FTR are the latest former members of the WWE roster to come over to AEW and make an immediate name for themselves (we all know what that name could stand for). They are obviously looking to become a more edgy tag team, and Tony Khan will likely give them the creative freedom they are looking for. They began their AEW careers by getting a win over The Butcher & The Blade. After the match, they teased an eventual showdown with The Young Bucks.
Next, AEW proceeded to showcase the skill of its women’s division, which is going strong, even without arguably its most “over” woman in Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. She is nursing an injury and simultaneously appearing every week on Dynamite. She has similarly used what Chris Jericho did in WCW in 1998 when he portrayed himself as a role model. She’s put her own spin on the concept.
The Inner Circle (Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz) demolished Best Friends & Orange Cassidy with the assistance of Chris Jericho and his bat which he hilariously named Floyd for some reason, along with a 20-pound sack of oranges.
Matt Hardy endorsed Sammy Guevara as the future of AEW, which he most likely is because he’s a homegrown talent who has improved significantly over the last 8 or 9 months since Dynamite began.
Brian Cage is an absolute animal, and this is a very creative way to include Taz in the production of Dynamite each week. His legendary trash-talk fits in very nicely with Cage’s no-nonsense approach to wrestling. Jon Moxley is also the perfect man for them to work with because he can sell everything effectively and do most of the heavy lifting around promo work.
Cody is legitimately a great leader in AEW. He is directly addressing the one area in which he has been heavily critiqued throughout his career: in-ring, and that has to be respected. In terms of his persona, I would liken him to AEW’s version of Triple H because a lot of their attributes are the same. They are both executives for their respective companies, they both frequently have super elaborate entrances, and they both are accompanied to the ring by family members. Cody is now rebooting a concept pioneered by Vince McMahon and John Cena with the WWE United States Championship open challenge. One slight difference is that Cody is putting his TNT Championship on the line each week with the pure intention of improving his in-ring skill.
Surely Cena had this same intention throughout his entire career, but he never stated it so directly. Cody has a quality where he is so peacefully detached from the outcome of actually getting better and rather just enjoying the avenues his life and career are taking him down. As a byproduct, he is naturally guided down a lifepath in which he naturally achieves his goals.
As far as the actual match itself this past week between Cody and Marq Quen goes, I had no idea Quen was that good. He did about 8 moves during the match that were flat out ridiculous, and this was all with a bad ankle. This is a great way for AEW to highlight the talent of some of their lesser-known stars, by having them work with a top-level name like Cody. He will look to elevate Jake Hager at Fyter Fest.
One thing that has me appreciating Dynamite is that everyone cooperates to get as many wrestlers as possible TV time so not one second of the two hours is wasted.