Writer’s Note: When the calendar flips and August becomes September, I will be taking what I feel is a much-needed break from the writing scene. I’ve been doing this thing since late-2007, and in that time, I’ve literally posted thousands and thousands of columns. My schedule has changed so much recently, and it will only continue to change with my daughter starting Kindergarten in a couple days. I could use my extra free time to write more, but for the time being, I want to use it to recharge my batteries and to spend more time with my wife. If you have children, you know that it can often be difficult to have time with your significant other with a clingy child around. My break will be a bit of an extended one, but my plan is to be right back in the mix on November 2nd with a WWE Crown Jewel review column, and then November 4th will see the return of my regular weekly columns on Mondays. You can still catch me on social media, whether it’s to request column ideas or to just chat. For now, though, let’s get my last month before my vacation kicked off, shall we?
Five years ago, I was writing columns for Fightful. In the days leading up to the debut of AEW Dynamite, I wrote something of a wish list of the things that I wanted to see from the show, in the hopes that it would be something that would immediately differentiate itself from what we were seeing on WWE television.
At the time, WWE programming wasn’t exactly on fire, with the stench of Vince McMahon’s decision making all over everything that aired. Even as a WWE fan, I was eagerly anticipating AEW’s arrival on the scene and hoping they could provide wrestling fans with the true alternative.
As I mentioned in my Writer’s Note above, I won’t be around when the actual five-year anniversary of Dynamite arrives. Therefore, I wanted to use this time to go over the wish list I created five years ago, and see just how much of it AEW has delivered on, and how much of it I feel they still need to work on.
I’ll list the items in the same order that I listed them in during the original column.
A Focus On The In-Ring Product: You’d be a fool if you didn’t think AEW delivered on this. As a matter of fact, AEW detractors would say that the company might deliver too much in this regard, with the opinion that AEW would rather put on a great match than deliver a great storyline.
Whether you’re an AEW superfan or not, the in-ring product is clearly something you can point to as being perhaps the most important thing that Tony Khan wants to provide viewers. Of the top 20 longest matches in AEW history, 15 of them have happened on “free” television, with 11 of those 15 taking place on Dynamite. The shortest match of those 11 Dynamite bouts? 30 minutes on the dot. Only one of those 20 matches was a 60-minute Ironman Match, and one was a Battle Royal, which means that many of these lengthy focuses on in-ring work were “surprises” to some level.
If you look at the last five years of WWE programming, and if you subtract the obvious Royal Rumbles, the company has delivered a total of three 30+ minute matches on television, and two of them were Gauntlet Matches. The only match leftover is Daniel Bryan defending the Intercontinental Title against AJ Styles on an episode of Smackdown in June 2020, in a match that went a shade under 38 minutes.
It’s clear as day that WWE and AEW focus on completely different things, aimed at completely different fans. If AEW was looking to be something different, they succeeded, and did so from the very start. I got what I asked for here.
Edginess: In my initial column, I made it clear that I wasn’t calling for a return to “Attitude Era” programming. Instead, I wanted Dynamite to feature a lot more “realism” than what WWE was giving us.
WWE was still leaning heavily into a family-friendly, PG product. You weren’t seeing any blood in matches, unless it was a hardway cut. There weren’t going to be any curse words in promos. It was just the way things went with Vince McMahon in charge at the time.
My example for the type of “realism” I was looking for was about promos in a blood feud. For years, WWE gave us feuds that saw two or more wrestlers feuding for some really great, and really personal, reasons. Then things would fall apart when it came to the promos. We’ve seen and heard the “I’m going to kick your butt” promos. We’ve seen a “sufferin’ succotash” promo. That’s not how adults speak anywhere in the world, especially when they’re angry. If I broke into your house and threatened your family, you better have more than “I’m going to kick your butt” as a response, or you might as well not even try to defend your loved ones at all.
Realism. Without having to cross lines and drop f-bombs every three words, all I was asking for was more realistic sounding promos, to go with a lot more realistic looking “fights.” Hard-hitting fights are going to feature blood. That’s how it goes. Yes, there’s supposed to be suspension of disbelief when you’re a pro wrestling fan, but that only goes so far. I don’t need a bloody massacre in every match on the show, but if Wrestler A and Wrestler B are in that super heated feud, it makes sense that they would put a little extra razzle dazzle behind their offense, therefore giving us more blood.
