Written by Jesse Singer
AEW Dynamite 6/12/24 opened just as any wrestling show should with its World Champion, Swerve Strickland. He makes a big fashion statement by wearing a gray fur coat as if he’s the big bad wolf. Strickland will be defending his championship against Will Ospreay at Forbidden Door on Sunday, June 30th.
His promo is interrupted by the EVP’s Matthew and Nicholas Jackson (AEW World Tag Team Champions), Kazuchika Okada (AEW Continental Champion) and Jack Perry. Nicholas Jackson makes the bold claim that half of the AEW roster is gone because of them. This was a sad and embarrassing fourth wall break. It’s not secret numerous AEW’s wrestlers left the company for WWE but not because of this poor excuse for a wrestling faction.
This played out on Tuesday night’s episode of NXT, which included former AEW wrestlers Cody Rhodes, Shawn Spears, Ethan Page and Lexis King (Brian Pillman Jr.). It must have been a huge slap in the face to Tony Khan.
Matthew Jackson offers Strickland the fifth spot on their team for Blood and Guts. He gifts Strickland the new Young Bucks and Reebok sneakers off his own feet. Unfortunately for them Strickland doesn’t wear a men’s 9 and throws the sneakers into the crowd. The EVP’s are ready to brawl now but the numbers game is evened when The Acclaimed (Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, Billy Gunn) arrive in the ring. A brawl is about to break out when the fans are once again interrupted again but this time it is the interim EVP, Christopher Daniels, sharing a strikingly close resemblance to RAW’s General Manager, Adam Pearce.
Jack Perry and Dustin Rhodes battle it out to qualify for the vacant TNT Championship ladder match at Forbidden Door. Perry takes a bump on the exposed concrete floor and Rhodes busts open his forehead like Jon Moxley, respectfully. The blood blends in with his red face paint. Perry hits Rhodes with a running knee and advances. Perry wipes the blood off Rhodes on both of his hands. Perry needed this win more than Rhodes did for sure. How much more putting over young talent before Rhodes reunites with his brother in WWE?
Backstage, Renee Paquette interviews Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly and Mark Briscoe (Ring of Honor World Champion), about teaming up with each other later in the night. Briscoe loses it on the microphone in a fast-paced and passionate promo with his eyes bulging. The others in the room try to hold back their smirks and laughs.
The next match is RUSH vs Deonn Rusman (making AEW debut). RUSH beats Rusman in a lackluster squash match. MJF came out to beat up RUSH in a post-match stadium brawl. Something about seeing MJF fighting RUSH just doesn’t sit right. Besides MJF doing his best work as heel, it just didn’t make any sense to see MJF fighting a mid-carder like RUSH, especially after just announcing that he’s resigning with AEW. It’s too obvious that MJF is going to come out on top in this feud. MJF needs better opponents but it’s unlikely that’s going to happen given that he’s feuded with pretty much everyone that remains in the company.
A six man tag team match with Kyle Fletcher (ROH World Television Champion), Konosuke Takeshita and Roderick Strong taking on Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly and Mark Briscoe. Takeshita was the MVP of this match, showcasing his power and athleticism. Takeshita even took out Briscoe with a driving knee so that Fletcher could hit a pile driver and pin him. Post match we see Willow being beaten by Kris Statlander and verbally threatened by Stokely Hathaway.
We see the unlikely duo of Samoa Joe and Hook taking on The Premier Athletes, Tony Nese and Ari Daivari. It was amusing to watch as Hook used Joe’s signature “walk-away” spot. While Joe and Hook are far beyond each other’s size, they do have a similar wrestling style and it was cool to see a veteran like Joe teaming with an up-and-comer like Hook. Daivari tapped out to Hook, which was expected.
Mercedes Moné put her TBS Championship on the line against Zeuxis (making her AEW debut). This was a great exposure for Zeuxis. How many wrestlers can say they have gotten a championship match in their AEW debut?
Too many honestly.
Moné’s title run feels like it is going to be similar to Cody’s run as TNT champion. Cody’s run as TNT champion was actually good but that was during the pandemic when not much else was going on and at the time watching Dynamite was more enjoyable than RAW or Smackdown. Moné needs a challenger that is believable. AEW wants to give lesser known wrestlers exposure, which is not a bad thing. Just don’t do it in a debut championship match… Moné retained her championship but was this match really necessary for her?
The best segment of the night was TV Time with “The Learning Tree” Chris Jericho (FTW Champion). Jericho was accompanied in the ring with Big Bill, Bryan Keith and a giant cut out of a tree, which looked like The Giving Tree children’s book. Bill is resembling more and more like Jericho as he is wearing a purple suit jacket with no shirt underneath. Jericho invites Zay and Quen of Private Party to teach them how to climb to the top rope properly. The Private Party could have really benefited from The Learning Tree. Unfortunately they turned on him. The timing was pretty off but Jericho was hit down on the top turnbuckle. Looks like The Learning Tree will have to find some new saplings to grow with.
Daniel Garcia took on Nick Comoroto who has not been seen in AEW in a very long time. This time he is clean shaven and has a more happy demeanor. His look is quite similar to a couple years ago in WWE when Elias shaved his beard to play the part of his younger brother Ezekiel. Garcia beat Comoroto in only one minute! While Garcia should be winning most of his matches, it was upsetting to see such a big guy like Comoroto lose to someone who is half his size. AEW never really knew how to use big guys and it’s unlikely that the company will learn anytime soon.
“The Bastard” PAC returned to declare his entry in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament and to claim his AEW Championship at Wembley Stadium. Can’t wait for his in-ring return!
The main event featured Will Ospreay defending his AEW International Championship against Rey Fenix. Strickland observed the match from the front row. Despite both of them being great wrestlers, there really was no story line going into this match. The only goal of this match was to further Ospreay and Strickland’s feud. Ospreay took home the win by mocking Stickland before hitting the Swerve Stomp and the Hidden Blade on Fenix. Ospreay continued to mock Strickland post-match by placing the AEW World Championship on his shoulder. Their match at Forbidden Door should be one to remember.
I missed this weeks show so this article was perfect to let me know all the action. Nice work.