Hola, lucha fans! Welcome to another entry of Lucha Corner, where I bring you mucho wrestling! I'm Francis aka Francisthewitcher and today I'm going to recap and review what we all witnessed in this week's Dynamite.
So let's get started, shall we?
The show kicked off with a backstage interview where MJF and Don Callis makes an announcement of who will be part of MJF's team. Don Callis revealed the following members: Kevin Knight, Kyle Fletcher, Jake Doyle, Kazuchika Okada, and last but not least, Andrade El Idolo.However, Andrade wasn't happy with the announcement, not to mention that apparently Trent Beretta thought he was going to be in the team.
But back to Andrade, he was clearly not pleased to work with MJF, especially when he was telling Kevin Knight he would get a title shot. Don Callis, of course, tried to calm Andrade with the empty promise that he will get it.
Now, about the lineup, I kinda knew that the entire MJF's team was going to be from the Don Callis' Family instead of seeing a few international talent from CMLL and NJPW joining. It's a little disappointing, but at the same time I understood the reason behind the booking decision and how this would develop more interesting storylines, which I'll bring up soon as we move on.
So after that segment, we got an unannounced singles match with Tony Nese from the Premier Athletes demanding a challenge to anyone who would step up, and who responded? None other than Kenny Omega!
Kenny Omega didn't have to break a sweat to pin Tony Nese and earn another victory, which by the way, I can't complain because it's great to see Kenny Omega showing up more than usual. But the interesting part was when he was about to speak on the mic, Zack Sabre Jr. walks out along with his other members of the TMDK!
It all seemed like Kenny was in trouble when he was outnumbered, but then the Young Bucks and Jack Perry walked out to the stage to stand besde Kenny, also outnumbering the TMDK. But Kenny picked the microphone again to introduce Zack Sabre Jr. to Houston and reminded him that they both have what they're seeking and they're going to find out when they'll face each other at Forbidden Door.
I actually liked this opening segment, especially seeing Zack Sabre Jr. returning to AEW and Kenny Omega hyping their upcoming match on June 28th. Furthemore, it's more likely we'll see The Young Bucks facing the other TMDK members, but maybe someone else from NJPW will show up to face Jack Perry to even the odds. Who knows if that is gonna happen, but hopefully it will.
Tag Team Match: The Death Riders (Jon Moxley and Daniel Garcia) vs Brodido
For the opening match, we got an interesting tag team match with Jon Moxley and Daniel Garcia from the Death Riders facing Brody King and Bandido, who just teamed up again as Brodido!
It was a nice surprise to see them back together, and I honestly thought they wouldn't after they lost their tag team titles against FTR. But it's a good thing that AEW didn't forget how popular Bandido and Brody are together as a team, and it was a great decision bringing them back.
This match was so much fun as well to watch some of the greatest moments, like Brody King and Jon Moxley, two hardcore wrestlers, throwing chops and all. The part where Brody King and Marina Shafir barking at each other was hilarious, but the spot where Bandido did the suplex on Marina and even did a dive on all three Death Riders members was spectacular.
Brodido picked up an important win over the Death Riders and not long after Bandido challenged Moxley for the Continental Title at Forbidden Door, which Moxley accepted. While I'm aware what will be the result, I won't deny that it's gonna be another great match for the PPV.
The Dogs' Promo
Well, actually there wasn't a promo because as The Dogs were making an entrance, they went to bully another production staff member as usual, but they didn't count that it was Copeland who took them by surprise and along with Christian, they attacked the former Bullet Club members.
As they fleed into the crowd, Christian picked up the mic to basically roast them in public when he spoke about their moms and added some salt to the wound when he brought David Finlay's father. Next, Copeland took his turn to speak about how The Dogs were doing their old gimmick because they're like the reflection of their former selves. He then talked about how his past feuds with other tag teams such as New Age Outlaws and APA wasn't enough to make them figure it out about themselves, but they learned, and promised that at Forbidden Door they're going to use their knowledge and experience to turn The Dogs into broken pups.
While I found the segment was brief, it was nice to finally see Copeland and Christian returning to announce their first tag team title defense. And not sure if I mentioned in my past reviews, but this feud has been a nice fresh breath after watching their prolonged feud against FTR. And I can tell that after this PPV, we're about to see the AEW's tag team division becoming bigger in the next couple of months.
On the other hand, it's a little sad for me that we won't see The Dogs feuding with The Bang Bang Gang since there was a lot of story to tell between them, but maybe they're really planning to do more of that after Forbidden Door, I can only hope.
The Owen Hart Tournament Semifinal Match: Mercedes Mone vs Hazuki.
This will be my favorite topic to write about, and that's what could be one of the women's best matches of the year.
Both Hazuki and Mercedes Mone not only had such great chemistry to deliver such an incredible match. It's not just because it lasted longer, but because they knew how to keep the crowd engaged with their flawless performances.
It's also great to see Hazuki gaining much popularity over the past few days to the point the fans look at her as a potential top star, and that's why I believe in some cases that a few talent from promotions like Stardom and NJPW should have dual contracts.
Anyhow, it was still an oustanding match and Mercedes heading to the finals could play an important plot point when we have yet to see if either Maya World or Athena will be her opponent. But I also hope that we might see Hazuki again cause she could still have some interesting matches with the AEW's Women's Division.
Will Ospreay And Swerve Strickland Face-To-Face.
