AEW Dynamite 8/28/24: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the show that begins and ends with baffling creative decisions! At least, that's how we saw it here at WINC, and this column is very much about how we felt about Wednesday's episode. There's some stuff we don't feeling strongly enough to talk about —  Mariah May's lingerie, Jamie Hayter vs. Harley Cameron, and Tony Khan breaking a promise on social media — but you can read about that on our objective and comprehensive "Dynamite" results page. If you want to know why we thought certain creative decisions were baffling, you've got to stay here and read our opinions on the All In 2024 fallout show.

With that in mind, are we feeling the All Out builds for matches like MJF vs. Daniel Garcia and Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland? Did we appreciate the way "Dynamite" folded in the newly-debuted Ricochet? And most importantly, does the fact that we're getting more Bryan Danielson matches make up for the quality of opponent he's suddenly getting? Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/28/2024 episode of "AEW Dynamite."

Jon Moxley made his long-awaited return to AEW during this week's show, his first appearance since losing the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship to Tetsuya Naito at Forbidden Door in June. What was he going to say? What was he going to do? The answers to these questions left us with more questions.

As it turned out, he was going to randomly call out Darby Allin with no further said on the matter — the same Darby Allin we last saw saved from being burned alive by Sting at All In, after facing Jack Perry, who is now going to be facing Moxley's Blackpool Combat Club teammate Bryan Danielson. Moxley's status within the BCC wasn't addressed.

Instead, he would later appear in a backstage segment ahead of his supposed teammate's world championship celebration with an entirely new ward in Marina Shafir. Did they choose then to address their status? Not really. Moxley outright refused to offer any context and he and Shafir instead made quick work of the security supposedly hired to protect wrestlers, with one co-opting the "Looney Tunes" trope of saying "Nope" and fleeing in further insult to the collective intelligence of the audience.

Circling back to his opening promo, there are no tangibly observable clues to the story, which in itself defeats the entire purpose of teasing something in the first place. There are no layers to peel back and analyze. Yes, it's extremely early to write the entire storyline off — as the old adage in wrestling goes, we should let the story play out before casting that aspersion — but what was offered Wednesday night had all the expositional value of a soundbite. Speaking of soundbites, the one discernible hint at things to come was Moxley's proclamation to Tony Schiavone: "This isn't your company anymore." Which to our knowledge has always been owned by Tony Khan. So the one thing of note — outside of a personally welcome spotlight on Shafir — is a sentence which doesn't actually hold any weight. If you don't already actively watch AEW, where was the hook?

It's worth noting that fans on social media have played with the idea that Moxley's promo could be indicative of a Shane McMahon debut. When the talking point of an angle starting in AEW involves a McMahon, you've started on the wrong foot.

Written by Max Everett

Swerve Strickland may have lost the AEW World Championship to Bryan Danielson at All In, but he certainly hasn't missed a beat when it comes to much else. Strickland is one of my personal favorites both in-ring and on the microphone, and I've been fascinated by his feud with "Hangman" Adam Page since I started to watch "Dynamite" more consistently and start covering it this year. The personal touches to this feud have always stuck out to me as being just brutally phenomenal. Page tried to interfere with Strickland and Danielson's match on Sunday, and when Page won against Tomohiro Ishii this week on "Dynamite," Strickland made his presence known, and made it known loud and clear he wasn't happy with Page.

The manner in which he did so, however, was stone cold cool and calculating, whereas Page was flat out screaming at Strickland and losing his mind, going as far as to say Strickland "isn't a world champion, he's not a champion of anything, he's just a piece of s***," right after Strickland said calmly that he might not have the gold around his waist, but he'll always be referred to as a world champion. Just pure genius in juxtaposition between these two characters.

