The Hero We Deserve

It’s Thursday and you know what that means! Let’s cut the shit and get right to The Good, The Bad, and the WTF: First Crack at Dynamite Edition.

The Good:

The chaotic action of the main event Trios match between Death Triangle and United Empire. Much as I don’t like wonky endings in AEW matches this was the overall pretty good and the last two minutes or so was predictably filled with insane spots. But I suppose that’s the only point of this entire Trios venture aside from getting more of the 500 AEW talents on tv as much as possible. I’m on record as not caring about the 1000th set of titles in this company and I truly don’t care who wins this thing but the Trios division is like an NBA game. You can watch the last 90 seconds and get all the quality entertainment it has to offer.

Ricky Starks’ promo on Ice Train Hobbs. This felt organic, was filled with passion, and I dug it. This build for All Out has been good and it makes sense unlike quite a bit of the rest of the card. More on that later.

Dax vs Lethal. Can never go wrong with FTR involved and I like Lethal as well. Crowd went bonkers when it was announced that MCMG was teaming with Lethal at All Out to face FTR and Wardlow. Admittedly, i know very little about these guys but the neckbeards love it so I assume it will be an entertaining bout.

The Acclaimed getting a title shot at All Out against Swerve and Lee. Proves TK is paying attention between bumps of cocaine. These guys are crazy over. Not certain they’ll win but they’re certainly deserving.

Moxley’s post match promo. Instead of just bleeding everywhere tonight, this guy solidifies himself as the intense psycho that he is and he belongs at the top of the card. However…

The Bad:

The title match was confusing, awful, and pointless. This was a lot of short term hype for a fart in the wind. Granted, not too many people outside the company really knows what the hell is going on and sometimes that’s the fun of it but I do not buy for one second Punk is re-injured. It’s quite possible AEW still has the Ace yet to be played but if it’s not MJF returning, I can’t imagine I’ll be excited about it. Is Punk quitting? Is he physically done? Did he whine his way into punishment? If he’s still hurt why did he agree to go out there? Wasn’t this one of his massive gripes with WWE? This just plain sucked. No way around it.

Along similar lines, for a company that prides itself on long term storytelling and cohesion, this PPV, their biggest of the year, sure is being thrown together last minute. Starks and Ice Train has been built, Jungle Boy and Christian is boiling, and the Trios title finals is something that’s been planned but the rest of the card is being thrown together in the final couple weeks. Jericho and the American Dragon? Slapped together tonight. Another interim title match, this time for the women? Unavoidable i guess but still slapped together. The tag title match? Last minute decision out of the nowhere. It’s a very odd switch for them. Not that the matches won’t be good, most of them probably will be but they’re not giving the fans any time to invest in the story. It’ll just feel more like a really good episode of Dynamite than a massive payoff event. There isn’t even a world title match set yet. Annoying.

Kip Sabian, if for no other reason than he kind of ruined the main event. Live fans loved it. Ok but that match deserved a cleaner finish. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I’m ok being in the minority here.

Danielson/Garcia/Jericho opening segment. I’m just not into Garcia’s emotional turmoil. Love Jericho. Love BD. They will put on a great match at All Out. Just don’t care at all about this storyline. Put Garcia in the BCC. Leave him in the JAS. I still won’t care.

The WTF:

Britt Baker in another squash match. When was the last time DMD was in a quality feud? She’s the only charismatic woman in the entire division and is the logical choice to win the “interim” title even though I think it would be much more interesting to put the title on Hayter, who is a better worker, and have her feud with Baker. I like Toni Storm and all but that’s a Liv Morgan situation waiting to happen. Don’t make that mistake, TK. Toni does not have the chops to carry a very weak Division.

Billy Gunn vs Colton Gunn. Mr. Ass’s entertaining involvement in this story is limited to Bowen’s screaming “scissor me daddy ass!”