This episode of AEW Dynamite had some excellent segments and matches and often entertained, but did suffer from portions of bad pacing and inept character motivations. Kyle Fletcher stole the show with his terrific promo, as did excellent character work from The BCC, Orange Cassidy and Kip Sabian particularly. The wrestling was mostly strong with the highlight, wrong winner aside, being Jericho and Briscoe’s excellent ladder war. The problems though were equal, with the confusing logic of Cole and The Kingdom, two squashes frustrating the pacing and an overabundance of heel factions getting lost in the shuffle. Plenty of good decisions mixed with plenty of poor ones, but an entertaining 2 hours overall and at it’s best some quite excellent storytelling and progression.
Tonight on AEW Dynamite, Chris Jericho gets his second attempt at Mark Briscoe’s ROH World Championship in a ladder war. Private Party and Daniel Garcia also team up to take on The Elite, while Kamille battles Queen Aminata. Lets get at it!
Another Moxley promo/recap to start the show, with the addition of a cast of wrestlers stood outside guarding Dynamite from Moxley and his gang. Fun opening start.
GREAT Hangman Page/Jay White
Some strong fire here from Jay White as he emphasises the continuity of his feud with Hangman. Hangman’s delivery was strong but brief, and I enjoyed the short brawl. This wasn’t a blow away opening angle, but keeps this feud on the boil.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 3.5 Stars
GREAT Shelton Benjamin vs Sammy Guevara
After an incredible showing last week, Shelton shines once again in another very strong match against Sammy Guevara. The most memorable moment of this match will be the allusion to Shelton’s famous superkick spot from 20 years ago, though no one could do it as cleanly as Shelton himself. Not always the cleanest, but still maintained the same intensity as last weeks match for another strong encounter.
Result: Shelton Benjamin by Pinfall via T-Bone Suplex
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.75 Stars
Mariah May threw out Anna Jay’s luggage from the locker room and engaged in another brawl. This was a pretty poor continuation of the story.
MUST WATCH Kyle Fletcher Promo
This was the breakout moment for Fletcher as a singles star and a superb segment. Fletcher acted this brilliantly, beginning with a confident arrogance before exploding into total mania. Fletcher losing his mind in an attempt to escape the shadow of Ospreay is a brilliant storyline wrinkle and I think this has incredible potential. A very strong piece of writing and acting from Fletcher.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.5 Stars
Ricochet cut a pretty stilted promo backstage on Takeshita, though was cut off by MVP who handed him a business card. The list of potential clients keep growing.
SQUASH Lance Archer and Brian Cage vs Local Competitors
Of the two squash matches, I enjoyed this one more, as seeing two big locals get quickly destroyed by even bigger men. Not much to say, but I enjoyed it for the minute or two it went
Result: Archer and Cage by Pinfall
AMAZING Chris Jericho vs Mark Briscoe- Ladder War
This was complete and utter carnage; and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Tables and Ladders aplenty (though the tables do slightly undercut the idea of ‘ladder war’) and loads of creative spots. One-Upmanship seemed the name of the game as the two took bigger and bigger spills, and I was thoroughly entertained with the chaos. I did however, groan to no end at the finish, as there is no reason for Jericho to have that title, and no need for Briscoe to lose it at this moment in time. It was almost a turn off the channel moment as it just felt so frustrating. But I suppose its now just a case of seeing where we go from here. I won’t let that undercut the rating though of a really enjoyable matchup
Result: Chris Jericho by Retrieval
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.25 Stars
GOOD Adam Cole/Roderick Strong Promo
In the continuing evolving fawcets of this story, Cole now suddenly wants the UK’s backup after disowning them last week. This was, like last week, very well delivered but scatterbrained, and shows this is being hobbled together with tape and string. MJF gave Roddy and Adam an ultimatum, the first to 3 wins gets MJF first. That is a good story but it comes in a package that is confusing and thoughtless beyond repair
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
Jamie Hayter vs Penelope Ford is set up for 2 weeks time. This feud needs a bit more juice to it I think.
SQUASH House Of Black vs Local Competitors
Another quick and less necessary squash match for the sole purpose of setting up Cole vs Matthews next week, which could’ve been done without the squash. The second squash did seem formulaic and unnecessary, as well as not being very exciting
Result: House Of Black by Pinfall
GREAT Queen Aminata vs Kamille
This was a solid match between Kamille and Aminata, with the through line of Aminata refusing to give up, which did lead to some fun near falls. This was done to make Kamille seem a bigger monster to be slayed by Statlander, but the shine here was on Aminata, who continues to prove her great talent.
Result: Kamille by Pinfall
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
Kip Sabian revealed his true colours next, turning on Hook after he attempted to come after the Patriarchy. I think this has been a well done character switch over several weeks for Sabian, and I hope they keep this cowardly persona as it suits well.
GREAT The Young Bucks and Jack Perry vs Private Party and Daniel Garcia
This was a very entertaining main event, but came unstuck in the inability of me to fully invest, not really at the fault of anyone involved. This is a story built over several weeks and with good stakes, increasing this week with Private Party offering one more shot at The Bucks with their team status on the line. Yet it is very hard to fully invest in this match with the far more interesting story lurking in the background. Spending the whole match not that interested in The Elite and more in the presence of the BCC did sadly quite hurt it, despite there being some good sequences and a fun surprise winner. More a setup for what comes next, but a good match on its own merits.
Result: Private Party by Pinfall via Roll-Up
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
The highlight came in the show’s final segment though, with the BCC appearing in a good misdirect to take out Garcia, Private Party and then Chuck Taylor. Orange Cassidy came to the rescue but was too late, leading to some incredible facial acting from Cassidy. A really great segment to close the show.
Overall…
This episode of AEW Dynamite had some excellent segments and matches and often entertained, but did suffer from portions of bad pacing and inept character motivations. Kyle Fletcher stole the show with his terrific promo, as did excellent character work from The BCC, Orange Cassidy and Kip Sabian particularly. The wrestling was mostly strong with the highlight, wrong winner aside, being Jericho and Briscoe’s excellent ladder war. The problems though were equal, with the confusing logic of Cole and The Kingdom, two squashes frustrating the pacing and an overabundance of heel factions getting lost in the shuffle. Plenty of good decisions mixed with plenty of poor ones, but an entertaining 2 hours overall and at it’s best some quite excellent storytelling and progression.
Matches: 0.75/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.5/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.5/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.75/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 3.25/5 Stars
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling – October 23rd 2024
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here :
