Overall Evaluation and Achieved Goals
This episode of Dynamite didn’t give me the warm and fuzzy feelings the last few have, but I still thought it was pretty good. Compared to some of last year’s work it was damn near transcendent. Remember The Nightmare Collective or that show where the pre-Brodie Lee Dark Order laid out everybody in The Elite? Jim Ross seems to have found his voice again too.
Areas of Excellence Within Performance
The Young Bucks vs. The Butcher & The Blade was a solid Bucks match, and the other two I thought were extra special.
Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. The Natural Nightmares opened the show and was real good, with Omega/Page just vibing and having fun matches with a variety of teams. Omega in a tag match fixes any issue with Omega in a singles match, as there’s more to play with that keeps the downtime interesting and makes it not ridiculous that grandpa Dustin or dummy QT are hanging. Dustin vs. Kenny at the start made me want a singles match with those guys.
Best Friends vs. Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevera closed the show and was real good too, a bunch of solid wrestling building to this crescendo where Orange Cassidy interference seemed inevitable and then Trent and Chuck actually got a satisfying clean win. The Orange run-in afterwards with him finally throwing down was tremendous, and one of those angles that makes you just want to slap COVID-19 right in the face.
The Britt Baker brand continues to be strong – best thing going in wrestling. Anywhere.
Cody‘s third TNT Title defense was the best one yet, a barn burner with the newly signed Ricky Starks. There’s nothing super unique about these but it’s high level work that feels competitive and showcases new talent. I thought Ricky did the best so far with the role. A lot of guys take the CrossRhodes on top of their head now, but Ricky’s go at it felt like the best.
Cody bringing up The Elite and whether he’s even in it or not during his promo was a nice bit too. SIMMERING.
Thought Abadon debuting by squashing Anna Jay, who had just got built up with a nice little video package, was a very cool move.
Suggested Areas of Improvement
It’s not an uncommon request, but a Trios or U.S. Tag Titles would help. They’ve done a great job giving people things to do up and down the card but there are definitely a few who could use something more to care about.
My Favorite Things
2. Ricky Starks’ CrossRhodes Bump
1. Orange Cassidy Fights People
Official Star Rating
3 out of 5 Stars
