Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the show where it's late June so it's time to try and make us care about a whole lot of Japanese guys! Yes, Forbidden Door is right around the corner, and if you think some of the novelty has worn off after two full years, you're not alone we'll talk about that below. Here at WINC, we were pretty far from impressed with this episode as a whole, and we have lots to say about stuff like the Daniel Garcia Promo Marathon (sponsored by Friendship and Being A Good Samaritan) but we also have good things to say too things about women's wrestling, and the main event world title feud!
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If you're new here, keep in mind that this column is not about being objective or comprehensive; those two virtues can be found over at our "Dynamite" results page. This column is about what the various members of the WINC staff on duty Wednesday night felt most strongly about, in equal parts positive and negative directions. In other words, these are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 6/26/24 episode of "AEW Dynamite."
AEW has certain strengths when it comes to booking and putting together pay-per-view matches, but one of their weaknesses has been throwing together pay-per-view cards at the last second while simutaneously looking too far ahead into the future. The opening segment of "Dynamite" between MJF and Daniel Garcia was proof of just that.
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It's nice to see Garcia back on television and be given a push. Hearing the pop for a talent whenever a promotion is in their hometown is always cool, and Garcia is a great in-ring talent that can also go on the microphone. That being said, there was very little point to having him confront MJF in the ring, have the two of them spend 10 minutes or so showering each other in compliments, and MJF offering Garcia a match against him at All In. Will Ospreay's involvement in the segment didn't really add anything either, and having him offer Garcia the AEW International Championship was something that didn't need to be thrown into this.
AEW has been pushing All In 2025 for almost a year now, and while there are a certain number of ticket sales they want to hit well in advance of the pay-per-view, it's still two months away. Forbidden Door is right around the corner on Sunday, and should be where all of the company's energy is focused on at the moment. There was very little point in putting the MJF, Garcia, and Ospreay segment on tonight's show much less as the opening segment - when it very easily could've been on next week's "Dynamite" whether that be as it's no thing or happens after Ospreay and Garcia's International Championship match.
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Written by Olivia Quinlan
"Flanderization" is a phenomenon named for "The Simpsons" character Ned Flanders, who started as a complicated foil to Homer Simpson and representative of good neighbors everywhere, and over the years was flattened into a caricature of American Christianity. This same issue is happening with Kazuchika Okada, whose brief tenure in AEW has already seen him flattened into an impish boy king, obsessed with the word "B****" and otherwise a shadow of the mythic figure he was in NJPW.
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Okada's priggish streak is nothing new. The former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion grew bored in NJPW over the course of a decade, and kept looking for ways to entertain himself. From balloons, to the KOPW idea, to stealing The Young Bucks' gear every chance he gets. Kazuchika Okada's prankster nature was always in stark contrast to the terrifying demon he could be in the ring. The long-time main eventer could be counted on to have an intense, laborious main event on NJPW's big shows, leaving him to be something of a spoiled brat in undercard tag matches and backstage promos.
In AEW, he simply hasn't had the fiery showcase to contrast his clowning, and it has turned the Michael Jordan of non-WWE wrestling into more of a Bart Simpson figure. There is plenty of time to turn things around, but I can't help but feel like AEW has tied one hand behind Okada's back.
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Written by Ross Berman
I wasn't a huge fan of this episode's actual main event (all Ospreay matches look the same to me, and I really wasn't out here clamoring for a hyper-competitive Gates of Agony match) but I did like the short aftermath, with Swerve trying to leave the ring, Ospreay snatching his title belt again, and Swerve responding by absolutely murdering him with a House Call. In addition to the obvious the episode closes on the image of the world champion standing tall, which has been a rarity in Swerve's title reign so far this sold the Strickland vs. Ospreay story to me ten times harder than last week's bland promo battle.
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I saw somebody on Twitter mention that this feud has had a recurring theme, which is that Ospreay hesitates and Swerve doesn't. In fact, Ospreay has been hesitating since his match with Bryan Danielson the match that made him retire the Tiger Driver '91. It hasn't cost him yet, but for the first time since Ospreay became No. 1 contender, I'm starting to think he might lose at Forbidden Door. It seems to me that the story here is about Ospreay being too young, too cocky, and too secretly insecure to win the world title. Combined with the fact that the men's Owen Hart Cup is starting to feel like "Hangman" Adam Page's tournament to lose, and that would add up to another Page vs. Strickland match for the world title at All In, which is a fairly ideal scenario from my perspective.
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Now, will that actually happen? Will Tony Khan be able to resist the prospect of Ospreay being world champion when AEW returns to Wembley? I still kind of doubt it. But this moment at the very end of the episode really made me wonder, and more importantly, it has me invested in the answer.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
