Overall
I had a really fun time watching Dynamite this week. The episode was super solid and had a lot going for it. What really takes away from it was that mess of a 12 man tag match to kick off the show. Learning very few lessons from the recent 10 man tag match, AEW decided that adding two more people in would fix the problem rather than just focusing on the ongoing stories without having everyone clash at the same time.
Other than the rough start to the episode, AEW kept a really solid pace this week and gave us some quality segments and matches. Of course the one that has many talking is the return of WCW’s Eric Bischoff to TNT to moderate the hilarious debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy. In my review of Cassidy and Jericho’s match at Fyter Fest I said that I was worried that Jericho was unwilling to put Orange Cassidy over, but it clearly seems that Jericho actually very much wants to put Cassidy over. This segment tonight along with their upcoming match will likely tie a bow on this feud and let Cassidy move onto new stories or perhaps a return to his feud with Pac. Clearly however, the sky is the limit.
I really enjoyed AEW this week, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t issues. So let’s look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of AEW: Dynamite 8/5/20.
The Good
- One lesson that AEW did learn from the 10 man tag match was to keep the pace up.
- Best Friends and Santana and Ortiz had a really fun solid tag match.
- MJF’s backstage campaign office segment was super funny.
- Damn, the Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara confrontation was also super fun to watch.
- The destruction of the mini van was great. Yes, it is dumb but these two teams make it more fun than dumb.
- Matt Cardona’s entrance video and gear both look great!
- Cody and Cardona put together a hell of an in-ring debut for Cardona, probably better than having him lose a shot at the TNT title in the open challenge. Although, I would like to see Matt Cardona challenge for that belt one day.
- The cue cards bit for picture in picture is great. I like that they are getting creative with how to use the picture in picture commercials and keep people from tuning out.
- I love a ridiculous amount of pyro for a mundane thing like a debate.
- Eric Bischoff was a great choice for surprise moderator!
- Orange Cassidy’s climate change answer was very good.
- This entire debate segment was fantastic! I take back what I said about Jericho not wanting to put Cassidy over.
- Big Swole vs. Reba (Rebel) was fun.
- Wardlow and MJF’s interference in the World Championship match was good.
- They did a great job making it look like Darby had any chance in hell of beating Moxley tonight.
The Bad
- Oh god. I was gonna say this 12-man tag match was pretty orderly, but it fell apart so quickly.
- AEW did not learn enough from the bad 10-man tag match last week.
- A lack of women’s wrestling in this episode. It feels like they want to promote their women’s roster but Shida just sits in the audience and the tag tournament is relegated to a youtube show that isn’t even the main youtube show.
The Ugly
- The storytelling in the tag match was not great. I get what they were going for but it just made Kenny seem like a dick and AEW seem unorganized for not stoping the match for a major injury. It was a mess and I hated it.
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