Has AEW delivered on that with Dynamite? Absolutely. Until The Rock returned to WWE, you would’ve been stunned if you heard curse words in a promo on Raw or Smackdown. In AEW, you don’t even bat an eye if someone says “shit” or “asshole” on television. Remember when Christian Cage told Adam Copeland to go fuck himself on live television? I sure do.
Now, when it comes to blood, it can be argued that AEW relies on it a bit too much. I will say, in their defense, that it is usually saved for bigger matches, more personal feuds, and anything Jon Moxley does. That’s a lot better than Random Lucha Name From Mexico bleeding a ton in Match #1 on Dynamite, followed by Darby Allin bleeding a ton in Match #2, followed by The Young Bucks both bleeding a ton in Match #3, followed by Chris Jericho bleeding a ton in Match #4, and so on. Say whatever you want about blood in wrestling, but the AEW fans love it, and they’re the ones being catered to.
Managers: In eras gone by, managers played a very important role in the pro wrestling scene. You had the heel managers that would employ all sorts of underhanded tactics to help their clients gain the advantage. Then there were the face managers that used motivation, both from within and from the fans in the arena, to help cheer their clients on. There were managers who companies used as a “mouth piece” for a wrestler who may not have had the best of skills on the microphone. You even had the managers and valets who were literally there for nothing more than tits and ass, driving the male fans and viewers crazy.
With WWE largely shifting their focus away from managers, I felt that AEW could differentiate themselves by bringing that type of thing back to the forefront.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Vickie Guerrero, Taz, “Smart” Mark Sterling, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Alex Abrahantes, Dan Lambert, Don Callis, Stokely Hathaway, William Regal, Sonjay Dutt, Luther, Karen Jarrett, Maria Bennett, Prince Nana… the list goes on and on, but we’ve already seen a ton of managers in AEW since the start of Dynamite.
Have they all been successful? No. Have they all been around for a long time? No. They were all there, though, and that’s the point. AEW has seen value in what managers bring to the sport, and I appreciate that.
Avoid The “Austin vs McMahon” Temptation: Damn, I was so close to having another “victory” here!
Of course, the “Austin vs McMahon” temptation that I’m referring to is the desire to have some sort of on-air authority figure feuding with one or more wrestlers. It’s usually a heel authority figure feuding with the top babyface(s) in the company, and almost everyone has done it repeatedly since seeing how big Steve Austin vs Vince McMahon got in the late-90’s.
I grew tired of seeing that trope again and again and again and again, with nowhere near the same level of results that we got with Austin and McMahon. It’s still happening today.
After doing so well in this area for so long, AEW decided that seeing a heel Young Bucks squad feuding with half the roster would be a good idea.
Spoiler alert… it has not been a good idea.
At all.
Forget the fact that the Bucks are making all of these decisions, and we’re supposed to just sit back and believe that Tony Khan… THEIR BOSS… is generally powerless and is apparently just shaking his fist at the monitor as he watches them do their thing.
It’s all dumb, and we were doing so well with not seeing that type of shit clogging up AEW programming on a weekly basis.
Statistics: From the very beginning, we were told that wins and losses would not only matter in AEW, but would be very important in the entire lay of the land.
Dynamite, and every AEW show that followed it, made sure to make statistics a key part of the television presentation. Even today, when you watch a wrestler making his entrance for a match, what do you see on the screen? Right there at the bottom, you’ll see that wrestler’s record. Maybe it’ll be their overall record for the year, or their record in title matches, or their singles/tag record, but one way or another, you’ll see their record.
If you go to AEW’s official website and look at their roster page, what do you see? Every wrestler’s record in singles, tag, and trios competition in 2024, their overall record in 2024, as well as their career record during their time with the company.
I love that stuff. Once again, it helps to set them apart from what we’re used to seeing from other major wrestling promotions through the years.
I do have an issue with the idea that wins and losses matter in AEW, though. While it doesn’t happen all the time, we’ve seen far too many instances where you’ll see some sort of title match where the challenger hasn’t really done anything to deserve the shot, or an “eliminator” match where the competitors are seemingly chosen at random. I wrote about that a while back, when The Gunns quietly had the best record, percentage-wise, of any team in the company, and by a wide margin, but they couldn’t get off of AEW’s YouTube shows. Same for Daddy Gunn, who continues to own an 82% winning percentage during his time with AEW. Obviously, we’ve seen them a lot more on television since I initially brought that up, but my point remains.
I’m just asking for consistency. If someone goes on a winning streak, they should be rewarded for it. If someone goes on a losing streak, I don’t need to see them competing for titles, even if they’re of the “lesser” variety. The same goes for everyone, whether they’re bonafide main event players or have been struggling near the bottom of the card.
New Stars: First things first, what is your definition of a “new star” in AEW?
To some, it means a wrestler that was virtually unheard of by most wrestling fans before the birth of AEW.
To others, it means someone who wasn’t a big-time star in WWE, or to a lesser extent, somewhere like TNA/Impact Wrestling.
If you’re in the latter category, you would count someone like Will Ospreay, for example, as a “new star” in AEW. Ospreay has never wrestled for WWE in any way, shape, or form. Prior to joining the AEW family, he wrestled a handful of matches in TNA, but that was eight years ago, and he was a completely different performer at the time.
On the other hand, the former category wouldn’t count Ospreay as a “new star” with AEW. Before signing with AEW, Ospreay was one of the biggest pro wrestling stars in both Japan and the United Kingdom.
Personally, I felt it was more about taking those virtually unheard of names and turning them into major players of varying levels. In that regard, I think AEW has used Dynamite to do a magnificent job.
MJF, Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy, “Hangman” Adam Page, Daniel Garcia, Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida, Ricky Starks, Hook, Jack Perry, The Acclaimed, Jamie Hayter, Kris Statlander, Penta El Zero Miedo, Rey Fenix, Sammy Guevara, Wardlow, Powerhouse Hobbs, Riho, Willow Nightingale, and Wheeler Yuta are all names that have seen different levels of success in AEW. They’re all much bigger names now than they’ve ever been, whether that’s to continue their careers in AEW or to eventually make a jump to WWE down the road.
The company has even taken people like Swerve Strickland, Toni Storm, Athena, Pac, Brodie Lee, and Lance Archer… names who, for one reason or another, never quite reached their potential in WWE… and made them come across as better versions of themselves.
When you combine that with the stars like Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Adam Copeland, Christian Cage, Mercedes Moné, Bryan Danielson, Sting, Samoa Joe… as well as names in an in-between category like Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay, Kazuchika Okada, Konosuke Takeshita, and more… you have a really fun mix of the past, present, and future.
Make Dynamite A “Variety” Show: This is another thing that you’ve seen me mention in my columns on more than one occasion.
Before Dynamite debuted, I mentioned that I wanted to see a show that featured a little bit of something for every type of fan. During the Monday Night War, that’s what initially helped WCW find success with Nitro. No matter what type of wrestling you enjoyed, and no matter what type of wrestler you were a fan of, Nitro had you covered week in and week out.
I wanted to see Dynamite follow that trend, with wrestlers and match styles for every type of fan to enjoy. Five years later, we’ve seen some of that, but nowhere near as much as I would’ve hoped to see.
As I’ve said in the past, I think it’s safe to say that Dynamite (and now Collision) feature the best in-ring action on a weekly basis when it comes to televised wrestling. However, when it comes to that “variety” show, I think Raw or Smackdown, depending on the feuds at the time, get the nod. WWE has been featuring much better storylines, a more focused spotlight on the women’s division, and still delivering really good matches every week.
Dynamite has better wrestling. Raw/Smackdown are a better “variety” show.
It’s a knock on Dynamite, but only a slight one. AEW knows their audience, and what that audience wants. That’s exactly what that audience gets, all the way across the board. Perhaps if there were more variety, though, there would be more growth within the company when it comes to television viewership and ticket sales.
No Motion Sickness: Five years ago, this was my shot at the terrible production style of the completely worthless schmuck, Kevin “Captain Bucky O’Hare” Dunn, and the equally terrible decision making of the equally worthless schmuck, Vince “Diddy” McMahon.
All I asked for here was that AEW wouldn’t use the same production tactics that WWE was using at the time. None of that rapid fire camera cuts that made everyone sick. None of the inability to change with the times.
Not only did AEW not employ the Dunn/McMahon fucktardery, but both men left WWE, so now the WWE product is infinitely more fun to watch.
