Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: DC Dynamite On TBS

It’s Wednesday. (Well, not when you read this.) You know what that means.

This week’s Dynamite emanated from the nation’s capital, Washington DC. A massive return, new challengers for (at least) three titles, and the continuation of several high-profile feuds were all on offer this week, so let’s take a look at what worked, what didn’t, and what to take away from another week of AEW’s flagship program.

Best Matches of the Night

There were several shortish matches this week, which left room for some heftier promo segments and a couple of longer featured matches, but it was generally appropriate from a storyline perspective which ones went short and which went long. For instance, although the Kings of the Black Throne vs. the Varsity Blonds was a fairly one-sided match, it worked within the established narrative of Malakai Black infecting the Blonds via his attack on Julia Hart’s eye and his utter decimation of Brian Pillman Jr. from a couple of weeks ago. Pillman standing on the apron hesitating about whether to try for a slingshot attack on Brody King was a perfect encapsulation of the effect this feud has had on the Blonds and why the Kings have such a psychological edge over the tag team division, should they choose to go that route in AEW as they have in PWG. Squash matches can be overdone at times, but it felt entirely earned here, and the fact that it wasn’t against a couple of complete jobbers adds legitimacy to the win.

The two best legit matches of the night were the opener and the main event, but for my money the main event was just a slight notch below the opener, so we’ll talk about Sting and Darby Allin vs. The Acclaimed first. It was an interesting choice to have Allin laid out for the first part of the match, forcing Sting to go alone – it proved to be a good showcase for the elder member of the team while still allowing Allin to get involved at the end, and it gave the heels plenty of time to dominate the action in a match they definitely weren’t going to win. Caster and Bowens deserve more than they’ve gotten in AEW so far – they haven’t even come near the tag titles barring a single one-off with the Young Bucks – but they have gotten some high-profile exposure like this week’s main event that gives me hope that they’ll eventually be given more of a chance. As long as Max Caster can keep his pre-match raps in the realm of heel heat and not genuine outrage, of course. This week’s rap was good, though, referencing WWE’s distaste for “gory self-mutilation” from the women’s tag team street fight on the New Year’s Eve episode of Rampage and Sting’s poorly executed “win” from Starrcade ’97 (which, coincidentally, also happened to take place in Washington, DC). Sting and Allin don’t have a real clear direction going forward, but I’m sure we’ll learn more about their next feud soon – they generally don’t seem to hang around without anything to do for long.

The best match of the night was the mixed tag pitting Kris Statlander and Orange Cassidy against AEW Women’s World Champion Dr. Britt Baker DMD and Adam Cole. Your mileage may vary on the silliness from the beginning of the match with Baker and Cole repeatedly tagging in and out, Cassidy hitting the Kicks of Doom before Baker stepped on his foot to block the last one, Statlander booping Baker on the nose after a scoop slam, Cassidy “running” the ropes to finish off Statlander’s delayed vertical suplex, and the big hug between the babyfaces (complete with the Best Friends’ signature camera zoom) after a pair of…asymmetrical dives off the apron. I personally love that stuff, because wrestling needs to be goofy and dumb sometimes, but that wouldn’t have been enough for me to crown it match of the night if it weren’t for the remainder of the match, in which the action ramped up significantly and everyone involved got to hit a few big moves and enjoy their moment in the spotlight. But up the action did ramp and so did the quality of the performance to the point where the crowd seemed really invested in every big spot and near-fall. Cole and Baker won, of course, but not before Baker took a bump through a table that her own boyfriend had set up at ringside and failed to save her from accidentally being knocked off the apron onto. Cole used the spot to justify challenging Cassidy to a Lights Out match at next week’s Beach Break special, the first such match since Baker and Thunder Rosa’s classic at last year’s St. Patrick’s Day Slam, and that should certainly be a match to look forward to even if the justification for it is somewhat flimsy. Maybe the fact that it is a no rules match will allow the other members of Best Friends and the Elite to get involved and serve as a blowoff to the long-running feud between the two groups. It might also intensify the squabbling between Cole, the Young Bucks, and ReDRagon – if they somehow cost Cole the match, even though it wouldn’t count against his official win/loss record, that could turn the group’s focus inward.

