Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: Dealer’s Choice Dynamite

The road to Revolution continued this week as Dynamite aired live from New Orleans, LA. With five matches announced ahead of time (none with titles on the line, but several with championship implications for the future) it was up to AEW to make sure they delivered beyond the relatively modest expectations fans had for this show. Did the performers succeed in raising the bar or were the fans left wanting something more? Let’s take a look at all the best, worst, and everything from this week’s flagship show.

Cheers

• I feel like this was a good show overall, but it’s hard to think of many standout moments on the wrestling side of things. Sometimes it do be like that. When everything is pretty good but not necessarily great, everything just kind of feels the same.
• Matthew and Nicholas Jackson were once again a highlight, sporting goatees this week instead of their truly awful mustaches from last week and threatening to fine some hapless intern who accidentally called them Matt and Nick. They also suggested that Darby Allin should ditch the 65-year-old Sting and form a trio with them. He stated that his focus is on the tag championships, which led Matthew to remark “we’re going to have to get his attention a different way.” I assume this means the EVPs will book themselves in a championship match (maybe making it a triple threat against Sting, Darby, Big Bill, and Ricky Starks) and probably become the champions to force Darby and Sting to face them if they want to win the belts. I’m in favor of this plan because let’s face it, Darby and Sting don’t need to hold the belts for any amount of time. Their reign as champs is entirely symbolic, one last accolade for the Icon before he rides off into the sunset, so why not have them win the belts at Revolution and then vacate them immediately? Would anyone really be disappointed if they don’t get to hold the belts for a month in which they would probably only defend them once or twice?
• Please let “Timeless” Toni Storm commentate on all women’s matches. I mean, there’s no reason she couldn’t also do commentary on the men’s matches also, but that would probably seem excessive and lead to diminishing returns. But even if she wasn’t involved in a feud with anyone in the match, she’d still be ridiculously entertaining. Her gloriously unhinged interactions with the broadcast team (correcting Excalibur on the pronunciation of “suplex”), the way she mugs for the camera (in black and white, naturally), and her overall refusal to take the match at hand too seriously without overshadowing the in-ring action are all top notch.
• Did we need a third Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Adam Page match after their gloriously violent Texas death match at Full Gear? No, I’d wager most of us would have been fine with that being the end of their rivalry. But is anyone really complaining about the rematch we’re apparently getting next week? Also no, I suspect we are not. Both men failed to come up with a more compelling opponent for their rival as Page defeated Toa Liona earlier in the night and Strickland won the main event against his “surprise” opponent Rob Van Dam. (Which AEW definitely spoiled ahead of time. Also, as a side note, linking to Twitter feels gross nowadays. AEW can ditch the X and commit to hanging out with the cool kids over on Threads anytime now.) So, as is often the case, both men will have to take matters into their own hands if they want to go after the world champ. Swerve is clearly being earmarked as the next big star of the men’s roster, but if they’re not ready for Samoa Joe to drop the world title yet, it might make more sense to have Page win next week so he can put up a valiant yet unsuccessful effort to win the belt.
• Hey, the rankings are officially back! Nothing too exciting or surprising yet, but something to watch going forward anyway.

Boos

• Considering when I became a fan of wrestling, it’s no surprise that I’m a fan of Jeff Hardy and Chris Jericho, but their matches were kinda rough this week. Like, I know neither man is in his prime at this point. Far from it. But they’re really coasting on reputation and name value. I don’t know that we really need a storyline for either of them in 2024, let alone both. Jeff actually fared better than Chris did, but neither was great.
• Tony Khan needs to stop with these “big announcements” – I’ve said this before and yet they continue to happen. I want to believe it’s going to be something good, like maybe a new streaming deal for AEW or something, but it’ll probably be something disappointing like a new flavor of Ric Flair’s energy drink. Maybe they’ll call it Financial Desperation Fruit Punch or Billionaire Bailout Blackberry or Stay Retired Strawberry or Get This Gross Old Man Off My Television Grape. I’m not good at naming things, but I’m sure they’ll come up with something.

Parting Shots

• Hey, you know what I really, really don’t want to talk about anymore? The Vince McMahon scandal that broke just before I published last week’s article and I opted not to talk about it then either. And since I’m in charge around here, I’m not going to talk about it. Moving right along.
• Confession time: I haven’t watched this past week’s Collision yet. I know, I know, I’m the worst, but I kind of spent the entire weekend not wanting to think or hear about professional wrestling (see bullet point 1 above) so I just haven’t gotten around to it. I have it recorded so I may be watching it the same day this article is published. Heck, I may have watched it already by the time you’re reading this, isn’t that a crazy thought?! That said, I can’t comment on what I haven’t seen, so once again, moving right along.
• Hopefully Wardlow is okay – his knee buckled as he hoisted Komander up for a powerbomb, and he ended up basically dropping the poor guy and looked to be limping around afterwards. It was a scary moment for sure, but it’s impossible to know yet how serious the injury was.

That’s it for another week – all in all, a decent night of sports entertainment, but not exactly appointment viewing in my opinion. We have plenty to look forward to between now and Revolution for sure. Thanks for joining me once again, and I hope to see you back here next week for more Chair Shots!