Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the show where (hurt) business is about to pick up! Yes, we are definitely going to talk about the AEW debut of Bobby Lashley in this column, as well as other notable events from "Fright Night Dynamite," including Private Party winning the tag titles, the Young Bucks bailing as a result, and everything that happened between Orange Cassidy and Jon Moxley.
There's also a ton of stuff that happened on this show that we're not going to cover. AdamCole vs. BuddyMatthews, Kamille vs. Kris Statlander we don't really have anything to say about that here. You can read about what happened in those matches via our "Dynamite" results page, but we're not covering them in this column, because this column is strictly for our opinions, regardless of how scary anyone finds them this Halloween season. So with that in mind, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/30/24 episode of "AEW Dynamite."
So I wrote about Orange Cassidy's challenge towards Jon Moxley, and the article went up right before the half-hour mark of the show. Wouldn't it be hilarious, I wondered, if Moxley responded to Cassidy's challenge right after I wrote that he hadn't?
Well, Moxley definitely responded to Cassidy's challenge. I reckon he did more than that.
I genuinely don't know where to start with this segment. There are so many things to point out in this segment, to varying degrees. Why is PAC always naked while Wheeler Yuta sticks out among the Blackpool Combat Club's (BCC) black attire with his green quarter-zip and gray sweatpants? Why did Jon Moxley try to spin Cassidy's challenge so that Moxley (the champion) challenged...the challenger? Oh, Evil Uno is here? The EVPs are in the house too? Where are we? Who are you?
In the wise words of my friend, you think it can't get any worse until Darby Allin comes down from the ceiling like Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl.
If this was the main event of "AEW Fright Night Dynamite," I would have loved this segment for the sheer campiness of it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: AEW is best when they forego all standards and double down on how absurd their booking can be. You will never see Cody Rhodes hanging down from a cable and slowly fall into the announce table in WWE you can only find that in AEW, and that's what makes it so great. If this was the main event of "Dynamite," I would be lavishing the praises of Tony Khan's sick and twisted mind.
However, this was in a really weird position on the card. What do you mean we have half a show left after this chaotic middle segment? I think Khan accidentally pushed a button to deploy all of his booking fireworks at once, and while it was cool for about fifteen minutes, we have absolutely nowhere to go from here.
Of course, the debut of Bobby Lashley is nothing to scoff at, and I understand why a performer of his caliber would not deserve anything less than a main event debut. However especially with news going around that Lashley's debut on Wednesday's Halloween edition of "Dynamite" was actually the result of a delay I can't help but feel like this is another one of Khan's logistical fumbles. You can absolutely have this BCC segment go off in the main event of one week and have Lashley debut another week, or at a pay-per-view event. The firework analogy works logistically as well: Khan accidentally a pushed a button to deploy the booking fireworks all at once, and we are worse off because of it.
This is not to say that AEW needs to exhibit restraint; it needs to exhibit foresight. The odd place on the card was literally the only thing wrong with this segment. If this had been the main event, it would have been a perfect segment.
Written by Angeline Phu
Private Party are a lot like Sammy Guevara. Back when AEW was founded, like Guevara, they were touted as a new generation of superstar, who AEW was going to take a chance on. They feuded with The Young Bucks, lost, and then proceeded to do nothing for five years. Five long years of "Oh that's right, Private Party." Actually, Sammy Guevara isn't actually a great comparison, because AEW tried -hard- with Sammy Guevara. Private Party felt like they were back-burnered almost immediately, and left to watch acts like Jericho and Guevara hold the World Tag Team Championships.
On Wednesday, AEW finally gave Private Party the shot they probably should've given them 5 years ago. The AEW World Tag Team Championship is the top of the mountain for tag teams, and therefore Private Party has done what AEW originals like Darby Allin, Daniel Garcia, and yes, even Sammy Guevara have failed to do, win a World Title. As frustratingly late as it might be, Private Party are truly the first non-MJF AEW stalwart to be truly rewarded with a world title run, a promise fulfilled, a dream no longer deferred.
