The John Report: AEW Dynamite 04/07/21 Review
Welcome to the AEW Dynamite review here on TJRWrestling. It was a live AEW Dynamite show this week where they were up against NXT for the last time on a Wednesday night. The big thing they were promoting going into Dynamite this week was the AEW return of boxing legend Mike Tyson. Since there is no more NXT on Wednesday, I’ll probably be able to get these Dynamite reviews done earlier, but they will still likely be a Thursday morning posting.
This is AEW Dynamite from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, FL. Follow me on Twitter @johnreport. Here’s my AEW Dynamite TV review archive. Let’s get to it.
The show began with The Inner Circle five-man group shown arriving in a parking lot likely where they tape the show. Chris Jericho was in a sports car while the others were driving other cars and they walked towards the building together.
The AEW Dynamite intro video aired followed by JR saying: “It’s Wednesday night and you know what that means.” I always like that Brodie Lee reference. The announce team is Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone and Excalibur as usual. There were wrestlers and AEW staff surrounding the ring as usual, plus some fans in the crowd. There are no fans when they tape on Thursdays, which will be next week’s Dynamite show.
The introduction of “Hangman” Adam Page started us off. Max Caster was up next with Anthony Bowens with Caster doing one of his pre-match raps with a reference to Joe Biden slipping on the stairs. Bowens had a boombox with him and Page kicked him out of the ring.
Analysis: Page is the #1 ranked wrestler and Caster is apparently #3 because I guess picking up wins on the B and C shows known as Dark is big. They really need to rethink the rankings because if you only watch Dynamite, you would be left to wonder how this guy was third in the rankings.
“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Max Caster (w/Anthony Bowens)
Page sent Caster into the turnbuckle repeatedly followed by a fallaway slam and a suplex. Caster got in some forearms, but Page came back with a boot to the face. Page with a senton splash for a two count. Page left the ring, Bowens was talking trash to him and Caster hit a sliding kick to take control. Page sent Caster over the top, Caster to the apron and Page jumped off the turnbuckle with a punch on Caster. Page hit a cross body block over the top onto Caster on the floor. An AEW referee was actually counting while wrestlers were out of the ring, which is rare. He must have stopped because they were on the floor for way more than ten seconds as Page hit a clothesline. I guess it’s the thought that counts. Caster sent Page into the ring post, the referee checked on Caster and Bowens sent Page into the barricade. Back in the ring, Caster with an armbar takedown leading to Caster working on the left arm with a knee drop. Caster with a chinlock, Page came back with punches and a spinebuster. Page with an Exploder Suplex for a two count. They exchanged strikes on the ring apron with Caster running right into a suplex on the apron. Page went up top, Bowens got on the apron to distract, Caster slipped jumping to the turnbuckle, then went back up and hit a superplex. Caster with an armbar on the left arm since Page was selling the arm with Page getting to the ropes. Kaster went for a springboard attack with Page hitting a clothesline. That looked to contrived. Caster got the boombox, the referee took it away and then Caster punched Page with a chain that Bowens gave Caster. That got a two count for Caster. Caster missed a top rope elbow when Page moved. Page jumped onto Bowens on the floor. Page hit the Buckshot Lariat for the pinfall win after 10 minutes.
Winner by pinfall: “Hangman” Adam Page
Analysis: *** A solid match with Page getting the win over a tag team wrestler. Page sold the left arm injury for some of the match and then they went away from it for a bit. The best part of the match was the nearfall for Caster using the chain for a nearfall. That was well done. Page winning was the obvious result here.
Page celebrated with some beers he got from a cooler. The announcers talked about how Page could be set up as the next contender for the AEW World Title against former tag team partner Kenny Omega.
Analysis: It sounds like they are doing Omega vs. Page at Double or Nothing next month. I thought they might save that for later in the year, but based on commentary it seems like they are going to do it soon.
The Death Triangle trio of Pac, Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo were interviewed in the ring by Tony Schiavone. It was mentioned that Pac and Fenix will get their Tag Team Title match next week. Before Death Triangle could say anything, they were interrupted.
Best Friends showed up with Orange Cassidy, Trent and Chuck Taylor with Kris Statlander. They showed highlights of Death Triangle beating up Cassidy over a year ago. Pac said that he understands why these gentlemen are here – they want a shot at the next AEW Tag Team Champions. Pac told them they had a lot of work to do and they are far from worthy. Trent said that they had to work their way back up while adding they are the tag team with more wins than anybody else in this company. Trent said that the boys are back in town and they have an alien with them too.
