AEW Dynamite Review - September 18, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Orange Cassidy def. "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho

If there's one thing I didn't need revisited from the pandemic era of AEW, it's this feud. We got three matches between them in 2020 and it's not like they had such stellar chemistry that I was clamoring for a fourth encounter between them. To their credit, though, this was actually pretty good and the crowd was into it. There is no reason for this rivalry to continue, but I'm sure it will, if only so we can get Jericho's crew against The Conglomeration in a meaningless six-man tag team match.

FTW Champion Hook def. JD Ink (Non-Title)

These Hook squashes were cool at first three years ago, but they've grown so tiresome for me, personally. I understand they're all the same on purpose, but I've been beyond ready for Hook to start facing legitimate competition consistently. Yes, he will be defending the FTW Championship against Roderick Strong next week and that's guaranteed to be good, but anything involving the pointless title at this point automatically loses my interest. He'd be better suited challenging for one of AEW's other million titles.

Yuka Sakazaki and Queen Aminata def. AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May and Serena Deeb by Disqualification

Aminata and Deeb have been feuding on Collision in recent weeks, so it was nice to see their feud get some exposure on Dynamite for a change. Meanwhile, Sakazaki and May faced off on Collision last Saturday, so it looks like Sakazaki is next in line for a shot at the AEW Women's World Championship. This was a good match up until the lame disqualification finisher, but at least it managed to put more heat on May.

Jon Moxley, Marina Shafir and AEW World Trios Champion Claudio Castagnoli Attacked Komander and Private Party Before Being Fended Off by Darby Allin

As I've said before, I'm confused as to whether ​Moxley's crew is still considered Blackpool Combat Club or not, so I wish that would be made clear. Nonetheless, this was a solid segment designed to further establish Moxley, Shafir and Castagnoli as vicious heels and build toward Moxley vs. Allin at Grand Slam. Private Party said beforehand in a backstage segment that they intended to challenge Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta and Pac for the AEW World Tag Team Championship next week, but I'm going to assume that's not actually happening since they were brutally attacked here.

Ricochet def. The Beast Mortos

Getting Ricochet in as many television matches as possible is smart as it'll allow him to showcase his skills to the AEW audience (even though it's safe to say most people are aware of what he's capable of). This was a fun, all-action spot-fest as it should have been. Mortos is a stepping stone for the bigger stars, but the guy can go, so I enjoyed this for what it was. I figured Will Ospreay would be busy with The Don Callis Family for the foreseeable future, but we found out later on that we'll be getting Ospreay vs. Ricochet for the AEW International Championship on Dynamite's five-year anniversay episode in two weeks. Let's go! so I assume we won't see Ospreay vs. Ricochet at WrestleDream like I originally thought. Maybe Full Gear?

"Hangman" Adam Page and Jeff Jarrett Brawled

I don't think there can be any argument that Page is the most compelling character in AEW right now. His descent into madness has been fascinating to follow and he's one of the most must-see parts of AEW TV every week, but I could do without him resuming his rivalry with Jarrett. This was a fine brawl and Jarrett made it clear in his promo that he wants a piece of Page, so we'll probably get a gimmick match between them on the Dynamite anniversary episode. That said, it feels like this is just keeping Page busy until his next significant storyline.

AEW International Champion Will Ospreay and The Don Callis Family (Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita) def. The Elite (AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks and AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada)

You can't go wrong with Ospreay and Okada sharing the ring again, and throwing Takeshita into the mix only added to the excitement. Unsurprisingly, this was an entertaining main event with everyone getting some time to shine. I'm glad Fletcher picked up his biggest AEW win ever, which was done to send the message that he and Ospreay could beat the Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Championship next week (spoiler alert: they won't).

Overall Show

It's amazing that AEW can deliver strong pay-per-views yet that hot momentum doesn't translate to Dynamite. It's well documented that Rampage and Collision are lost causes and have been for a while, but Dynamite really should feel more important than it does these days. The main event was obviously a highlight, but the rest of the two hours felt phoned-in. Thankfully, next week's Grand Slam edition and the anniversary episode the week after that should be worthwhile.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews