Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: Dynasty Go-Home Dynamite

AEW landed in Indianapolis needing to right the ship after a turbulent build to this Sunday’s inaugural Dynasty on pay-per-view. On paper, this card looked capable of living up to its billing as a go-home show with five matches announced and several of the company’s champions at least making an appearance on the show. But wrestling matches aren’t contended on paper, so how did things play out on the canvas of the squared circle?

Boos

Not sure if this is going to become a trend, but I do want to start with the negatives again this week. Let’s start with a relatively minor one: the fact that we sort of didn’t get the mixed tag match we were promised pitting Willow Nightingale and Adam Copeland against Brody King and Julia Hart. Yes, Nightingale was implied to have been beaten up before the match began, something that apparently also occurred to Mercedes Moné during her interview segment last week, so it was at least understandable from a storyline perspective why Willow was out for at least half of the match. And what we actually got with Copeland carrying most of the match for his team and Willow springing into action late was all pretty good. It still doesn’t make up for the fact that we barely got to see Nightingale in the match itself, though we did get to see her square off with Brody and hit him with a running cross body and a cannonball in the corner. Maybe this whole “lights going out and someone gets attacked” angle will have an interesting payoff – I said  last week that I thought Mercedes was faking to throw suspicion off herself to justify attacking Willow and pinning it on Julia Hart, so that could still be true, or Kris Statlander is going to turn on Willow and she’s the one behind these attacks – but for the time being it just robbed us of what should have been one of the most entertaining matches of the night.

My main problem with this week’s show wasn’t necessarily with the matches or segments but with the overall way it wrapped up the build to Dynasty. As a wrestling show, this week’s episode was better than last week’s, but I’m not convinced that it was the greatest go-home show. It did further the storyline between AEW World Champion Samoa Joe and number 1 contender Swerve Strickland, and there were matches involving TBS Champion Julia Hart and her Dynasty opponent Willow Nightingale and Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada and his challenger Pac. AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm got makeup smeared on her face by top contender Thunder Rosa. The unofficial FTW Championship will officially be defended on pay-per-view after Chris Jericho crossed the line by taking a shot at Hook’s dad Taz. Heck, even the trios championships got some attention with backstage segments involving The Acclaimed and Bullet Club Gold, and the International Championship feud that started on Saturday’s Battle of the Belts X got a brief recap package. But the Young Bucks and FTR had no interaction on the show, nor was there any real mention of the trios match between House of Black and Adam Copeland, Mark Briscoe, and Eddie Kingston or the highly anticipated match between Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay. Are we going to see Orange Cassidy and Trent Berretta face off after the latter’s betrayal? Signs point to yes after Trent ran interference to allow Shane Taylor Promotions to continue beating down OC after Taylor lost to Freshly Squeezed, but nothing has been confirmed so far. And beyond that, Mercedes Moné somewhat overshadowed the interaction between Nightingale and Hart, Pac and Okada barely interacted except that Pac prevented the Elite from injuring Daniel Garcia after the match, Storm and Rosa only interacted after a match between Mariah May and Deonna Purrazzo (who has a legit claim to a title rematch after getting screwed at Revolution and yet has been pushed to the side for some reason), and all the other matches have gotten barely any screentime to make the audience any more excited for them. Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong only officially started their program a week before the pay-per-view on a show that has never been must-watch despite the fact that they’ve done it 10 times now. And let’s not forget easily the most exciting non-title match at Dynasty, Danielson vs. Ospreay, that feels way colder than a match between two of the absolute best wrestlers in the entire world. All in all, it just feels like the build to Dynasty hasn’t been great apart from the world championship program. There hasn’t been enough focus on the other rivalries, and in some cases (especially the TBS and women’s championships) there is a better storyline waiting in the wings, which makes these Dynasty matches feel less important than the matches we’re more likely to get at Double or Nothing next month. Is it maybe the fact that Dynasty is being held in St Louis and Double or Nothing will be in Las Vegas so the company just cares more about the show that’s likely to make more money? Is it because Dynasty is a new pay-per-view while Double or Nothing is more established? Hard to say, probably both, but while AEW is still charging full pay-per-view prices for Dynasty, it feels like they should do a better job of making the show seem exciting. Granted, almost all AEW pay-per-views end up being great in spite of whatever happened in the build, but how long does that remain a compelling sales pitch when each show sets you back 50 bucks? I ended up skipping two of the best shows of 2023, All Out and WrestleDream, simply because I couldn’t justify spending so much money on wrestling shows in such a short span of time and those shows seemed on paper to be the least promising. If money was tight or if there was less time between shows, I would probably skip Dynasty and just wait for Double or Nothing, honestly. But I’m doing fine at the moment (thanks, tax return!) and it’s been an entire month since Revolution, so I’m going to watch Dynasty on Sunday, but I’d really like to be more excited for something that I’m going to spend full pay-per-view price for. WWE gets away with monthly events because Peacock/WWE Network only costs $10 a month, but AEW needs to be a little more choosy about asking its audience to pay so much for a show with a substandard build.

Cheers

Enough negativity, let’s talk about what was good on this show in particular rather than how this show fit into the larger build to Dynasty. Match-wise, there were two great ones in my opinion. The obvious one was the main event between Will Ospreay and Claudio Castagnoli, but the trios match between the Elite (Matthew and Nicholas Jackson with Kazuchika Okada) and the team of Pac, Penta, and Daniel Garcia was also a strong contender for match of the night (which is not something I officially award anymore!) despite its placement in the middle of the card. Again, I’m surprised the post-match angle in each case wasn’t stronger – no FTR after the trios match, no Bryan Danielson after the main event – but the matches themselves were outright great. Ospreay countered a Ricola Bomb attempt into a hurricanrana, then turned a giant swing attempt into a DDT, and finally put his opponent away with a Hidden Blade. The Elite looked downright dangerous throughout, especially Okada who planted Garcia and Penta with tombstone piledrivers and obliterated Garcia with the Rainmaker after a dual superkick from the Bucks. Quite why the Elite aren’t going after the trios titles is anybody’s guess – probably another thing they’re saving for Double or Nothing – but they certainly feel like a formidable faction even if the Bucks are still taking time for comedy beats like Matthew live commentating on the match as it was playing out.

