AEW Dynamite 08/07/24: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the show that apparently has two women's matches every week now, but the catch is that the combined ring time for both of them is less than previous episodes of "Dynamite" used to give their one women's match! Curse you, monkey's paw! Anyway, we are actually not going to complain about that in this column, believe it or not — though we are most definitely going to complain about many other things in the women's division. That's because this is an opinion column and we get to complain about whatever we want to complain about; if you want a complaint-free article, go check out our "Dynamite" results page, which also has the benefit of talking about the entire show. Here, we focus on what we particularly liked and disliked about the episode, which in this case means we're mostly here to discuss the women's division and Jeff Jarrett vs. Bryan Danielson.

With that in mind, did we enjoy the latest all-out brawl between Toni Storm and Mariah May? Did the TBS title feud promos between an un-suspended Britt Baker and Mercedes Mone do much for us this week? And are we looking forward to watching Swerve Strickland skin Wheeler Yuta alive next week, probably? Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/7/24 episode of "AEW Dynamite."

Don Callis is an evil mastermind who has seemingly put together a family of hard-nosed killers, and so far not a single one has been willing to use his stupid screwdriver. While it's a hilarious bit that makes Callis look like a joke of a person, it doesn't really do much for the cavalcade of svelt young men that Callis has taken under his lascivious wing. If Chris Jericho has "The Jericho Vortex" which sucks talent into a netherworld from which few have escaped, then Callis has "The Don Callis Effect." Quite simply, Callis takes a young, impressionable man on as a mentee, things get too weird and violent for the young man, he turns his back on Callis, vanishes, and dissipates. Sometimes he goes to Japan, sometimes he goes to Ring of Honor, but outside of Will Ospreay, he never seems to progress from where he was under Callis's employ.

Now the same saga is playing out with Kyle Fletcher, only worsened by Fletcher's uncomfortable similarities to Ospreay. Callis is a cursed figure on AEW programming, draining popularity from young talent and trapping them in an existence of arrested development, much like a vampire. I'm sure this is all heading somewhere, but the song is old and I've grown tired of the dance; it's time to bring it all home. 

Written by Ross Berman

Wednesday night, Mariah May snatched up her latest show of dominance since leaving the nest of her former mentor, Toni Storm. But as she stood in the ring to celebrate another victory, who should be behind her but Storm, dressed to the nines in a black jumpsuit, smeared red lipstick, and a crazed look in her eyes?

If you weren't reading a piece with "AEW Dynamite 8/7/24" in the title, I would've been impressed if you knew which Storm/May segment I was talking about.

Yes, May and Storm's build going into All In is one of the better ones on AEW programming as of late, but that doesn't make it immune from criticism. The feud is good, but it will be great as soon as AEW stops having Storm sneak up on May in an unassuming disguise.

Professional wrestling has never been more competitive than it is in our current era of programming. WWE and AEW are seeking ways to one-up each other every week, the divide between fans of each program grow wider by the day, and the climate of social media has necessitated bigger and riskier plays in order to hold the coveted status of "the topic of conversation." Professional wrestling, at this point, necessitates innovation. So to see AEW be so trite and uninspired with their biggest women's feud heading into the biggest international event on AEW's calendar is cause for concern. Why do we see the same beats played week in and week out in our women's feuds? Why is there no motivation for inventiveness? The lack of creativity is frustrating to watch for new fans, and can become rather stale rather quickly for those familiar with the product. The events in May and Storm's feud have begun to blur together, and if the feud is to match the stakes of their All In match, the methodology of their feud needs to change. It is unreasonable to expect excitement from fans when there is little, at this moment, to be excited about.

The formula is always the same: May does something really cool to prove that she is ready for a world title shot, Storm does something crazy and then attacks her former protege from behind. It seems AEW only changes Storm's method of intimidation, but leaves the rest of the equation the same. Sure, it will yield a slightly different result, but when the result of Storm's aggravation is the same, even down to her outfit, it's all for naught.

P.S.: They can't get Storm a better jumpsuit? I know she's meant to blend in, but come on. It's almost as bland as her booking.

Written by Angeline Phu

Repeating essentially the same thing on television two weeks in a row is never overly exciting to watch as a fan, but doing almost the exact same thing verbatim by having Kamille pick up a quick win and Mercedes Mone say essentially the exact same thing for two weeks made it even worse.

Having Kamille destroy Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. in her AEW debut and immediately align herself with Mone makes it seem on paper that the company is treating her as a big star by giving her a push right out of the gate and inserting her into a high profile feud in the women's division. However, giving her a pair of squash matches in an attempt to have it come across just how powerful she's supposed to be vastly takes away from that and does nothing to help get that point further across. Yes, Kamille was given a two-on-one handicap match this weej, which felt like an ever so slight step-up from last week, but that didn't take away from the feeling that AEW has just been passing the time until Baker returns in person. When you consider that there are other women such as Nyla Rose, Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale, Deonna Purrazzo, and The Outcasts who could use the television time — and who would make Kamille's wins feel like a much bigger deal by comparison — it's honestly bizarre.

