AEW Dynamite 9/18/24: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the show has a special "Grand Slam" episode coming next week, and a fifth anniversary episode the week after that! Unfortunately, this week was the week before those things, and to be honest it felt a little phoned-in — a little last day of school. As we will actually get to in this column, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make for a very handy excuse to write a slightly shortened version of our standard intro.

So! We won't be covering everything, our "Dynamite" results page is here for your perusal, and as always, these are just the personal opinions of the WINC staff. In other words, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 9/18/24 episode of "AEW Dynamite!"

I believe all of us collectively here at WINC who cover "Dynamite" thought tonight's episode was pretty much one big nothing burger, but I always try and be a little ray of positivity on (most) Wednesdays. While we didn't get much action this week or even a lot of storyline progression outside of Jeff Jarrett and Adam Page (maybe) it actually was for a pretty good reason: "Grand Slam" is next week, and "Dynamite's" five-year anniversary is the week after that. So while I was a bit bored with things this week, I am overwhelmingly still excited for next week's special. There were some good video packages on this episode that helped get me hyped, including one of Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson — while I'll be the first to admit I'm not as familiar as others with their history, seeing some of the video footage of one of their matches and getting more of a backstory about why this particular match is so important was cool. Nothing major, but enough to pique my interest. And Danielson not being on the show makes me wonder just what exactly is going to go down over the two next weeks, because I have a nagging feeling it's not the match people want.

I'm also a huge Jon Moxley fan, and this Blackpool Combat Club split with Danielson and Wheeler Yuta on the outside is also interesting, and AEW added some intrigue to Yuta's story tonight with the fact he, Claudio Castagnoli, and PAC will be defending their trios championships at "Grand Slam" in an open challenge, which will presumably be against Private Party and Komander. I like the way things are going with Yuta's character, so I'm very interested to see what will go down next week in all the BCC's matches across "Dynamite."

AEW didn't just stop at booking "Grand Slam," however, as it was also revealed that International Champion Will Ospreay will be taking on Ricochet for the gold during "Dynamite's" five-year anniversary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in two weeks. Ricochet had a pretty good backstage segment with Ospreay in between each man's matches, and I still really like their dynamic. I'm also not as familiar with their history in the ring together, but AEW has done a pretty good job with making me want to see it. And let's face it, they're two of the best in the ring, so even if I didn't know they had a history at all, I'd still be completely invested in the match.

So while Wednesday's "Dynamite" kind of stunk, it was mostly boring and not detrimental to the upcoming specials. I feel very positive looking forward to the next two weeks, and no matter what, I know we're going to get some awesome in-ring action. AEW is where the best wrestle, after all.

Written by Daisy Ruth

HOOK has been booked to look dominant, right from the get-go. His 2021 debut match saw him take down Fuego del Sol in mere minutes in what many would consider a squash match, and the young man has seldom been booked to lose ever since. Now, HOOK is a record-tying three-time FTW Champion, has locked up with veterans and rising stars alike, and is one of the most easily identifiable members of the AEW roster — all only at 25 years old. While some may critique the limitedness of his in-ring work and the stoicism of his persona, HOOK's drawing power is hard to argue against. So if HOOK is such a big draw, why on earth is he being booked in squash match after squash match?

Obviously, HOOK needs to look strong, no doubt about that. Having him squash some local talent? Also defensible — expected, even. This particular squash match does have its rhyme and reason, but there is still something to critique. This match is indicative of a more chronic issue with HOOK's booking: it's too fast and too dominant, and in that overexertion of strength, HOOK almost looks weak.

It feels oxymoronic the way quick, definitive booking can make someone look weak. Sure, HOOK might not look physically weak, but his lack of exposure on television — even if what he has is nothing short of dominant — deprives us of seeing the genuine ability to sustain an entertaining match. We don't get to see a lot of HOOK because of the way he is booked, and so we are not given a lot of material to draw our conclusions from. We can't really love him (unless you're like me and love men with mops on their head for hair, but this isn't about that), and we can only sort of hate him — all of this, because he isn't given the opportunity to show what he can do on weekly television. He is booked "weakly," not because he is losing, but because his booking is so stagnant, so short, that it is inconsequential. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but this is downright dissatisfying.

Let's do a test right now. I, much like HOOK and his squash matches, refuse to elaborate further. Is that frustrating? Now you get it.

Written by Angeline Phu

Much has been said about the evolution of women's wrestling over recent years, and there are times when that's illustrated perfectly, such as the feud between Toni Storm and Mariah May heading into All In. It was a great storyline that captured the attention while putting both women on a pedestal at the company's marquee event.

Since May has won the title and Storm wandered off into the street, however, the creative direction in the AEW women's division has become directionless. The new women's champion is waiting on Mina Shirakawa to return to AEW so she can celebrate her title win, but she's also preparing to defend her title against Yuka Sakazaki. Serena Deeb and Queen Aminata are also feuding, so the two rivalries converged this week to produce a tag match that lasted all of eight minutes, ending with a disqualification when May hit Sakazaki with the title belt. The match itself was what it was: a match. There wasn't much else to it, and that was all "Dynamite" offered up in terms of progressing the storylines in the women's division. The show completely omitted anything regarding its TBS Champion, Mercedes Mone, who holds the title embossed with the letters of "Dynamite's" TV network. Even the storyline between Deeb and Aminata got brushed to the side for that of May and Sakazaki, minimizing what little effect this chapter offered.

