AEW put on a good Dynamite for the fans this week. Match quality wavered at times, despite some great battles between Will Ospreay and Bryan Keith, and Konosuke Takeshita against Orange Cassidy. There were a couple of contests which let the match quality down slightly, as well as deflated the atmosphere. The tag team match struggled to gain the interest of the crowd, while Harley Cameron and Deonna Purrazzo clearly struggled in trying to find chemistry with one another. We are only a couple weeks away from Revolution, so naturally AEW are expected to heat up the storylines a bit more. Which they did in part, with MJF bringing Hangman Adam Page’s anger with him to a new level, by beating up his friend in Christopher Daniels. Swerve Strickland is now feeling the pressure heading into his rematch with Ricochet, as his relationship with Prince Nana is on the line. But there were some questionable decisions storytelling wise, the main one being the fact Takeshita has to earn the right to defend his title against Kenny Omega is sort of crazy considering he’s one of the best wrestlers on the planet right now. It comes off as lazy booking to a viewer. But one thing I did enjoy, and something AEW should look at doing more often is Ospreay and Keith’s ‘Bounty Match.’ The idea behind it was great and really creative. The show ended up being a good way to advance AEW’s most popular storylines heading into Revolution, with some decent matches coupled up with it. They need to stick the landing with this Revolution build next week though, especially as the road to the show has been fairly bumpy at times.
AEW Dynamite is back this week with a stacked show. Konosuke Takeshita takes on Orange Cassidy in a match for the International Title. Will Ospreay takes on Bryan Keith in a ‘Bounty Match.’ Hangman Adam Page will be in action. Let’s get into the review!
SQUASH Hangman Adam Page vs Aaron Solo
Hangman had a match scheduled, but he was only focused on winning it as quickly as possible. He let his frustration out on Aaron Solo, before hitting him with the Buckshot for the win. After the match, Hangman picked up a microphone and a chair.
Result: Hangman Adam Page by Pinfall via Buckshot Lariat
Archie Carter WR Star Rating: Too short to rate
AMAZING Hangman Adam Page and MJF Segment
Hangman said he was not going to leave the ring until MJF came out, as he wanted revenge for Max spitting in his face. He eventually got his wish, as MJF came to the ring wiping his bloody hands with a towel. Page wanted to fight instead of waiting for Revolution, but MJF freshly removed from his tattoo removal earlier on in the show, had another surprise for Hangman. It was revealed Max had beaten up Christopher Daniels backstage before he came out to the ring. This was a nice way to advance the story between MJF and Hangman, while also continuing with Page’s character progression of him feeling remorseful of his previous actions as a heel.
Archie Carter WR Star Rating: 4.00 Stars
GREAT Will Ospreay vs Bryan Keith – Bounty Match
I absolutely adore the concept of this match and how it came about. Don Callis hiring Bryan Keith to make sure Will Ospreay doesn’t make it to Revolution and putting a ‘bounty’ on Will’s head, was a very goofy but fun idea. The match itself was probably one of Will’s weakest matches of the year so far, but a weak match for Ospreay is still a very strong match for any normal wrestler.
Result: Will Ospreay by Pinfall via Styles Clash into Hidden Blade
Archie Carter WR Star Rating: 3.75 Stars
AVERAGE The Outrunners vs Murder Machines
There isn’t too much to write home about for this match. The character work of The Outrunners was superb again, they really stand out in AEW with their outlandish gimmick. They actually ended up winning this contest in the end, as the Hurt Syndicate caused the distraction, which allowed them to roll up Archer for the three count.
Result: The Outrunners by Pinfall via Roll-Up
Archie Carter WR Star Rating: 2.75 Stars
AMAZING Swerve Strickland and Ricochet Segment
Swerve Strickland and Ricochet made their rematch official for Revolution, except this time there is more on the line. Whoever wins this match will go on to face Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship. But the most noteworthy and best part about this segment was the Prince Nana promo at the end. Nana hyped up Swerve for the match in LA, but also let him know that if he can’t win and get back Nana’s robe and his legacy, then he doesn’t know if he can continue as his manager anymore. This was a great way to add even more importance and weight to this upcoming matchup.
