La Zona Muerta

No real huge thoughts coming out of Dynamite. ‘Twas okay, and the stuff I liked I really liked. Did it hype me up for the PPV? I dunno. Some people take the Owen Hart Cup a LOT more seriously than I do… AEW has sort of established the Continental Classic for me a bit better on the whole as something to sink my teeth into as far as recurring tournaments go. We’ll definitely get some good matches out of it if nothing else, and I don’t want to wear my fantasy booking cap for DEEP ANALYSIS so… *shrug*.

Let’s cop out and do a top ten bullet point list of what I liked and disliked in no particular order in a desperate attempt to generate content:

1. YET AGAIN, any interaction between Hangman Adam Page and Swerve Strickland is immediately the best thing happening in the company. “YOU BROKE INTO MY HOUSE!” “YOU BURNED MY HOUSE DOWN!” “YOU DESERVED IT!” “…I know.” With that heated exchange, the multitude of sins of the company at large seemed to lift, to lessen. I had fully expected that Hangman was going to come out on Sunday and somehow screw over Swerve right at the pivotal moment of victory over the hated Jon Moxley… and now…? Now I have some hope that Swerve will come out on top, possibly even with Hangman’s help in a “no one gets to end you but me” type way. Of course, one day, they’ll realize that the REAL enemy is the always ready to corpse Renee Paquette and maybe they can turn their ire on her. Seriously, dear reader, she’s awful.
2. Jay White is hurt. Again. This fucker can NOT catch a break. Maybe, MAYBE he can come back hot, booking problems forgotten and FINALLY gather enough momentum for a run but… I dunno. My crystal ball is pretty murky for this cat, and it’s a shame. I genuinely don’t know if he’ll stick around whenever his contract is up and I don’t know if I would blame him if he chose to split (of course, I WOULD blame him because the alternative would be FAR worse). Speaking on the “what are they doing” side, the commentators mentioned at the beginning of the show the Death Riders beat White up so badly that he would be out of the Owen, said they would try to follow up on his condition and then NEVER MENTIONED HIM AGAIN. Ugh.
3. The GRAVE VOICES when Mox “injured” Willow Nightingale. GOOD LORD. This is what everyone wants, right? Intergender wrestling? Men and women, exactly equal? And yet, Mox injuring Willow is a bridge too far because she’s a woman. SHE’S A WRESTLER, SHE KNOWS THE RISKS. I thought this whole thing was an eye roll, personally.
4. Oy, the commentary. I love the guys, I do, but there are times when they get too silly (Taz), too pedantic (Excalibur), too flustered (Tony) and this episode had a lot of examples of all the above. I LOVED the silliness on DARK. I DON’T want it on Dynamite.
5. Kevin Knight is gonna be a star. If he can promo, he’s gonna be a BIG star. What a great get for the company and him versus Will Ospreay on the PPV will be fantastic.
6. Glad some eyes are starting to open to the Won’t Do Hurt Business. IYKYK.
7. When FTR go to a restaurant, does Bald order for Hair? “My friend here would like the steak, well done.” Does anyone want to see FTR feud? Does anyone want to see FTR?
8. PLEASE DON’T MISS CRUCIAL CAMERA SHOTS. Instead of spinning your wheels and looking for bored people in the crowd, make sure you catch things like Willow KNOCKING MOXLEY THROUGH A GOLDURN TABLE, which was the actual CLIMAX OF THE OPENING MATCH. Five years of this, man.
9. Glad Violence is Forever did security instead of job duty with the seemingly unsafe Big Bill. I know a lot of you guys love him but I think he looks dangerous to work with and not in the good way. If I was ‘local talent,’ I don’t think I’d want to work with him as he seems to have no regard for his opponents.
10. The Don Callis imitator was there again and this time interacted with Don. I’d love to know what Don said to him. Because I love you all:

Mirror match

Other than that, I don’t have much to say. Collision might hold my attention a bit better this week… I was starting to zone out a bit watching this one until Ospreay and Knight came out. I think it’s safe to say the streak of hot shows is over, but it’s not the end of the world.