The fact that the show featured The Young Bucks taking off and abandoning Brandon Cutler, and seemingly AEW as a whole, it feels like this tag team title run will not be an aberration. Maybe they fall victim down the line to the BCC, but if they do, they have one thing on most of the random collection of BCC victims don't, a bonafide World Title. Marq Quen and Isaiah Kassidy's ascent is long overdue, and the way AEW is going there was just as much of a chance that they'd lose and disband, so the victory was mid-show relief in a goofy-ass Halloween show.
Written by Ross Berman
AEW went through the effort of getting the trademark for "Fright Night Dynamite", making special graphics, having special ring ropes, (semi) decorating the entrance ramp, and centralizing a television special around the holiday of Halloween. Yet, I'm not sure if any of these efforts actually made a difference in the presentation of tonight's show.
You would think that the company would make at least one of the matches Halloween themed and have talent dress up in different costumes. AEW decided not to go down that route, and while that's fine, it makes what is supposed to be a special edition of" Dynamite" feel like any other regular edition of the show. It's clear that AEW was aiming to not make this just any old edition of "Dynamite" with new AEW World Tag Team Champions being crowned in Private Party, the return of Mark Davis, and the highly anticipated debut of Bobby Lashley at the end of the show, but much of that was taken away from the fact that the effort they put into theming the episode around something was only half at the most. While it may not be the biggest or most pressing issue in the world, theming is a visual way to get people excited about something by having what should be a central point. This was clearly not present during any of tonight's show, and made what was already an at best mediocre episode more of a disappointment than it already was.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
I'm still not totally vibing with the "Jon Moxley's violent revolution" angle post-WrestleDream, but I have to say, I really did enjoy The Elite skipping town because there was too much heat. All the little backstage segments related to this were great, though not much could beat the image of The Young Bucks frantically shredding documents because ... well, we don't know, but the reason is probably hilarious. I like that after they had started teasing that the Bucks would eventually have to come back around to the babyface side of things in the face of the threat posed by the BCC, they delayed that chapter by having the Bucks act like what they are: chickens*** heels. It's much easier to run from something than to work up the courage to confront it, and it's waaaaaaay too quick for the Bucks to see the error of their ways. Abandoning AEW to the wolves while jumping in a car yelling "We're working from home!" was the perfect note for them to hit, and them leaving poor Brandon Cutler behind to be killed and eaten was the icing on the cake. The Bucks' departure also throws a slightly darker shade on them willingly handing the tag titles over toPrivate Party after losing them, giving the appearance of passing the torch when really they were just sticking someone else with the bill.
Moreoever, these segments showed us that The BCC actually does care about more than just the likes of Orange Cassidy and Dark Order. I'm not sure that that makes the storyline make more sense, but it was nice to see Moxley finally interact with Christopher Daniels, the company's nominal on-screen authority figure, who he probably should have taken out the Wednesday after WrestleDream. I'm hoping that with Daniels apparently powerless (and possibly murdered) and the Bucks having written themselves out of the storyline, we'll start seeing more of the BCC actually taking over the company instead of just trying to bring the best out of Darby Allin or whatever.
Of all this stuff though, weirdly the thing I liked the most was the interaction between DanielGarcia and Jack Perry. I say "weirdly" because I don't really like Jack Perry and I refuse to get back on board the Garcia bandwagon after the number of times it's been burned to the ground, but in this case the pairing really worked for me. They're sort of mirror images of one another right now one the passionate warrior fighting on behalf of AEW, the other a mentally scarred trash goblin who couldn't care less. They're both AEW originals, but they've gone down very different paths, and I dug Perry's line to Garcia ("they used to dance for me, too") making Garcia walk away, because for a moment he saw in Perry a reflection of himself.
