The eyes of the wrestling world were on TBS last night at 8:00 Eastern as a promotion that made headlines for all of the wrong reasons over the previous 72 hours went on the air.
The million dollar questions was how would Tony Khan handle the fallout from the melee that ensued after AEW’s All Out PPV in Chicago last Sunday evening. Would public suspensions be announced? Even firings? What would happen with the championships?
The result was a pre-taped segment with Khan to open the show where he announced that the AEW World and Trios Championships would be vacated, with new champions being crowned immediately (in the case of the Trios Championship) and in the future (the World Championship).
Public announcements regarding disciplinary action taken because of the backstage fight between The Elite and CM Punk and Ace Steel? There was nothing of the kind. In fact, the brawl itself was not directly mention at all throughout the broadcast, and Khan didn’t even clarify why the titles were being vacated.
And you know what? That was the right call.
While not everyone would be aware of what happened in the locker room of the NOW Arena three days earlier, many were, and it’s unquestionably a black eye (no pun-intended) for the promotion. Moving past it as fast as possible, changing the narrative, and giving a fresh start to the two titles previously mentioned was a necessity. As Bob Seger once wrote, “Turn the page.”
And as far as fresh starts go, the promotion succeeded. Everything felt back on track when the show reached its conclusion. AEW produced one of the better episodes of Dynamite in several months, top to bottom, including a fantastic second hour of wrestling that is among the best hours of in-ring action the promotion has broadcast on cable television.
Following Khan, we jumped right in with MJF making his Dynamite return by way of a spoof-babyface promo, and he eventually got confronted by Jon Moxley who gave the perfect promo that was needed after a wild couple of days, sending messages to the locker room and audience in the process. Moxley did his best to build up the significance of the AEW title after, once again, its champion will be unable to drop it in the ring. In doing so, he succeeded at making the Grand Slam Tournament feel as significant as possible given the unfortunate circumstances of its lineage.
That segment was followed by an excellent match between the Best Friends and Death Triangle to crown new Trios Champions and we were off to the races. New Women’s Champion Toni Storm and Penelope Ford delivered a very good women’s match. The Acclaimed were interrupted by Swerve (what better way to draw heel heat these days than blocking a Max Caster rap?), and a rematch for the tag titles was officially announced for Grand Slam. Wardlow gave an intense promo and ran over Tony Nese.
But that second hour? Wow. Bryan Danielson and Adam Page had a heck of a television match, with Bryan getting his win back on Page (he lost to him last January) and advancing in the world title tournament. One would expect Bryan to get his win back on Jericho in the next round, likely setting up a tournament final with his Blackpool Combat Club teammate Jon Moxley — a match big enough for a show that will emanate from Arthur Ashe Stadium in two weeks.
The main event slot was given to the hometown boy as Wheeler Yuta defended the ROH Pure Championship against Buffalo’s own Daniel Garcia, another fantastic bout. When Garcia hoisted the ROH Pure Title and celebrated with Danielson and an elated crowd to close Dynamite, the sins of three days earlier seemed like a faint memory.
This show served as a reset for AEW and made you believe the company can move forward, successfully, with a different roster dynamic right now. And while the promotion will continue to grapple with fallout from last weekend’s backstage fight for months to come, AEW talent not associated with that dark moment were given something to sink their teeth into and move forward. And so were the fans.
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