Best Moment of the Night

This may be a controversial opinion given how much some people are sick of Cody Rhodes, but I actually thought his promo was great, reflecting on CM Punk’s influence on his career trajectory, talking up how his career of breaking the mold and creating the “forbidden door” for wrestlers from different promotions to face off relates to his approach to making the TNT Championship feel just as important as the world title, and previewing what to expect from his title unification ladder match against Sammy Guevara at Beach Break next week. I know anyone who is sick of Cody’s schtick probably rolled their eyes at his continued insistence that he won’t turn heel, if they didn’t just change the channel (or, let’s face it, fast forward their DVR, because who has time to watch wrestling shows live anymore) but this promo didn’t feel as self-indulgent as previous ones may have, and he did draw some genuine cheers from a mostly skeptical audience. Plus, I’m always here for a good “Gunnar McGillibuddy” inside joke. I get that it’s eye-rolling to see Cody take swipes at WWE too often, but this was a good one. It’s okay to laugh at things that are funny, I promise.

Another standout moment for me was Trent Beretta and Rocky Romero stealing the Young Bucks’ spotlight, jumping in on the Cutler Cam when the opportunity presented itself. First, it’s just cool to see Roppongi Vice together again, and it will be great to see them wrestle together again on Friday. (Edit: Nope, we apparently can’t have nice things and Rocky Romero has tested positive for COVID, so apparently that won’t be happening.) Secondly, Trent being nice to Brandon Cutler for once was genuinely refreshing. I have mentioned before that Cutler is the best, and as funny as it is for the Elite to bully him week after week, I’m glad somebody finally told him he’s doing a good job. With all he does on BTE and as their hired lackey, it’s good to know his efforts aren’t going unnoticed.

The best moment of the night, as basically everyone except a certain loudmouthed moron in the audience recognized, was the return of Jon Moxley. I’m sure TBS wasn’t thrilled about Mox dropping an f-bomb in his first promo after returning from rehab for alcohol abuse, but I think we can generally agree that it was never more deserved. It’s never really a good idea to interrupt someone standing in the ring holding a microphone, but it’s in particularly poor taste to do it when a guy’s attempting to bare his soul about the demons he struggled with that led to the extended absence that he’s just returned from. That aside, Moxley’s promo was captivating from start to finish, laying out the mental anguish that led him to seek treatment and promising a fiery return to form now that he’s kicked his substance abuse issues to the curb and is ready to kick some ass inside the squared circle once again. Having one of the company’s biggest stars back in the fold would have been enough to get it mentioned as one of the best moments of the week, but the red-hot promo he cut on top of returning to TV for the first time in months easily confirmed it as the single best moment on the show.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

I mentioned above that there were some fairly short matches this week, so what I’m about to say may seem contradictory, but Lance Archer vs. Frankie Kazarian really should not have been as long as it was. On a night when CM Punk took out Shawn Spears with a single move, this did not need to be more than a squash. No offense to Kazarian, but at this point in his career he does not need to be protected the way he was here, and since Archer is in line for a world title match, now would be the time to establish him as a world-beating monster to at least make it seem like he’s got a chance of beating Adam Page. (He doesn’t, but it would be nice if AEW at least gave the appearance that he might win.) Also, I know Dan Lambert is always a negative in my book, but the Murderhawk Monster absolutely does not need two managers. Nobody does. He barely even benefits from keeping Jake Roberts around anymore, but adding the leader of American Top Team is completely pointless.

Otherwise, there weren’t too many negatives this week. As with last week, there was only one women’s one-on-one match and it was basically a squash, which is always a bit of a bummer, but at least Serena Deeb got a hometown welcome as she destroyed Skye Blue, and at least Britt Baker and Kris Statlander got some time to shine in the mixed tag at the top of the show. Not a lot to complain about.

Parting Shots

• MJF is still the best, most detestable heel around, docking Wardlow’s pay on his birthday for putting his hands on him last week. There’s nothing more I can add to that. He took money away from his employee…on his birthday.
• The Ass Boys…er, Gunn Club took out Christian backstage as a way of “making a statement” as he suggested they should do in order to earn a title shot. It wasn’t officially announced when they would challenge for the titles, but on a night in which Adam Page confirmed that he would give Lance Archer a shot at the AEW World Championship, Anna Jay stepped up to challenge Jade Cargill for the TBS Championship, and the TBS Championship unification match was made official, I’m not sure we needed one more.
• Unfortunately, I have to end this week’s review on a sad note: I’m retiring the gimmick of hyperlinking an Every Time I Die song whenever I reference The Butcher. The band officially announced its breakup on social media this week, and it just feels wrong to keep up with that bit knowing that they won’t be making music together anymore. I’ll leave you on the last music video they made together and say RIP to a band I’ve enjoyed for a very long time. The metal world has lost a giant.

That’s it for another week – kind of an up and down episode but overall the highs outweighed the lows in my opinion. Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll come back next week for more Chair Shots!