Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: Canadian Dynamite Eh

All Elite Wrestling headed to the Great White North this week, with Toronto playing host to Dynamite for the first time in the company’s history. With such Canadian luminaries as Christian Cage and Chris Jericho set to appear, it was interesting to note that the main event was reserved for an All-Atlantic Championship match featuring two distinctly non-Canadians. How well did the company’s first outing in America’s upstairs neighbor turn out? Grab your pet moose, a Tim Horton’s coffee, and a maple bar, hop on your Zamboni, and let’s take a look at all the best and worst from this week’s entry in AEW’s flagship weekly show.

Best Match of the Night

For the second time in as many weeks, I’m going to give an honorable mention to a multi-woman tag match, this week’s featuring interim Women’s World Champion Toni Storm and Hikaru Shida vs. Dr. Britt Baker DMD and Jamie Hayter. Yes, the storyline is clearly between the interim champ and Baker/Hayter, so Shida’s inclusion here felt about as random as Athena and Willow Nightingale next week, which is not ideal for the women’s division long-term. Still, keeping a former women’s champ involved is rarely a bad idea, and AEW certainly has a reputation for crafting solid bouts involving multiple competitors per team, so I can’t entirely fault them for choosing to go this route even if I’d like to see more of a story outside of the championship picture. Shida even got the win for her team, so you could hardly argue that she was treated as an afterthought. Jamie Hayter remains the most over woman in the division at the moment, which is bound to irk Britt Baker the longer it goes on, though I didn’t sense any disunity between them this week despite losing the match. All four women managed to look good at moments during the match, and although it wasn’t an epic by any means, it didn’t overstay its welcome and still accomplished everything it needed to.

Another standout match on the night was the Ring of Honor (or should I say Ring of Jericho) Championship match between Chris Jericho and Bryan Danielson. WWE has long referred to Canada as “bizarro land” for crowds’ tendency to cheer their favorites (mostly fellow hosers, but sometimes just their handpicked choices) but only Jericho seemed to get a more favorable reaction than he normally does on this night. Go figure, it seems like fans actually react the way you expect them to when you don’t consistently book against your audience’s preferences and insist you know what they want better than they do. Danielson didn’t really have to change his style to work heel – his super physical style can easily lend itself to excessive brutality that makes you worry for the safety of his opponent if he’s facing someone you actually like. With that said, this match was basically tweener vs. tweener rather than a conventional face/heel dynamic – Jericho didn’t really play to the crowd in order to get cheers, though he didn’t exactly have to, despite playing his usual anti-RoH pro-sports entertainment character. The Canadian crowd really hated Danielson trying to lock on the Walls of Jericho, which drew big cheers when Jericho countered it into an inside cradle. It was a shame the finish required a ref bump and some outside interference (more on that later) but Jericho was always going to retain despite being outwrestled by one of the best technical wrestlers in the world today, so they clearly needed an out to protect Danielson in defeat. If there had been a more decisive finish, this might have challenged for match of the night, but it was still easily one of the best matches despite being held back a bit by the wonky finish. Jericho is clearly just killing time as champion right now, but at least we’re getting some pretty good matches out of his reign.

The main event was clearly the best match of the night, as PAC defended his All-Atlantic Championship against longtime foe Orange Cassidy. No surprise, given that they have an actual storyline and some real history together. Sure, Danielson and Jericho have been circling each other for a while now, and Danielson wants to defend the integrity of the Ring of Honor championship, but PAC has a clear disdain for Cassidy’s tomfoolery and OC owes him a receipt for his continued attempts to take him out. PAC hitting a tombstone piledriver on the stage was a cool spot even though it led to (in my opinion) the dumbest moment of the match in which referee Bryce Remsburg slowly counted as Orange Cassidy stumbled his way toward the ring before finally diving in right before the count of ten. I don’t have any problem with a near count-out, but when the drama over whether the wrestler will beat the count is so clearly manufactured, it just takes me out of the moment. Cassidy was clearly standing and capable of getting back into the ring around 6 or 7, but he wobbled and staggered for no real reason just so he wouldn’t get there before the count of 9. Plus, they had the coolest “beat the count” moment already if they had just timed it better – imagine Cassidy is barely stirring on the ramp as Remsburg got to 7, but in his laziness he realizes it would take less effort to just roll back to the ring and gets there in the nick of time. Way better than having him roll, then stand up, then stumble, only to shake it off instantly and get back in. Anyway, that slightly naff spot aside, this match was a barnburner between two great workers who are always good to go full speed ahead from start to finish. PAC hit a Falcon Arrow on the outside, Cassidy delivered Beach Break on the apron, and the spot with PAC attempting to use the timekeeper’s hammer came back to deliver two of the best moments of the bout. PAC first had to withstand the curse of Danhausen, who was disguised at ringside, which turned out to be fairly easy as he was downed with a single punch, but Bryce Remsburg had snuck up behind the champ just as he was having his maniacal laugh moment and confiscated the foreign object before he could turn around to bring it into the ring. PAC was too smart to rely on a single hammer, however, so as Remsburg returned the hammer to its proper place, PAC retrieved a second one from under the ring which, y’know, gotta respect the commitment to the bit. Neither one ended up being used, of course, as Freshly Squeezed cut off the champ with an Orange Punch and threatened to use the hammer himself, but Remsburg returned to the ring in time to stop him. It was still a fun bit of nonsense heading into the finish, which saw Cassidy hitting two straight Orange Punches to win. I still contend giving OC and Best Friends the trios titles would have made more sense, especially since those titles are likely to only be defended on special occasions, but it is nice to see one of the most popular babyfaces in the company finally hold some gold. It does hurt the All-Atlantic Championship’s international vibe to have an American win it so early in its lifespan, but there are still plenty of European, Canadian, and Mexican wrestlers that figure to be good matchups for the new champ, and if New Japan is willing to loan one if its stars to AEW, the Pacific side of the globe could get involved too. PAC had a decent run with the title, and as consolation he gets to slip back into the trios scene with Death Triangle, so it won’t hurt him too much to lose the singles belt. All in all, this was a nice capper to the show with a major feel-good moment to finish things off.

