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AEW DYNAMITE, MAY 22, 2024
SWERVE
Overall this was mostly a good night for the presentation of Swerve Strickland. He came off as pretty cool when he was with The Elite backstage. However, again, he probably should have beaten Nick Wayne quicker. There was one spot where Swerve caught a Wayne moonsault to the floor, which was great. Only for Wayne to immediately turn it into a tornado DDT. So Swerve looked like a badass for all of two seconds and Wayne got a pop for hitting a cool looking move. Swerve did finish him off strongly, and the post match stuff was really good. Prince Nana cutting off Christian was a cool moment, and Swerve looked like a smart, badass babyface for managing to outsmart and run off the heels.
ANARCHY
Bryan Danielson vs Satnam Singh was a disappointment. I was interested in seeing what Bryan could do with the giant, but unfortunately it wasn’t much of a match. The post match stuff was pretty good, with Tony Khan driving Darby to the arena, which was a pretty good way of getting Tony involved, without him actually being involved. I’m not sure what Darby was gonna do with the flamethrower, but it made for a great visual. There are major fundamental issues with this whole angle, such as why do The Elite have so much power, when Tony was making matches via text at other points in the show? Couldn’t he have stopped Christopher Daniels from being fired last week? I could go on and on, but what’s the point? I’m sure the Anarchy Arena match will be very good, and Okada continues to be adapting well as a TV character.
FTW MESS
What a mess this whole situation is. Firstly, Collision last weekend was taken up with a long tournament for an unofficial championship, which is seemingly harder to get a shot at than the World title. Then we ended up with this three way. The finish was a stupid way to get to another three way, and why would Jericho just accept the match, after the fuss he had over making this tournament last week? None of this made any sense, and it all just felt like something to fill up a whole lot of TV time.
LEVELS
A well booked wrestling company should have levels. Your top tier stars, then a rung below that, and so on. Will Ospreay should be about two levels above everyone else involved in this show opening tag match. I simply cannot buy Roderick Strong as a real threat to Ospreay, after a year of him being presented as a comedy goof on TV, even though he is a world class in ring performer. They tried hard last week with a good promo segment, and they tried harder here with a beatdown, where the blood felt extremely unnecessary and out of place. Ospreay should be nowhere near this title, but now that he is, he should be beating Strong pretty decisively at Double or Nothing. I would care a lot more about Orange vs Trent if I didn’t already see them wrestle two weeks ago, and seen Orange Cassidy hop back to his feet after being piledriven onto steel steps. Wouldn’t it have made more sense if Cassidy was injured with that angle and he comes into the PPV looking for revenge?
WHO ARE THE BABYFACES?
That is a question I was struggling to answer while watching the women's tag team match. It wasn’t until the post match attack from Serena Deeb that I made the assumption that Deeb is now a heel (as she should be), and they have finally given up on trying to force Toni Storm as a heel, because the crowd want to cheer her. This match was not good at all, but if Deeb is used to establish Toni as a proper babyface, this will have served a purpose. Now where does it leave Mariah May? Who it seemed like was turning babyface along with Mina Shirakawa, to potentially split with Toni. Who knows. But right now, this is all very confusing and messy, and needs to be sorted out. Wrestling does not need to be so complicated. Straight babyfaces and heels work.
KYLE VS BLACK
Kyle O’Reilly vs Malakai Black was a really enjoyable match. It was a completely different style, and one that stood out. Things like this are what make AEW unique. They can offer different wrestling styles, something that you generally do not get from WWE. Why has it taken until now for Malakai Black to be utilised as an important singles star? Who knows. The post match angle with Adam Copeland was somewhat hokey, but it did a solid job in continuing the build to their clash this weekend. Could we be seeing a Brood reunion? Does anyone want a Brood reunion?
I can be reached at matthewmacklin90@gmail.com
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