AEW and Tony Khan never needed to write Baker's suspension into the storyline between her and Mone. Having her off of television for a couple of weeks wouldn't have been a big deal, and Mone could've had matches of her own, cut a more effective promo on Baker, or just had a couple of weeks on television herself. Mone ragging on Baker and Baker appearing on the jumbotron to send Mone a message that had no impact just felt like salt being rubbed into the wound of all the drama that Baker has been wrapped up in this past week, and did nothing to contribute to the big feel that their All In match should have. It was a cheap way to get Mone heat, but didn't work as intended, which was shown from the reaction of the live crowd.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

I am one of those writers here at WINC who often don't have much faith in AEW, but when it comes to their pay-per-views, they always come through. Now, even a little over two weeks away from All In, I'm already excited for two matches in particular due to just how well they're being built on "Dynamite." Those would be the Women's World Championship match pitting champion Toni Storm against former protegee Mariah May, and the AEW World title bout with champion Swerve Strickland taking on Bryan Danielson in a title vs. career match. While I don't think the latter needed the explicit stipulation from everything Danielson has said in recent months, it does make it seem more urgent and exciting. Also, I think it makes it a bit more unpredictable.

I will admit, Storm and May do have a bit of a redundant story arc going on with the attacks on the show utilizing the literal heel, but I don't necessarily mind it. I love both of these women, and I'm always glad to see them on my TV screen. I felt this coming with the Mina Shirakawa angle and Forbidden Door match, but seeing May fully turn on Storm has been pretty darn satisfying — in part, because it was time, but I don't think the impending split was stretched out too long. This week, May getting in the ring with a talent I wasn't familiar with, Viva Van, was pretty cool; I like being exposed to new talent on "Dynamite." The angle (again, though admittedly redundant) was set up well, with the comically large envelope being delivered to May and the "DIE MARIAH DIE" written on the back of the photo, which May just noticed before Storm launched her sneak attack. I don't think it's too early for a prediction on this one — I think May takes the title from Storm (starting a presumably wonderful story of a downward spiral once again) in her hometown of London.

As for Strickland and Danielson, it's harder for me to make a prediction through all this build, and that's what makes me love it so much. It's honestly what's selling me the PPV at this point. Does Danielson "accidentally" win the belt so he can't retire? Does he actually retire? Do I want that? I know for sure I don't want to see Strickland lose, because I love him as a talent. At first, Strickland seemed honored to take on Danielson, but Wednesday night, he told him he "won't hesitate to take the Killshot." He's becoming more of the heel in this build, and I adore heel Swerve. He works so well as a bad guy, and putting him up against Danielson, who many fans worry about when it comes to concussions and injuries and such, just works so, so well for me, and it's getting me really hyped up for All In.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Bryan Danielson is living life on a thin line, riding a razor's edge to Wembley Stadium as he prepares for his world title match at All In by putting his already-broken body through what appear to be dream matches before his full-time career ends. Danielson is wrestling like a man who ain't got nothing , and when you ain't got nothing you've got nothing left to lose. On Wednesday, Danielson took on Memphis wrestling legend Jeff Jarrett in a match that felt like a muted homage to the famous Tupelo Concession Brawl — an ode to territory wrestling that was a violent, plunderous delight.

There are a lot of great matches that have been canceled due to an untimely injury, and Danielson is wrestling as if he plans on making whichever match jinxes his hopes for Wembley Stadium the most entertaining one possible. While I can't ethically support it, I also can't say I am immune to Danielson and Jarrett's violent delights. I'm thoroughly convinced Danielson is so against winning the AEW World Championship that he is making sure his body is in no condition for anything other than retirement at All In, and I will peek through my fingertips at every death-defying spot from here to London.

Written by Ross Berman

For months now, AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland has been something resembling a true babyface — he's acknowledged his history of heelish actions, but he's also wrestled and feuded like a fairly traditional good guy. And it's very easy to imagine how a traditional good guy holding the world title (your John Cena/Cody Rhodes types) would behave in the lead-up to a world title defense against a man who is broadly considered to be "the best wrestler" and who is also on a retirement tour. It would be a lot of nobility, a lot of mutual respect, maybe a little Swerve trying to talk Bryan Danielson out of putting what little is left of his career on the line. In short, it would be just about the most boring thing on the planet Earth.

But that's not what Strickland is doing. Instead, he's leaning into that history he acknowledged, that dark part of himself that used to kidnap people, assault them in their own dojos, break into their houses and cut a promo on their sleeping children. Danielson's alignment in AEW has always been fairly mutable, but there's no way in hell the crowd at Wembley is going to want him to lose. AEW clearly knows that, and they've wisely ignored the babyface vs. babyface "mutual respect" route in favor of having Swerve's alignment be mutable, as well. After his work on Wednesday's "Dynamite," there's no doubt he's playing the heel in this feud, and the result has been that he's spoken and carried himself like a champion more so than ever before in his reign.

Strickland's post-main event promo, in particular, was dripping with sneering confidence. He compared himself to Jeff Jarrett and Ricky Steamboat, legends of wrestling on TNT, but refused to include Danielson in that conversation, since Danielson had never appeared on the network as world champion. He explained that Danielson's body was already failing him in matches with lesser men; what's going to happen when he steps into the ring with "the most dangerous man in AEW?" And he challenged Danielson's protégé, Wheeler Yuta to "a warm-up match," inviting Danielson to take a front row seat for the carnage. Yuta, of course, took umbrage and tried to get in Swerve's face, but Swerve's eyes never wavered from Danielson. When they finally did, he looked at Yuta like a lion looks at a gazelle; I came away thinking there's a very good chance next week's episode will feature Yuta's very real demise. This is the Swerve Strickland I wanted to see as world champion, the one who asks "Whose house?" in a voice that can only be described as feral; If this is the silver lining we get for Danielson main-eventing All In instead of "Hangman" Adam Page, I will take it.

AEW would be insane to dethrone Swerve at Wembley, by the way. Danielson should lose. Just saying.

Written by Miles Schneiderman (who also thinks Sting should have lost his last match)