Page had a moment of clarity in his temper tantrum and said he wants to leave everyone else out of it. Strickland, still very calmly, replied that "why don't we lock them out and lock us in?" and challenged Page to a steel cage match at All Out. And in my mind, with how their previous matches in this feud have gone? Yes. Freaking. Please. I've always been a fan of cage matches since I was a kid, and that's the kind of brutal spice you need on a pay-per-view not even two weeks after your last huge event.

At this point, "Hangman" starts to shut up, and Strickland goes into a story about how after Page cost him the title at Revolution in their three-way match against Samoa Joe, he drove to Page's house, which he was all too familiar with from previously breaking in. The image I had of Strickland just watching Page and his pregnant wife leave for the hospital for her to give birth was just menacing. I love it. I love Strickland as this character and it works so well against the unhinged Page we're seeing now.

Strickland absolutely cooked Page on the mic, and I think he's going to get the win at All Out. He may have lost the championship, but it's not bothering him, and he's getting down to business, just like a true boss should. My friend and WINC colleague Max Everett said tonight that, "Swerve's house is now Hangman's head, and there is no rent to be paid," and I don't think there's a better way to describe just how phenomenal I found this.

Written by Daisy Ruth

It's almost become an annual tradition at this point for AEW to rush the build for the All Out due to its close proximity to All In. However, there are certain matches and storylines that deserve to be given more time to be built up rather than one or two segments on "Dynamite," and the feud between MJF and Daniel Garcia unfortunately has followed the trend.

The segment between the two men on Wednesday's edition of "Dynamite" should've been one that was straightforward, with MJF calling out Garcia, Garcia coming down to the ring, and either him beating down MJF or having the two get into a major brawl with one another. Instead, what happened was MJF complaining about losing the International Championship at All In due to Will Ospreay's cheating ways, revealing that he had two herniated discs in his spine, Garcia blindsiding MJF, the two brawling with one another back and forth for several minutes, and Garcia then cutting a mini promo of his own, all just to challenge MJF to a match at All In.

MJF and Garcia have history with one another, from their mentor-mentee relationship to MJF's betrayal of Garcia that sidelined him for a number of weeks. Garcia's return at All In felt like it was a big moment, and the events that follow should be treated in the same manner rather than being rushed and convoluted like they were this week in order to fit the deadline of a pay-per-view.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

As someone who has been dreading the inevitable Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet rematch ever since the latter left WWE, there are few bigger babyface moves you could pull for me than delaying that match by attacking Ospreay from behind and telling Ricochet to wait his damn turn. Of course, in this case the babyface in question was PAC, so instead of just a regular sneak attack, he snuck up on Ospreay and gave him a poisoned rana on the stage, because PAC is more bad-ass than the wrestlers you like.

I like this booking because it does something AEW is often bad at doing: It elevates AEW above the rest of the wrestling world. "Sure, it's nice that Ricochet is here and everything," PAC essentially said, "but those of us who have already been here are in the middle of some stuff and it doesn't involve you, so kindly piss off while I dismember this soccer hooligan." It makes the stuff happening in AEW seem more important than the stuff happening anywhere else, which in turn makes for more authentic characters. And at the same time, it does get Ricochet involved, which means we're probably getting Ricochet vs. PAC in the near future, and I am exactly as here for that as I am not here for the Ospreay/Ricochet rematch.

Also, PAC just rules and it's always a good night when he gets to menace someone. His trios team with Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta feels thrown together (because it was) and if their victory at All In was referenced on "Dynamite," it wasn't in any substantial way; meanwhile, PAC in singles competition is always going to be compelling, both in the ring and on the mic. I don't know how long he'll be in the International title scene, but I wish him all the best in his righteous and noble quest to keep Ospreay vs. Ricochet from happening. Godspeed, bastard; godspeed.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Days after this writer lost his voice celebrating Bryan Danielson's AEW World Championship win at All In on Sunday, I sat down in eager anticipation of his next steps. He had won the title from Swerve Strickland under the threat of losing his career, so it would have been somewhat bittersweet to hear him call it quits on "AEW Dynamite." As he would go on to say, however, his contract with AEW had expired and he will need neck surgery sooner or later. Regardless, Danielson decreed he would be a full-time wrestler so long as he has the title, for however long that may be until he is succeeded.