It’s a win/win for me!
Overall, I’m happy with what I’ve seen from Dynamite, and from AEW, as a whole. There are certainly things I’d like to see them improve on, things I’d like to see them stop doing, and things I’d like to see them start doing, but that’s the case with every wrestling promotion from every era. Nobody’s perfect. They have plenty to build on in search of greatness, and it will be fun to look back in another five years to see where everyone is.
Now, it’s your turn. Leading up to the debut of Dynamite, what were your hopes and expectations for the show? Has AEW come close to exceeding your expectations, or do they have a lot of work to do? As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Let’s move on to my Weekly Power Rankings before closing things out like we always do, with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
Damian Priest vs Gunther: Gunther is going to bring the pain in his matches. I know that, you know that, his opponents know that… everyone knows that. Damian Priest, to his eternal credit, decided he was not only going to match Gunther’s physicality, but outdo him in that category. These two beat the hell out of each other, and it was a beautiful thing.
Roman Reigns: Now that he has made his eagerly anticipated return after a four-month vacation, it will be interesting to see what his schedule looks like. Live crowds are going to treat him like a face, even if his character aims to be more of an antihero, so does he show up more often than he did as a heel? Either way, it just feels right having him back, and now, we wait to see the next chapters in the Bloodline saga.
CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre: Intense. Physical. Everything we thought it would be. I love the story being told, though. Damn near the entire feud has seen Drew unable to control his emotions, and it has cost him time and time again. Now, it was Punk that was unable to control his emotions, and it cost him a chance to win his first non-house show match in WWE since January 20th, 2014. The drama between Punk and McIntyre will continue, as will the added drama with both men hating Seth Rollins, and Seth hating them both in return.
Darby Allin vs “Hangman” Adam Page: Outside of a non-televised match that took place on the 2020 edition of Chris Jericho’s Rock N Wrestling Rager At Sea cruise, this was the first time these two have squared off in singles competition. AEW did a terrible job of promoting that fact, but the match was still a ton of fun. These are two of the bigger stars that have been “created” by AEW, and the match is something that could’ve main evented a pay-per-view without AEW fans complaining one bit. TK really needs to work on a lot of things.
Andrade vs Carmelo Hayes: These two have already shown a ton of in-ring chemistry together. I dig it. Now, I would argue that Melo’s future is, and should be, brighter than Andrade’s, but I can appreciate the attempts to make Andrade a bigger deal than he has been in the past.
Steve “Mongo” McMichael: Mongo’s physical form has been completely ravaged by ALS in the last few years, but he was just inducted into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame, with numerous members of the Super Bowl Champion 1985 Chicago Bears at his bedside for his induction. His goal has been to be alive for the induction, even though it looked like a long shot, at best, but he did it. Fucking hell, he did it. I’m getting emotional all over again just thinking about it, just like I cried when I watched the video package that ESPN did on him months back, covering his quest to hold on, through the pain and agony, and achieve the biggest thing in his career.
Mark Briscoe, Darby Allin & FTR vs Roderick Strong, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett & The Beast Mortos: The way Mortos has been booked recently should be in the wrestling history books for how not to create stories. Tony Khan is just randomly throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. You barely use the guy outside of a website paywall… but when you do, he loses, going 0-5 on television or pay-per-view since debuting with the company… then you put him on pay-per-view again, where he is one of the bright spots of the entire night in picking up his first victory… so his reward is a match on AEW television… which he loses… and then you put him in another match on AEW television four days later… where he pins the RoH World Champion in a trios match… and then he’s on the losing end of an eight-man tag match days later. Jesus Herbert Christ. NONE OF THAT made any sense, and yet, it’s the reality we’re living in.
Bayley vs Nia Jax: A report came out recently that said WWE officials were very happy with the in-ring work that Nia Jax has put in since returning to the company, and that they were looking to reward her for it. Looks like that one was true. She works the “hoss” style and really stands out in the WWE women’s division, but I also want to make sure Bayley gets props here. She was very impressive taking it to her much larger and stronger opponent.
