Darby Allin defended the TNT championship for the eighth time overall – and for the fifth consecutive week. The 28-year-old defended his title against The Dark Order’s 10, who was chosen by Mr. Brodie Lee before his passing to become the star of the group and Siri on the legacy of the TNT championship.
Those plans will obviously not come to fruition exactly as they were conceived as the man who conceived them as moved into the next life, but one could conclude that 10 might be motivated (because of someone so close passing – almost like osmosis, or energy absorption, of Brodie’s residual energy) to become a better version of himself every day in honor of the fallen leader of The Dark Order. This would be like that of John Silver, who shares the same mentality.
Because of the unexpected death of Brodie Lee due to a lung condition the day after Christmas last year, any match with a member of The Dark Order from this point forward will have a deeper layer of meaning – which will only prove to help grow the company further in the long run. 10 will also likely become a TNT champion in the not-too-distant future. Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page – either one or both – are looking like they will emerge as the next challenger to the TNT championship. This match will likely take place at Double or Nothing.
Moxley, Kingston, Omega, and Nakazawa set up a tag match next week
It was great to see Eddie Kingston getting a major spotlight in a segment that also featured Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega. Moxley and Omega remain the focal points of this storyline and will probably have another title match. MT Nakazawa was also featured on Dynamite for the first time in months (even if he was just Kenny’s stooge). At least they have a tag match next week.
It was ingenious of Tony Khan to pair Eddie Kingston with Jon Moxley in a storyline. They are working very well off one another, in addition to having history with each other from November’s Full Gear Pay-Per-View in a world title match. One part of Kenny Omega’s promo from earlier in the evening that was somewhat confusing is that he did not mention anything about winning the Impact World Championship at Rebellion on April 25. However, this small mistake was made up for by including some attitudinal language in the promo that will resonate primarily with the younger male audience (which is the primary demographic AEW is attempting to appeal to).
Jericho speaking from experience
All the participants in the Blood & Guts match on May 12 did an extremely effective job starting their piece around the actual match – that is until MJF took it to a slightly higher level talking directly to Christopher about how he wanted to take his spot.
Jericho, however, completely blew Maxwell out of the water with his promo; beginning directly from experience about how he was damn proud of his history and career because every piece of the story got him to where he is today as the King of AEW and the bridge from WWE. Maxwell talked about how he is already a way bigger star than Jericho at only 25 years old. Well let’s look at Jericho at 25 – it was 1996 and he was not yet signed by WCW, although he had headlined arenas all over the world, including Mexico, Germany, and Japan.
Maxwell has never been anywhere other than the United States, so his horizons in the business need to expand (which most likely will be). Jericho is one of the originals in the wrestling business with a plethora of knowledge, and it would be stupid for younger wrestlers to not take full advantage of this opportunity to talk to him while he is still in AEW.
Brian Cage might leapfrog Hangman to challenge Omega for the AEW world championship to add even more of a layer and meaning to the ultimate showdown between Kenny and Page
This was the next step Brian Cage desperately needed to take to elevate himself into world title contention as any intuitive fan could see he would do eventually. When he debuted at Double or Nothing 2020 I thought to myself “that’s a future world champion right there.”
Brian Cage got a victory on April 28 over the number one wrestler in AEW Hangman Adam Page (AEW must like the last names Page and Cage because the company has two wrestlers with each of those names), signifying that he might get a world title shot in the future. Kenny Omega has some sort of belt for three different companies right now, but at least in AEW there seems to be a line for title shots. Jon Moxley will most likely get the first crack, after that it will probably be Brian Cage, then the long-term story could finally pay off between Omega and Hangman that has been building since day one the AEW tag titles in January 2020.
They had those titles for most of the year in 2020, then met in the finals of a tournament to be the number one contender to the AEW world championship which was held by Jon Moxley at the time. Kenny obviously won the tournament and subsequently won the title from Moxley at Winter Is Coming on December 2. Page’s drinking problem might resurface again as it could be used as a distraction from the onset of a depression from the loss; maybe even joining The Dark Order, a shadow that has not left Adam’s side as they are still coming to his aid nearly every week. They mean well but it still might be the wrong crowd.
The Young Bucks are building toward their next title defense
The Sydal Brothers got a massive opportunity to show what they can do against one of the best teams in the world The Young Bucks. Matt and Nick Jackson made sure to slow down what they were doing to make it mean more. The Undertaker reiterates this point every time he is interviewed: “less is more.” That’s exactly what Matt and Nick were doing in the match to get the non-Disney version of their tag team over. The cold spray after the match was an excellent touch, adding a little bit of comedy.
