I'll post videos/photos from the show tomorrow. For now, here's my review from the night of action! Dark matches will be labeled with the number zero followed by upward alphabetical order.
Matches:
0a.TH2 vs Best Friends NR
1.AEW Tag Titles: The Elite(Omega,Page) (c) vs SCU(Kaz,Sky) ****
2.Dustin vs Sammy ***
3.AEW Women's Tag Titles: Riho(c) vs Nyla ***3/4
4.MJF vs Jungle Boy ***
5.Mox vs Santana ***1/4
0b.Stratlander vs Diamante **3/4
0c.Big Swole vs Jaynes **1/2
0d.Young Bucks vs QT, Avalon ***
BONUS: QT, Cutler vs Jesus, Scooby NR
Thoughts:
We arrived at the arena, after battling awful traffic that made a normally 30 minute drive take 90, shortly before the first Dark match began. I had to use the restroom, but heard the opening of it (including Taz pushing the wrong URL to buy merch from) and then looked for a merch booth and to see what beer options they had. By the time we made it to our seats, the two teams were walking back to the back. Note that I got an Inner Circle shirt, though I wanted a hat representing the unit, a bit later in the evening after Dynamite and before the rest of Dark.
That one gets a NR for obvious reasons.
When we sat, there were a few vacant seats I saw scattered about. Most of them filled in shortly after.
The first official match of the night was a banger. I had fun explaining details to my wife throughout the night, and she enjoyed herself pretty well for someone who doesn't care much for wrestling. Page was FUCKING OVER, arguably more than Omega. Evenly, if not.
The girl next to me that splashed me with beer and had a nice, but very glittery Omega sign and a seemingly high boyfriend was pretty energetic all night. She was pretty nice, too. Props, girl, you rock!
I love that Omega and Page retained, the issues were essentially nonexistent this time between the two, and I even enjoyed the short, chaotic aftermatch stuff.
In all, this was simply a good spotlight for the division to kick things off.
Santana's sitdown promo with JR aired on screen. Good stuff. Again, very Kingston-esque. The Darby package was well done, too.
Match two of Dynamite was a good, all Texas affair. I was surprised by the outcome at the time until they set up Dustin/Hagger after. Sammy had decent heat with the crowd but Dusty was OVER. JR got some shit for being an OU boy earlier on, by the way.
Baker's segment worked very well with the fans, even getting a LOUD Whataburger chant going. I couldn't even make out everything she said because of how loud the fans were and, while a bit cheap, it fucking worked, obviously, nonetheless.
Next, we got a great Women's Championship defense. They worked their asses off and simply put in for a worthwhile match. They showed us, on screen, Nyla backstage shit talking Omega but they had it muted and we couldn't hear a damn thing. It seemed obvious, even during the match, that they plan to have PAC, Nyla versus Omega and Riho at some point soon, though.
I dig the title change here, by the way.
One of my favorite moments followed. JEFF COBB is working AEW. Reports suggest he's freelancing. I don't care. I'm just excited to see this!
MJF made a crew member clean up some spilled beer off the mat three times and, in general, got massive heat in the next one. Jungle Boy came off strong, MJF capitalized nicely off of last week overall, and the entire was a nice next step for the night.
The PAC promo was great. I'm assuming it's work from Burns. His production work is top notch.
Inner Circle joined the crowd above me and everyone singing made for an awesome moment. The contest that followed was a good one, with solid intensity behind it and they used the eye theme well along the way. Fun brawl.
After, Cobb joining Inner Circle in beating down Mox came off like a big deal. A funny moment was when Jericho, Sammy, and Haggar came down from their spot. Haggar was big enough to climb over and Sammy just jumped. Jericho had someone bring him a short ladder. Entertainment.
That ended Dynamite, which was one of the strongest episodes they've put out.
This is when I went and got the Inner Circle shirt. They had some merch left though, annoyingly, the food was all closed down.
The first Dark match after Dynamite was a solid outing with the right winner. I wonder if Impact brass will make Diamante change gear at some point?
The second post-show Dark match was cool if for no other reason than seeing Christi's mom behind where I was sitting, cheering super loud for her kid. Big Swole was pretty over.
The final official match of the evening saw the Bucks beat QT and Avalon in a fun encounter. Nothing major, but enjoyable entertainment regardless.
Aubrey's first match out got a decent little pop for her, by the way. I don't remember which match it was so I'm putting that bit here.
The Bucks, Cody, Cutler, Brandi, and QT sent us all home happy after. Brandi failed bad at tossing merch which was funny. Cutler brought the free merch out in a Marshall's bag. Oh, and Dustin came out with Red Vines and Red Hots to toss out. They made Justin Roberts give out his tie and joked about Bryan Danielson, by the way. The entire thing was entertaining, especially when they had the fan dressed as Jesus and the one dressed as Scooby come in and beat QT and Cutler (after superkicks from the Bucks).
I'll post little things I think of later about the show tomorrow (and when I think of them) as well as photos/videos. In total, though, this was a very fun evening and I thank AEW personally for the experience.
Overall Rating: 80/100%
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