Finn Balor vs Gunther: A similar story to the Priest vs Gunther match, albeit on a lesser scale, and with far less on the line. Going back to Priest vs Gunther, though… if there’s one thing I like about Balor turning on Priest and costing him the World Heavyweight Title, it’s that we could get a serious, focused Balor as a singles competitor again. In the short-term, however, a feud between Priest and Balor is going to be a shit ton of fun.
Will Ospreay vs Lance Archer: I’ve said it before, but AEW is really going to have Ospreay line up against everyone on the roster and see if he can have a great match with them. He continues to impress, although it’s not like Lance Archer is a complete bum. He’s one of the most underutilized people in the company.
Roxanne Perez vs Thea Hail: Prodigy vs Prodigy. If you combine the ages of these two women, you come up with 42, which is the same age as Kofi Kingston. That doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a fun stat I put together during my research. Roxanne is basically a guarantee for a lengthy main roster run, championships won, and main event nods if she can stay healthy. I think Thea is continuing to prove that her future is insanely bright, as well. She won’t even be legally old enough to buy alcohol in this country for another month, but her work has gotten better and better and better since she arrived in NXT. Keep an eye out for her, too.
Bron Breakker: Congratulations to the brand new Intercontinental Champion, who looked incredibly impressive in winning the title on one of the sport’s biggest stages. He joins The Ultimate Warrior, The Texas Tornado, Bret “The Hitman” Hart, The British Bulldog, and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as the only people to have their first reign as Intercontinental Champion start at SummerSlam. Big, big things are in his future.
Cody Rhodes vs Solo Sikoa: The match was good, but it probably tried too hard to be a scaled down version of the match we got between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania four months ago. Solo is in a world of trouble now, with Roman back in the mix and with Jacob Fatu maybe… possibly… potentially… being injured. Interesting times.
LA Knight: Congratulations to the brand new United States Champion, who also looked impressive in winning the title on one of the sport’s biggest stages. Just for fun… he joins Antonio Cesaro (pre-show), Seth Rollins, and Damian Priest as the only people to have their first reign as United States Champion start at SummerSlam. He continues to be one of the most popular workers in the business right now, so big, big things could/should be in his future, too.
Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga: They’re the brand new WWE Tag Team Champions, but obviously, all the excitement for that goes straight out the window if Jacob Fatu really is injured. For now, though, it’s something to celebrate, so they make the list.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Lee Moriarty vs Tomohiro Ishii: It’s a lesser version of what is happening with The Beast Mortos, but Moriarty is in a weird spot, too. He wins the RoH Pure Title in the biggest spotlight of his career, and is then immediately booked to lose back-to-back matches on AEW television over the next week. Makes sense.
Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy & Tomohiro Ishii vs Roderick Strong, Rush & The Beast Mortos: If I talk about what’s going on with Mortos any more, I’m going to end up having another Bell’s palsy episode.
Willow Nightingale vs Kris Statlander: Stat turned heel on Willow a little more than two months ago, but it feels like it happened at least two years ago. That’s more on Tony Khan than on either woman, but still… it has been a strange time for them.
Lola Vice, Sol Ruca & Karmen Petrovic vs Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne & Jazmyn Nyx: The average age of the six women in this match is 26.8 years old. They average a whopping total of 3.1667 years as a pro, with the face side averaging 1.667 years as a pro. NXT continues to be in good hands.
This Week’s Playlist: “Adore U” by Khalid… “It’s All Good” by Khalid… “Please Don’t Fall In Love With Me” by Khalid… “Tainted” by Khalid… “Liar” by Jelly Roll… “On Up” by Big Sean… “HUMBLE ME” by Killer Mike… “STILL TALK’N THAT SHIT” by Killer Mike, Project Pat & Key Glock… “Hosting The Shadow” by Lacuna Coil & Randy Blythe… “Necessary Evil” by Memphis May Fire… “Leviathan” by Inertia… “Wild Out” by The Lox… “Back On My BS” by BigXthaPlug… “Mmhmm” by BigXthaPlug… “Promise” by Do Or Die… “Hard To Handle” by The Black Crowes… “The Leaving Song Pt. II” by AFI… “Stop And Stare” by OneRepublic… “Apologize” by OneRepublic… “Secrets” by OneRepublic… “Counting Stars” by OneRepublic… “Love Runs Out” by OneRepublic… “If I Lose Myself” by OneRepublic… “I Lived” by OneRepublic… “Ha” by Juvenile
