AEW Dynamite 2/7/24: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved
Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the show where the business is small — until suddenly it's big! And indeed, it was an eventful episode of "Dynamite." Samoa Joe got not one but two new challengers for his AEW World Championship at Revolution, Tony Khan didn't announce that Mercedes Mone is showing up but basically announced that Mercedes Mone is showing up, and Sting won an title in AEW by pinning a guy who's literally twice his age. You can read about all that and more by going to our live coverage/results page, but that'll only give you the facts. If you want to know what we actually thought about this week's show, this is the place to be.
Did we enjoy Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland? Did we appreciate the Young Bucks' whole "red blood on white suits" look? And most importantly, DID YOU SEE THE CUTE PUPPIES??? Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 2/7/24 episode of "AEW Dynamite."
Loved: Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page do it again
I think most people probably predicted that Swerve Strickland and "Hangman" Adam Page would both be challenging Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship at Revolution, but nonetheless, that didn't take away any sort of enjoyment from their No. 1 Contenders bout Wednesday night.
Although one could argue that the stakes could have been increased with a No Disqualification or Street Fight stipulation considering it was the third singles match in their trilogy, and they even (eventually) included a table spot, these two once again showcased just how good they are and just how much in-ring chemistry they have with one another. Not only did Hangman and Strickland tell a compelling mini-story through fast-paced, exciting action, but it helped to further the ongoing storyline between the two men and both of their desires to capture the top prize in AEW.
What made things all the more better was the fact that, despite the predictability of an ending with neither man coming out on top, having the time limit expire just as Strickland pinned Hangman and the referee was about to complete his three count was the perfect end to the match. It's easy to forget sometimes that AEW still does time limits on their matches, and it was the perfect way to remind people of that whilst taking them a little by surprise.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Hated: CMLL creates confusion
The six-man tag team match between the CMLL representatives and the Blackpool Combat Club was an entertaining match filled with incredible action and athletic moves that wowed audiences from start to finish. However, it was something that catered to the hardcore fans way too much. A casual viewer watching that show was given zero explanation as to why anything was happening.
There was no explanation as to who the wrestlers were, their backgrounds, or why they were working together. The same can be said for the other three CMLL stars who sat at ringside, and while the focus might be on the in-ring product, these details matter. A simple video package would have sufficed, giving people some background as to why they should take them seriously as performers and as threats to three of AEW's biggest stars.
AEW makes everyone look good inside the ring as every wrestler is allowed time to shine, but there has to be something more to make these men feel different. On top of that, there is no real rhyme or reason as to why they've got issues with the BCC, or AEW generally. It left an odd babyface/heel dynamic in the match where a lot of fans seemed confused about which team they should be cheering for, and the post-match angle also left a lot to be desired. Furthermore, if this is going to be a big-time storyline featuring the likes of Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley, the choice of other AEW wrestlers making the save made little sense, as they're simply not seen on the same level as the people they were helping.
With another CMLL-related match confirmed for later this week, it's clear this partnership is far from over, and that's not a bad thing. It's going to create great matches and bring something fresh to the product. However, to create less confusion, there needs to be more effort put into the little things, giving fans a reason to actually invest in everything that is happening outside of just seeing cool spots that they get in every other match.
Written by Matthew Wilkinson
Hated: Overbooker of the Year
The finish of Chris Jericho vs. Konosuke Takeshita was everything I find so infuriating about so many AEW matches.
- Don Callis slides a chair into the ring to get the ref's attention
- While the ref is distracted, Callis hits Jericho in the head with a screwdriver
- Takeshita gets Jericho in the Walls of Jericho, which almost makes Jericho pass out, but he gets his arm up at the last second
- Takeshita drags Jericho into the center of the ring and locks in the hold again, and Jericho taps
None of these things are bad in and of themselves, but together, they're just too much (and mind you, all of this happened at the end of a match that was already too long and that already seen Sammy Guevara chase Powerhouse Hobbs away from ringside). It would even be okay if most of these elements were in the finish — if Callis distracts the ref and hits Jericho with the screwdriver, allowing Takeshita gets Jericho in the Walls, which makes Jericho pass out, that works just fine. It's the one extra thing that gets me. Just that one added element that turns a well-booked match into a giant flashing billboard that reads "this person doesn't understand wrestling storytelling, they are just throwing things at the wall."
Also, is the Jericho vs. Callis feud really going to end up lasting a full year? Because it feels like it's lasted five already.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
Loved: A black parade on Sting
If there's one thing I love in AEW, it's storyline drama. And now that we've (seemingly, fingers crossed) moved past any major, real-life drama (though rather unlikely, especially with, other things going down in the wrestling world) any stupid storyline involving The Young Bucks (or now, as we must refer to them, by their government names, Matthew and Nicholas Jackson) is okay by me, because it's absolutely ridiculous.
