Posted in: AEW, Sports, TV | Tagged: aew, all elite wrestling, Best F(r)iends, bleeding cool, cable, Chris Jericho, cody, Hikaru Shida, matt hardy, streaming, television, tnt, tv, Vanguard One, wrestling

AEW Dynamite Review: Drone Drama, MJF's Return and a Sexist Snake

This week's all-new episode of TNT's AEW Dynamite jumped right into the action with Lancer Archer throwing an AEW employee to the ring. An enraged Archer proceeded to yell at the audience comprised of AEW talent as Jake "The Snake" Roberts brought himself to the ring. He told us that he would not be apologizing to Brandi Rhodes for his foul attack on her last week and that she could promptly kiss his ass. He went on to say a woman's place was at the home being a domesticated pet, essentially.

I understand the need to want to make Jake a bad guy. But this seems like a bit much. He already is. This promo was largely unnecessary and doesn't add anything. This feels like something WWE (or really, Vince McMahon) would put out, which AEW has strived to distance themselves from. The promotion wants to be different and inclusive and yet fell right back onto the tired out old school wrestling tropes.

Cody interrupted him with the help of his Black Ops edition Ford F150. The truck boasts a mouthy 5.0-liter V8 engine underneath, so it absolutely is a powerful pickup truck. Cody and Archer then beat each other up, building up tension for the upcoming May 23rd Double or Nothing pay per view. Jurassic Express and Best Friends had the first official match of the night. This was a fun, exciting match with Jurassic Express looking exceptionally strong. They didn't give much leeway to Best Friends, who were exceptional at selling everything. But in the end, Best Friends won.

Fans were then treated to a fatal four-way between Hikaru Shida, Dr. Britt Baker, Kris Statlander, and Penelope Ford. This was a great match with non-stop action, worthy of a pay per view. Each contender was on their A-game for this match. Baker looked the strongest, drawing more from her sadistic mean side. Statlander also looked exceptional, showing her out of this world strength. Ford and Shida played it on the safer side. In the end, Shida came out on top.

The next match is something I never thought I'd see. Matt Hardy and Kenny Omega teamed up to go against Santana and Ortiz. I like both Omega and Hardy, and I think they would work well in a match against each other. But this was still a great match to watch. Omega was hastily attacked by Ortiz and Santana as he made his way to the ring. An enraged Hardy came out, taking out Santana with a few strategic bites to Santana's body. The two teams eventually made it into a classic match, with Omega over selling everything. While this would normally annoy me, this works for Omega. He's essentially a real-life video game character, so I want him to be over the top. Hardy compliment's Omega well, so I hope we see them team up more. Hardy and Omega took the win.

MJF returned to the ring tonight to face Lee Johnson. MJF made quick work of Johnson, before challenging Mako Stunt to a match next week. Suge D., aka Pineapple Pete, then faced off against Chris Jericho in a match that has been building up tension for some time. Le Champion made this an easy squash match, before taking to the mic to call out The Elite. We were then blessed with an appearance from Vanguard One, who accepted on behalf of The Elite as he returned Jericho's shirt. The ongoing saga between Jericho and Vanguard One is probably the main reason why I watch AEW week after week. Jericho then destroyed poor defenseless Vanguard One with a baseball bat. Matt Hardy came out to the ring to cradle the body of Vanguard One with distress written across his face.

The main event went to Mr. Brodie Lee and Christopher Daniels. This was a solid way to end the evening, tho Jericho stole the show just minutes prior. It's just hard to follow up after the emotional destruction of a beloved drone. This was a strong match with excellent storytelling, and you should absolutely watch it you haven't. Lee took the win. Overall this was a good episode of AEW, if not a little heavy on relying on tag team matches. I hope we get more singled matches in the future.

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