Analysis: This was okay. Nothing special. This company loves advertising people for promos and then having them interrupted. I guess this is a future match.
The announcers did a rundown of what’s coming with The Inner Circle up next.
They showed a clip of Mike Tyson to Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Urban Meyer. The same Jaguars that are the worst team in the NFL, but at least they will get to draft Trevor Lawrence for a few weeks.
Chris Jericho led The Inner Circle out to the ring with the crowd singing along to the “Judas” theme song. They are now a babyface group, so the singalong is at least more fitting now. Jericho said they sounded great tonight and they have a lot to say after the break.
(Commercial)
Let’s Hear from The Inner Circle
Chris Jericho saying that beatdown they were given by The Pineapple (aka The Pinnacle) made them realize they made a lot of bad decisions in the last six months. Jericho apologized for those bad decisions and said that they were caused by MJF, his jerkoff friend. Jericho said that he is not smart at certain things like high school chemistry, his teacher even asked him if he was on dope and he wasn’t. Jericho said that he is smart when it comes to the psychology of pro wrestling and Jericho said he just wanted to keep MJF under his thumb. Jericho said they knew that MJF would show his true colors, but what they didn’t think about is that MJF managed to outsmart. Jericho said that MJF can do everything except put on a spray tan and he mocked his spray tan while mentioning when Jericho put MJF’s head in the toilet as well. Jericho said that MJF is only 25 years old, Jericho said when he was 25 years old, he had wet dreams and MJF is at the pinnacle of the pro wrestling business. Jericho said that MJF wants it now, he wants to be better than “The Goat” Chris Jericho now. Jericho told him to be better than Peter Avalon or Michael Nakazawa and he mocked the scarf that MJF wears. Jericho said he was rocking the scarf gimmick five years ago (true) and if MJF is superior then why is he stealing Jericho’s shit. Jericho said that he has a list of gimmicks that MJF stole from Jericho, which is funny because it’s true. Jericho said that Max believes his own hype while checking how the people thought you did and Jericho said that in the business they call that “being a mark” but he’ll change it to “being a Max” because Max is a mark for himself. Jericho told MJF that he’ll never be better than MJF and he knows it.
Jericho spoke about Tully Blanchard with MJF saying that Tully was the greatest mind in pro wrestling history. Jericho said that Tully was really nothing more than the third string member of the Four Horsemen ranking between Ole Anderson and Paul Roma. Ouch. Jericho said that FTR are interchangeable, he knows they are good, but he doesn’t know their names. Jericho said that Shawn Spears has a great upside and Jericho said that Spears called Jericho after he got fired from “The Fed” ten years ago and asking for advice. Jericho said that aligning with MJF is about as good of a decision as rocking a blonde mohawk in 2021. Ouch for that too. Jericho said that Wardlow is so stupid he has to strip naked to count to 21. Think about it. Jericho said that he knows The Pinnacle is good, but they like to fight. Jericho said that they are going to shove the faces of The Pinnacle up their asses. Jericho said that they have been waiting for a match since March 25 of last year, so why put it off any longer? Jericho said that on May 5th it will be The Pinnacle vs. The Inner Circle in the Blood N Guts match. Jericho: “We’re going to beat the shit out of you, Pinnacle, because like we told you last week, the worst is yet to come and God help you for it!” Jericho and friends did their middle finger salute to end it.
Analysis: That was an awesome promo from Jericho, who did a nice job of delivering the first babyface promo for the Inner Circle. Jericho talked about how they had a plan for MJF, but he credited MJF for outsmarting them. I liked how Jericho made fun of all of The Pinnacle members. Jericho mocking the scarf gimmick of MJF was great too because I think MJF should stop doing it because it is too much of a Jericho ripoff and I thought that when I first saw MJF. They also set up the highly anticipated Blood N Guts match that will take place on Dynamite in four weeks, so they have plenty of time to build up to it. I thought they might save that for the Double or Nothing PPV, but I assume they will want to do Jericho vs. MJF there plus maybe matches for the other guys in the group too. Anyway, this should be one of the best rivalries in AEW this year.
(Commercial)
Christian Cage was interviewed backstage by Dasha. Christian said last week he took back what was taken from him seven years ago. Christian gave credit to his opponent Frankie Kazarian and he loved every single second of it. Christian said that when you are in there with him, you have to level up. Taz showed up to interrupt the promo. Taz said he had a team of men to help him. Taz said he wanted Christian to be a part of Team Taz and he told Taz to sleep on it.
