AEW Dynamite - 12/4/2024: 3 Things We Loved And Hated

Another edition of AEW's flagship program, "Dynamite," has come and gone, so let's debrief on the evening's happenings. This will not be a literal rundown of what happened, that is what the results page is for. Instead, this will focus on the highs and lows of Wednesday's show, as usual. 

From the frustrating lack of weight given to The Deathriders' war against AEW to the needlessly confusing segments with Hook, there was plenty to not like. From matches like the main event brawl between Brody King and Claudio Castagnoli to PAC and Jay White's thrilling match, there also plenty to love. Without further ado, here are the Wrestling Inc. Staff's issues with this week's show.

There was quite a bit of wrestling action during tonight's episode but one that specifically stood out was the bout between Jay White and PAC. Having already seen a 12-person battle royal, Swerve satisfyingly putting Max Caster down, and a decent Continental Classic show opener between Kyle Fletcher and Shelton Benjamin, White-PAC was the first time in the night that an in-ring story resonated well for me. Their styles meshed well, with PAC a domineering technician against White's slippery ring awareness and determination.

"Switchblade" was technically outmatched against "The Bastard" and he needed to pick his moments to strike, like a cobra would a mongoose, with the likelihood of him winning continuing to dwindle. The match got both competitors over without nonsensical overbooking – though I could have done without Wheeler Yuta's interference – as PAC wrenched the life out of his opponent with a standing Brutalizer, halted only just as White fell to the bottom rope. Then came the interference, which while not necessary also didn't really stand to hurt things, as PAC argued with the referee to allow Yuta to slide White out of the ring and hit him with a running knee; White still won the bout with a move bespoke for a flash finish, the Blade Runner, reversing PAC's momentum as he sought to finish things to plant him on the mat and get the pinfall. PAC had dominated the match and was clearly the better fighter on the day, but he was survived by White with determination and in spite of insurmountable odds. It served to reinforce the fundamentals of their characters, with White acting as a renegade against the Death Riders and PAC the henchman of the purported most dangerous faction on the roster, and it was also just a fun-to-watch match.

Written by Max Everett

What was probably a fed line to Mariah May is unfortunately a disturbingly accurate way to describe the state of AEW's women's division.

On Wednesday's edition of "Dynamite," Penelope Ford and Anna Jay had a cute lock-up to end their rivalry, and that was literally the only part of the women's segments I didn't hate. Even then, it is kind of odd to me to end a years-long feud on some random weekly television show with no stipulation, but hey, Mercedes Mone needs someone to defend her TBS Championship against, and I guess Jay is next in line.

While I'm supportive of a Jay push, I do have my criticisms with the way they are handling the TBS Champion's next challenger. Aside from the fact that Jay has done nothing to deserve a championship match against Mone this early, there is just no way that Mone is going to drop that title to an up-and-comer like Jay; Mone made that very clear when she demeaned Jay for her lack of industry experience. Sure, there was little chance that Kris Statlander or Queen Aminata were going to beat her for the title either, but it kind of feels like Jay was thrust into this challenger role just to give Mone something to do at "AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming." This can be forgiven with a strong build admittedly, but Jay and Mone's clumsy post-match promo and clash left little to be optimistic about. With only a week to go until "Winter is Coming," there is little they can do to pull this feud together, and I'm afraid we'll have to sit through another TBS title let-down.

Shortly after, Renee Paquette attempted to interview the AEW Women's World Champion. I say "attempted," because Paquette nearly walked out of the interview two seconds in, and the segment screeched to a halt as May attempted to reel her interviewer back in. May then proclaimed that women's wrestling — not just the AEW women's division — was "dead and buried," which is a strong claim when women's wrestling is thriving literally anywhere but Tony Khan's promotion. Not only was it wrong, but it was a gross overgeneralization. By the time Mina Shirakawa showed up to cut a just-fine promo, I was completely clocked out. This segment just did nothing to hype up their upcoming title match on whatever upcoming episode of "Dynamite" they're fighting at.

I am literally begging AEW to put some more spice into the women's division, because while women's wrestling may not be "dead and buried," their women's division certainly is. They have these great champions, yes, but they are so many leagues above the competition, that it's hard to get invested in any feuds they do. Their opponents slowly get buried in favor of "strong" champions. As such, the cycle of subpar women's wrestling on AEW programming continues, and nobody wins. What was probably a fed line to Mariah May is unfortunately a disturbingly accurate way to describe the state of AEW's women's division.

Written by Angeline Phu

I personally had the match rules for tonight's battle royal confused in my head, but let me tell you, I loved the fact there were two winners tonight who go on to face each other next week for the opportunity to challenge MJF for the "Dynamite" Diamond Ring. The concept of the ring is such a silly thing at this point, and will likely go away if and when MJF ever loses it, because it's basically his entire personality, but tonight's battle royal set-up for next week was excellent. The two-winner thing only worked for me because the winners were Adam Cole and (former?) friend Kyle O'Reilly. The match itself wasn't anything to write home about, but the end result was fantastic.

O'Reilly hasn't been happy with Cole since his return, not pleased he's going after MJF and he's also thinking Cole's the one in the wrong, so this sets up such a great story for next week's match. Cole's other buddy, Roderick Strong, had his pay-per-view match against MJF at Full Gear after Cole lost his final match to get there, too, and now, it's likely that Cole could lose again and see another man get to face off against the guy he wants to beat to a pulp. I think it leads to the descent into a crazed, brutal Cole, fighting to get to MJF when "The Scumbag" is finally back on AEW television consistently when all his filming in Hollywood wraps up. I hope that's the case because that's going to be fun to witness.

