were both absolutely glorious PPV level matches. On the other hand, we also got madcap, frenetic booking in places, hotshotting storylines and title changes before the story demanded it for the sake of it feeling must watch, which ended up undermining both Cassidy’s regaining of the International Title and Shida picking up her 3rd Women's Championship. This was a common symptom of car crash booking at its worst during the Monday Night Wars, and it reared its head again here. It is those baffling storyline choices that really hold this show down from being as terrific as its card suggested, not helped by an extremely boring Hobbs vs Jericho match, and some quite bad pacing in the middle of the show. The show had a lot of good things, and at times some really outstanding things, but, as is often the case with this type of booking, the show was, at times, a bit of a mess.
Tonight on AEW Dynamite, AEW looks to win the one night only Tuesday night war with a stacked card. Bryan Danielson faces Swerve Strickland for the number one contendership for the TNT Title on the line. Saraya puts her Womens Championship on the line against Hikaru Shida and Adam Copeland makes his AEW debut. All this and more on AEW Dynamite. We love wrestling, lets get at it!
On the buy in, Eddie Kingston defeated Minoru Suzuki. We don’t rate buy in matches for PPV’s so I will apply the same logic to TV as well, but there were plenty of slaps and I loved it.
MUST WATCH Bryan Danielson vs Swerve Strickland- Watch Match Here
This was an unbelievably good wrestling match, that is obvious to everyone with eyes. Magnificent match with some great back and forth sequences and a tremendous energy. Excellent psychology also really helps the match. The only thing keeping it from 5 stars is the lack of story to sink your teeth into, as for a match with this little build, in order to get the perfect score you need to tell an exceptional story in the ring. They tell a good story, but the focus of the match is the excellent wrestling, and so the story takes a back seat. Will still go down as one of AEW’s best matches this year however.
Result: Bryan Danielson by Pinfall via Running Knee
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 4.75 Stars
AVERAGE Chris Jericho vs Powerhouse Hobbs
I’m quite confused why this was the other match used while AEW had commercial-free broadcasting. More of an angle than a match where Hobbs destroyed Jericho for 7 minutes with brief comeback flurries from Jericho. This told a good story but was really quite boring to watch. It did reestablish Hobbs as a monster though, sadly just deeply pedestrian to watch. If you want to keep a captive audience this is not the way to do it.
Result: Powerhouse Hobbs by Pinfall via World’s Strongest Slam
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 2.75 Stars
Adam Cole cuts Roddy’s grass. Pretty good segment but really just gets us from last week to next week, and wasn’t as funny as last weeks.
SQUASH Rey Fenix vs Orange Cassidy- AEW International Championship
Right, so, I love Cassidy and I love he’s a champion. But there was a long term story here that feels like it’s been thrown in the bin for a quick pop. Clearly this wasn’t the plan if Moxley only got pulled because of injury, so why rush the title back to Cassidy in 4 minutes. The 4 minutes we got were incredible, it was a fantastic sprint match, but as Cassidy’s biggest fan I felt deflated by the end because it felt like story potential gone to waste.
Result: Orange Cassidy by Pinfall via Mousetrap
Too Short To Rate
Toni Storm presents a short film in which she has a mental breakdown trying to act as a one act mime. I’d hoped for something a little more imaginative and cinematic, but it was still pretty funny.
SQUASH Wardlow vs Matt Sydal
Poor Matt Sydal
Result: Wardlow by Stoppage via Powerbombs
Matt Menard stops Daniel Garcia checking on Jericho, this segment can’t have lasted more than 10 seconds. We are in an overly frenetic section of the show.
MUST WATCH Jay White vs Hangman Page
Another outstanding match here which once again shows the unbelievable chemistry White and Page have together. Fantastic story around the Buckshot and the ever irritable BCG being always glorious. Brilliant psychology from Hangman as well. Two things that drop the rating unfortunately are some dead spots from the crowd, and another frustrating roll-up ending. IIf Jay had hit the Blade Runner to win off the distraction it would’ve been perfect irony for the distraction earlier, but I’m just sick of roll up finishes on AEW tv, because I feel like it’s just a get out of jail free card for Tony right now to protect people.
Result: Jay White by Pinfall via Roll-Up
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.5 Stars
MJF/BCG Promo
(Due to controversy surrounding comments made within this promo, Wrestling Republic have made the decision not to rate the segment until we know more information about the context behind the comments made)
We get the second part of Toni Storm’s film. I’ll be damned if I have any idea what the point of it was but it was humorous.
GREAT Saraya vs Hikaru Shida
I mean the match itself was pretty good, mostly just big moves but I did enjoy it quite a bit. With that said, not only do we have yet another roll-up finish, but it demonstrates a real hollowness in the women’s division. The title is being thrown around with such little care, and it is paramount that they absolutely have to build more characters than just Toni Storm, because as good she is, you have to do more.
Result: Saraya by Pinfall via Roll-Up
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
Nice little backstage bit with MJF and The Acclaimed.
AMAZING Christian Cage Promo
This was hilarious. Cage just goes on a roast, from the local sports team to the Judgement Day to wanting to become the dad to Copeland’s girls. I just think Cage is amazing.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.25 Stars
GREAT Adam Copeland vs Luchasaurus
The first half of this was very slow and pedestrian but once the Copeland comeback came things got a lot better and I ended up having a lot of fun with it by the end. Standard but good story told nicely in the end. Also the ending chaos was pretty good fun.
Result: Adam Copeland by Pinfall via Spear
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
Overall…
This episode of AEW Dynamite perfectly exemplified the pros and cons of counterprogramming. On the plus side, stacking the card to compete with NXT meant we got to see Danielson vs Swerve and Hangman vs Jay White, which were both absolutely glorious PPV level matches. On the other hand, we also got madcap, frenetic booking in places, hotshotting storylines and title changes before the story demanded it for the sake of it feeling must watch, which ended up undermining both Cassidy’s regaining of the International Title and Shida picking up her 3rd Women’s Championship. This was a common symptom of car crash booking at its worst during the Monday Night Wars, and it reared its head again here. It is those baffling storyline choices that really hold this show down from being as terrific as its card suggested, not helped by an extremely boring Hobbs vs Jericho match, and some quite bad pacing in the middle of the show. The show had a lot of good things, and at times some really outstanding things, but, as is often the case with this type of booking, the show was, at times, a bit of a mess.
Matches: 0.75/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.5/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.75/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.5/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 3.25/5 Stars
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling – October 10th 2023
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here:
