I’ll just come right out with it – BURNING HAMMER!!
AEW Dynamite was a fantastic show and what a lead-in with just over a week away to World’s End. Unexpected finishes and escalation of the coveted “stories” which the internet trolls love to harp on about.
This week my coverage will be a bit different, rather than a straight run from top to bottom, this will cover the matches in one block followed by the interviews, backstage segments, and in-ring segments which furthered the plots forward. As the matches focused heavily on tournaments and contendership, and the outside material focused squarely on the detective work of multiple sources to find out who The Devil really is.
The majority of wrestling matches tonight were phenomenal. They would go nearly 20 minutes each, and for only five matches, they felt like big ones.
In Continental Classic bracket matches:
Mark Briscoe defeated Jay Lethal in a fantastic match. Better than their first outing almost a year ago. So many close calls, but that finish was AWESOME. Are you kidding me?!?! Mark Briscoe crushed Lethal with the Burning Hammer!!
No lie. I jumped and nearly damaged my ceiling.
Now I understood why both losses went straight in the brackets. Because they could put on a five-star bout just for the sake of giving wrestling fans what they deserve, wrestling.
Swerve Strickland defeated RUSH
Another banger of a match. Hard hitting, some beyond innovative offensive moves throughout. Neither man had a clear advantage, telling a tale of how bad the other wants the win. It seemed pretty clear based on recent popularity that Swerve would pull ahead into the semi-finals. But RUSH… RUSH… RUSH… He had better be a main eventer for a good portion of 2024.
Jay White defeated Jon Moxley somewhat cleanly in the middle of the ring. Did he use a chair when the ref wasn’t looking? Yep. However I will say this, the match was so well done that by the end we needed the commentary team (which included Jim Ross) to remind us of the underhanded tactic because we forgot. That’s how good these two were. I was dreading Mox sweeping the tournament. This re-established my faith in whomever booked this, once again, Mox is not almighty, powerful, and unbeatable. The man, can, lose. I thought it would be Strickland to be the one to do it, but Jay White being the foil to really shake up the semi-final was the right call.
As a result, next week is a triple threat between Mox, White, and Swerve. I will call it now, Swerve is going to World’s End.
In non-tournament bouts:
Roderick Strong defeated Komander: Poor Komander. He does some really agile thing only for Roddy to break his face, back, or neck. The best was Komander doing a superhero landing just as Roddy crushed his face with a running knee. Work of art. Post match, Strong, along with Matt Taven and Mike Bennett directly accuse MJF of being the mastermind behind all of this. It is amazing how a crazy gimmick featuring Strong, involving a Ring of Honor team in The Kingdom gets all three insanely over.
RENEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Riho defeated Saraya: I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry but I’m crapping on this match. They’re really shoving Riho into an abrupt title picture to increase the legitimacy of Storm’s third reign as AEW Women’s Champion. This doesn’t feel organic. We knew Riho would win, Saraya did a good job of playing antagonist, but the bout just couldn’t hold my attention. Had Riho been introduced sooner, perhaps truly as Mariah May’s first opponent, then I could have more stake in it.
I don’t doubt Riho vs. Storm will be good, but it does seem a shame to feed Riho just to bolster an already strong looking champion who doesn’t need cannon fodder.
Speaking of Toni Storm, by Primus this gimmick of hers is an absolute masterpiece. Keep this going as long as humanly possible. Her work on commentary and comedy spots with Luther are pure brilliance. Her antics are hysterical, the banter with Taz is brilliant on commentary. Plus, gotta love the old school film style.
With the matches out of the way, let’s turn to the major storylines.
Chris Jericho cuts a heartfelt backstage promo, joining wrestling fans around the world, possible including Jim Cornette in offering well-wishes to Kenny Omega as he has to fight a horrible ailment in diverticulitis. This is nothing to scoff at. I have lived with Crohn’s Disease for over 20 years and I even fear diverticulitis. While treatable, one can never be cured of it. It wreaks havoc on the digestive system from start to finish. It’s gutting to hear anyone afflicted with this, however being caught with it at a relatively young age, treatment options are numerous with higher odds of being able to live and function well in the long-term. There will be challenges along the way, again, treatable, but not curable.
Best Friends having a chill interview with Renee, somehow winds up with Trent being unsure what to do with himself in 2024, and Rocky Romero lamenting his loss of the CMLL NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship. He vows to win another international title of sorts which Orange Cassidy interprets as a challenge. We got a title bout for Rampage!
MJF and Samoa Joe confront each other in the ring and while they accuse each other and tear down the trust they sort of built, the Devil’s Goons rush the ring, and boy there are a lot of them. It’s the original Dark Order Schlubs! After they chase them off, the Devil has a riddle on screen, leading to another challenge for the Ring of Honor Tag Team Championships. This time, Joe is the one who angrily and impulsively accepts the challenge. Enemy of my enemy is my friend? I suppose Joe is the official sub for ROH title defenses. I wonder if this will be the end of the ROH run for MJF.
Backstage, MJF sees a mask in front of the Mogul Embassy locker room. MJF and Swerve cut fantastic promos on each other. This is a must-watch. A Swerve/MJF feud will be the must-watch of 2024 if they pull the trigger.
Wardlow has a pre-tape promo promising pain to MJF, and promises to destroy the Devil once and for all. This got me thinking, is he calling MJF the Devil? Or is this a clever swerve (possible pun intended) and Wardlow will actually go after whomever is masquerading as the Devil.
When you think about gripping stories, you have to hand it to AEW how they manage to pull so many individuals into this tale. MJF, Joe, Wardlow, Roddy, Taven, Bennett, Adam Cole, “Hangman” Adam Page, Swerve Strickland, The Acclaimed, and I’m sure a few others I missed. This shows how important it is to discover the identity of the masked villain as it seems the longer this transpires, fewer wrestlers are safe.
Does this continue to overexpose MJF, a complaint since the last PPV? I’m a bit reluctant to say it does, as rather than MJF being involved in other stories, the wrestlers and their stories are now brought to him. It makes revealing the identity even more important than a few weeks ago.
So many theories, Adam Cole, Jack Perry, Sammy Guevara, Scorpio Sky, Brandon Cutler (just kidding), and even unsigned wrestlers have been mentioned. I keep thinking who has MJF pissed off so much, for this individual to unite so many other wrestlers into being involved in sneak attacks and carrying out their vendettas against other wrestlers. Well, I think about MJF always being a jerk to on a regular basis, someone who he openly mocks, degrades, makes fun of, going as far as to call him a “mark” routinely? Only one person I can think of.
Tony Khan. Think about it. At every post-ppv media scrum MJF just rips into him over and over again. He cuts in-ring promos threatening to leave the company unless TK gives him what he wants.
It’s a far-fetched theory, and it holds some very heavy WWE vibes of how Vince McMahon would shoehorn himself into television. Truth is, I hope I am wrong. TK has too much of a friendly face to be the bad guy. But then again, every good guy doesn’t want to be the bully anymore and tries to be the bully himself.
Again, I truthfully do not want this scenario to happen. But if it does, will it work?
By the way, Mark Briscoe busted out an underhook Burning Hammer tonight. Magic is in the air.