Outside of the wrestling portion of the show, Samoa Joe and Swerve Strickland delivered in their post-main event segment, with Swerve spectacularly wiping out an entire group of security guards with a Swerve Stomp off the top rope to the outside. I’m still split on how they’re going to book the match at the pay-per-view (I’ll get into my Dynasty predictions in just a moment) – normally I would say the challenger even touching the belt is a sign they won’t win it, but Joe has looked dominant throughout their feud so that could be a setup to make it seem even more momentous when Swerve finally wins. Regardless, both guys are great on the microphone, and they augment their words with toughness and an unwillingness to back down from confrontation. Their title match at Dynasty should easily be one of the highlights of the show.

Parting Shots

I try to avoid political discussion…well, just about everywhere, but it’s certainly easier to do in a column about professional wrestling where I dictate what does and doesn’t get discussed than anywhere else in this kooky mixed-up world of ours. However, I do want to talk briefly about the report that Oklahoma’s athletic commission has warned AEW not to allow a trans performer to wrestle someone who was assigned female at birth and that there will be consequences if they do so again in the Sooner state. We could speculate about exactly what their concern is, considering professional wrestling isn’t a competition (not that it matters – trans women have no inherent advantage even in competitive sports). But I think we all know what the real problem Oklahoma’s athletic board has with trans wrestlers performing in their state. It’s just that – they don’t want trans wrestlers performing in their state. Or trans people being in their state period. This is, of course, the same state where Nex Benedict, a trans/nonbinary teenager, was beaten so severely in a school bathroom that they later died of their injuries. The same state where Republican state senator Tom Woods said “I represent a constituency that doesn’t want that filth [referring to Nex’s gender identity] in Oklahoma.” So obviously the state overall has a problem with any form of gender nonconformity. The question is whether Tony Khan will stand up for his wrestlers and, if so, how that will play out. Will AEW refuse to run shows in Oklahoma unless that harmful policy is repealed? Will he dare the commission to take action against him and his company by allowing a trans wrestler to perform there in spite of the warning? Or will he bow to political pressure and ensure only cis performers are booked on any shows there?

Okay, time for me to make my Dynasty predictions, based on matches that have been confirmed so far and ranked from least to most confident:

• Swerve Strickland defeats Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship – I really don’t know how this match is going to turn out, but considering I see basically all the other championships staying put, I’m leaning toward a title change in the main event
• Adam Copeland, Mark Briscoe, and Eddie Kingston defeat the House of Black – this one is way more of a toss-up than it should be, and HoB should absolutely win, but there’s nothing on the line and AEW cares way more about the babyfaces in this match, so they’ll probably win, but other than the world title, this is about as close to a toss-up as this show gets (which is to say, not actually that close but definitely not a slam dunk by any means either)
• Bullet Club Gold defeats The Acclaimed to unify the AEW Trios Championships with the Ring of Honor 6-Man Tag Team Championships – this one isn’t a slam dunk either, but The Acclaimed have never felt colder or less cool than they have since winning the trios belts, so it just makes sense to get the titles off them and let Max Caster and Anthony Bowens go back to doing what they do best, competing in the tag division, and BCG could use the boost of continuing to carry around gold
• The Young Bucks (EVPs) defeat FTR to win the AEW Tag Team Championships – this is another one that could go either way, but the EVPs are absolutely cooking as heels right now, so having them win by cheating just makes more sense than directly giving the belts to FTR, who could probably use some time in chase mode to build themselves back up
• Will Ospreay defeats Bryan Danielson – Ospreay is pretty much the hottest new signing in all of professional wrestling, so having him lose here would be a bit of a bummer, no matter how over Danielson may be
• Hook defeats Chris Jericho – I don’t really care either way about this match, but with the FTW belt on the line, that leads me to believe Hook will retain
• Willow Nightingale defeats Julia Hart to become the new TBS Champion – unless Mercedes Moné interferes to prevent Willow from winning, it’s hard to see Julia retaining here – the long-term feud figures to be Mercedes vs Willow, so there’s no reason not to get the title onto Nightingale here
• Roderick Strong retains his International Championship against Kyle O’Reilly – I’d like to think O’Reilly would get the rocket strapped to him after returning to the company just a month ago, but as I mentioned above, this match was set up less than a week ago in less than exciting circumstances, and Strong really hasn’t done much with the title yet so most likely he’ll retain
• “Timeless” Toni Storm retains her AEW Women’s World Championship over Thunder Rosa – as I mentioned, I suspect Deonna Purrazzo will get her rematch against Storm at Double or Nothing, and as good a wrestler as Rosa is, she hasn’t been presented as a serious contender in the leadup to this show
• Kazuchika Okada retains the Continental Championship against Pac – I will say, the one good thing about Pac going away for such long stretches of time is that he always comes back pissed off and ready to make up for lost time (just a shame there’s been so much lost time during his AEW tenure) so this will probably be a great match, but there’s no way Okada is losing his title so soon

That’s it for another week – I’m cautiously optimistic for Dynasty, as I think the matches will almost certainly deliver from a pure in-ring standpoint, but the feuds have been somewhat lackluster heading into the show so I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up feeling a bit like a filler show as a result. Thanks for joining me once again, enjoy Dynasty this Sunday, and I hope to see you all back next time for more Chair Shots!