Christopher Daniels and Kazarian are theoretically still undefeated as a team since saying the next time they lose a match as a team they would retire. In theory, yes they are still the number one contenders for the AEW world tag team championships, but you can’t definitively call yourselves the number one contenders. I can’t even remember the last time Daniels and Kazarian teamed together in a match.
From memory, a few weeks ago Kazarian wrestled Christian Cage in his first singles match on Dynamite (the two men had major history from TNA). That is the only downside to this match; Daniels is old and cannot go like he used to be able to, but he can still pull out a classic match from time to time. The next test will be at Double or Nothing against Matt and Nick Jackson for the AEW world tag team championships.
The Bucks are running a successful wrestling promotion and for the second time in their lives – the difference is that the first time it was out of their own backyard and eventually moved to smaller venues. This time AEW is also broadcast weekly on national television. Other people also need to be leaned on in a major way to make everything run smoothly, so it is being done on a much bigger scale.
Cody Rhodes’ storyline with QT Marshall is moving quickly
The highlight of the six-man tag match was Lee of the Nightmare Family – infusing his positive energy into every move. The real news is how quickly the storyline is moving between Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall. A match is already going to take place between them on May 12 – even before Double or Nothing.
Billy Gunn’s sons got a major spotlight on April 28 – contributing in a significant spot to build towards a match between Cody Rhodes and QT. Lee Johnson might ultimately get involved in this story and a triple threat match may be booked down the line. That might be the direction AEW is heading regarding Johnson getting the chance to stand out this week – because (as we know) everything has a purpose in AEW that will come to fruition eventually.
Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander both win matches to regain rising trajectory
Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander (by association) have most likely the best music in the entire company – it just suits them perfectly because of the nonchalant beat of the music, and they are basically just two different versions of the same entrance song. Orange needed to get the victory over Penta so he could remain somewhat of a big deal in AEW – after all, this guy has beaten Chris Jericho. Penta has gained momentum in recent times with his character and since he has a mouthpiece so standard booking would typically indicate that he should won the match. This would be true if Tony Khan and the rest of the AEW team had not fully committed to Orange in the summer of last year by having him get not just one victory over Chris Jericho – the life blood of AEW – but also getting a second victory over him in a Mimosa Mayhem match at All Out in September.
It was a nice touch during the actual match to have Penta lock in a shoulder submission on Cassidy, only for him to fight out to get his hand in his pocket rather than performing an offensive move. The next step for Cassidy will be to develop a slightly more serious aspect to his character as opposed to just a comedy bit – perhaps becoming a TNT champion within the next year to develop more range to his character and show that he can be more than just a comedy attraction.
Another highlight was when Penta was able to catch Orange in midair with one hand holding him up in a gorilla press after Cassidy attempted a dive out of the ring (shows incredible strength and balance).
Finally, the women’s division got an opportunity to take center stage in the form of a match between Kris Statlander and Penelope Ford. Statlamder is coming off a gruesome ACL tear in June of last year, and just made her return a few weeks ago. She was not affiliated with Orange Cassidy or Best Friends in any capacity before the injury – so this is brand-new.
Meanwhile, Ford is coming off an opportunity at the AEW women’s championship last July. In this women’s match they are hoping to regain the momentum they had less than a year ago. Things can change in the rest of the business rather quickly however, and these women are simply too good to not regain their status at some point in the near future.
Tony Khan also had a massive day on Thursday, April 29. In addition to being an owner and executive who is heavily involved in the production of AEW Dynamite every week, he is also a co-owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars along with his father. The Jaguars had the number one selection in the 2021 NFL draft – and they directed the man who is hopefully going to be the quarterback for at least the next decade in Trevor Lawrence. Excalibur or somebody else on commentary will most likely mention this next week on Dynamite.
It is also a massive deal that Yuji Nagata (who currently is signed to NJPW as he has been for most of his career) is going to make an appearance on Dynamite against Jon Moxley on May 5. It says something about this organization in Japan that nearly every wrestler who signs with the company usually stays for an extended time. Tony Schiavone used to call Nagata’s matches back in WCW in the 90’s when Yuji was a young man.
Nagata is a two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, including having held the title for a then-record 392 days, and in addition setting the record for most title defenses with 10 which stood until 2012 when Hiroshi Tanahashi broke it at Wrestle Kingdom VI. He has also won all three of the major tournaments in Japan (between three different companies) for New Japan, All Japan, and Pro Wrestling Noah.