MJF has had consistent pre-taped promos over the last month or so of "Dynamite," and tonight's was actually pretty good. He brought up their Better Than You BayBay tag team and taunted Cole for having to beat up one of his best friends to get to him. MJF also was one of the first people on the outside of the storyline to acknowledge Jon Moxley and his Deathriders committing crimes all throughout "Dynamite," and said Cole doesn't even seem to care. It was a nice touch from MJF tonight and made me forget for a moment I'm sick of seeing these videos.

These men are still carrying on this story and keeping me interested, despite MJF not being on TV right now. I like where they're going with this, especially if O'Reilly is the man to face MJF at Worlds End, though I highly doubt MJF is ever losing that ring. I'm rooting for O'Reilly next week because I need this story between the ex-Better Than You BayBay teammates to have more reasons to destroy each other in the ring, once they finally get there.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I'll let the jury know that I am typically a HOOK fan. He is not the best in the industry by any means, but he has a lot of potential, and I have to say I dig a bad boy. That being said, HOOK's performance tonight — and the way I see him being handled — leaves plenty to be desired.

HOOK returned to AEW programming after swearing vengeance on whoever hurt his father, Taz, in the parking lot on the October 2 episode of "AEW Dynamite," and he immediately took to the microphone. I would like HOOK to immediately abandon the microphone. His words clunked together clumsily, and while it does make sense, considering his overall inexperience, it absolutely killed any aura the former FTW Champion had. HOOK is AEW's resident bad boy, with his pulled-over hoods and bags of chips. HOOK has proved that his aura is in his no-nonsense attitude, and the way that he fights with no questions asked and no dramatic monologues uttered. He is best when he is a man of few words. He is not meant to be stumbling through English like a baby deer skidding through ice. Wednesday's promo just did not fit him.

HOOK called out Nick Wayne specifically, who he is currently slated to take on in one-on-one action on the upcoming December 12 episode of "AEW Collision: Winter is Coming." While the match is already pre-set, I was excited to see a little tussle between HOOK and Wayne. I was prepared for the clumsiness — we all know they're far too inexperienced to have be in "segment of the night" contention — but it would have been fun to see what two of AEW's youngest up-and-comers could come up. Unfortunately, it was not Wayne that answered, but Christian Cage, Kip Sabian, and Mother Wayne.

At least, that's what it felt like. Cage absolutely dominated the segment, and HOOK's focus quickly shifted from Nick to the championship contract-holding Cage. It's already upsetting that Cage took over a segment that was, presumably, there to hype up Nick and HOOK's "Winter is Coming" match, but it was even more upsetting that Nick seemed pretty detached from HOOK for most of the segment. HOOK locked in a Redrum submission on Nick at the beginning, and Nick did get to deliver a Con-Chair-To onto HOOK's wrist, but other than that, it felt like Cage and Sabian were the ones doing the most damage to HOOK, with Nick merely existing in the background. If this is to hype up a feud between Nick and HOOK, then why are Cage and Sabian taking center stage? Nick especially needs opportunities to gain in-ring experience and to flesh out his character. It seems counterintuitive to put him in a feud and not give him the space to do that.

Neither HOOK nor Nick came out of this segment better than before. If this is AEW's way of "building up" their young talent, I fear what their careers have in store for them.

Written by Angeline Phu

On a night of some great and middling wrestling aplenty, it was truly a case of saving the best until last during "Dynamite." Now, I said Jay White vs. PAC was good, but the Continental Classic is the ideal mechanism for great, interference-free, wrestling and that continued to be the case tonight. Two of the best workers on the roster who stand in the shadows of their respective faction leaders, Claudio Castagnoli and Brody King put the very essence of professional wrestling on display, a classic heavyweight clash of accumulative offense exchanges. Both went into the bout with momentum after wins in the first round of action, and left it all in the ring come the second round to push their advantage in the Gold League table.

It also kept itself grounded in the psychology of wrestling, with each move and motion coming with a rhyme and a reason, stacking together transitional and simple yet powerful maneuvers like scoop slams and lariats to build to a crescendo. That strikes different to a lot of contemporary wrestling, especially the high-action style AEW champions with Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher, and it felt like it excelled in being a true wrestling match. Once again, it also felt like both were elevated by the way the match transpired, with Castagnoli arguably at the advantage but threatened enough by King to delve to underhanded tactics to wrap things up. Even in the way the cheating was presented, it was simple and effective, with Claudio himself distracting the referee in an organic way to the flow of the match. The C2 format allows for wrestling to be wrestling, without the water muddying that comes with interference and overbooking, and then when paired with a great combination of wrestlers it just manifested a great show-closer.

Written by Max Everett

As it stands, Jon Moxley and The Deathriders have been more provocateurs than radicals. Their "war" on AEW has been little more than posturing and bluster, with the on-screen product changing very little with the threat of being asphyxiated with a plastic bag hanging over a majority of the roster.

That dissonance has only increased with the introduction of the 2024 Continental Classic tournament. Claudio Castagnoli is only cheating in a tournament, no more heinous than the average heel in a tournament. PAC fought Jay White in an exhibition match, maybe a grudge match if you want to be generous, but still not exactly attempted murder. Even Moxley is seemingly just feuding with Orange Cassidy. It feels like the company has squandered one of the more interesting developments of the year.

Wheeler Yuta stealing moves from Bryan Danielson is a pretty good part of the situation but hardly the apocalyptic war on the promotion that fans were sold in the wake of WrestleDream. Whoever ends up defeating Moxley and being the "savior" of AEW is likely to feel less like a conquering hero, and more like just another white meat babyface.

Written by Ross Berman