Analysis: I doubt they have Christian join that group. They already have a guy named Cage anyway. I assume Christian feuds with the group and that’s good for a guy like Ricky Starks to work with Christian. I’m not sure where Brian Cage fits in.
Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy) vs. Bear Country (Bear Bronson & Bear Boulder)
Luchasaurus and Boy kicked Boulder out of the ring. Boy hit two suicide dives onto Bronson on the floor. Boy jumped onto both Bear Country guys, then Luchasaurus ran the ropes and hit a dive over the top onto the Bear Country guys. That was pretty cool. Bronson was able to take control with a running splash on Luchasaurus. Boy tagged in with a dive, but Boulder caught him. Luchasaurus tried to dive on, they botched a spot and then Boulder just hit a Powerbomb on Boy. I might have got Bear Country names mixed up. I don’t know if it matters.
(Commercial)
Luchasaurus was on fire after the hot tag with kicks and suplexes. Luchasaurus kicked both guys at the same time, then a headbutt with Boulder and they did a spot off the turnbuckle with Boulder hitting a superplex off the middle ropes for two as Boy hit a splash to break up the pin. Boy came back with a springboard DDT on Bronson and Luchasaurus hit a slam off the shoulders. Bronson body slammed Boy onto the pin attempt. Bear Country did a double team spot where they did a running splash together on Luchasaurus for a two count. Boulder had Bronson on his shoulders, Boy with a dropkick to the leg, kick by Luchasaurus and Luchasaurus hit a clothesline on Boulder out of the ring. Luchasaurus with a moonsault on Bronson and a standing moonsault for the pinfall win after about eight minutes. JR said that it was “bowling shoe ugly” at times, which tells you that they messed up some spots.
Winners by pinfall: Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy)
Analysis: *1/2 This was a weird match that was bad at times as you can tell from JR’s final comments. I think I could hear some spots being called too. I’m not sure about the Bear Country team right now, but they are just one team out of the 35 teams (that number may be inflated) in the tag team division. They tried some spots that didn’t look good and other things managed to work. It was below average for what we usually get on Dynamite. They didn’t feature Jungle Boy in the match that much. I don’t recall if Luchasaurus usually wins with a standing moonsault, but it was enough to win here.
There was a taped promo from QT Marshall and his new group at the Nightmare Factory in Georgia. Marshall said while Cody was playing second fiddle to Ted Jr. or painted his face, Cody knew he wouldn’t amount to shit. Marshall said Cody went to the indies to surround himself with vanilla midgets. Marshall called Cody “bargain brand Sting.” Marshall said Aaron Solow will never be known as somebody’s boyfriend (he used to date Bayley) and then he mentioned Comorato and Ogogo in this group. Ogogo said that he’s a star that knocks people out for pleasure. Marshall said that this his factory. I guess that might be the name of the group since Excalibur called them “The Factory” at the end of it.
Analysis: It’s another stable in a company full of stables. I don’t know how good they are going to be, but we’ll see when they get in the ring.
(Commercial)
Sting was about to interviewed on the stage by Tony Schiavone. The joke here is that there’s always an interruption and of course there was an interruption here as well. Jake Roberts showed up before Sting could say a word. Roberts told Sting to keep his mouth shut and said Darby Allin looked like a little gerbil. Lance Archer talked about how he’s sick of the agenda in AEW. Archer said he works main event after main event after main event and then he goes away. Archer told Sting it’s his time. Archer said that he should be in the main event and said that this should be his time. Sting took the microphone away to say it is his time to say something. Sting agreed that Archer was a main event guy, then he disappears and he told Jake to tell Archer how to do it. Sting told Archer he’s got it and to channel the energy in the right direction. Sting told Archer to make it happen, now go do it. They also showed Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky watching from the rafters.
Analysis: The reason Lance Archer isn’t in main events is the inconsistent booking. They have these wrestlers come out here week after week complaining about their spot. Why is Archer whining to Sting about it? Sting is the guy that gets advertised for promos week after week and is interrupted. It’s not like Sting is in the main event that Archer is complaining about it. Maybe it’s building to Archer vs. Sting with Sting putting him over, but at this point, it just seems rather pointless with a lot of whining going on. This goes back to the rankings too. Why is Archer not in the top five when he rarely loses, yet the Max Caster guy is third when all of his wins are on Dark, which has a much smaller audience? Something has to be fixed there or maybe put Archer in matches on Dark. I don’t know.
