The April 5th episode of Dynamite emanated from the UBS Arena in Long Island! Heading into tonight’s episode, this past week’s show continued to build solid angles and gave the wrestling community some positive vibes after a seismic shift in the industry. Here’s a look at 3 angles done right:
Switchblade Jay White Is #AllElite
What a massive coup for Tony Khan! For weeks, speculation has been that Jay White was signing with WWE, with rumors even suggesting that creative have been laid out for him and his debut with simply a matter of time.
It was a beautiful piece of booking having his debut come in the first couple minutes of the show. After what many are proclaiming to be the worst Raw After WrestleMania ever, AEW needed a big start to impress the wrestling community, and they delivered in a big way.
What do we see now from Jay White? Does he feud immediately with Ricky Starks? Does he set his sights higher on the AEW food chain (Adam Cole? Hangman Adam Page? Kenny Omega?) Do we see him slowly integrate more of the Bullet Club into the show? So many possibilities….
Every Night is MJF Night
Is there anything this man can’t do? How many wrestlers / sports entertainers alive could’ve pulled off that performance? Granted, it was in his home of Long Island where every action is cheered, but this was a massive risk to sing in front of a live audience….
And he nailed it. With style, with confidence and with swagger. The charisma gap between MJF and rest of the Pillars is glaringly obvious, which we saw with Sammy Guevara’s post-match promo. Sammy has to rely on swearing multiple times to get over as a badass, that nobody is buying into. Jungle Boy is growing as a performer, but his mic skills are mid at best. Darby Allin’s best move is to say nothing at all, just stick with brooding Crow Sting mode.
The Bidding War of 2024 grows more interesting with every flip of the calendar.
FTR Wins the AEW World Tag Team Championships
Titles vs Career is a massive stipulation, one normally reserved for PPV shows. Having this on Dynamite really punctuated the impact of the show and was a great main event!
The Gunns have really grown as performers. Their characters and promo work have become much more polished. Ditching the cowboy-like music and intro is a nice step forward. Their efforts to get the matched DQed added to their heel work and made them seem more seasoned than they are in their young careers. This title run was short, but really helped to elevate their stature in the tag team division.
But let’s be honest….the division is SOOOO much better with FTR on top. No more speculation on the Top Guys being OUT. It’s time to think of more premier bouts vs. Aussie Open, The Young Bucks and maybe La Faccion Ingobernables (RUSH and Andrade together, give Andrade something to do!).
This was another well built episode of Dynamite with very few dead spots (ummm, Hook now aligned with Matt Hardy? What did Hook do to deserve this?). Angles are progressing at a slow but intentional rate and the stars are aligning nicely for some big PPVs coming up. This is a great time for AEW to grab some weary WWE fans who have serious and legitimate questions about the future of their product.
Next: The Rock Joins Group Bidding to Purchase the Ottawa Senators
