I had the pleasure of attending AEW’s recent PPV ‘Dynasty’ live this weekend from the Chaifetz Arena and what a show it was! I’ll be briefly running through the card because as usual with AEW’s PPVs, they went all out and had a whopping 14 matches on the card and the show ran just around 4 and a half hours with very little break. 3 matches got shoved onto the pre-show card as well, including the 6-man match for the Trios Championships between the Acclaimed and Daddy Ass vs The Bang Bang Gang, which saw the Bang Bang Gang walk away with the victory and maybe finally put the final nail in the coffin of that ongoing rivalry. The actual PPV started off hot with Kazuchika Okada putting his Continental Title on the line against Pac in what was a hard fought, nearly 30-minute match. Pac’s missed Black Arrow helped Okada set up The Rainmaker which finally put Pac down for the 3 and Okada walked out with the belt still in his grasp. Next came a much anticipated (at least for me) trios match between Eddie Kingston, Mark Briscoe, and Adam Copeland taking on the House of Black. Copeland and Black himself didn’t actually square off till the final moments of the bout when Malakai blinded Copeland with his mist and rocked him with the Black Mass for the 3 count. That ending and keeping the 2 mostly separated throughout the match tells me they’re clearly moving forward with a Black/Copeland rivalry and I for one am here for it, so that will hopefully be exciting to watch in the coming months. Julia Hart defended her TBS Championship next against the lovable babyface, Willow Nightingale. Hart came out the gate strong, but Willow ate everything she threw at her and came back with some heavy offense, before delivering a gut-wrench powerbomb for the victory to become the new TBS Champion! After the match, Mercedes Mone made her presence felt again, coming down to ringside to stare down Willow in her moment of celebration and let her know who’s next in line. The International Title was on the line next as champ Roderick Strong took on his longtime friend and partner, Kyle O’Reilly. This one was filled with some strikes, counters, and overall good wrestling. Strong spent a lot of his time targeting the previously injured neck and back of O’Reilly as he fought back with strikes and submissions, before the big man Wardlow caused a distraction allowing Strong to hit his awesome finisher, the End of Heartache, for the 3 count to retain the title. After the match, Adam Cole was wheeled out on his chair before standing up and walking down to the ring to celebrate with Strong and the boys so we will now hopefully be seeing Adam Cole back in the ring very soon! The FTW Title was defended next as Hook took on the legend himself, Chris Jericho. The crowd wanted nothing to do with Jericho here and it kind of hurt my heart as he was such a big part of wrestling for me growing up and I have nothing but respect for the guy myself, but the fans are over it and don’t want to see the 50+ year old taking spots away from younger talent and winning matches he has no real business to win. Regardless of the “Fozzy Sucks” and “Please Retire” chants, Jericho picked up the belt after a brutal matchup, ending in 2 Judas Effects before Jericho clocked Hook over the head with a baseball bat officially ending the matchup. After the match, a concerned Tazz got up from the announce desk to check on his downed boy.
The AEW Women’s World Championship was on the line after as the champ “Timeless” Toni Storm (my favorite character in AEW and one of the better women’s characters of all time) took on a very game, Thunder Rosa. Toni’s henchpeople (Mariah May and Luthor) stuck their noses into the match a couple times before Deonna Purrazzo ran to ringside and took out Luthor and fought with Mariah into the backstage area. Without her devious duo ringside, Storm capitalized off a referee distraction to deliver a low blow to Rosa before hitting Storm Zero for the 3 count to retain the title. After that match came something truly special as Will Ospreay took on Bryan Danielson in what most will likely consider as the best match of the year. These men are both such gifted talents in-ring wise and when you mix Danielson’s overall ring psychology with Ospreay’s insane athleticism something great is expected, that’s why I was worried for these guys at the large expectations they faced before the bell even rung. Well, they not only delivered, but you could argue over-delivered in what was a 32-minute banger and all-out war. Being there live and feeling the enticement and excited energy flowing through that arena as the match progressed and near falls happened was a special experience. Near the end of the bout both men crawled back to their feet from respective corners of the ring before having a stare down and almost in agreement running at each other dual style before colliding in the middle of the ring. Ospreay won out though and laid Danielson out before connecting with a Tiger Driver and a Hidden Blade on his downed opponent for the 3-count. After the match Danielson writhed in the ring and held his neck as a compassionate Ospreay helped his fallen opponent to the back with the medics. We moved from that epicness straight into more epicness as The Young Bucks battled FTR in a ladder match for the vacant AEW Tag Team Championships. Near the end of the match after many fun high spots and ladder brutality, a hooded figure ran over the rubble and into the ring as Cash Wheeler was about to unhook the titles and pushed the ladder over dropping Cash in a hard way in the process. The figure was revealed to be Jack Perry who received a loud pop and a mixed reaction from the live audience, he was quickly grabbed by security and escorted away through the crowd. Amidst the chaos, the Bucks ran up the ladder and retrieved the titles officially becoming 3 time AEW Tag Team Champs and setting up a potential partnership between Perry and the Bucks in the future. Then finally came main event time as the AEW World Champion Samoa Joe took on a very hungry and very game competitor, Swerve Strickland. Joe attempted to beat down and wear down his hungry opponent throughout the match, but Swerve proved to be too much and have too much heart. In the end after a hard fought back and forth clash, Swerve slammed Joe into the mat before delivering a second top rope double stomp to the champ and securing the pin. The exhausted crowd erupted with 1 last burst of their energy for Swerve as he celebrated in the ring with his newly won championship.
AEW Dynasty was overall a banger of a card from top to bottom and most the matches delivered on the hype surrounded around them, but man as always, their PPVs are just a lot to take in. I love wrestling, I think it’s great, but after 5 hours of it nonstop with no breaks, no segments, no backstage shenanigans or intermissions, I start to fizzle out in energy of what I’m watching. That is my 1 complaint, and it seems to be a complaint of mine every AEW pay per view. Their PPVs are undeniably stacked usually and feature great wrestling so as a fan I shouldn’t be complaining about it being too much, but there’s just nothing to break it up and after 5 hours of match, match, match, you start to feel that a little bit. I wanted to be much more hype for Swerve and his title victory, and it was still a legendary AEW moment and a career defining one for Swerve himself, but after 12 matches and following Ospreay/Danielson and The Bucks/FTR ladder match they were undeniably in a tough spot. He still received the loud pop from the crowd following his victory and crowning moment, but you could feel the restlessness and spent aura that surrounded the crowd throughout the main event. That is why I’ve hoped or begged AEW for more backstage segments, in ring talk shows, interviews, shenanigans, etc. for a long time, especially at their PPVs. It would help to flesh out and create more familiarity with their wrestlers as well as break up the matches a little bit and make each match stand out a little more instead of bleeding from match to match, back-to-back. I also understand though that they’re trying to get as many matches and as much talent as they can on their PPVs and they’re only allowed an allotted amount of time on the PPV stream, so I don’t know if I actually have the answer for them until the can get themselves on a streaming service deal and not have to feel so rushed for time during their big shows. I know it sounds like I’m definitely complaining now, but it’s constructive criticism and not bitching, I assure you I want them to succeed as well. Overall, it was a great show and I was pleased to get the chance to see it live! Excited to see where Ospreay goes from here, what this Bucks/Perry partnership looks like, how long Timeless Toni can keep a hold of the championship, and the title reign of the one, Swerve Strickland.
