This was a good episode of Dynamite with some great matches and a well built Swerve/Ospreay matchup. The main event and 6 man tag were the high points, as were the Owen Hart Cup announcements and MJF/Rush brawl. Less good was the abundance of squash matches, namely Garcia/Comoroto, and Jericho’s Learning Tree segment. A lot of the storytelling was solid but unremarkable, and the show could’ve used a really killer angle, which even the good opening segment couldn’t quite provide. This was a very entertaining episode of weekly TV, but was let down in key areas that makes it harder to rate the show higher.
Tonight on AEW Dynamite, Will Ospreay defends the AEW International Championship against Rey Fenix. Jack Perry also looks to add his name to the TNT Title Ladder Match at Forbidden Door as he takes on ‘The Natural’ Dustin Rhodes. Elsewhere on the card, Mercedes Mone defends the TBS Title against Zeuxis, The Learning Tree welcomes Private Party to ‘TV Time’ and Rush will be in action. Let’s get at it!
GREAT Swerve Strickland Promo
A very solid opening promo here from Swerve, who was terrific in this segment. I enjoyed his comments on Ospreay here, continuing the story of Ospreay’s lack of killer instinct. The Elite came out to promote Blood and Guts which I wasn’t a huge fan of as it felt out of character for The Bucks to put themselves into that position, though Swerve rejecting them and throwing the shoes into the crowd was entertaining. I preferred the first half of the segment to the second half, but it still delivered what it needed to.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 3.5 Stars
GOOD Dustin Rhodes vs Jack Perry
This match had its dull patches and it is clear Dustin is slowing down a tad but by the end this developed a good story of the young veteran dismantling the old rookie. The use of blood was effective and well integrated and the end felt like a passing of the torch. The crowd took a while to warm to it, but once they did it came together more effectively.
Result: Jack Perry by Pinfall via Knee Trembler
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 3.25 Stars
SQUASH Rush vs Deon Rusmann
Short and Brutal, this was exactly what you expect from a Rush squash. More interesting was the post match brawl which was very entertaining. Going all around the arena, this was the set up for next week’s match, and while a standard brawl, the physical charisma of the two men made for a very entertaining segment.
AMAZING Orange Cassidy, Mark Briscoe and Kyle O’Reilly vs Roderick Strong, Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita
If you look at the 6 names in this match, it is no surprise that it was tremendously exciting. All 6 guys had great chemistry, and while story was a little lacking here outside of the usual Trent/Orange dynamic, this was just a melee of moves that really got this crowd on side. Mark Briscoe was the MVP for me, cementing how exciting his offence can be. Good win for Kyle Fletcher also, which I assume will put him in contention for that ladder match, or another FD matchup.
Result- Kyle Fletcher by Pinfall via Piledriver
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4 Stars
Shingo Takagi is in the Owen Hart Cup. This is unbelievably fantastic news.
Eliminator matches are announced for The Bucks and Okada next week. Will be great to see them wrestle and eliminator matches just about make sense.
SQUASH Premier Athletes vs Samoa Joe and Hook
This was a terrifically entertaining squash, as Joe and Hook’s usually are. The athletes were good foils, as was Mark Sterling who should be on TV far more. A lot of fun.
Result: Hook by Submission via RedRum
GREAT Mercedes Mone vs Zeuxis
A very technically sound match from these two as expected. Zeuxis is a very clean wrestler and worked well with Mone. I am less familiar with Zeuxis than I am Vaquer, but she gave a very good account of herself. This didn’t quite hit the top tier for me as it didn’t have spectacular offence or a hugely engaging story, it just did all its fundamentals very well and did invest me throughout.
Result: Mercedes Mone by Pinfall via Mone Maker
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.75 Stars
Toni Storm and Mariah May discuss a contract signing for next week. Tensions will continue to rise I’m sure.
AVERAGE The Learning Tree Promo
Chris Jericho seems to be alternating right now between the best and worst parts of Dynamite. This week was unfortunately closer to the latter, but it still did it’s job okay. This was a simple set up and punchline of Private Party convincing Jericho to walk himself into an obvious trap. It was a little amusing, but nowhere near to the standard of other things he’s done in the previous weeks. Bryan Keith was the highlight of this segment.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 2.5 Stars
SQUASH Daniel Garcia vs Nick Comoroto
One squash too many, this didn’t really need to be on the show. It was here to advertise potential Garcia matches with Ospreay and MJF, but Collision could’ve done this equally as well without this honestly pointless squash of a talented Comoroto.
Result: Hook by Submission via RedRum
PAC is in the Owen Hart Cup, which is a huge spanner into the tournament as he was a potential winner I’d never considered but certainly is capable of winning and going home to England for the biggest match of his career
AMAZING Will Ospreay vs Rey Fenix
The level of athleticism between these two men is absolutely unreal, and some of their moves defy gravity. Some people will hate this match, but I loved the athletic display of brilliance. I loved more the finish into the post match, with Ospreay hitting a Swerve Stomp and then stealing Swerve’s title to get a taste of the gold. Swerve/Ospreay was the best built story on this show.
Result: Will Ospreay by Pinfall via Hidden Blade
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.25 Stars
Overall…
This was a good episode of Dynamite with some great matches and a well built Swerve/Ospreay matchup. The main event and 6 man tag were the high points, as were the Owen Hart Cup announcements and MJF/Rush brawl. Less good was the abundance of squash matches, namely Garcia/Comoroto, and Jericho’s Learning Tree segment. A lot of the storytelling was solid but unremarkable, and the show could’ve used a really killer angle, which even the good opening segment couldn’t quite provide. This was a very entertaining episode of weekly TV, but was let down in key areas that makes it harder to rate the show higher.
Matches: 0.5/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.75/1 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 – June 12th 2024
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here :