Best Moment of the Night

I’m a big fan of the little details that AEW likes to put into its production, so when Chris Jericho teased the “Judas” entrance before switching to his Lionheart theme (which, in my opinion, is the better song anyway) it was an inspired troll move to firmly establish that he’s still a heel despite the favorable reaction he got from his “hometown” fans. However, the even better moment was the Toronto crowd refusing to be denied their sing-along, busting out an impromptu karaoke version of the song as the match began. With this show being the first opportunity for Canadians to sing along with Jericho’s theme song without having to travel south of the border, it was clear many fans came to the arena amped up to sing, and they weren’t about to let a little thing like the song not actually playing in the arena stop them from doing what they came there to do. Props for resourcefulness, Torontoans. (Torontans? Torontonians? Canuckleheads?)

MJF is always a great promo. This is old news. However, talking about his own self-hatred and saying that nobody hates him more than he hates himself some days, breaking his hand punching his face in the mirror, was a nice wrinkle to add to his recent flirtations with babyfacedom. I don’t think the company ultimately needs to lean into the positive reactions he’s been getting lately, at least not to the point of a full-on turn, but the tenor of this promo walked that line perfectly. Just don’t try to turn “generational talent” into some sort of catchphrase, AEW. It’s way too generic for him to be repeating on a weekly basis, though it’s fine if you want to put it on a T-shirt or something.

Moment of the night goes to the promo showdown between AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, who expounded on what it means to be a champion, and Hangman Adam Page on the trials he’s endured to get back his title that he never should have let go of in the first place. Moxley talked about how the pressure of being champion isn’t for everyone (a clear shot at CM Punk, which, fair) and made a clear distinction between himself and his upcoming challenger, saying that the champion doesn’t have the luxury of self-doubt or anxiety. His comments here played off both Page’s status as “the Anxious Millennial Cowboy” as well as his own struggles with mental health and addiction, implying that he has had to consciously put all of that behind him to thrive as champ while suggesting Page is unable to do the same. Page fired back with one of the best promos of his AEW career, pushing back against the notion that he’s too immature or weak to ascend to the top again and declaring that he is no “kid” but a man with all sorts of demons and struggles that he has had to overcome or just push through to keep going. He brought up all the personal and professional losses he’s endured (a clear reference to the Dark Order losing members on a seemingly week-by-week basis but probably also to the suspension of Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks) and defiantly asserted that no matter what Moxley throws at him in his home town of Cincinnati next week, he would be walking out the new champion. I’m not sure the spotlight on MJF in the luxury box holding the casino chip was really necessary here, especially as the crowd started chanting his name (well, his initials anyway) as Page poured his heart and soul out in the ring, but considering how the guaranteed title match he carries is like a dark cloud over this rivalry anyway, I understand the symbolism AEW was going for here. Overall, this segment was carried off incredibly well, and next week’s title match figures to be one of the bigger weekly TV matches of the year as a result.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

Wardlow is the TNT Champion. Samoa Joe is the Ring of Honor TV Champion. (Which, to be fair, is basically like being the hot dog eating champion at a vegan festival – sure, you’re the champ, but does it mean anything in a context where nobody else wants it?) I know it may be a one-week deal, but could we really not find anything better for either of them to do than having a random tag team squash against QT Marshall and Nick Comoroto? Giving them the incredibly creative team name WarJoe doesn’t really help either, as Marshall himself pointed out in the pre-match promo. There’s an argument to be made that AEW has too many championships, which I don’t personally agree with as a huge fan of the WWF European Title back in the day, but it doesn’t help that perception to have two champs so obviously treading water right now.

