AEW Dynasty Review

Last night was AEW Dynasty which was a good show (Of course it’s the greatest show ever by the faithful IWC) but here is my review of the show and in the spirit of Meltzer I’m going to attempt rating system let’s call it the “Right Hook Ratings” from 1 to 10 (1 being bad, 5 being OK, and 10 being an all-timer) work in progress so let’s begin the review.

AEW Continental Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. PAC

This match was fine for what it was, Okada is establishing the cocky Heel aspect and PAC is always solid in the ring, but solid match could have been a NJPW G1 final but effective way to start the PPV.

Rating: 7.5/10

Adam Copeland, Eddie Kingston, Mark Briscoe vs. House of Black

This match could have been and should have been the main event on Collision honestly, Kingston continuing to do his tribute to Japanese wrestling tape trading is just bad I want him to get over but for love the God stop with original pillars tribute style please. Mark Briscoe is Teflon; Adam Copeland is doing his best and HOB (House of Black) are fine hopefully this leads to Malachi Black having a singles feud going into Double or Nothing with Copeland.

Rating: 3/10

TBS Championship: Julia Hart vs. Willow Nightingale

The was short but serve its purpose with Willow beating Julia Hart to become the new TBS champion and set up a match with Mercedes Mone at Double or Nothing where she will finally wrestle and hopefully flip this start of her AEW tenure around which has proven the naysayers right so far.

Rating: 5/10

AEW International Championship: Roderick Strong vs. Kyle O’Reilly

This match certainly was a pick me up from the previous two matches, Strong and O’Reilly have impressive chemistry and this match gave some old ROH vibes of a match. This will be overshadowed by Ospreay and Danielson, but this was a banger of a match. Even the post-match with Adam Cole walking again and potentially setting up Wardlow being outed is promising if Cole is 100% obviously.

Rating: 8/10

FTW Championship: HOOK vs. Chris Jericho

This is easily the worst match on the card regardless of if you are a harsh critic or an AEW blind ignorant faithful you cannot say this match was anything more than horrible. Jericho absolutely has go home heat so much so the crowd chanted “Go home Jericho, go home” and “Please retire” needs to be final plea to get him odd TV for awhile.  Jericho normally knows when to go away but his ego in this company is becoming detrimental and should be smart to know when to go away for a little bit.

Rating: 1/10

AEW World Women’s Championship: Timeless Toni Storm vs. Thunder Rosa

Toni Storm vs. Thunder Rosa was a solid match certainly Thunder Rosa’s best match in AEW thus far, even if the timeless gimmick is getting a bit much, Toni Storm is still good in the ring. This match could be considered the female equivalent of Roderick Strong vs Kyle O’Reilly from earlier just a good competitive physical match with Storm coming out victorious.

Rating: 7/10

Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson

This was the match that set the Meltzer faithful, AEW die hard base, and IWC into a complete frenzy! Danielson versus Ospreay did not disappoint for sure and certainly is the front runner for match of the year but calling it the greatest match ever, of this century, modern times, etc. does nothing but hurt the match itself. The match was incredible and hard hitting would not expect less from these guys and absolutely delivered on the hype that hopefully is the beginning of a trio of matches that end at ALL IN Wembley II but without question was the match of the night and should be considered that across all fanbases.

Rating: 9/10

AEW Tag Team Championship Ladder Match: FTR vs. The Young Bucks

Next was the fourth and maybe final match in this rivalry as FTR and the Young Bucks faced off in a ladder match to decide who would be the new tag team champions. The was unfortunately a paint by numbers ladder match involving the Bucks (Chaos, tables, spots, the works) nothing stood out here, until the end when Dax goes for the belts when a “masked fan” enters the rings knocking Dax off the ladder when security grabs and reveals it was… Jack Perry under a Sting mask which popped the crowd that was there which led to the Young Bucks winning the match.

What direction they go with this Jack Perry situation is going to be vital. If they continue to lean into the petty route bringing up CM Punk which I fully expect is the route because of Tony Khan, Young Bucks, and Jack Perry are involved will absolutely backfire as well as kill the company outside of the super niche audience they already cater to or actually try the opposite approach attempt to make Jack Perry mean something other than glorified troll of one of the companies worst moments will be telling of how the summer will unfold for AEW.

Rating: 3/10

AEW World Championship: Samoa Joe vs. Swerve Strickland

Finally, we come to the main event of Dynasty for the AEW world title between Samoa Joe and Swerve Strickland. The match was sensational, Swerve entrance and gear was cool with the Black Panther inspired gear and wearing the robe of Jimmy Rave one of Prince Nana’s clients in the original ROH. Great back and forth match with the crowd totally into it wanting Swerve to win and then the crowning moment came true when Swerve landed a top rope double stomp to become the new AEW world champion!

Great moment for Swerve Strickland finally making to the top and showing the correct way to maximize the creative freedom that AEW can provide wrestlers and being the first African American champion in the company which is a good thing and going forward his title reign should be exciting.

Rating: 8.5/10

Overall like I said at the start AEW Dynasty was an exceptionally good show that hopefully will set the tone and pace for the summer of AEW shows coming up starting with Double or Nothing in May. Hopefully, this is a much-needed pivot from their recent misfires and regain some of the momentum they had before.

Overall Show Rating: 8/10