There was a weekly Team Taz promo with Taz and the group with Brian Cage, Ricky Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs and Hook. Starks wanted to hear from Cage, Taz said that Starks was instigating and Taz said that they are trying to recruit Christian Cage, so they have to be smart.
Analysis: Another group doing a promo with nothing else to do.
TNT Championship: Darby Allin (w/Sting) vs. JD Drake (w/Ryan Nemeth & Cesar Bononi)
Allin is the TNT Champion that had an open challenge with Drake singing up for the match. Drake is the bigger man of the two and he hit a hard chop that led to Allin bumping out of the ring. They did a spot where Allin missed a dropkick by the ropes, Drake sold it anyway and Allin hit a suicide dive. Nemeth was on the apron to distract, so when Allin jumped off the turnbuckle, Drake hit him with a shoulder tackle. Sting scared Nemeth away from ringside while Drake hit a senton splash on Allin in the ring. Drake with a body slam and headbutt leading to a break.
(Commercial)
The match returned with the wrestlers on the floor with Drake sending Allin into the ropes and hitting a clothesline while on the floor. They were out of the ring for way longer than ten seconds, but this is one of the referees that doesn’t count. Drake missed a running splash and hit the barricade. Allin hit a somersault dive onto both guys. Drake had Allin set up set up against the turnbuckle with Drake hitting a cannonball splash followed by a Vader Bomb out of the corner for two. The announcers were screaming as if Drake might win. Drake missed a moonsault by several feet when Allin moved. They exchanged slaps, Allin bought the finger of Drake and Allin hit an Avalanche Code Red off the ropes. Allin went up top and hit the Coffin Drop for the pinfall win after
Winner by pinfall: Darby Allin
Analysis: **1/4 It was just an average match. Nobody believed Drake was going to win. It should have been a shorter match, but AEW loves putting on matches for too long to give people chances in the ring. Allin did two moves to beat the guy making his Dynamite debut. Allin is a champion that takes a beating that tends to find a way to make the comeback, so that’s all this was here.
Allin celebrated on the stage with The Butcher showing up to shove Allin down. It was the Matt Hardy Family Office stable with The Butcher and The Blade along with Private Party. Sting and The Dark Order showed up to save Allin from an attack. Tay Conti tripped up The Bunny and threw punches because their match is coming up.
Analysis: Matt Hardy, who lost clean to Adam Page at the last PPV, will get a TNT Title match because of this. Sure.
A video package aired to show how they set up The Young Bucks and Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers.
(Commercial)
Chris Jericho was about to be interviewed by Alex Marvez, but MJF and The Pinnacle showed up to attack Jericho. The five Pinnacle guys plus Tully Blanchard brought Jericho out onto the stage and they beat on Jericho with punches in the ring. FTR hit a spike piledriver on Jericho. There was a backstage shot of The Inner Circle’s dressing room that was locked, so Inner Circle broke through the door to free themselves. There was a table set up on the floor, but then Mike Tyson’s music showed up.
Mike Tyson made his entrance alone, ripped off his shirt and got in the ring with The Pinnacle. Tyson tripped up Shawn Spears and punched him a few times although they were worked punches, so that’s good for Spears. The Inner Circle guys made their way out to the ring to save Jericho, so the heels retreated. Tyson is in great shape.
Jericho got up to face off with Tyson in the ring. Jericho shook his hand and they hugged. The announcers noted that they had issues in the past, but they were together now. The Inner Circle guys posed in the ring with Tyson to end it.
Analysis: Good segment to continue the build between these two teams and building to the Blood N Guts match next month. It was a smart use of Mike Tyson making the save to make him an ally of the babyface Inner Circle group. This is probably the best storyline in AEW right now.
Dr. Britt Baker was with Reba earlier in the day with Tony Schiavone doing the interview. Baker said that Tony Khan needs to give the people what they want, which is a championship match for Baker. Tony said that Baker is ranked fourth. Baker said that the win/loss rankings are bullshit and said that it should be about things like star power and merchandise. Baker said that she’s going to climb up the rankings and pretend like these wins actually matter. Baker said tune into Dynamite, Dark and Elevation to get those wins up.
Analysis: Here’s another wrestler complaining about the ranking system in AEW, which is a valid point.
The Bunny (w/Matt Hardy, The Butcher & The Blade) vs. Tay Conti (w/Dark Order)
The women exchanged punches as the outside of the ring was filled with people including Hikaru Shida. Bunny sent Conti into the turnbuckle. Conti blocked a kick and hit a shoulder capture suplex followed by a pump kick and a running kick. Bunny caught a kick attempt on the apron and sent Conti into the apron. Bunny with a suplex on the floor. Bunny with a running dropkick that sent Conti into the barricade.