As promised earlier, the finish to the Jericho/Danielson match was a huge negative for me, especially Daniel Garcia turning heel again for no reason. Long-term booking has been a staple of AEW up to this point in its history, but switching alignment back and forth without reason just makes it seem like there’s no plan. I felt the same way when Jamie Hayter seemingly turned her back on Britt Baker recently only to revert back to her old role as the good doctor’s lackey without any explanation. I can understand wanting to draw out the payoff a bit longer, but then why give us a fake-out turn rather than just holding off for the real thing? Fans are less likely to buy into the real turn when it happens because they’ve been burned before, so it’s just making that eventual moment less impactful by pretending like it’s going to happen when it isn’t. Just let us cheer for Garcia and Hayter already, AEW.

Parting Shots

• I did end up watching Extreme Rules this past weekend, and I have to say WWE nailed Bray Wyatt’s return. (If you know what a fan I am of Wyatt, this should not be surprising in the slightest.) I’m still not going to start watching WWE regularly again for two major (non-Saudi Arabia blood money) reasons: one, Kevin Dunn’s direction sucks so hard – I did not miss his signature “90 camera cuts every 60 seconds” style, and I literally found myself feeling a little queasy at moments with all the rapid-fire camera changes as I watched Extreme Rules. Second, Peacock sucks so hard – I watched the entire 3-hour show waiting for Bray to appear, only for my feed to cut out before his big arrival. I kid you not – I got to see the whole final segment with “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” and the puppets come to life and the spooky door and everything, but as soon as the door opened and the bright light shone out…back to the main menu, event over, nothing to see here. I had to go to Twitter to see one of my favorite wrestlers return in the flesh which, uh, is not ideal. Triple H has made a ton of improvements and deserves a ton of credit for that, but I am still not fully on board with the product overall.
• One more note on Extreme Rules – I appreciated the fact that every match had some sort of gimmick in reference to the show’s theme. Now if only WWE can get rid of some of these one-match shows like Hell in a Cell, TLC, or Elimination Chamber – just make them part of Extreme Rules so you don’t have to do the same match types at the same time each year. (Also, you don’t dilute the impact of a match type like Hell in a Cell by repeating it so often – Extreme Rules could have an HiaC match if there’s a rivalry to warrant it, but you don’t have to have one every single year.)
• A wild Renee Paquette appears! It’s nice to see her officially added to the broadcast crew, not to mention in her home town, and it makes all the sense in the world especially since she’s apparently been traveling with the company alongside husband Jon Moxley for a while now. It would be nice to see her get an opportunity alongside Excalibur and Tony Schiavone at some point, but for now it’s cool to have her in the mix as a backstage interviewer.
• I didn’t include it as an honorable mention for match of the night, but I did enjoy Luchasaurus vs. Jungle Boy Jack Perry. It definitely would have made my list if Jungle Boy had hit the poison rana off the top turnbuckle that was teased but ultimately never delivered, though I understand if that move is just too dangerous to pull off, especially on such a huge man. Christian Cage has fully got his hooks in the big dinosaur man, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the subtle change in JB’s name is priming him for a main event run in the near future. (I’ve always said “AEW Champion Jungle Boy” just sounds too strange for anyone outside of the hardcore fanbase to accept, so it seems like a natural shift to a more casual-friendly name.) I wonder if Christian will be healthy enough to have Jungle Jack get his revenge in a tag match at Full Gear, or if there will eventually be a one-on-one match to blow off the feud. Jack losing these matches certainly indicates that we haven’t seen the last of this issue, whatever the endgame may be.
• Also, I loved Christian heeling on his native land by saying Luchasaurus’ win would be as inevitable as the Toronto Maple Leafs losing in the first round of the playoffs. Also also, why is the team named the Maple Leafs and not the more grammatically correct Maple Leaves? It’s not like Chvrches spelling its name weird to make it easier for fans to find when they search it online – surely the team was named long before the internet unless Canada has secretly had internet technology for far longer than we know…or time travel…I may have stumbled down a rabbit hole on this one.
• One other nod to Canada that I appreciated was Shawn Spears returning as a babyface and reintroducing the 10 chant. He was mainly just a heel by association when he was in The Pinnacle, so it makes sense that he would get cheered upon his return, especially in his home country.

That’s it for another week – very good episode overall, I felt, though there is still plenty of time until the pay-per-view so some of this stuff may not end up being incredibly important going forward. Thanks for joining me once again, and I hope you’ll all come back next week for more Chair Shots!