AEW is blessed with over a century of the world's best wrestlers bell-to-bell, plenty of which have never faced the "American Dragon" and could both use the spotlight as well as notch another instant classic on his resume as he rides off into the sunset. Christian Cage has a pending title shot after All In, but that wasn't addressed. Alas, the worst thing CM Punk has done to AEW reared its head again, with the seemingly omnipresent "Scapegoat" Jack Perry attacking Danielson from behind to kick off their feud. Granted, Perry did pin Danielson at Double or Nothing, so there is a precedent for his claim. But he's also the reigning TNT Champion, a title he has only defended twice since winning it in June, and will further forego another defense in pursuit of something else.

The titles are supposed to provide meaning to the weekly endeavors of the talent in the ring, each one a proverbial rung on the ladder with the ultimate goal of becoming the top guy. To extend the metaphor, Perry is pulling the ladder up behind him, which can only serve to asphyxiate the talent working to get to his level. Even beyond that, AEW touts its sports-focused presentation. Why isn't the governing body doing its job? If the explanation is supposed to be along the lines of Perry being friends with the EVPs, then why couldn't Tony Khan just override them like he did with, say, Britt Baker's onscreen suspension?

None of it makes sense, and it really doesn't seem like it will. Jack Perry vs. Bryan Danielson will undoubtedly be a solid match, if not excellent, but the same could be said about two-thirds of the roster while also giving fans what they crave: something new, and something that doesn't drag a retiring legend into the black hole of The Elite's stale power grab storyline.

Written by Max Everett

Bryan Danielson isn't just one hell of a wrestler — he's also an amazing actor, and not just from the way he sells in the ring to make you terrified he's legitimately hurt, but also when it comes to retirement announcements. Many online have noted that before All In, Danielson was wearing a shirt similar to the one he was wearing when he announced his initial retirement in WWE, a green flannel, making many think he wasn't going to win the AEW Championship match against Swerve Strickland. Thankfully for fans of the "American Dragon," that didn't end up being the case, and Danielson walked out of Wembley Stadium with the gold. Then, during promotions for "Dynamite" tonight in the last few days, it was mentioned that Danielson would be "addressing his future with professional wrestling." If that didn't make your heart sink a little bit just hearing that, and thinking maybe even just for a slight second, that Danielson would be vacating the title and going off peacefully into the night to be with his wife and children (and get the neck surgery he says he's going to need sooner rather than later), then your anxiety must not be as bad as mine.

He started to make me wonder when he mentioned his daughter, Birdie, saying seeing him win was the "best day of her life" and it was his own favorite moment of his career. Danielson then, of course, went into hyping up AEW, saying he's loved professional wrestling his entire life and "the fact AEW even exists makes professional wrestling better and has made my life better." That definitely sounded like someone putting over the company that brought him back and allowed him to wrestle again, almost like a final "thank you." He said it's "probably time for him to go home," but (oh my gosh, thankfully) NOT YET!

While it wasn't an MJF "Wolf of Wallstreet"-esque "I'm not f***ing leaving" speech, I thought it was the equivalent to what that would look like for Danielson. There's one quote that stuck out to me, and I started typing furiously to make sure I got exactly what he said, word for word:

"I will not retire as AEW champion. I am going to fight for this championship as much as I possibly can and granted, don't get this twisted, as soon as I lose this, my full-time career is over, but that's not going to be anytime soon, because I still have a lot of heads to kick in."

While I personally am not thrilled about TNT Champion Jack Perry being Danielson's first challenger, the overall concept of this reign is a perfect swan song for Danielson's full-time career — going out as a fighting champion.

Written by Daisy Ruth