The first AEW Dynamite after All Out was not without its issues.
With a ton of momentum from the pay per view, Dynamite spent the first hour ensuring the heels of the company got plenty of heat. It was also about adjusting pre-set plans and beginning the trip to WrestleDream, with a heavy focus on setting up Grand Slam in Arthur Ashe.
I thought the episode was a relative letdown to what I was hoping to see from the coming out of All Out. All Out was the best pay per view of the year from All Elite Wrestling, with tons set up to move forward on. Instead of moving forward? There was a lot of backstepping and moving sideways.
Here are the three biggest observations I had coming out of AEW Dynamite last night:
Hangman Page and Chris Jericho should switch programs
Chris Jericho versus Orange Cassidy has been done. It doesn’t make much, if any, sense to move into The Learning Tree versus The Conglomeration. The idea that Chris Jericho still isn’t over his $7000 jacket being ruined was bizarre. It didn’t help that Orange Cassidy paying him back with $7000 in change fell flat due to there being maybe $300 in change in the front loader.
It wasn’t until after the show that it was pointed out that one person, Big Bill, had a negative reaction to Chris Jericho’s promo about not trusting friends:
If this is all really just to set up Big Bill breaking away from The Learning Tree? That’s nice there’s a logical purpose, but logic doesn’t equal good. It just means something has a point A to a point B. It doesn’t make it satisfying or fulfilling.
I would certainly be happy to see Big Bill finally get a singles push in All Elite Wrestling as he’s worked hard for it and would be an excellent big man champion in the company, but to do it based on a program where Jericho faces Orange Cassidy again? It’s a bit of a rough place to launch from.
Meanwhile, after having an incredible main event cage match victory over Swerve Strickland, Hangman Page is… back to fighting Jeff Jarrett? Backstage? This is the time we give to the main event winner of All Out? Christian Cage gets a big promo in the ring. Jon Moxley gets multiple segments to his challenge with Darby Allin (more on that later), but Hangman Adam Page just gets to be looked at funny by people backstage and once again brawl against old man Jarrett?
Been there. Done that. Both of them.
So I say trade.
Chris Jericho should instead be going after Jeff Jarrett. Jeff Jarrett has moved into the elder statesman role I suggested Jericho try to after a break. The crowd seems to unconditionally love Double J now the way they used to love Sting (but on a lesser scale.) That’s more than enough for Chris Jericho to hate Jeff Jarrett. He’s getting all the love Chris thinks he should be getting. Why do they constantly hate everything he does but love that scoundrel?
The Learning Tree taking on Planet Jarrett means we get a big man versus big man in Big Bill versus Satnam Singh and it means Jay Lethal can take on Bryan Keith. Jericho and Jarrett facing each other also ensures nobody is complaining about the veterans vampiring off of younger talent. It’s a good midcard program.
Now Hangman Adam Page. If there isn’t room for him yet in the World Championship scene, you can take The Conglomeration, a collection of midcard babyfaces, and put them in the way of Page until it’s time. He already had a fantastic match with Tomohiro Ishii on Dynamite. Next should be Mark Briscoe, who feels like a perfect opponent for him. You then got Kyle O’Reilly who of course can go.
Have you ever considered how awesome Katsuyori Shibata versus Hangman Adam Page could be?
And then Orange Cassidy. Orange needs a feud like this, even if he doesn’t win. Jericho is moving backwards. OC was supposed to have Trent to fight but Trent got injured again and he’s been lost since. OC and Hangman Page were bringing some magic when fighting each other in the Casino Gauntlet. That’s a program you can take right to Full Gear.
So by Grand Slam? I get off Hangman Page versus Jeff Jarrett and Chris Jericho versus Orange Cassidy and switch dance partners.
Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher do nothing to help the tag division
I got a lot of push back online on this. I was told that there were no good choices to win that Casino Tag Gauntlet so you might as well go with the two singles performers randomly put together.
There are no good choices BECAUSE ALL ELITE WRESTLING DOESN’T BOOK A TAG TEAM OTHER THAN THE YOUNG BUCKS AND FTR TO BE A GOOD CHOICE.
This was the time to build someone up. Get the crowd fired up for them. They don’t even have to beat The Young Bucks at Grand Slam. They just need to have a career defining movement. You’d have this week and next to build them up for this match. Really get people behind them. And if they have a great match with the Young Bucks? People will want the rematch.
Instead we take Will Ospreay out of defending his AEW International Championship because… Don Callis cashed in a favour? First the Hobbs IWGP World Heavyweight shot and now this. Don Callis is really terrible when it comes to getting good favours. Never waste the Dragon Balls or a Genie Lamp on this man.
Like I’ve discussed in the past that the idea is that Don Callis is actually a poor manager and just sucks the lifeforce out of anyone he manages, but it’s now becoming the text instead of the subtext. Everyone who takes him in should stay away from him forever.
Anyway, can you believe people are arguing this is a money match to sell tickets at Arthur Ashe? Really? AEW fans buy tickets for Will Ospreay tag team matches? People buy tickets for AEW tag team matches? In this division? Give me a break. This is a company that has no clue how to book their own tag division right now.
The Outrunners got the biggest pop in the whole match, and while I know some people don’t like the idea of “fun gimmicks” or “meme wrestlers” getting elevated, maybe you should ask yourself why the only fresh exciting tag team in AEW right now are 1980s throwbacks making people laugh.
The time to fix the division was yesterday. Every day you put it off? The more teams lose interest in coming to All Elite Wrestling, staying in All Elite Wrestling, and working hard in All Elite Wrestling.
Also, the Casino Gauntlet? Don’t do another one all year. This one basically froze it cold.
Did Jon Moxley lie or was Darby Allin dumb?
Darby Allin and Jon Moxley finally had a confrontation in the ring.
Moxley was still pretty cryptic as he has been, but he essentially told Darby Allin to just hand him the number one contender shot for the AEW Men’s World Championship at Grand Slam. Darby refused, and because Bryan Danielson was beat up so badly by Moxley, he agreed to fight Jon Moxley instead at Grand Slam.
Later on that night, Nigel McGuinness challenged Bryan Danielson to a match if he could be cleared for it.
This all made very little sense. If Danielson could be cleared, shouldn’t Darby get his shot against Danielson then? And if he isn’t cleared, why is Nigel getting a match approved?
There was a much better way to do this:
That’s all you needed to do. Darby Allin says Tony Khan and him agreed they wanted Bryan Danielson to be 100% for the AEW Men’s World Championship match and moved it from Grand Slam to WrestleDream. Darby could say it also made more sense since it would be in Washington where both are from.
Jon Moxley then says, hey Darby? I need that shot. And Darby says well I don’t have a match at Grand Slam so you and I can fight for my shot at Grand Slam.
That way, when Nigel McGuinness comes out to challenge Bryan Danielson, he isn’t challenging a Danielson who is being questioned to be ready to wrestle but instead a Danielson who might not be 100%. He’s essentially interfering with him recovering for the Darby Allin match. Nigel is a heel so he doesn’t care if Danielson is 100% or not. He just wants his dream match and to beat The American Dragon.
The way they did it? Darby looks like he trusted Jon Moxley that Danielson couldn’t compete and potentially gave up his shot that night to fight Jon Moxley for the right to it. And then Danielson is wrestling anyway against Nigel. Which is awesome, by the way.
Really feels like Tony Khan wanted to book something else and didn’t know how to get out of it and picked a terrible way to.
Better luck next week.
