AEW Dynamite 6/19/2024: 3 Things We Loved And 3 Things We Hated
Another "AEW Dynamite" has come and gone, and with the road to Forbidden Door drawing to an end, AEW has picked up the pace on its story, in some cases for better and some cases for worse. I'm not about to get you bogged down in what happened, that's what our fastidious results page is for, but the Wrestling Inc. Staff had plenty of gripes and praises for the June 19th edition of "AEW Dynamite."
From Daniel Garcia's once again sidelining to another 8-man tag match, there was plenty that made the staff roll their eyes, but there were also moments like the main event or the gripping promo battle between AEW International Champion Will Ospreay and AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland.
Enough rhapsodizing, let's get into the nitty-gritty of what we liked and what we didn't.
Loved: Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland Are Evenly Matched
I have grown traumatized by MJF's reign of terror, where the AEW World Champion would often deliver overkill stand-up comedy bits, often flattening his opponent into a few quips. It's an irresponsible promo style that has left many could-be AEW stars looking worse than any star should because MJF couldn't help but deliver a tight-five about how his opponent sucks. Wrestling is all about perception and there's never been an MJF opponent who came out of a promo battle looking like they could win. This is why it was so refreshing to see two main eventers give each other the business and walk away both looking like either man could walk away with the title.
Will Ospreay delivered a passionate tirade against Swerve Strickland, at one point saying that while Swerve had a "Hit Row," Ospreay had a "Hit List" of wrestling legends he defeated. Swerve was on the ropes with the comment but turned it around by letting Ospreay know that Swerve has no friends, no family, just a world title and his career, and that makes him dangerous. It was a little silly but Swerve delivered it with all the bravado Ospreay threw at him. Some folks said Ospreay won, some said Swerve won, both had good points and it just feels so good to have two men feel like equal competitors.
Ospreay has had a rocket strapped to his back since he entered AEW, but it's refreshing to see the likely future golden boy up against a competitor who has as much momentum as Opsreay does, who has a love for trash talk and taking petty shots as him, and the results were electric. AEW would be remiss to make this feud a short term thing.
Written by Ross Berman
Hated: Will The Random Eight Man Tag Team Matches Ever Stop?
I understand that Forbidden Door is coming up in the not so distant future and there is a need to generate excitement for matches such as Orange Cassidy vs. Zack Sabre Jr. and Dante Martin, Mark Briscoe, and Konosuke Takeshita being among those competing in the Six-Man TNT Championship Ladder Match. However, random Eight Man "All Star" Tag Team matches with other random competitors not featured in either of the matches such as Kyle Fletcher, Kyle O'Reilly, and Roderick Strong, are an uncreative and ineffective way of trying to draw in viewers for tonight's show and the pay-per-view event.
First, if you're trying to create hype for a singles match by using a tag team match of any kind, limiting the amount of time the two competitors in said singles match face off in the ring during the tag is good in order to preserve what's to come. Cassidy and Sabre Jr. seem to have both forgotten this given the amount of time they spent wrestling one another throughout the match. There was also no need for this match to have two commercial breaks throughout it. Quite honestly, there could've very easily been a third one thrown in there if AEW really wanted to because this entire thing went on for much, much longer than it needed to. This certainly was not helped by the fact that it almost seemed like everyone competing in the match forgot what the rules of an eight man tag team match really are with everyone brawling with one another at several different points through the match and forgetting that tags still meant something. It was over the top and chaotic for seemingly no reason, and was hard to watch, follow, and understand.
Written by Oliva Quinlan
Hate: Rush vs. MJF opens the show commercial-free
Calling this a full-blown "hate" may be a little too strong, but I personally wasn't a huge fan of MJF versus Rush. I didn't like the fact it opened the show, and for some reason, I didn't like the fact it was commercial free – but maybe that's because I'm so conditioned to expect picture-in-picture breaks from "Dynamite" at this point. I will admit that I'm not as familiar with Rush as maybe I should be at this point, but I think that MJF deserved something more upon his return from injury. For some reason, I thought maybe he would go right for Swerve Strickland and the AEW World Championship, but of course, Strickland is tied up with International Champion Will Ospreay before Forbidden Door right now. Though, that doesn't seem like something that would stop MJF. It was also a little jarring to start off a MJF match without a promo or any kind of talking, and I think that threw me for a loop ahead of this match as well. I think MJF should have at least cut a mini-promo on the mic while walking down the ramp, after getting in Rush's face the past few weeks.
The match started off hot with Rush kicking the heck out of MJF, with MJF seeming like he couldn't immediately get his footing to kick off his first match back in a few months. It wasn't the strong start I wanted to see from him, personally. Rush was a great dance partner for him, but I would have liked to see a little more offense from the "Scumbag" to solidify his return. He did hit a piledriver, which was awesome, but Rush kicking out of that wasn't.
