#LAWTAKE - AEW DYNASTY 4/21/24
Welcome into the Sunday night edition of the #LawTake for the AEW Dynasty PPV from St. Louis. A fully loaded card tonight from the Zero Hour to the main show. Lets get this shit cracking shall we?
Trent opens the show up beating Matt Sydal, then afterward Mike Sydal, in what will serve as the first steps to this long-awaited Trent heel turn.
Trent wants Chuck T to know why he hasn’t answered his messages, so this Wednesday on Dynamite we will find out why Chuck has turned on Trent. LOL.
Pockets and Shibata would beat Shane Taylor Promotions in the next match. Word to Black Guy Wrestling Pod, Shibata is a Pre-Show Warrior.
Shane Taylor Promotions surrounding Swerve and Nana would be very, very cool. If only they were lovable babyfaces.
The real reason anyone is watching Zero Hour is here - the unification match for the Trios Championship. Where do we begin?
As someone who went to college and did radio with Max Caster, my boy needs a major reset. The raps feel beginning stage Asher Roth levels, Bowens is just twiddling thumbs by Caster’s side, and Daddy Ass has run his course.
A case study should be made on the downfall The Acclaimed considering how long ago 2022 feels.
A case study could also be made on Jay White’s entire trajectory in AEW. Yes, BCG won the match and unified the belts but is an upcoming feud with Top Flight really the best we can do for Jay White?
My peers roasted me for saying Jay White should go to WWE last year and truth be told he would have headlined multiple PPV’s in NXT by now, with a main roster call-up feeling electric. “Why would Jay White go to NXT and be the focal point of that brand?” can’t be scoffed at when you look at Jay White rival Shibata in regard to being a PPV Pre-Show Warrior.
Now we open up the PPV with Okada vs PAC for the Continental Breakfast Championship in a BANGER. A little over 20 minutes, this felt like every bit of an Okada match right out of his NJPW textbook.
PAC never stood a believable chance but he sure did put up a fight. Now, I imagine PAC takes a few month hiatus as he does after every big match as he moves further down the card.
The Japanese Cody Rhodes himself Okada is still one of the coolest heels in the company since early MJF with his reactions and moves.
I am disregarding the rankings in this company and just assuming we get Okada/Kingston 2 for Double Or Nothing because we know Okada ain’t losing no time soon, but Kingston can and will.
The House Of Bleh defended their Trio… oh wait nevermind. This was just a six man tag match that only had one thing at stake - whoever pinned Copeland would surely be next in line for the TNT Title.
That honor went to Malakai Black. Yes, he pinned Copeland after an 18 minute (perhaps 8 minutes too long) tag match, but he’s done nothing since beating Cody Rhodes at the height of the Anti-Codyverse to make me believe him beating Copeland is better than watching random dream matches in the Cope-Open.
As long as it saves us from Copeland/Cage 4, I’ll take it though.
In a six minute effort, Julia Hart came into Dynasty as TBS Champion and left the PPV without the title to probably never be seen again. Injury or not, Willow size wise should have made easy work of Julia regardless and she did.
Mercedes stealing Willow’s spotlight after the match, after having a WWE-style backstage staring at the match on a monitor moment, was highlighted by commentary. Couple that with the “if Willow can remain TBS Champion before Double Or Nothing..” comments, this Mercedes placement just still feels bleak.
Mercedes hasn’t wrestled a match, she hasn’t drawn really anything substantial besides her debut show in Boston, she’s a horrendous promo, and yet she is being pushed as a babyface against an even bigger babyface who’s getting a title shot and potential main event at the company’s main staple PPV next month.
All this means is more Mercedes cringe promos and awkward teases of a heel turn for the next MONTH.
Those rankings are already out the window.
The International Title match between Roddy Strong and Kyle O’Reilly could have felt like more. The intangibles going into this match are - former ROH Champions and WWE stablemates going head to head for the first time in AEW since KOR’s return. Kyle played the gullible idiot up until Roddy’s turn. Roddy wanted KOR to join the coldest faction in AEW and that never came to fruition.
I felt this match would be the popcorn/bathroom break match of the night and at almost 17 minutes it really did all it could. The crowd weren’t really invested and it was evident considering what else is left on this card.
Wardlow helped Roddy win, kind’ve? A win is a win for this cold stable and it’s anyones guess who Roddy defends against next since Pockets is out of the question. If we see a rematch, KOR either wins or he’s cooked.
KOR will probably be teaming with Kommander on Rampage moving forward.
Adam Cole returned after the win to show he can walk, while giving Wardlow a funny look behind his back. ANOTHER face turn for Wardlow? At this point, his booking is a parody of his booking. Wardlow needs NXT and bad.
In another match that didn’t need to go 17 minutes, Chris Jericho beat Hook in probably Hook’s longest match ever. I wish the “Championship Committee” would sanction the FTW Title and make it the official Hardcore Title of this match.
While most of the IWC buried Chris Jericho for his antics as of late, I actually enjoyed this match because, surprise, it had a story and emotions to invest in!
Jericho as FTW Champion doesn’t mean anything since the belt isn’t sanctioned but hopefully this brings about his Learning Tree faction sooner than later.
