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LOOKING AT LAST NIGHT'S AEW DYNAMITE

By Matt Macklin on 2024-08-01 08:46:00

AEW DYNAMITE, JULY 31, 2024

TITLE VS CAREER

Bryan Danielson will put his career on the line when he challenges Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at All In.  We have known for some time that Danielson will wrap up his full time career around Wembley time this year, with the intention of remaining as a part time performer with AEW. My question coming out of this was, does this make it too obvious that Danielson will beat Swerve at Wembley? I don’t believe this will be Danielson’s last match. Without this stipulation I believed that the match could go either way. Now, not so much.  Danielson’s promo was excellent, as was Swerve’s, with some great lines around the theme of promises.  Swerve came across as a major star here.  Danielson said that his goal when he came to AEW was to win the world title. This is something that I have not felt at all. Quite the opposite in fact, with Bryan on multiple occasions saying he did not want to be champion, or even a main event guy in AEW. Even when he should be. He has rarely been presented as the star that he is over his three years in AEW.  Now I find it hard to really buy into the story of Bryan all of a sudden wanting the title, even though it is a great story for the All In main event, and one that in theory will capture people outside of the AEW hardcore fan bubble. Swerve has been straddling a fine line with some of his recent title programmes. One that could very easily see that crowd turn on him, over his more sympathetic or babyface challengers. If Bryan puts on the babyface performance of a lifetime on August 25th, it is hard to see the crowd not turning on Swerve on the night. This however does feel like a major main event match for AEW’s biggest show of the year, with still lots more time to build it further.

CHAMPION OF AMERICA

Last week, MJF crowned himself the champion of the USA. While in theory, a good idea heading into a major show in the UK, against a home country star, right now, AEW are in the US. These crowds are seemingly expected to boo MJF, as he parades around with a title representing their country. While MJF is good enough to turn any crowd against him, it was not working at times during this promo segment.  Despite Ospreay’s best efforts with his excellent promo, I struggle to buy into the International title being one with great prestige that needs its integrity restored. It has been a mid card title at best, and one of many belts in AEW that feel unnecessary. If anything, remaining the American Championship would be a benefit, because the word “International” feels like a different way of saying “world”.

Ospreay vs Archer was no doubt a great match, with an impressive showing from the underutilised Archer. But yet again, it was an Ospreay match that suffered from excess. There was no need whatsoever for Archer to kick out of a Hidden Blade at one, a move that the crowd barely reacted to. It was a great match that peaked several minutes before it concluded and did more damage than good in getting Ospreay over as an in ring threat in my opinion. I understand wanting to make Archer look strong, but the reality is, Archer is an undercard guy that disappears for months at a time, and most likely will again.  

Kyle Fletcher cut the best promo of his career here in standing up for Ospreay, and showed that he has the potential to be an important player in AEW.  It seems as though we are beginning to head towards Fletcher eventually turning on Ospreay. The big question will be, when? If Fletcher turns straight away, which I expect from AEW, this will mean very little. If time is taken to build on this, establish a strong relationship between Ospreay and Fletcher, while presenting Fletcher as an important TV character, this could potentially be a break out storyline for Kyle. If it is rushed, Kyle will go back to being a background player in AEW. 

Another thing. What about PAC? He is apparently number one contender to this championship, and unless I imagined it or got it very wrong, I’m pretty sure he said he was coming for it at Wembley. There has been no mention of it since.

FOLLOW UP

Last week we had ten guys go into a cage and try to murder each other. This week there was little to no mention of it. Even those that were involved, that were on TV this week, didn’t really do anything that followed up on it. The show did however benefit from having no Elite segment’s this week. Hangman Page vs Darby Allin was in some way related to it, but they did nothing to present this match as anything other than two wrestlers having a match.  This was a first time ever match between two AEW originals, and two of AEW’s most important young stars. You would not have known this if you happened to turn on this show without any prior knowledge of those involved. There was barely anything to hype or advertise this main event, to the point that half way through the show, I was trying to remember what was on the card, in an attempt to figure out what was going on last.  

The match itself was of course excellent. Two guys who’s styles complement each other well, especially with this new ruthless and aggressive version of Hangman Page and Darby being able to bump for him. Was it a wise match to book? It was a match that neither could afford to lose.  Darby has two title matches coming up, and Hangman should be protected ahead of an impending future clash with Swerve Strickland. The counter argument is that AEW too often book matches where the outcome is never in doubt and this loss can be used to tell a story with Hangman.  I also question some of the insane bumps Darby took here, risking serious injury when he will be a major part of two AEW stadium shows over the next month.  The finish did something to protect Hangman. Excalibur tried to tell the story of the children in the crowd reminding Hangman of what Swerve did to his own kids, causing him to want to continue punishing Darby.  Hangman is probably the most interesting character in AEW at the moment, so I hope AEW has a carefully laid out plan for him over the next few months.  

I can be reached at matthewmacklin90@gmail.com

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