There wasn't much of anything this show had to offer me in the ring, as has become very typical of AEW, but I can't deny that they do some really good work on the margins.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
This feels a bit strange to write, because I'm a big fan of both "Switchblade" Jay White and "Hangman" Adam Page, but following White beating Page clean in the middle of the ring at WrestleDream, the ongoing feud isn't working for me after the intense, highly emotional feud that Page had with Swerve Strickland. While yes, Page is an amazing promo and talks really well to hype up a feud, it's just not working for me after he quite literally burned down a man's childhood home. His backstage promo tonight was good after White challenged him to another match for "redemption," but it doesn't seem like he's taking a gas can to anything of White's anytime soon. With Strickland taking some time off following the brutality of that cage match and feud, I don't think it would've hurt Page any to take some time off as well, as he could have jumped right in to this storyline with White at any point following White's return from injury.
I suppose I initially started to sour on all of this when White's match against Christian Cage, the second person on his list of who he was coming back to get revenge on, was just announced on Twitter by Tony Khan instead of any kind of mysterious build up. It was even more disappointing when Page interfered in that very match two weeks ago on "Dynamite" and cost White the victory. AEW has fumbled the bag with "Switchblade" for so long now, it's hard to stay invested when he's kept away from the AEW World Championship. I say that, but feuding with Page is nothing to scoff at, but, feuding with a "Hangman" who's seemingly cooled off when it comes to the brutality... and the crazy... and the whole arson thing, and oh, don't forget the syringe used in the cage match, is another.
While I like that White is being cocky and mentioning "redemption" to Page, it's overall not working with me. I was really hoping White set for something bigger after his return, but now, I'm starting to question that. Maybe it'll be Cage, who's really not doing anything other than being slightly involved with the Taz attack angle with HOOK, to get involved with their match at Full Gear, but with AEW, and especially with White and where his storylines go, I can't ever be certain. There's still some time between now and Full Gear, so "Hangman," if you're reading this, it's time once again to get on that crazy train and ride it all the way to Newark, New Jersey to get me invested in this match.
Written by DaisyRuth
Everything about the main event exemplified what AEW has going right for it on Wednesday's "Fright Night," a night that saw the very mindset of the company purportedly challenged by Jon Moxley and the BCC, as well as a tag title change, and yet somehow had nothing else quite like Shelton Benjamin versus Swerve Strickland to restore the feeling in the show. Since he debuted in AEW re-aligned with MVP, Benjamin has been presented as Brock Lesnar-adjacent athlete he is, someone who is conceivably bigger and stronger than his foe, stalking and surveying both his opponent and the landscape around them for the strategic advantage.
That was what the main event brought to focus, with Benjamin easily manhandling, stalking, then manhandling Strickland throughout the bout, keeping him sedated with lofty suplexes and slams. When Strickland did fight back, for a time it felt like it was inconsequential, once more falling foul of Benjamin's dominance. And yet that was the story of the bout, the one move that could draw it to a close that was always being searched for. Strickland survived everything that had been thrown at him and had yet to get his best shots off, and when he did finally manage to get them off, that was the end of the match. It was the perfection that comes with simplicity; not only did Benjamin come off as a conceivable threat who on another day might have had the match won, but it also set the scene for the next moment to play out: Bobby Lashley's debut.
By far the best presentation of Lashley has been with MVP and Benjamin at his side as the Hurt Business the Hurt Syndicate, as they'll likely now be called and that cannot be denied. WWE tried to move on with them in different roles to little effect, and now they're back together in AEW as a unit and it's hard to see them not doing well (That wasn't a challenge, Tony Khan). It was simply refreshing on a card that was otherwise, in many respects, looking to over-deliver on spectacle with little in the way of compelling storytelling. If the way Benjamin and MVP have been presented on AEW is any indicator to the way Lashley will continue to be, then this could shape up to be an all-timer of a run for the "All Mighty," and Swerve is more than worthy of being the first guy in line to get it.
Written byMax Everett