Wednesday night, the Bucks raining on Sting and Darby Allin's parade — a parade of Sting's first and likely only AEW championship — was just perfect. While many of us realized that Sting and Allin would win the feud, the fact the Bucks immediately crashed the party was a surprise to me. I wasn't sold on the Bucks and Sting in the legend's final match to begin with, but it's growing on me. If we're really moving into the Bucks being bad guys, this is absolutely the way to get to it. Wednesday's show wasn't bad by any means, but seeing the confetti drop for Sting and Allin, only for things to be ruined by the Bucks, was jarring —in a good way. Maybe I'm a sucker for the bad guy, but I loved this.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Hated: Big promises for 'Big Business'
Another "Dynamite," another Tony Khan big announcement. No wrestling show and no wrestling personality has ever made me talk or write about the same s*** over and over again nearly as much as this one and this guy, but here we are again, even when something of substance actually did get announced for once (sort of).
I must admit, when TD Garden tweeted out AEW's return to Boston on March 13th, I thought that was it, that they spoiled Tony's latest big moment, and really, in the end, it wasn't much more than that on the surface. Khan announced the branding of the episode as "Big Business," a subtle allusion to the former Sasha Banks, Mercedes Mone, followed by a not-so-subtle graphic for the event, with "BO$$TON" in clear view for all to see. Effectively, he's trying to catch lightning in a bottle by repeating the "promote the debut without really promoting the debut" tactics once used for CM Punk's AEW debut on a special "The First Dance" episode of "Rampage" in Chicago back in 2021. And hey, while that run may not have ended well, it started about as perfectly as it could have, so I can't blame him for trying. (Fightful Select is officially reporting the Mone debut, for the record.)
But don't get it twisted, Mone's AEW debut won't be on that level, though I do hope her entire tenure is everything she wants it to be and, yes, that they want it to be as well. Now here's where Tony lost me once again. Along with the hint hint, wink wink "she's coming" cuteness, he dubbed the episode "one of the most important nights ever in AEW and a night that the entire pro wrestling industry will remember," essentially making yet another grandiose promise that can in no possible way pay off to any satisfactorily level outside of his own mind.
Maybe he got Kazuchika Okada and he'll debut on that episode too. Fine. But why in the world does this guy live in such absolutes? And how is no one warning him against continuing the pattern? It's just setting a bar that's impossible to eclipse. And he's never going to learn.
Written by Jon Jordan
Loved: Wrestling Is terrible, look at these puppies
Somewhere between reading 67 pages of Vince McMahon's psychological, emotional, and sexual torture of Janel Grant, reorienting myself with Ashley Massaro's claims of being raped at the hands of the US Armed Forces during a tour of Kuwait, WWE's reported knowledge of the said incident, and all the other human misery that is currently surrounding professional wrestling, the business became a pretty terrible place. This is why AEW's latest corporate synergy with Warner Bros Discovery was a welcome distraction from the terrible burden of wrestling's many sins.
Orange Cassidy, Kris Statlander, and members of Dark Order, all wrestlers with sunny dispositions and squeaky-clean records, helped advertise the upcoming "Puppy Bowl XX" on WBD channels as well as the Max streaming platform, by playing and posing with a crop of adorable rescue puppies. For a brief, shining moment, I did not feel complicity in whatever my writing, PPV buys, or general wrestling fandom did to bolster a sick business that has broken the bodies and spirits of too many. I just smiled, knowing that puppies are cute and The Dark Order are lovable goofballs.
Is the rot too deep? What exactly did Paul Levesque know about his father-in-law's atrocities? What did Nick Khan know? Or Ari Emanuel? These questions seemed to melt away seeing Orange Cassidy get smooches from a loving pitbull puppy, and for that I am grateful.
The past two weeks have swelled the kind of dark clouds that can eclipse even the brightest sunlight, but for that brief moment of corporate synergy, the clouds parted and I felt the warm light of joy on my face. Grant's lawsuit, the corroboration of John Laurinaitis, and the federal grand jury investigation into McMahon are not problems that will go away overnight. This is going to be a long arduous year, full of reckonings both professional and personal for anyone who has loved professional wrestling in any way. Taking the joy where you can find it is going to be important. It is so much not enough but it is still important.
For that reason, it is important to enjoy Kris Statlander playing with puppies and enjoy it wholly, and I did.
Written by Ross Berman