AEW Dynamite 4/21 had the unenviable task of following what many will consider one of the best bell-to-bell episodes of Dynamite of all-time. While we can’t predict if the ratings will be as high as last week’s shocking number — the creative direction of the company (which was much aligned about two-three weeks ago) seems to be pointing in the right direction for the company. [Editor’s Note: The ratings came in at 1.1 million+, down slightly from the week before].
So let’s breakdown all the big takeaways from AEW Dynamite 4/21.
Blood and Guts Will Be a One Match Show: This is smart with a capital S. While fans rejoiced the announcement of Blood and Guts (except those of us who were supposed to see it in Newark, New Jersey in March 2020) — a big question arose. How could AEW book a supershow in the beginning of May when they have a PPV (Double or Nothing 3) at the end of the month.
Easy — make the super show a match one card. Now, this match can be its own thing and while it does feel rushed, it definitely has a good amount of juice behind it. For the Double or Nothing build — which is still very vague at this point (outside of Bucks vs. Mox/Kingston and Britt vs. Shida) — you can now build those feuds without either overexposing it (e.g. Sting/Team Taz) or seemingly slapping it together at the last second.
As for the BNG match itself — a singular presentation is most intriguing. The uniqueness of the program gives the night an immediate big fight feel. You can pad the first hour with promos and hype videos, expert analysis from those who’ve been involved with “matches like this” (cough ::war games :: cough). In-house you can tap into Dustin Rhodes, Sting, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and Jim Ross and wouldn’t it be wild to get the likes of: Paul Ellering, JJ Dillon, Lex Luger, Nikita Koloff, Barry Windham, etc. to weigh in. Imagine cutting to “war room” promos happening during the match. Imagine they do eliminations instead of “surrender?” It’d be wild.
However, there’s a lot that needs to go right here. The match has to be able to carry two hours — the story has to be tight, the action has to be red hot and they need to make sure they don’t go too overboard with the violence. And with anything — they need to make sure they follow things up strongly for both squads.
Hangman and Ricky is Obviously a Future PPV Main Event: If you don’t see it, what are you watching?
The Women’s Division Has Turned Around: A few months ago we lamented how poorly the AEW Women’s Division was being presented on Dynamite and how we hoped the Women’s Eliminator Tournament would be a major turning point. In my opinion it was and we have been treated to some absolutely killer matches and a definite uptick in women’s segments per show and longer match times for women. This was wonderfully embodied tonight in the match between Hikaru Shida and Tay Conti. These two women had a really nicely built feud culminating with a terrific hype package on Road To.
In the ring, these beat the holy living hell out of each other and it was utter poetry watching them do so. Shida, in most of her title matches, delivers the goods and this match is definitely in the upper echelon of them (nothing’s touching her Thunder Rosa matches). Conti is a true success story for AEW — someone who was an afterthought in NXT and emerges as one the company’s top stars. Tay has upped her in-ring game exponentially not just from her black and gold days, but from her time in the women’s tag tournament from over the summer.
Once Shida won the match, Britt Baker came out and without saying a word announced she was #1 in the rankings and would be coming for the title. Ladies and gentes, the Baker era is about to begin in AEW and we’re all here for it.
While I do give the proper to AEW for turning things around in the Women’s Division — we need to see sustained evidence from the company in regards to the turnaround. Let’s build this title match, let’s get Thunder Rosa and Serena Deeb’s program started, rebuild Kris Statlander, continue the development of Jade Cargill, make sure Red Velvet stays at the forefront of people’s minds, keep this Ryu Mizunami/Leyla Hirsch team a thing, and make sure your online shows are loaded with women’s matches — getting the burgeoning talent in the division the reps they need. Get that Forbidden door with Impact open to the women. Oh and two words … Maki Itoh.
Christian Cage is the Workhorse: Two weeks ago with Frankie Kazarian was no fluke. Christian Cage is absolutely back. He went in with a young talent and not only looked like a million bucks but he gave Hobbs his best AEW match to date — one that 100% showcased this future star’s talent. Remember in March when people were all bummed out Christian was the surprise and it wasn’t Brock Lesnar or CM Punk? Yeah, let’s forget that happened because Captain Charisma is here and he’s going to wonders for AEW.
Penta Says…: The Best Friends vs. The Death Triangle is the goods.
