Friday Night Dynamite 5/28/21: Dress Rehearsal

This highlight reel really makes me think Pinnacle is winning

Sammy is totally turning on them, isn't he?

I like smart mark with Jade

"OW OW!"

Wardlow, 2021

The true star of AEW

Thats how you do a "go home" show

Man... I'm so excited for DoN after that. Very fun show.

So, Britt is crazy over. Got chills with that d.m.d. line. New belt looks freaking awesome. Very symbolic for the evolution of the women's division. Bigger belt, bigger more significant division. This division is stacked and ready to rock. Pretty sure riho is back permanently this time too.

Very telling that they choose kilynn for jades opponent. You don't give just anybody that spot on the first big crowd show, even if your job is to get your ass kicked. Kilynn is such a damn talent. I'm sure they've had her under contract for quite some time now.

Same with Cezar and that crew. I'm guessing they choose Cezar specifically because they love having Darby vs. large man, plus Bononi has had such a tough go in life lately it's nice to give the guy a good moment.

Guessing we'll be seeing lots more of Janela with everything opening up and him being able to do a ton of indie stuff again without worrying about the Rona.

Main event tag match was unreal. Cool moment seeing a packed house do the dark order sign. "Silver do you have a question or are you doing the damn dark order sign".... But he didn't say damn 😂. Loved sky and page getting that spot on the card too. But it's no secret I'm a huge fan of both.

I'm sure I'm forgetting tons, but man. I just wanna sleep for the next day and a half straight so when I wake up it's ppv time.

Damn it feels good to be elite.


Edit: goddamn I forgot Miro/Lance! Both of those guys are just gold. Miro is so much fun to watch right now, and I absolutely love what Lance and Jake have done with the murdererhawk character.

Love when I have no expectations for an episode of Dynamite so they can completely surpass it. After his very bleh first couple of months Miro had gradually gotten on track (he was the only highlight of that stupid Charles the Butler thing), but now he's legitimately one of the best parts of AEW IMO.

That was a good build for the PPV. The vast majority of this show was great. Some thoughts:

Every time I see the Dark Order I really miss Brodie Lee. Dark Order is an odd name and gimmick for a bunch of low/mid-card faces. They’re basically the JOB Squad, but the name still doesn’t fit.

Seriously, is Cody the heel? Or is it that he’s too wrapped up in his ego to realize that he’s coming across terribly? QT is clearly a heel, so I’d think Ogogo would be the heel by association alone. I feel like they’re loosely basing this story on Rocky IV, but Cody is far less likable than Rocky in this one, and nobody cares about Austin Gunn like they did Apollo Creed... or, you know, at all. BTW, Ogogo and Comoroto are potential stars. The love child of Alex Reynolds and Peter Avalon should be a jobber for life. I don’t know who the new guy was, but he looked like something that got pulled from a drain.

Did The Big G (?) get no reaction or is it the venue? It sounded like nobody reacted to anything he did, making this a clear extension of his WWE career. Seems he’s a name (or familiar face) and nothing more. Sure took him awhile to get the scale right.

Mox/Kingston are clearly a feel-good team for both guys so that they can hang out and work together as Eddie’s swan song. Eddie was far better as a heel. I may be in the minority, but I feel Mox carries these segments easily.

I didn’t know what to think about the Shida celebration, but presenting her a new belt was actually perfect. It was painful watching Tony try to strap it on her. Even Remsberg didn’t get it tight enough. Poor Shida had to keep holding it up and straddling to keep it from sliding down around her ankles. She’s definitely finished as champ. Britt is on track to be one of AEW’s top stars period. I bet Cole is super proud of her.

I need Janela’s theme as a ring tone. That should seriously be my theme song.

PAC is gold. I wish he was winning. Kenny is actually my least favorite in the match.

That Christian/Hobbs brawl seemed random. I suppose he (Hobbs) gets a rematch? Or is he just doing Taz’ dirty work. I like Hobbs, but Christian hasn’t really done anything of note since arriving. I guess that’s not a shock considering Miro’s start. Speaking of whom..

He needs to be an unstoppable, bloodthirsty monster heel. I feel bad for Archer, but I’d argue Miro would be more damaged by a loss than Archer would be helped by a win. I see this going to more than one match, probably without a clear winner Sunday.

IC is losing. Jericho is probably going away for at least awhile. Please give PaP a monster push. Sammy is made no matter what he does. That was probably the best promo of Hager’s career, but I really don’t know where he goes from here. TNT title contention?

The commentators are pretty bad, but I’d rather hear incoherent Legends than overproduced, sterile WWE commentary..and I’m by no means anti WWE. The difference is just a breath of fresh air. Still though, might be time to plan for the future.

Great show overall. It would be amazing if it beat Smackdown, but it’ll probably get trounced unfortunately.