The second piledriver into the Brainbuster for the win was excellent, but I found myself still stuck on the beginning of the match and it's slow start for the former World Champion. It didn't land for me for MJF's first match back, and I don't know if that was the lack of beginning offense or the fact it kicked off the show. I also wasn't entirely a fan of the random set-up for MJF versus Hechicero at Forbidden Door, with The Cage of Agony just appearing on the titantron following the win. I'd say I'm glad MJF is on the pay-per-view at all, but the match technically isn't even official yet with commentary saying Tony Khan or Christopher Daniels had to approve the match. That didn't even happen on this show, so that was also lame. Overall, I wouldn't say I hated this with a burning passion or anything, but it was quite lackluster on what I thought was a pretty great Dynamite.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Hated: Daniel Garcia is getting lost in the shuffle
Will Ospreay is feuding with Swerve Strickland. Will Ospreay is also interacting with MJF. MJF is feuding with luchadors like Rush and Hechicero. MJF is also feuding with the entire Undisputed Kingdom. In the middle of all this mess was Daniel Garcia, who I'm sure I'm supposed to be happy for, as he's standing in the same conversation as a former AEW World Champion and a current AEW International Champion, but it's hard not to see a very talented wrestler about to get sucked into more mess.
Garcia was already in the miasma that was the Jericho Appreciation Society. His return to black trunks and grappling has essentially happened in the background and in social media vignettes. It's very hard to feel like AEW "cares" about him. A talent who fans naturally gravitate towards, it feels like AEW believes Daniel Garcia needs to be something more than Daniel Garcia. I'm just worried that in trying to make him the next Jericho or the next MJF or the next Ospreay, AEW is wasting time that could be spent making him the first Daniel Garcia.
Written by Ross Berman
Loved: An Intriguing Main Event
With a combined 43 years of experience in the wrestling industry, it's no surprise that PAC and Claudio Castagnoli were able to put on a fantastic, fast-paced, and captivating match.
There are a lot of choices AEW makes when it comes to booking matches that I don't enjoy and find quite random, but putting two experienced veterans in the first quarterfinals and overall match of the 2024 Men's Owen Hart Cup Tournament was one that I happen to agree with. On a program that has become so full of matches with winners that are easy to predict, it was a refreshing change of pace to see a match where the winner was not as clear, not to mention one that was a main event. This combined with the ending of the show wherein Castagnoli opted not to show any respect to PAC leading to the latter staring down Castagnoli's Blackpool Combat Club stablemate Bryan Danielson at the commentary desk. Intrigue and interest is an element that I find is lacking in several of AEW's ongoing storylines, but this match and the fallout is certainly an exception and managed to perfectly create it.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Loved: AEW Women's Championship contract signing goes awry, May makes a choice?
I expected to love the contract signing between "Timeless" Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa, especially with Mariah May "hosting" it, and it did not disappoint, though, I didn't expect it to go sideways in the way that it did. I love the fact that May is torn between Storm and Shirakawa throughout this feud, and I also love that I've learned I'm a Shirakawa fan. That's definitely something I love about Forbidden Door "season," getting know to know talents I may not be entirely familiar with.
May told both women she loves them to start off the segment, and her former Stardom tag team partner straight up told her to shut up. Shirakawa then cut a great promo on Storm, and I love when talent from other countries get the opportunity to shine on the mic (looking at you to get better at this, WWE), and she absolutely didn't disappoint. Shirakawa told Storm that she was a legend in Stardom, she's a star in AEW, but as a champion, she got soft. She called Storm weak, and said nobody wants her. "At Forbidden Door, I'll take your title and my girl" was one of the lines of the night for me.
Storm is also an absolute legend in this "Timeless" role and it's still yet to get old for me. She threatened to slap the t*** off Shirakawa. "You don't want Toni Storm, well, this buffet is wide open, so grab a bowl and line up!" had me laughing to myself on the couch. This woman comes off with the lines every week, and yet every week, I'm still surprised by them, but also charmed. May grabbed the mic and said the match was official, but Shirakawa grabbed and back and asked May to choose between her and Storm. This is where things got even more surprising for me, when Saraya and Harley Cameron came out to interrupt. Saraya said she was sick of all of this, but said they didn't come alone. That's when Anna Jay of all people appeared and helped the women take out May, Storm, and Shirakawa. There was a great spot with Storm attempting to protect May, but Storm sent herself through a table that Saraya had set up when she attempted a hip attack.
To end this segment, we saw May and Shirakawa at the top of the ramp, staring down at Storm laying in the ring. Did May actually make a decision here? Is Shirakawa going to consider this a decision, even if she didn't? I'm invested in this story, and I'm glad we still have one more "Dynamite" before Forbidden Door for this to all come to a head. The integration of Saraya, Cameron, and now Jay, is interesting, and I think it's only going to continue to be interesting after Storm retains at the pay-per-view, but for now, I'm completely invested in the May-Storm-Shirakawa storyline.
Written by Daisy Ruth