Next we got Tony Schiavone introducing Will Ospreay as he claimed that as much as he wanted to have a honeymoon with his wife, Alex Windsor, she said he needed to stay focused on the tournament. He even had to say about what he did to his wife that I'm not going to quote what he said. It was out of nowhere, but who am I to judge someone who's happy with his marriage?
Anyway, Tony Schiavone proceeded to introduce Swerve Strickland, and with both men inside the ring, they obviously had some words to share. Swerve started by telling Will Ospreay that he had changed, which Ospreay denied and mentioned to Swerve that he's the one who changed. When Ospreay asked him what was his problem, Swerve responded that he couldn't understand why Ospreay joined with the Death Riders ever since the past year they dealt with them, which explains why Swerve said he had changed.
Ospreay then told him that as much as he still hasn't forgiven them for what they've done to his neck, he learned to let it go. But then he accused Swerve for not coming out to help neither him nor Hangman back in All In: Texas, and when he saw the footage of Swerve coming out to help Hangman after Ospreay was taken to the hospital, he had the question lingering in his mind... Where was Swerve when he needed?
But Ospreay wasn't asking for an explanation and said that what mattered was their upcoming match at Forbidden Door and how much he needed to win to get to Wembley Stadium, and warned Swerve that he's not gonna hesitate to end his dream just as Swerve is thinking the same.
Swerve agreed that he and Ospreay had to take care of the Death Riders while Hangman was getting his chance for the title to save AEW, but then asked where was he now after he lost to MJF, which all the hard work he and Ospreay worked for was for nothing. He then revealed that he's done with staying on the sidelines while giving other people like Hangman and Ospreay their chances to shine when he's the one who deserves it.
He promised Ospreay that nothing will change because their previous matches ended with Swerve winning over him, and even if Ospreay gets a title shot against him, Swerve will beat him over and over. And Swerve ended with adding some salt to the wound when he said to Ospreay that him isn't better than him on the worst day with his and quote "fragile neck".
Ospreay straight punched Swerve after that insult and when Swerve was about to attack him with his chain the Death Riders came out to assist him. Before leaving, Swerve finished by telling Ospreay that he indeed changed.
That promo... was a masterpiece. Not only because both Ospreay and Swerve knew how to deliver a tense, but solid segment, it's more because how they're selling their upcoming match like bread and the implication about Hangman Page was enough to make us look forward what happens after Forbidden Door.
And when Swerve dropped the f-bomb on TV, that really spiced the segment and that said a lot when Ospreay was almost shocked.
I'm very excited for their match and I can see Hangman Page's return might be sooner than we could anticipate...
12-Man Tag: MJF's Team vs Briscoe's Team.
For the main event, we got the 12-Man Tag Team match, but before started, we saw Mark Briscoe introducing the members of his team.
First he introduced his Conglomeraton comrades, Kyle O'Reily, Roderick Strong, and Orange Cassidy. Tomohiro Ishii of course couldn't join with them because Okada and Fletcher attacked him backstage, but Briscoe said that he had someone who's willing to join them and who has Kyle Fletcher on sight, and that's Konosuke Takashita. Brisicoe then introduced their final member who's not fond with MJF and Kevin Knight, Darby Allin.
Once again, while I was dissappointed there's no outside talent joining each time, I understood the reason behind that. But what I liked more was Takeshita was now wearing a white gear to solidify his face turn and that fits him so well.
Now as for the match, it was actually pretty good with some fun moments, like when Orange Cassidy panted Andrade and when Jake Doyle was breaking MJF's arm without realizing and Andrade was encouraging him to keep going. Even there was some interesting hints about the tensions growing in the Don Callis Family as we saw Fletcher bossing Kevin Knight around, Andrade refusing to work with MJF, not to mention Trent Beretta's reaction at the beginning of the show.
So in the end, MJF's team took the victory, but I can tell that this is only the calm before the huge storm and we're bound to see it at the Steel Cage match at Forbidden Door.
CONCLUSION.
I feel like I need to make one final address about the ongoing issues with Forbidden Door's booking. Since we didn't get more international talent heading to that even and we're just one week away from the PPV, I believe that at this stage Tony Khan needs to consider scrapping the 'Forbidden Door', because when I think about it, the door is no longer forbidden.
AEW, NJPW, CMLL and Stardom, don't actually need the Forbidden Door PPV to bring outside talent, because they have all the time each year to work together and book exciting crossover shows. We saw that at last night at ROH: Global Wars where we watched the outstanding performances from Syuri, Maika and Takumi Iroha. They could perhaps try again at WrestleDream since it's a tribute show to Antonio Inoki. At the very least, they could try to take Forbidden Door to either Mexico or Japan. I'm sure they're considering those ideas.
Back to the point, this week's Dynamite was excellent despite that it had only a few matches and it was promo focused. We even got an exciting announcement from PAC when he challenged Shota Umino for the IWPG Global Heavyweight Championship, so that's wonderful to look forward to.
I'm very excited for what's to come at this Saturday's Collision and maybe next week it's going to be even bigger since we're getting closer to their next PPV.
So that was my Dynamite review this week, I hope you enjoyed reading this, and as always, if you have a question or an opinion you'd like to share, just leave a comment below. And I remind you that you can follow me either on Twitter or Instagram. Your support will mean a lot to me so I can keep writing wrestling takes and reviews.
Without further ado, I wish you all lucha fans a very nice day and please support pro wrestling and lucha libre!
Hasta la proxima!
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario