This reviewer was not a happy camper when he found out that AEW Dynamite would be delayed by an hour because of a basketball game and the subsequent knowledge that the FITE TV stream would be delayed even further as compared to the TNT broadcast. Apologies to one and all if this review of AEW Dynamite has reached you a little after you anticipated it to come your way but these were circumstances beyond anyone's control.
All Elite Wrestling knew that AEW Dynamite had to be a very special show because it would be going up against NXT TakeOver. And they did pull out all the stops to make sure that this week's episode of AEW Dynamite was a pretty solid show.
And so, without further ado, I bring you the best and worst of AEW Dynamite this week.
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#1 Best: Brodie Lee captures the AEW TNT Championship on AEW Dynamite and a WWE Hall of Famer gets destroyed
Some of you may believe that the main headline coming out of AEW Dynamite is that Brodie Lee pulverized Cody Rhodes to become the brand new AEW TNT Champion, but on the contrary, what happened on this week's show is a lot more significant than that. The Dark Order destroyed Cody Rhodes, Brandi Rhodes, and even WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson, and finally proved why they are a force to be reckoned with.
Road Warrior Animal recently showed up on Sportskeeda's weekly talk show- UnSkripted, and said the following:
As great as Cody Rhodes is, if he wants to be a babyface, he needs to get a bad*** heel in there. Someone that people are gonna say 'I wanna see Cody kill this guy.'
And now, there's finally someone who has Cody Rhodes' number.
#1 Worst: MJF's lawyer threatens to ban the Paradigm shift on AEW Dynamite
To hype up his match against MJF, Jon Moxley said on this week's episode of AEW Dynamite that the toughest guys don't have to say much and then went on to cut a pretty lengthy promo. What made a lot of people pop is the fact that Renee Young, his wife, who has recently departed WWE was mentioned by him on the air, and she's been in the news recently because people have been speculating that she's AEW Dynamite bound very soon indeed.
As great as MJF was during the course of his promo, what makes this segment a 'Worst' is that there's a sense of goofiness and hokeyness when it comes to the Paradigm Shift getting banned and somehow, Jon Moxley and AEW comedy don't mix. MJF has not seemed much of a threat thus far to Jon Moxley on AEW Dynamite and does anyone in their right minds think that he's a legitimate threat to the world champion, heading into All Out? Not the best build.
#2 Best: Eddie Kingston shows up on AEW Dynamite and forms a new faction
Unfortunately, because of the circumstances that exist around the world, PAC has been out of the mix. And as a result, Pentagon and Fenix have fallen a rung or two on AEW Dynamite and they aren't as heavily featured as they once used to be. Thankfully, Eddie Kingson, who had a fantastic showing against Cody Rhodes not very long ago returned to AEW Dynamite again this week and pretty much formed a new faction with The Lucha Brothers, The Butcher, and The Blade.
This new faction that was formed on AEW Dynamite seems even more promising than Death Triangle at the moment.
It should be interesting to see what the situation is when PAC returns to AEW Dynamite, once things are alright yet again. But until then, having Eddie Kingston as a mouthpiece for The Lucha Brothers, The Butcher, and The Blade, seems like it's the smart thing to do and one is curious to see what happens next week on AEW Dynamite.
#2 Worst: FTR cuts a very underwhelming promo on AEW Dynamite
The pairing of Tully Blanchard and FTR just seems to work somehow, even better than Blanchard and Shawn Spears seemed to, honestly. How great is it that within a span of weeks, we've seen Ric Flair have one of the best segments of the year on WWE RAW, while Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard have become mainstays on AEW Dynamite. All we need is Barry Windham to show up on AEW Dynamite next, to manage another promising talent.
But as great as they are in the ring, the promo segment on AEW Dynamite with FTR and Hangman Page just seemed very underwhelming indeed.
It is clear as day that Wheeler and Hardwood are at their best when they are letting their fists do the talking on AEW Dynamite. Unfortunately, they are nowhere as good as they hyped themselves up to be on the Jim Cornette podcast, and maybe allowing Tully Blanchard to cut their promos for them in the weeks ahead is the right thing to do, for those two.
#3 Best/Worst: The best and worst of the Women's Division on AEW Dynamite this week
Brandi Rhodes is a woman of many talents and is obviously a key figure backstage in the All Elite Wrestling machine, and so one hopes that she will forgive this reviewer for stating the obvious after watching her AEW Dynamite match- she isn't really Hikaru Shida in the ring. Allie isn't all that much better either as was proved in the tag team match on AEW Dynamite this week.
But the first sighting of Thunder Rosa on AEW Dynamite, on the other hand, was a pretty big deal and we are glad to report that the promo she cut was absolute dynamite. Thunder Rosa vs. Hikaru Shida will be a fantastic match and is certain to elevate the AEW Women's division to the next level. One hopes that these inter-promotional feuds continue because they are really exciting.
AEW Dynamite isn't the only show this weekend, and to get you in the mood for SummerSlam, we bring you the official preview with Korey Gunz and Tom Colohue.
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