(Commercial)
The match returned with Conti in control with a spinning backbreaker although I don’t think the knee actually hit, but good effort. Conti missed a running charge, Bunny moved and Bunny hit a kick for the two count. They finally mentioned Shida at ringside even though she entered before the match. Hardy was on the apron, Conti managed to catch Bunny on her back and hit a rising knee to the face for the two count. Conti was stunned by that. Bunny with an assisted neckbreaker against the rope and then Bunny knocked down Shida. Bunny hit Conti with a kendo stick when the referee was looking at guys on the floor for some reason. Shida took the kendo stick away and Conti hit a superplex. Conti hit a DD-Tay for the pinfall win after eight minutes.
Winner by pinfall: Tay Conti
Analysis: **1/2 It was just an average match to put over Conti, who has been on a roll of late. They don’t really have many storylines in the women’s division, so most of the matches seem random. Conti has a lot of cool strikes and kicks that look impressive. Bunny works well as a heel.
Conti celebrated the win with the Dark Order including Negative One aka Brodie Lee Jr. and the announcers put over Conti being on a winning streak.
The announcers had a rundown for next week.
* TNT Championship Falls Count Anywhere: Darby Allin (c) vs. Matt Hardy – Matt is nowhere near the top five in the rankings, yet he gets a title shot before so many others ahead of him. I guess there’s a storyline there, but I thought the rankings were supposed to matter? It’s not like they ever address this.
* AEW World Tag Team Championships: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Pac and Rey Fenix – This makes sense since Pac and Fenix won a number one contender’s match over a month ago.
* Anthony Ogogo’s in-ring debut with QT Marshall by his side.
* Red Velvet vs. Jade Cargill. They showed a video about this rivalry with Cargill calling herself “that bitch” repeatedly.
* Dax Harwood (w/Cash Wheeler) vs. Chris Jericho (w/Sammy Guevara) with Mike Tyson as the Special Ringside Enforcer. All other Pinnacle and Inner Circle members are banned from ringside.
Analysis: That’s a pretty good lineup with two title matches on the show. It’s clear that AEW is trying to load up with a big show without NXT against them next Wednesday, so putting two title matches makes sense. It will be taped on Thursday, which is today.
The main event six-man tag is up next.
(Commercial)
Kenny Omega made his entrance as the AEW World Heavyweight Champion with Don Callis by his side. They were joined by the Good Brothers duo of Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows from Impact Wrestling although I think we can call them AEW wrestlers at this point.
The Young Bucks made their entrance as the AEW Tag Team Champions with Excalibur trying to tell us that Don Callis is the reason why Omega and Young Bucks aren’t friends anymore. Jon Moxley got a good pop for his entrance coming in from the parking area.
Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson (w/Don Callis) vs. Jon Moxley, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson
Omega got in a shoving battle with Matt while Callis joined commentary for the match. Nick worked with Kenny with armdrags, then a tight headlock and Omega hit a shoulder tackle to knock Nick down. Nick with a step up headscissors that didn’t look like it was close to being effective, but Kenny sold it anyway. Anderson tagged in, Nick with a dropkick on Anderson and a dropkick on Omega. Moxley went into the ring with a clothesline on Gallows to the floor. Moxley and the Bucks hit dives onto the three guys on the floor.