Taz would leave commentary for the night to tend to Hook after getting pelted with a baseball bat, which left Nigel McGuinness to hit the commentary booth. Thank God!
Toni Storm continued to steamroll through the AEW Women’s Division as she retained against Thunder Rosa in one of the better Women’s Title matches in the last year for this company.
No Deonna heel turn, instead stopping Mariah May from interfering, but Toni would hit a C*nt Punt and the Storm Zero to retain in the end. Who’s the next victim I wonder? If not DMD or Hayter, I see a four-way with Mariah, Deonna, and Thunder at DoN.
At this point, you could say the PPV flew by as the main event matches were all up next. The first one being the “DREAM MATCH” between Ospreay and Danielson.
What more could be said about this match other than it was a beautiful showing between two of the best wrestlers on the planet? It’s AEW so we know “This Is Awesome”, “1… 2… kick out! (false finish)”, “Fight Forever” and “This Is Wrestling” chants was written all over this match. The dick eating was crazy with the “We’re Not Worthy” chants though but I get it.
Danielson no-selling a Hidden blade into a Bupyscho Knee that lead to another set up for the actual finish was right up the alley of the AEW we know to love.
No Don Callis Family BS, no BCC interference, nada. A decision win after 35 minutes and this easily blew Danielson/Okada, Danielson/ZSJR out the water for me while landing right next to Danielson/Omega (go figure).
Ospreay hits Tiger Driver that wasn’t as heinous as the Omega one he delivered but Danielson sold it like he just got tazed by a police offer. The rematch might not be as good as the first, but we know it’s inevitable. I see that being a Dynamite main event this Summer.
Whoever thought a Young Bucks ladder match for the Tag Titles following that previous match would be dead clearly didn’t watch the All In footage segment from two weeks ago.
The bucks new heel gear and appearance remind me of villains from Once Upon A Time In Mexico. They switched shit up heavily from the Mad TV Spy Vs. Spy gear just last PPV.
Dax gigged early to bring the emotion out of the crowd and the ladders being used really brought the crowd into the match.
This was not the most memorable ladder match in AEW history, as I’m sure we will see another one next month at DoN, but it served its purpose. FTR are in the Mic Foley/Danielson realm of piled up losses, so we all knew they wouldn’t win, and thankfully not by pinfall for a change.
“The Scapegoat” Jack Perry returns in a Sting mask to push Dax off the ladder and cost FTR the belts. I wish it was actually Sting in the mask.
Faction warfare will continue on as Jack Perry probably kills Daniel Garcia in a series of matches who’s in the Stevie Richards resurgence era of his career before we get a massive six-man tag of FTR/Garcia vs EVP’s/Perry.
The whole time leading up to the main event I really told myself Hangman would return and cost Swerve the title. Anything but a Brian Cage or AJ Francis cameo.
This main event match between Swerve and Joe were given ample amount of time to get their shit off, including a Swerve Killmonger outfit and the entire arena doing his dance. That entrance alone should have been a dead giveaway.
This match wasn't by no means Match of the Night, but after an extensive showing of matches from different styles all night long, I don’t think the crowd would have done this match justice if it went 45 minutes.
Instead, we got hard-hitting fighting between two guys that truly do not care for one another. With all the close-ups and attempted usages of the AEW World Title, I for sure thought Hangman would be back to cost Swerve the match.
Nope, no Hangman since he was probably stuck at home having a spazz attack., Swerve kicked out of Joe’s big moves, Joe kicked out of Swerve’s big moves, and one prolonged Swerve Stomp from the top rope and AEW sends Swerve and the fans home happy with a World Title change.
Despite the Black Wrestling Twitter community gathering together to shrug their shoulders and unleash verbal warfare on Swerve for this Title win, it was a cool moment to see a black guy become top dog in a company that usually keeps their black wrestlers relegated to pre-show’s, Rampage, on their backs taking an easy pinfall, or not advertised on the card in general.
Samoa Joe did wonders for the AEW World Title in his four month reign and where he goes next pending a rematch with Swerve is anyones guess. Supposedly he’s going off to film the next season of a show he is featured on so this was a solid send-off.
I watched Swerve become MLW World Champion and now he can add AEW World Champion to his list. My only thing with this upcoming reign is it that it already reminds me of Eddie Guerrero’s 2004 WWE Title win. Identical.
Eddie beat Brock Lesnar (the dominant beast) who was on his way out of WWE for his own hiatus, celebrated with the crowd and had a great visual of him holding the belt, defended the title at the biggest show of the year (WrestleMania) in a rather good defense, then would go on to have the brunt of the ratings on Smackdown on his back (good and bad) while he had a revolving door feud with JBL until he lost the belt.
Swerve’s opponent list, unlike Eddie in 2004, is endless in this company. BUT, with an undefeated Ospreay on the rise and a nearly sold-out show in Wembley for All In in September eventually on the horizon, one can only think this reign will be a transitional one.
Overall, I give this an 8/10 PPV. Some matches really should have been shorter, some shouldn’t have even been on the PPV. AEW should copy the WWE formula and shorten their PPV’s for a change seeing as they are going to monthly PPV’s and have three different shows on weekly television. Willow and Swerve (and Jericho and Bucks and to an extent Ospreay) winning their respective matches will be considered one of the bigger highlights and memorable ones at that.