The Factory is Working: No one is going to confuse Billy Gunn vs. QT Marshall with Okada vs. Omega, but this match served two major purposes. First, it reminded us that Anthony Ogogo’s punch is a legit finisher (despite the bitching of many). Said it before, will say it again — that dude looks, sounds and acts like money. Second, it got over Nick Comoroto as a beast. Sure, we can all see that by looking at the guy. Yet, having him take a (heavily gimmicked) chairshot to the head from Dustin Rhodes a la what his dad did to both Big Bubba Rogers (Big Bossman) and Meng, and looking like he just saw a ghost — got Comoroto over as hell. We now have to take him seriously. So now you have two killers in the group. Aaron Solow needs the build next (despite losing to Austin Gunn) and QT as the Tony Soprano type is a fun character choice.
Darby Allin is a Main Event Guy: Darby Allin … not Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Chris Jericho or John Moxley … has been AEW’s main event guy. And every time he’s in this position — he delivers. He not only delivers in the ring, but he’s delivered in the ratings against the likes of Matt Hardy and John Silver. For those who say AEW has not built stars — you are not watching the show. His match with Jungle Boy was awesome and it showed the future of AEW is now. Jungle Boy’s position in the company is interesting — he gives us banger after banger in singles action but never gets the big win. One has to wonder if he ends up beating whoever takes the belt off Darby (looking at your Miro) down the line.
The Lack of Impact Promotion: A puzzling piece of business. Impact and AEW working together is a big deal, so it’s a bit shocking was the lack of promotion for Kenny Omega’s title match with Rich Swann this Sunday at Impact Wrestling’s Rebellion PPV. There was a fleeting mention of the match during The Elite Segment (notice they are not calling themselves Bullet Club anymore), but other than that — nothing at all on the actual broadcast (there was an ad for it TNT though). This is highly suspicious. Why wouldn’t they promote a match of this caliber? On Busted Open, Tony Khan said he had to pay for his spots — that’s debatable if that’s real or not — however I feel like this could be intentional.
Now let’s put the tinfoil hat on for a second. Tony Khan said that Aubrey Edwards will be at the Impact show to “guarantee a winner.” What if this is all part of a larger storyline between the two companies. What if there’s a controversial finish at Rebellion and we get an inter-promotional match at Double or Nothing? Now, would Swann vs. Omega be that big of a draw for AEW? Not sure. However, it’d be interesting. I don’t think AEW would just drop the ball on this match “just ‘cuz” — but then again maybe.
MJF … Wow: During the sit-down interview between Jim Ross (who is always excellent in this role) and The Pinnacle, two things were apparent. First, Wardlow is going to be the Dave Batista of AEW. He’s just sitting in the wings waiting for his time to break out as the star of the company. Second, MJF has never been better since The Pinnacle form. Don’t get it twisted, MJF has always been a good to great promo especially in AEW. However, the subject matter here was more vicious, pointed and eviscerating than anything he’s done before. Gone was the air of smirk and superiority — this MJF was here to promote a serious event and it was apparent.
A Rare L for The Inner Circle: An Inner Circle segment is usually a guarantee for (at the very worst) something entertaining and at its best we get the “immortal” promo from a few weeks ago. However, this week it was a rare L for Jericho and his crew — who oddly were billed as “Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle” on their nameplate graphic. Jericho accusing MJF of not allowing his guys to talk and then dominating the promo was the definition of irony — and maybe that’ll be a set up for the group’s dissolution.
Jericho joking through the segment was a bit too sports entertainment and missed the mark on so many levels. First, it was almost if Jericho did not watch anything said by The Pinnacle only a few segments before. It’s weird to hear Jericho not pivot and react, opting to go with a prepared bit instead. Second, his line about ‘MJF sounding like he was reciting lines’ did not register, especially since MJF and Wardlow absolutely delivered. Finally, the “show tune” was quite possibly one of the worst flops of Jericho’s promo career. It was an absolute dude. All of this combined made The Inner Circle look real bad and seemingly unprepared for Blood and Guts.
To be fair, Jericho did manage to salvage things a bit by taking things seriously at the end, but again, being too jokey and nonchalant hurt the segment. You know what didn’t hurt the segment though? Giving Santana the microphone. He was incredible and AEW would be smart to start putting the mic in his hands more often and leaning more into his and Ortiz’s team. A knock down, drag out feud with FTR and a run with the gold are musts for this team in 2021.
