Chuck Taylor Saved Orange Cassidy From Trent BerettaBeretta demanded an answer from Taylor at Dynasty and he got one here. I'm glad they're done as a team because Best Friends were played out and Beretta could do well on his own (provided he has direction once this storyline is over). They got straight to the point here and didn't drag things out. We found out later in the night that Beretta and Taylor will have a Parking Lot Brawl on a special Saturday edition of Rampage. AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland def. ROH World Television Champion Kyle Fletcher in an AEW World Championship Eliminator Match (Non-Title)I have no idea why Fletcher has a title if all he does is lose on AEW TV. It makes the ROH World Television Championship look even more pointless than it already does. That said, this was the great match you'd expect from these two. I had no issue with this not having any sort of story, but it was weird that we didn't hear from the new AEW World Champion at all days removed from his title win. That would have been a better use of Strickland on this show. Mina Shirakawa def. Anna JayAEW went through a phase of featuring a ton of CMLL earlier this year and now we've entered the Stardom phase. I've enjoyed this more and I've been impressed by Shirakawa so far, but I'm confused how fans are supposed to feel about her. Are she, Mariah May and Toni Storm all heels? It's tough to tell. Serena Deeb emerging afterward indicates she's next in line for a shot at the AEW Women's World Championship and I'm definitely down for that. Mercedes Mone Interrupted Willow Nightingale's AEW TBS Championship CelebrationOn the bright side, it was cool to see two women's segments back-to-back. That's practically unheard of on Dynamite. However, I didn't think this segment was very good. It wasn't one of Nightingale's best promos and Mone continues to come off as obnoxious. She's clearly the heel if she keeps interrupting Nightingale when it isn't warranted. Kris Statlander was the reason Mone slapped Nightingale in the end, so Statlander betraying Nightingale has to be imminent. I assume she's going to factor into Nightingale losing the TBS title to Mone at Double or Nothing. Will Ospreay Won an AEW International Championship No. 1 Contender's Casino Gauntlet MatchThis wasn't advertised in advance and we didn't know who was in it until they came out. I honestly didn't know how the rules worked, but all of the chaos made for a fun match, especially with some of the people involved. As soon as Ospreay entered the fray, it was obvious he was winning the whole thing. Keeping his momentum rolling with another win makes sense, but going from a dream match with Bryan Danielson at Dynasty to fighting for a lower-midcard championship at Double or Nothing feels like a step backward to me. Big Bill Confronted FTW Champion Chris JerichoJericho is leaning into fans' criticisms against him by claiming that everyone he's worked with in AEW has benefited from it (when the opposite is actually true). It seems to be a part of AEW's new "meta" approach by acknowledging this sort of stuff and embracing it, but in this case, Jericho isn't going to feel fresh again until he's off the show for a while. It looks like he's starting yet another faction and Big Bill might be a part of it. I can't stress enough how little I care about any of this. IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley def. Powerhouse HobbsI was looking forward to this as it was announced during Dynamite last week and it ultimately underwhelmed. Apparently Hobbs got hurt toward the end and that cut the contest short, but it's not like they were firing on all cylinders prior to that point. It's a shame because I was happy to see Hobbs in this spot and he did nothing to really stand out. Moxley vs. Konosuke Takeshita was teased afterward, and while that should be a hell of a match, I'm high on Takeshita losing to Moxley, too. The Elite Attacked AEW President Tony KhanBased on the positive reaction this angle received online, I seem to be in the minority of those who thought this was goofy. As I've said before, I have sub-zero interest in Khan being a regular on-air character, but if this was designed to write him off forever, then that's a step in the right direction. I also applaud the effort to capitalize on whatever buzz Jack Perry has at the moment. It's something different, if nothing else. I don't need to see The Elite running around like they're the modern-day nWo, but I'm willing to give this a chance even though this segment didn't leave me overly excited for whatever's next. Overall ShowDaily's Place is a cool venue and AEW obviously has a strong attachment to it, but it didn't feel special on this show because they were just there three months later (though I was told Khan had to be in the area with the NFL Draft starting tomorrow). All in all, this was a pretty poor show compared to the past two weeks, and that's not even counting my thoughts on the final segment. The Casino Gauntlet match was entertaining, but nothing else really clicked for me. We'll see where they go with the Elite stuff and if it does anything to heat up the product.
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