Archie Carter WR Star Rating: 4.25 Stars
GREAT Undisputed Kingdom vs Daniel Garcia and FTR
Although there wasn’t too much of a story foundation for this one, these trios were able to end up telling us a pretty decent one. The match was cleverly put together, especially the ending as while everyone else concentrated on giving each other submission moves, Adam Cole was able to capatalise and pin Daniel Garcia. This earned him a TNA Championship match in the process.
Result: Undisputed Kingdom by Pinfall via Roll-Up
Archie Carter WR Star Rating: 3.75 Stars
Cope vowed at the start of the show that he was going to send one of the Death Riders to the hospital during Dynamite. He was true to his promise, although he ended up sending two members of the faction to the hospital. Claudio was one, and the other was Marina Shafir, he was able to get some help with that one from Willow Nightingale.
AVERAGE Harley Cameron vs Deonna Purrazzo
This follows the trend of the tag team match we saw earlier. Although both of these women are incredibly talented in their own right, together they just didn’t seem to gel. But the rise of Harley Cameron has been incredible to watch over these past few months, Harley has really shown everyone that she just gets wrestling. She is also vastly improving her in-ring work as well.
Result: Harley Cameron by Pinfall
Archie Carter WR Star Rating: 2.75 Stars
AMAZING Konosuke Takeshita vs Orange Cassidy – AEW International Title
I’m going to start off positive when talking about this main event. Great in-ring action as expected, fantastic sequences and the story they told of Orange trying to win and make history to become the first three-time International Champion was very smart. I did have an issue with the in-ring though, which is that these stupid taps from Cassidy are really more than enough to take you out of the match. They are even worse when his opponent sells them like actual chops and kicks though, so well done to Takeshita for not falling into that pattern. Also, the fact that it is the champion that has to earn the right to face the challenger is incredibly stupid, to me that just screams “we don’t know how to continue the build for this match so we will do this tournament.” It didn’t make sense to me and although the match between Kenny and Takeshita will most likely be amazing, the way we got to this match both guys deserve a lot better.
Result: Konosuke Takeshita by Pinfall
Archie Carter WR Star Rating: 4.00 Stars
Overall…
AEW put on a good Dynamite for the fans this week. Match quality wavered at times, despite some great battles between Will Ospreay and Bryan Keith, and Konosuke Takeshita against Orange Cassidy. There were a couple of contests which let the match quality down slightly, as well as deflated the atmosphere. The tag team match struggled to gain the interest of the crowd, while Harley Cameron and Deonna Purrazzo clearly struggled in trying to find chemistry with one another. We are only a couple weeks away from Revolution, so naturally AEW are expected to heat up the storylines a bit more. Which they did in part, with MJF bringing Hangman Adam Page’s anger with him to a new level, by beating up his friend in Christopher Daniels. Swerve Strickland is now feeling the pressure heading into his rematch with Ricochet, as his relationship with Prince Nana is on the line. But there were some questionable decisions storytelling wise, the main one being the fact Takeshita has to earn the right to defend his title against Kenny Omega is sort of crazy considering he’s one of the best wrestlers on the planet right now. It comes off as lazy booking to a viewer. But one thing I did enjoy, and something AEW should look at doing more often is Ospreay and Keith’s ‘Bounty Match.’ The idea behind it was great and really creative. The show ended up being a good way to advance AEW’s most popular storylines heading into Revolution, with some decent matches coupled up with it. They need to stick the landing with this Revolution build next week though, especially as the road to the show has been fairly bumpy at times.
Matches: 0.5/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.75/1 Stars
Atmosphere/Crowd/Commentary: 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
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here
