There are almost never down episodes of Dynamite, but the pacing of the April 21 edition was a little slower – in large part due to last week’s show drawing 1.219M viewers, which was the most since the debut episode of Dynamite on October 2, 2019. The show also drew a 0.44 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic. The latter of these two was most likely at least partially due to the Demi-God Chris Jericho being heavily featured on April 14, having a match at the top of the 9 o’clock hour with Mike Tyson as the special guest enforcer. Jericho got the victory over Dax Hardwood on April 14.
The Young Bucks also successfully defended their titles against Pac and Rey Fenix on April 14 to open the show. It concluded with Darby Allin defending the TNT championship against Matt Hardy in a rather brutal match. Congratulations to everyone with AEW – the primary reason for this rather large jump in viewership for Dynamite was WWE NXT making the decision to move from Wednesday nights to Tuesday nights on the USA Network (which started April 14). This is a smart business move for all parties involved, because WWE recognizes that the entire wrestling industry is better off when there is a suitable alternative.
NXT Was Able To Forge This Identity On Its Own While Still Being Under The WWE Umbrella For Several Years, But Anymore The Product Is Watered Down And Formulaic Just Like The Main Roster, So This Is Smart Business On WWE’s Part To Give AEW It’s Only Night (It Was Consistently Doing Slightly Better Than NXT In The Weekly Ratings Anyway). WWE Most Likely Wishes It Would Have Made An Effort To Collaborate With WCW Back In The 90s Rather Than Trying So Hard To Compete With The Atlanta-Based Promotion – Now Mr. McMahon Is Attending To Right His Wrong By Collaborating (To A Degree, Tony Khan Has Made Public Statements About Wanting To Collaborate More With WWE) With AEW As Opposed To Competing With Them.
Darby Allin defends the TNT championship for the seventh time; continuing the legacy of the title
Darby Allin is continuing the legacy of the TNT championship by defending it on a weekly basis. This TNT title will be known as the workhorse belt in AEW, where the champion defends the title on a weekly basis. Cody Rhodes was crowned as the first champion at Double Or Nothing in May 2020 and established this legacy by defending the title every week. The legacy continued when the late Brodie Lee won the title a few months later. Cody would win the title back in October 2020 in a Dog Collar match (Lee’s final televised match before his death in December – the day after Christmas).
Cody Rhodes dropped the TNT championship to Darby Allin on November 7 at Full Gear. He did not defend the title once until January 13, 2021 when he defended the TNT championship against Brian Cage. In March Allin made an announcement that it was “a joke” that he had defended the title so few times and proceeded to declare that he wanted to defend the title weekly just like previous champions.
As a result Allin has done several weeks, most recently defending the title this week on Dynamite against Jungle Boy. The 28-year-old champion made his seventh successful defense of the TNT championship. AEW most likely had enough faith in Darby to be the face of the network because of the arrival of Sting. AEW immediately proceeded to prepare him and Allin together (because they both are like watchdogs and observe from the top of the arena – like a concerned parent who does not want to interfere in their child’s life but is, at the same time concerned).
Jungle Boy’s status in AEW was elevated by simply being involved in a match with the TNT champion at only 23 years old. It is probably the most meaningful thing he has done in AEW (save for lasting 10 minutes with Le Champion Chris Jericho).
The status of Luchasaurus was also elevated courtesy of having an altercation with The Icon Sting. Back to Allin – it’s funny that he did not defend the TNT title one time in his first two months as champion but has come back to defend the title seven times over the past four months. Many AEW fans resonate with his deeply flawed character (and how he is so open about it).
Omega – Page for the title might have to wait on Moxley – Omega for the second time on Pay-Per-View at Double Or Nothing on May 30
The April 21 Dynamite opened With Hangman Adam Page getting a win over Ricky Starks protecting his No. 1 ranking in the AEW men’s singles division. This may indeed lead to an encounter with Kenny Omega for the AEW world championship. Most people who follow AEW consistently probably got the intuitive hunch that a match between Hangman and Omega for the belt was what Tony Khan was building toward as soon as the title was put around Omega’s waist in December 2020.
The only thing to disrupt that (for now) might be that Jon Moxley is still on Kenny’s trail. This might be the money match that AEW would like to orchestrate before the match with Page finally takes center stage. We also know that Kenny is a fan of doing long-term storytelling rather than the short-term payoff. Omega and Don Callis recognize that a storyline is made better and feels bigger if it is extended over a long period of time, which makes more money for everyone involved in the end.
Storytelling according to this strategy also provides a closer parallel to the way disagreements formulate over time. They don’t happen overnight, and many people are manipulated into being okay with them for an extended period. It takes patience in life for people to evolve, and Kenny wants to capture that illusory element in his storylines, which no one else was doing before he started employing this tactic about 12 – 14 years ago.