What has been continually been refereed to as the best women's division in the world, boasting the best wrestlers in the world, was given less than 10% of the total runtime of its flagship TV show. There are too many talent women's wrestlers on AEW's roster for it to be okay for them to be relegated below squash matches or Chris Jericho getting in his greatest hits against the latest victim of the Jericho Vortex. AEW has proved that it can tell great stories when it wants to, and its women's division has managed to produce some of the highlights of the promotion's history, yet it still gets the side-eye. Athena recently surpassed Samoa Joe to become the longest-reigning ROH Champion — why aren't these milestones being championed? Some of the best wrestlers in the world are on the AEW roster, no doubt, but it is missing the direction that is needed to become the best division in the US, much less the world.

Written by Max Everett

The idea of a match between Ricochet and The Beast Mortos was to give Ricochet another win as he moves  closer to his AEW International Championship match with Will Ospreay, which was confirmed to be taking place at the fifth anniversary edition of "AEW Dynamite" on October 2. That goal was achieved, as Ricochet put in his best performance to date and is slowly starting to find his groove in his new surroundings.

That said, Ricochet isn't the man I want to talk about.

The Beast Mortos has slowly but surely become one of the most consistent performers in AEW. He's filled the midcard TV role that Darby Allin used to occupy — if you needed a very good/great TV match to put someone over for the future, you put them in there with Darby. That's what's happening with Mortos right now, and this match with Ricochet is a perfect example. Ricochet's best performance in AEW thus far was in large part down to the fact that Mortos made him look like a million dollars at every turn, and Mortos himself came out of it looking just as rich.

Now don't get twisted, I am not saying we should put the AEW World Championship on Mortos tomorrow. I wouldn't be against the idea, but that would be getting ahead of myself. However, the guy has a tremendous upside and has quietly become one of the most exciting guys to watch in the business. Just imagine the type of run he could have in something like the Continental Classic — match after match where his stock continues to rise, to the point where he could easily slot into a place on the card where he could be the one dethroning Jack Perry for the AEW TNT Championship, or even working his way into the AEW International Championship picture. Why not? What's the harm?

I will never understand why TNA had Mortos losing to people like Bully Ray. He's a killer in the ring and made AEW's newest signing look like what his slogan suggests: out of this world. AEW might not know what they've got with The Beast Mortos right now, but if he keeps this run of performances up, they'll have a raging bull on their hands that will be impossible to ignore.

Written by Sam Palmer

"Dynamite" has produced no shortage of fun matches to watch, but more often than not these days, many of them happen to be random and thrown together at the last second. The main event of this week's show was fun, but it actually had some logic behind it, with The Young Bucks slated to defend the AEW World Championship against Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher next week at "Grand Slam," with the former pair teaming with Kazuchika Okada and the latter duo joining forces with Konosuke Takeshita, who are also kind of feuding.

Anyone who watches AEW knows it's inevitable that Don Callis and Takeshita will betray Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher at some point in the not-too-distant future, but the return of United Empire as an AEW stable would be made all the more exciting by the potential return of Mark Davis. Yes, AEW has plenty of tag teams and stables  already, but the idea of putting Ospreay and Fletcher in a group with the intent of taking down the Don Callis Family is an interesting and engaging way of doing the storyline while still keeping Ospreay and Fletcher themselves as the central focal point.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

I understand selling the importance of the Blackpool Combat Club's heinous attack on Bryan Danielson. I do. I understand that AEW is building tension and anticipation for whether or not Danielson will be able to even compete at "AEW Grand Slam" next week. That doesn't change the fact that AEW has become a mild riff on "Waiting For Godot."

Nigel McGuinness has something to say about Danielson. Jon Moxley and Darby Allin have things to say about each other that are ultimately about why they should face Danielson. Christian Cage is wandering around with a contract for a match with a ghost. AEW programming has a massive hole in the center of it, with Bryan Danielson at home and recovering. If anything of interest had happened this week, I might sing a different tune, but McGuinness was left carrying his feud with Danielson for the second week in a row, the glaring absence of Danielson made clearer by the technical difficulties before Nigel's emotional promo. The AEW World Champion feels like a second thought, even though he's being talked about every few minutes — it's a wild bit of dissonance.

I have no answer for how to fix this. Maybe putting the title on a guy who isn't legitimately concerned for his ability to finish the year ambulatory? It feels like Swerve Strickland losing the title has unmoored the belt. Adam Page is still mad at Swerve and his allies; the BCC are still oddly obsessed with purity and "personal responsibility"; Ricochet is feuding with Ospreay; The Learning Tree continues to learn nothing from the crowd's response to his tired antics. The world is moving on, and the world champion is being left behind.

Please disregard this next week when everyone loses their s*** hearing "The Final Countdown."

Written by Ross Berman