La Zona Muerta

Have to say it was a pretty decent Dynamite this week, even if it was a bit heavy on video packages and tomfoolery. Despite my antipathy for All In and the fact that they have seemingly only really built a couple of really strong matches for it… I will definitely be interested to see the Wales edition of Dynamite next week. Mercedes Moné and Hikaru Shida were fine (and BOY, you should have seen the flak I took for daring to suggest the match might not be that good; folks are VERY sensitive when it comes to Mercedes and especially Shida, who has always been a terribly inconsistent performer), Hangman Adam Page vs. Jay Lethal was very good (imagine that match on ROH TV ten years ago. Crazy how time changes things), there was a litany of video packages (I hate how they time this stuff out; it felt like someone missed a flight), a really effective Darby Allin and Jack Perry segment where, hot dang, it feels like the two guys actually hate and resent each other FOR REALS, then we got an absolutely TOP NOTCH three way battle between Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong (more on that in a bit), some HOOK / Jericho stuff, a challenge from PAC (and frankly, basically confirmation that the Lucha Bros. aren’t long for this world, because surely Death Triangle would be doing something at Wembley), a showdown with Claudio Castagnoli and Kazuchika Okada, the Young Bucks and Acclaimed went to the dreaded SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT FINISH (sigh) and then finally, after a schmaltzy video package (the content of which was great… but the Green Day was a bit much. I hated it on the final episode of Seinfeld and I rolled my eyes at it here), a terrific statement match where Swerve Strickland generously gave Blackpool Combat Club member Wheeler YUTA quite a bit before absolutely HELLMURDERING him, which was exactly what was called for. I don’t really think it heated up the match for me particularly; I still don’t see myself buying the show, but Swerve looked like the man here (as well he should). All in all, good show.

Now, the gushing. I don’t feel like focussing on negatives this week, so let’s talk about the real good stuff… stuff like Hangman Page.

If anyone comes off like the man in this company… it’s Swerve. But if there’s a contest for second place, for 1a, right behind him would have to be Hangman. He didn’t even wait for the match; he attacked Lethal right away. Even though Lethal is rarely depicted as a threat on AEW TV, he acquitted himself well here, hitting tope after tope after tope on Hangman, trying to show that he was no pushover himself… but the anger and pain of Hangman proved too much to overcome. Hangman is clearly acquainted with the teachings of Sanford Strong (no relation to Roddy) as he finally took advantage of Lethal with the oldest self defense trick in the book; when someone has you on the ropes? GOUGE HIS EYES.

Look, I still think Hangman / Swerve is the bigger match, I hate that it’s being relegated to being the match at All Out, I hate that it’s probably Hangman / Jarrett for All In (unless they do it at Wales, but then what does Hanger do at All In?), which as I said last week is barely a TV match… but Hangman himself has been great through all of this. I’m not even sure that he shouldn’t beat Swerve. That’s where the booking gets tricky and it’s going to depend on what happens in the Danielson match. Hangman needs a win… but if Swerve loses to Danielson, losing again in two weeks is bad, too. Guess we shall see.

Again, in the plus column, besides the stakes (number one in the Casino Battle Royal Gauntlet thingie at Wembley, which doesn’t strike me as that large of an advantage, but it was pointed out to me that being number one means you can end the gauntlet early) which seemed a bit nebulous to me, was the absolutely excellent OC / KOR / Roddy battle. OC has proved himself on TV time and time again for the last four plus years (anyone who still tells you that he’s bad in ring CLEARLY doesn’t watch), KOR hasn’t missed a step after his long lay off and still is one of the best in the world at incorporating strikes and holds that look very realistic, and Roddy…

Look, I know Undisputed Kingdom sucks. I ESPECIALLY know that awful bloody theme song sucks. I know they had to pivot and make him a comedy dork after MJF buried him to death. I know all of this…

…but we don’t talk NEARLY enough about how GOOD Roddy is, how smooth, how he makes everything look like a struggle, like he inflicts REAL PAIN on his opponents. He’s SO GOOD at his craft and I think people sleep on him simply because the trappings around him aren’t the best. In ring, he’s top ten… or higher.

One funny thing during the match… ROddy was clearly looking for something under the ring and looked annoyed when he couldn’t find it before he finally just gave up, presumably for real. In the words of X-Pac: “WHY THE FUCK THEY GOTTA HIDE IT?”

Swerve also did a fantastic job tonight, showing his dominance over YUTA (sorry, Yoots, I love ya) and coming back post match to attack both him and Danielson was exactly the punctuation mark needed to establish that Swerve is the dangerous man he claims to be. I still don’t think Danielson has risen to the challenge of answering back, I still think the stip is dumb (we already knew he was going to retire, but if he loses… he’ll double retire?) but what can you do? I think if Danielson turns heel and says he LIED about retiring for the sake of his family, they might have something, but then everything becomes chasing bad guy Danielson. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing? I’m not sure and that’s already veering too close to the sun on wings made of athletic tape and dreams when it comes to fantasy booking.

So All In matches. On the definite column:

Swerve / Danielson

Ospreay / MJF

Toni Storm / Mariah May

Casino Gauntlet thingie

Darby / Jack “SCAPEGOAT” Perry (now a coffin match; should be a CRY ME A RIVER match with REAL GLASS)

Bucks vs. somebody? (I assume this will be a three way with Acclaimed and FTR)

And uh… I think that’s about it. They haven’t said Hanger / Jarrett is definite; that’s just an assumption on my part. And that leaves a LOT of people offa the card. A threeway for the Trios titles? Is HOOK / Jericho for All In? All Out? Wales? I dunno. I know Claudio / Okada is the main event for Wales… but what are they doing in Wembley? This is sort of where AEW falls down a little; they are an ongoing promotion, obviously… but they don’t always quite concentrate their energies fully on the right thing at the right time.

Anyway, good Dyna. Didn’t talk me into the building, as it were, for All In, but nothing really is at this point. We’ll have to see how All Out settles, I guess.