AEW is adequately telling the story in which Omega and Callis are taking a more cerebral approach to the wrestling business, whereas Moxley is more of a simple man who focuses on what is right in front of him. It makes sense for AEW to first place the priority on booking a match for the world title between the two biggest stars in the company. Moxley and Omega have met twice before in AEW, but only once on Pay-Per-View (AEW Revolution on March 7, Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match). After all, these are the two biggest stars in the company.
Eddie Kingston is being significantly elevated by working with Moxley. They had a match for the AEW world championship when Moxley was champion at Full Gear in November, before becoming friends after Kingston saved Mox from the “explosion” at Revolution.
All the while, The Bucks settled their disagreement for now with Don Callis, as they perceived that he was manipulating their best friend Kenny Omega (which is correct – Don just talked his way out of trouble for right now, but this will be revisited).
Before any of this occurs, however, Kenny Omega has a title-for-title match against Impact world champion Rich Swann at the Rebellion PPV on April 25. Omega will most likely win the Impact world title since he is already working so closely with Don Callis. This means he will be holding titles of three different companies simultaneously – AEW, Impact, AAA. This will be a similar gimmick to a few years ago when Austin Aries was calling himself The Belt Collector.
Blood & Guts will take place after over a year of planning
Blood & Guts will finally happen – it was originally supposed to take place on March 25, 2020, but that obviously got screwed up due to the pandemic just a couple weeks before. It was originally scheduled for The Inner Circle to take on The Elite (Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Hangman Adam Page, and Cody Rhodes), while The Pinnacle was not even created yet. Cody is currently not a member of The Elite, while Page was kicked out by The Bucks about a year ago.
The Inner Circle will take on The Pinnacle on May 5. The first singles match between a member of each of the 2 Groups took Place last week when Chris Jericho defeated Dax Hardwood (and Cash Wheeler got knocked out by Mike Tyson – similar to the scene in The Hangover when Alan – Zach Galifinakis – gets the same treatment).
Shida’s run with the women’s world title is still going strong
Hikaru Shida has been AEW women’s world champion for almost the entire pandemic era – she won the title in May of last year at Double Or Nothing and has been an extremely stable presence since. AEW had a rough time getting its women’s division off the ground but hit the ground running once Kenny Omega and the crew figured out what they were doing.
The story being told currently around the AEW women’s world championship is centered around Tay Conti being too distracted by things going on outside the ring during matches (like the Dark Order, the group that is “supposed” to be assisting her) and not necessarily focusing at all times on what matters most.
AEW could be hesitant to take the women’s world title off Hikaru Shida before the pandemic comes to a close because the company might not want to attempt to build a brand-new star in the women’s division when there won’t be necessarily enough people in the audience to adequately deduct if that new woman is over. If we were not in a pandemic, someone like Britt Baker would probably already be AEW women’s Champion. Same thing goes for Brian Cage on the men’s side.
QT Marshall is finally breaking out of Cody Rhodes’ shadow – time to sink or swim kid
It was the logical next step in the future of QT Marshall to break away from Cody Rhodes by forming a stable (or something similar) of his own on television. Unfortunately, QT has been known as the guy who was instrumental in the inception of AEW and the mastermind behind the Nightmare Factory but has never been recognized that much on TV like Cody. Everyone was thinking “who is this QT Marshall and why have I not heard more about him?”
The time may have finally come for Tony Khan to orchestra a one-on-one match between Marshall and Rhodes – perhaps at Double Or Nothing next month. However, it might be with Dustin before the ultimate payoff with Cody to preserve the lifespan of this particular storyline.
Billy Gunn may not have the athleticism to work as quickly as he did even five years ago, but it’s incredible that the 57-year-old is still very capable of hitting all the major spots. His sons are currently being groomed to become consistently reliable workers in AEW down the road. The company’s current TV deal runs through 2023 but Tony Khan is preparing for success much further down the line (as he should be).
The return of Trent bodes well for the future of Best Friends and Orange Cassidy as an integral building block of AEW
Trent was finally able to return a few weeks ago from a relatively minor pectoral injury. Chuck Taylor no longer has to be Miro’s Butler (although we did get some pretty good comedy from Charles and Orange Cassidy). Best Friends were able to return a couple weeks ago in Sue’s van – they proved to be invaluable assets to the company during the pandemic era. AEW was relocated to QT Marshall’s gym and was dwindled to about one third of the roster, and Best Friends were key ingredients for the company maintaining the ability to stay afloat during this difficult time. This week was Trent’s first singles match since returning to AEW.
The match was against Penta El Zero Miedo (what was wrong with Pentagon Jr.?), Who has received a pretty good little push recently. He has always had the talent, what he needed was a mouthpiece to talk for him – and AEW finally connected the dots.
Christian Cage is on track to emerge as a challenger to Kenny Omega’s AEW world championship down the road after defeating Powerhouse Will Hobbs. The next challenger will be Jon Moxley at Double Or Nothing, then most likely the No. 1 ranked Hangman Adam Page and Christian Cage after those two – playing the long game. Cage might elect to retire after either a short run with the belt or perhaps a retirement match against Kenny Omega for the AEW title. After all, he is currently 47 years old.