How do you start a show with fire? How do you get a crowd to go volcanic?
YOU START WITH FREAKIN’ MAXWELL JACOB FRIEDMAN – THAT’S HOW!
AEW Dynamite 6/5/24 kicks off with MJF (sans scarf) in the ring. I’ll cover the highlights as best I can, he goes after Swerve Strickland, Will Ospreay, Okada, and others. There’s no boundary between face and heel, MJF just sees challengers.
His passionate promo is interrupted by RUSH. Hot damn that’s gonna make for a great match.
MJF is back and burning the mic. From walking the aisle to the ECW-style brawl to close the segment successfully ignited the Colorado crowd.
Rey Fenix defeated Jay Lethal, Kyle O’Reilly, and Orange Cassidy to earn a shot at the International Championship next week
This was a fast paced spot-fest, but damn it was fun to watch. I have no doubt our friends on social media will waste no time in trashing this spot-fest yet will praise a “five-minute speed” match elsewhere. Post-match, Don Callis and Trent Barrett came out to confront Cassidy, but for some reason were stopped by Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway. Stat slaps Cass, but Willow Nightingale comes out to confront her former best friend who instead bails.
Sorry, rant over. Sometimes you just gotta enjoy yourselves or reconsider life choices. This was fun because that’s what it was meant to be. A brief opportunity to guess or root for who should be the next challenger. Fenix won with a clever roll up counter on Lethal for the win.
Fenix vs. Ospreay next week will be like watching a VHS on fast forward. Holy crap.
I am happy Trent and Cassidy continue to feud, the addition of Don Callis simply works so well. Backstage Willow cuts yet another damn good promo. I swear she has some innate power on the microphone. Incredible.
Backstage: Samoa Joe and Hook are interrupted by The Premier Athletes. Looks like they are going to fight soon enough. Joe and Hook as a team? Just name them Human Suplex Machines and call it a day.
Multiple backstage segments featuring “The Learning Tree” Chris Jericho, Big Bill, and “The Bad Apple” Bryan Keith. These segments are so over the top. Jericho is shouting everything. It’s so freakin’ annoying, but this is what it is supposed to be. It just… I can’t… Argh.
Mark Briscoe defeated Brian Cage to qualify for the TNT Championship Ladder Match
Another good match. Very enjoyable to watch. Briscoe winning was the right call. It’s going to be a main-event tier ladder match with Takeshita and Jack Perry as two other participants. I will never complain about seeing Mark Briscoe on my TV.
I don’t know if anyone can tell, but tonight’s episode has the theme of “fun” tonight. You know, this is directed towards my friends on WrestlingTwitter, but in the 90s and early-2000s, lots of matches did not have stories, and were simply that, wrestling matches for the sake of having wrestling matches.
The Acclaimed come out to the ring… But Max Caster’s rap is cut off by The Young Bucks. They say Acclaimed are cut from the show for violating terms of the AEW contract, which is “Don’t disparage the EVPs.”
Acclaimed vs. Bucks in the near future? I’ll take it!
The Blackpool Combat Club defeated CMLL (Volador Jr., Magnus, Rugido, Esfinge)
Another fun match, and for a moment I had hoped this would be one time where CMLL would get a win, but… Nope. Still, good, enjoyable, and again, fun. Big crowd fanfare for the returning Wheeler Yuta. He got the win with his straightjacket combination. Glad to see him back, and with a win.
Video package for Daniel Garcia. Push this man! He’s been put into so many big positions, but when will they pull the trigger on him?!
Mercedes Mone vs. Stephanie Vaquer will be title vs. title
Saraya defeated Mariah May via submission
Another good match tonight, Toni Storm on commentary without fail adds so much value. Can’t get enough of her. Shocking twist with Saraya forcing the submission victory, but I’m good with this booking decision. It keeps May a bit further away from a potential title opportunity. Post match, Mina Shirakawa makes the save, but it is also announced she will face Toni Storm at Forbidden Door. The ending antics between the three of them was just too damn funny.
Toni Storm and Mariah May are fantastic. Keep them together as long as humanly possible.
Backstage: Bryan Danielson talks the winding down of his career. He has his sights set on winning the Owen Hart Memorial Tournament and to challenge for the AEW World Championship.
Another Jericho segment. Yeesh. He’s pissing people off, so I guess he is succeeding.
AEW Dynamite 6/5/24 Main Event: AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland defeated Roderick Strong
Of course the outcome was very predictable, the announce team did a solid job in casting doubt on Swerve and put over Strong immensely.
Overall this has to be one of the most fun episodes from top-to-bottom. Stories were present but did not feel like it carried the whole program, instead fun wrestling did.
I’m legit more excited for Forbidden Door now than I was before. Helps that I am going!