(Commercial)
The match returned with Moxley getting a tag from Matt with Moxley hitting multiple clotheslines on Anderson. There was a whip into the corner, Anderson with a clothesline, Moxley no sold and hit a German Suplex. Moxley with German Suplexes for Omega and Gallows as well. Moxley grabbed Anderson, who choked Moxley across the top with a neckbreaker and Gallows was back in with a boot to the face. Gallows worked over Moxley in the corner, Moxley got back out of the corner and Moxley hit a neckbreaker. Nick tagged in against Anderson with Nick delivering several kicks to the body and Nick hit jumping kicks on Gallows. Anderson missed a corner splash, then stayed against the turnbuckle so that Nick could stomp onto Gallows and then Nick hit a backstabber on Anderson. Nick with a running kick on Gallows on the floor. Nick jumped back into the ring, but Anderson hit Nick with a spinebuster. Matt tagged in with Omega with Kenny backing off because that’s what heels do. Matt with two hiptosses, then a back body drop and Matt faked a kick leading to a DDT for two. Matt stopped himself from hitting a superkick. So you can DDT a guy, but can’t superkick him? Omega slapped him and then Matt came back with punches with Callis calling it “disgusting” which was funny. That led to the other four guys all doing moves to clear the ring. Omega with two Snapdragon Suplexes on Matt, who was grabbing his neck. Moxley was back in with a clothesline on Omega and then Matt hit a piledriver for a two count. Nick Jackson hit a 450 Splash followed by Matt hitting a moonsault and Anderson broke up the pin. The worst referee was doing this match, so the rules were ignored. Nick hit a dive off the top onto the Good Brothers on the floor. Matt was talking to Kenny to check to see if he was okay. Young Bucks were about to hit the BTE Trigger, but then they stopped themselves from doing it. Moxley went into the ring to tell them to do it. Omega had to sit there for like 30 seconds as if he couldn’t move or something. The fans were booing and Moxley was yelling at the Bucks, so Moxley tagged himself in. Moxley hit the Paradigm Shift on Omega. Moxley shoved Nick away and hit a second Paradigm Shift. Moxley locked on the sleeper hold on Omega, so Nick hit Moxley with a superkick and Matt hit a superkick on Moxley too. Eddie Kingston was on the ramp to try to save Moxley, but the Good Brothers beat him up on the ramp and hit the Magic Killer double team move. Callis said that they were making history. Tony asked if Callis knew this was coming and Callis said he wasn’t saying anything. Good Brothers hit the Magic Killer on Moxley with Omega pinning Moxley to win the match after 17 minutes.
Winners by pinfall: Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson
Analysis: ***1/4 This was a decent match with the big twist at the end with the Young Bucks turning heel or at least helping Omega’s team win. It was more about the angle with the Young Bucks turning heel rather than about having an amazing match here. Poor Jon Moxley apparently has nobody that cares about him other than Eddie Kingston, so that’s why Moxley got his ass kicked here. Moxley and Kingston look like such losers getting their asses kicked so much, but I guess the fans do like them and they’ll keep fighting back.
After the match, The Young Bucks stood in the ring with Omega and the Good Brothers with Callis. The Young Bucks looked conflicted. The Good Brothers held up Moxley with Omega/Callis The Young Bucks wanting them to attack Moxley. The Young Bucks hit a double superkick on Moxley. Excalibur: “This is despicable!” The fans chanted “you sold out” at them, which is one of the dumbest chants in wrestling. Tony said that it looked like The Bullet Club is back together. Omega wanted the “too sweet” gesture, but then Matt brought everybody in for a group hug. JR said it was “sickening as hell” to end it.
Analysis: It’s a big angle to create yet another group in AEW. You had MJF forming The Pinnacle about one month ago, Matt Hardy formed his stable within the last month, QT Marshall formed his group last week and now The Young Bucks are with Omega and friends to form The Elite or whatever they are going to call this group. I’m not sure if the Young Bucks will do well as a heel act because they are natural babyfaces that wrestle as faces, so we’ll see how they can do. I find it comical when announcers like Ross and Schiavone, who have been watching pro wrestling for like 60 years, are stunned by a heel turn as if they have never seen it before. It’s always funny to me when the announcers have to act shocked by something so obvious. Anyway, the execution of all of this was okay. I wouldn’t call it some great or memorable heel turn by any means. It’s just The Young Bucks, who haven’t had an interesting storyline in a long time to begin with.
Three Stars of the Show
- Chris Jericho
- Jon Moxley
- Young Bucks
The Scoreboard
This Week: 6.25 out of 10
Last Week: 7.25
2021 Average: 7.34
Final Thoughts
This was just an average show for AEW. Most of the matches were just decent this week. The best part of the show was Chris Jericho’s promo and then the build to Inner Circle vs. The Pinnacle having a Blood N Guts match in four weeks. Nice usage of Mike Tyson aligning with Jericho as well. The big news was that The Young Bucks turned heel to join Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers to form The Elite or Bullet Club or whatever they are going to call it. This is the fourth “new” group formed in the last month or so with MJF’s group, Matt Hardy’s group, QT Marshall’s group and now this Omega/Young Bucks/Good Brothers stable is together. How many groups do you need? It feels repetitive when it happens so often.
There are too many promos on the show where people are complaining about their spot. This week it was Lance Archer and Britt Baker. Last week it was Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky. Too many people come across as whiners with most of them complaining about the ranking system too.
Next week’s taped show feels like a big deal with two title matches. That’s smart by AEW since there’s no more NXT on Wednesday, so they might as well put on some big matches next week.
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John Canton
Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter: @johnreport