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I thought that this week's episode of AEW Dynamite was just okay. I just think that there's been a dip in terms of quality since the AEW Revolution pay-per-view.
But there were a lot of interesting things that happened on the show and hardly am I implying that it was a waste of my time to invest my energy into watching All Elite Wrestling. It was definitely far better than WWE RAW this week, a show where nothing honestly happened.
So, with that said, let me look at the card and run down the best and the worst from this week's show for your reading pleasure. As always, feel free to leave a comment and let me know if you agree or disagree with my personal assessment.
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So, with that said, I hereby present the best and worst of AEW Dynamite, a show that built to Blood & Guts.
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#1 Best: Bea Priestley turns on Nyla Rose
Almost every week, I mention the women's segment as a worst, but honestly, this week I thought that the women did a stellar job. Bea Priestley is someone who has a great look and Nyla Rose is great in the ring.
But what made the segment awesome is the fact that Bea Priestley wants a piece of Nyla Rose going forward, and it should make for a very interesting dynamic, I guess. We haven't seen much of Priestley but she's not a pure babyface in the Hikaru Shida sense (or so I believe) and it could make for a very compelling contest indeed.
Nyla Rose seems absolutely bulletproof at the moment, in a Brock Lesnar sort of manner, so the question of who can dethrone her and take her title is one on every fan's mind right now.
#1 Worst: The mystery partner was Dustin Rhodes?
Let me say at the very outset that I think the world of Dustin Rhodes and this is not a column to put him down. But when you advertise a mystery partner it needs to be someone that the audience does not expect, not someone who's around almost every week.
Yes, Dustin Rhodes more than held his own in the main event match, but I could feel the air go out of the building when it was revealed that he would be Hangman Page's mystery partner this week. One would have assumed that even a limping Jon Moxley, beaten up after the events of last week, would have been a much better candidate than Rhodes was.
The good thing about All Elite Wrestling is that the promotion has far too much goodwill with the crowd for them to boo such annoyances but if it was WWE, I can imagine the whole arena protesting the decision to book such a disappointing development after almost two hours of programming.
#2 Best: The 6-man Tag Team match
One of the best calls from Jim Ross since the promotion started was him heaping praise on Pentagon for how athletic the man is. And then, he went on to say that for all his gifts, he is not the most athletic man in his faction. In this way, he got not one, not two, but three men over during the contest.
We all knew that Pentagon, Fenix, and PAC would be great in the match and we also knew that Private Party would hold their own during the said competition. The only dark horse was Joey Janela who's always been more of a risk-taker than someone who's known for his abundant wrestling ability. I am happy to report that Janela not only held his own during the said contest, but there were spots were he actually shone and the audience was totally into his whole shtick.
Death Triangle seems like a really formidable heel faction right now, and their feud with The Best Friends and Orange Cassidy should be a treat to behold.
#2 Worst: The whole Lance Archer reveal
So, last week Jake Roberts was the talk of the town when he announced that he would be bringing out a very special client to AEW soon. Even though I'm not disappointed that it is Lance Archer, I have a feeling that he should have been debuted in a bigger way on AEW Dynamite.
Had he come in with the music playing and with a grand entrance, he would have seemed like a bigger deal than a man just sitting in the ringside area. A man who did not even interfere in the proceedings of the match that was happening in front of him.
You only get one chance to make a first impression and while I'm not saying that AEW botched it big with Lance Archer's debut, I just want to say that they could have done things differently considering how big a deal Lance Archer is. Did the people in the audience without the benefit of live commentary even realize whom Jake Roberts was bringing to the ringside area?
#3 Best/Worst: Britt Baker's promo
Throughout the course of wrestling history, certain stars and announcers have gone hand-in-hand. It's impossible to imagine Stone Cold's greatest moments without Jim Ross making them special, and neither is it possible to imagine a Hulk Hogan promo without the immortal Mean Gene Okerlund holding the microphone with his signature booming voice.
Tony Schiavone and Britt Baker seem to have found that amazing chemistry and this is not a sentence that I ever assumed that I would be writing. In any case, I love heel Britt Baker and I think this is the route she should have taken from the very start in AEW.
But there's something missing in her delivery that made her whole segment fall flat, and it continues to be a problem with her. Her lines are amazing, her approach is great, but she just lacks the kind of conviction that a heel like Chris Jericho or MJF has.
And when you're on the same show as these performers, comparisons are going to be made, I suppose. It's only natural.
