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AEW DYNAMITE, JUNE 19, 2024
MJF
MJF vs Rush was a really good match, and pretty much what I hoped it would be after their great brawl last week. Rush stands out from the crowd in AEW as a wild, unpredictable character. There was great physicality and intensity, something often missing in AEW. MJF got a strong win too, with a Brainbuster, which he seems to be establishing as a finish. What’s next for MJF? Hechicero from CMLL at Forbidden Door. Certainly not a big match for MJF, in his hometown. Things like this confuse me. AEW has a roster overflowing with talent, yet they are giving PPV space to Hechicero. I get it if it was a big name coming in for a hot interpromotional match, but this is not the case here at all. Unless you’re the hardest of the hardcore fan, you don’t care about Hechicero. My guess is that MJF vs Rush was planned for the PPV, and because of political issues, Rush isn’t allowed on the show. Why is Hechicero hanging around with Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony all of a sudden? I watched Collision last weekend and was completely baffled as to what was going on when I saw Hechicero in the ring, and the Gates of Agony at ringside. Which leads me to my next point…
STUFF HAPPENING
This show had a whole lot of stuff that was just… happening. Stuff that I’m sure made sense to someone somewhere, but I was not one of them. Swerve Strickland & Will Ospreay had a great back and forth on the mic. But I glanced away from the TV and all of a sudden they’re just there in the ring going at it without any anticipation for the confrontation. The content was solid, and added a lot of intensity to the match with it getting more personal, causing Ospreay to lose his cool. Strickland is starting to feel like an important champion and centrepiece. There were references to Don Callis that could have been done without. Let’s just pretend Callis and Ospreay were never associated.
Then later in the show we had the aforementioned new group of Hechicero, Cage & GOA attacking Daniel Garcia. Why? Because on Collision, Garcia and Matt Manard saved Dalton Castle from them. Why he did that, I’m really not sure. Then Will Ospreay showed up to get involved in this for some reason. Maybe because Daniel Garcia wants his International title? Who knows. It was all done to get Ospreay & MJF in the ring and face off, which was cool. But by the time we got there, my head was spinning. Then later in the show, Brian Cage got into it with Ospreay, and will be challenging him for the International title on Collision, despite Cage having lost his last two important matches. Then in the blur of match graphics at the end of the show, which included another CMLL guy being thrown into the mix, I think I saw that Ospreay & Swerve will team up against the Gate of Agony next week, in another tired WWE trope of opponents being forced to team. This was a massively confusing cluster of stuff being blurred together, most of it for no rhyme or reason other than to do it.
WHO GETS MARIAH
Speaking of opponents being forced to team up, that’s what will be happening next week in the women’s division too. The Mina Shirakawa/Toni Storm/Mariah May triangle has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, and next week will face Saraya, Harley Cameron & Anna Jay. This story has been building for a while now. At times this whole situation has been very messy, and despite having all the makings of a good story, it just hasn’t been well told at times. It has suffered from lack of focus, stuff happening that just hasn’t been explained or referenced again, and people simply just not really knowing or caring about the relationship between Mina & Mariah. We’re now at a point where things are starting to make sense, and due to Mina’s amazing levels of charisma, she is connecting with the crowd. Mariah May has been fantastic through most of this and is surely set for a clash with Toni at All In. As for Forbidden Door, there’s enough of a story there and enough time has been spent developing this story, particularly where Mariah stands, that makes me interested in seeing how things will play out.
THE OWEN
This week we got the brackets for the Owen Hart Tournament, which will see the winners of each challenge their respective world champion at All In. Which I love. The tournament has important stakes. AEW has a habit of putting together underwhelming tournaments, simply to avoid people having to lose. This is not fully the case here, but there are some outliers. Should Fenix be in contention for a world title shot? Definitely not ahead of others more deserving. I understand the inclusion of Jeff Jarrett given his relationship with Owen Hart, but as a character in AEW, he should be nowhere near the title picture. Shingo vs Danielson is a great match for Forbidden Door and as a huge fan of both, one I am really looking forward to. I was glad to see PAC score the win over Claudio Castagnoli in the first round. We don’t know the wildcard yet. Will it be Will Ospreay, after he loses to Swerve? Hangman Page?
On the women’s side the field feels more star studded, with Mariah May making the most sense to win and set up a huge (with the right build and marketing) match with Toni Storm in her home country. Kris Statlander scored a strong first round win and looks set for a semi final meeting with Willow Nightingale, which is a big match given their current rivalry.
THE TAG DIVISION
AEW once had a red hot tag team division that at one point was so stacked there were too many teams to feature. Now? I am struggling to not only name teams that feel hot enough to challenge for the titles, but name teams at all. Sure, there are some teams, but hardly any have momentum or are featured with any real consistency. Something went badly wrong somewhere with The Acclaimed and it is nice to see an effort being made to rehab them. But is it too late? We will see. This is the first time I can think of where the challenger won one of the seemingly endless amounts of eliminator matches we get in AEW. Anthony Bowens had a really good showing here too and could have a great singles run. Kazuchika Okada has amazing comedic timing, but is there a risk of him becoming too comedic? The Rainmaker needs to remain a main event star that can be taken seriously. Also, please for the love of god, end the Brandon Cutler association with The Elite. He has been appearing on Collision on their behalf in segments so bad they should never have made air.
I can be reached at matthewmacklin90@gmail.com.
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