Biased Thoughts: AEW Dynamite #180
Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg. Canada. 7,2k Tickets Sold. March 15th 2023
The show started with MJF celebrating a Bar Mitzvah but the rest of the Pillars that are Darby Allin, Jack Perry and Sammy Guevara interrupted. This are the main people that are destined to carry the promotion in the future and to be called Pillars have generated alot of reactions from people in different platforms. My opinion on them been called Pillars is that is a great way to sell merch and to always look what they are doing, some of them will be World Champions, some don´t but their booking has been really good and a lot of the times they have delivered in ring.
When the confrontation started for me 3 of the 4 were excellent, the one promo I didn´t like was Sammy because he went into the complete shooty style, you could say Darby and Perry went to the shoot but there were kayfabe reasons enough to understand it with Jack implying that MJF is lazy and Darby saying that MJF is a crybaby who complains in TV and on twitter and that he is 100% loyal to AEW. Sammy went with really meh stuff and MJF when you do shoot stuff with him he will follow that. I liked the segment, far from the best promos in AEW (You have monsters of promo with very different styles) but I think it did the work and for sure MJF is pissed and will bite the bait on giving them a World Championship match.
BCC vs Hangman Page & The Dark Order (***3/4) This was a great match, the BCC are heels so they are even cheating because they are desperate, the Dark Order wants revenge but they have pushed BCC enough that the Blackpool guys start using nefarious tactics. This BCC vs DO minifeud is to establish BCC as assholes and that Hangman will need stronger allies to face the BCC. Great stuff.
Juice Robinson explaining why he attacked Ricky Starks, is a great way to keep Ricky with TV time and give another chance to Juice, both are good talkers and Juice when he wants he is great in the ring.
Jade Cargill vs Nicole Matthews for the TBS Championship (SQUASH) This Jade stuff is pointless and one of the main weakness of Khan´s booking for at least six months or whenever Statlander got injured, just do something else. Hayter vs Cargill would be great because Cargill would be doing more interesting stuff, the TBS Championship lost his way and Khan not pivoting is bizarre and also doesn´t help that Cargill hasn´t had a decent match in forever. Taya is a whatever signing, not really excited. I have heard good things about Nicole Matthews.
QTV time and boy this was a throwback episode not only for the good things but as well of the bad experiments of lowcard people, the issue here is that Hobbs for some reason is in this shit, just let Hobbs do cool shit without been surrounded by geeks. Hobbs has the necessary charisma and presence to be just by himself.
Orange Cassidy vs Jeff Jarret for the AEW International Championship (***1/4) A character driven old choold over booked match that was incredibly funny. Still didn´t get to the peak of this style of booking (The Acclaimed vs Jarrett & Lethal at BOTB still has that honor) but really fun stuff.
The Outcast angle is so weird because lowkey is kinda working but for decisions like using some easy heat and the spray paint segments is lacking something really violent or serious. Just a blood angle and don´t let Saraya talk this whole feud could get better. Toni and Ruby have very valid reasons to turn heel. I would say they are close to be something good, let´s see if it gets better or worse.
The Acclaimed vs 2.0 from the JAS is a really nice feud to keep The Acclaimed on TV as well of been good and funny talkers, Powerhouse Hobbs vs Rey Fénix is announced for Rampage and I´m very looking forward that match.
HOB vs JAS vs The Elite for the AEW Trios Championships (***3/4) This had great moments but the ending didn´t worked that well, still great match. Now into the main thing of the show, the post match angle was great and we finally got a cliffhanger and for the looks of it we will finally have the full Elite as babyfaces for the first time since 2020, the moving parts in the ring and even outside are all exciting and there´s so many potential matches and angles that I´m so pumped to see what is next.
Rating of the show: 7.5/10
This show was up and down, but started good and ended in a perfect way. Now the top two storylines are The Pillars feuding for the World Championship and BCC vs Hangman & The Elite. I think the midcard feuds need some work and the Women´s division as always have a lot to improve. Again very excited, hopefully the follow up is great.
Extra Notes:
- HOB vs JAS sounds fun and HOB have to dominate a lot, I like to see them with the Trios Championships because they worked so well as an act when they are just kicking ass and because they have only done that they have been the more enjoyable in a while.
- QTV shit NEEDS to get nuked and let Hobbs ride alone.
- Jarrett has been the perfect heel midcarder and I have enjoyed him, but I think cycle him and his stable out for a bit would be great.
