Did The AEW Dynamite 5 Year Anniversary Show Fall Short?

Wednesday was one of the most important days in the short history of All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Tony Khan, who is the owner of AEW along with being the president and head of creative, announced early that day that his company secured a new distribution deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. The new deal would also include live streaming and PPV on MAX beginning next year reported to be worth up to 150 million a year. This news was heavily speculated for months, but Khan announced it on the 5^th Anniversary of his company being in the wrestling business. With all of the momentum on his side, all that was left was for AEW Dynamite to have a “RAW After Mania” level event to capitalize off the buzz created by the new deal. The only question remained at the end of Wednesday night: Did Dynamite hit it out of the park, or did they fall short?

Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet Was Great But Also Disappointing

The match between Will Ospreay and Ricochet, by far, was the most anticipated matchup of the night. Rightfully so, it kicked off Dynamite. Before getting into the match, there was a missed opportunity for Khan to address the crowd and put over the announcement of the new deal before leading into the Ospreay vs Ricochet match. He didn’t come out at the end either making the show not as special as it was advertised.

The match was great, and all the spots they did weren’t forced. These two athletes, at the peak of their careers, gave the fans in attendance the show they were anticipating all day. Things almost took a wrong turn when Ospreay and Ricochet pinned each other. It was saved by Khan telling the announcer via his earpiece that “the match will continue” even though the referee called it a draw. Where things didn’t go so well was that after the match restarted, Konosuke Takeshita interfered causing a disqualification. It killed all of the buzz that the match created, and the crowd was left confused on why that ending needed to be booked in that manner.

The Dynamite Anniversary Show Did Not Have Its Biggest Stars

On a night when AEW looked to let the wrestling world know they were here to stay with the new distribution deal, they did it without their star wrestlers. Where was MJF (Maxwell Jacob Freidman), Swerve Strickland, or better yet, a cameo from Kenny Omega? None of these wrestlers were on Dynamite, which kept the show at a mid-level and not a high one, which everyone thought it would be. The numbers (P2+: 680K – Down 3% vs. last week; 18-49: 274K – Down 13% vs. last week) for the show reflected the impact of not having their stars on it. It felt like a missed opportunity by AEW, who had every chance to send shockwaves throughout the industry.

Hangman Adam Page vs. Juice Robinson & Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada Had The Arena Quiet-No Bueno

The Page vs. Juice match started off promising, with them wrestling out in the crowd, but then the pace slowed down when they got into the ring and officially started the match. The same could be said about Danielson vs. Okada, as you can hear a pin drop in the arena. The pacing was horrible, and it’s disappointing as all four of these wrestlers are capable of so much more. As Kevin Nash famously said on the NWO documentary, “This feels like Memphis to me.” In other words, it was more of that old school wrasslin which isn’t bad, but on the anniversary show, that shouldn’t be the show’s theme. The fans in attendance deserved better from these four competitors, and unfortunately, whoever booked these matches forgot to “read the room.”

AEW Dynamite Should Have Felt As Big As The Premiere Of NXT On The CW

Social media is a unique place where a line in the sand has been drawn for the last few years. You have hardcore WWE fans on one side and AEW ones on the other, with a small percentage that falls in the middle. From the outside looking in, that NXT show felt big, and Triple H put it over right from the start. AEW did not make the Dynamite show feel special at all. It felt like a weekday version of their Saturday show Collision.

This is where Khan needs to find a way to hire someone who knows the business and can coach him through some of the booking decisions he makes. Maybe that man is Shane McMahon, rumored to have ties with AEW. Khan has to find someone as he can’t afford to keep missing these windows of opportunity that are presented to him to take his company to the next level.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

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