Written By Gino Lewis
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The first Dynamite of 2024 came to us from Prudential Center in Newark New Jersey.
Samoa Joe started the year off with a taped interview from after he won the AEW World Title from MJF at Worlds End. Joe was intense as always. I’m looking forward to his title reign.
Adam Cole explains his actions at Worlds End
Adam Cole is out to the ring first with his new group. We find out they are called The Undisputed Kingdom. Cole explained his actions. It made perfect sense. He said exactly what you’d think he would say if you’ve been following The Devil storyline the past six months or so. Roderick Strong is going after the International Title while Wardlow will eventually challenge Samoa Joe for the World Title. Jay White came out for the interruption. The Gunns came out with him. They foolishly rushed the ring and got beat up before The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass made the save.
Gino’s take – Solid storyline development here. I like that AEW followed up on the attacks on Jay White and The Acclaimed. I didn’t like White rushing the ring like a dumbass. He’s too savvy. Other than that, this was all very good.
Daniel Garcia cut a promo backstage. He’s in the main event against Swerve Strickland later in the show.
Orange Cassidy def Dante Martin – Rating *** ½
Gino’s take – Very good match to kick off 2024. Dante acted somewhat heelish mimicking Orange’s schtick. The last few minutes were outstanding with so many counters and near falls. Cassidy’s antics eventually frustrated Martin playing a part in the finish.
Private Party returned after the match. They received a nice pop from the crowd. They mentioned they are going after the Tag Team Titles calling out a bunch of teams. They didn’t mention the current champs Ricky Starks and Big Bill for some reason.
Renee Paquette was backstage with Toni Storm interviewing her in black and white. Toni was brilliant as always making jokes about New Jersey.
Malakai Black and Buddy Murphy representing the House of Black have a vignette ahead of their match against FTR on Collision Saturday. They made it personal bringing FTR’s family into it.
Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana were interviewed backstage. Swerve is coming for Samoa Joe and the AEW World Championship in 2024. Sign me up for that!
Mariah May def Queen Aminata – Rating ***
Gino’s take – I enjoyed this quite a bit. I can see why AEW made a big deal out of May’s debut. Both women are very talented. The match got the right amount of time. The crowd was into most of it. If anything, Aminata outshined May in her debut. AEW could use Queen a lot more. She should have a full-time contract if she doesn’t already.
Renee Paquette entered the ring to interview May. Mariah acted like she was a babyface before predictably turning on the crowd and ragging on New Jersey which was a common thread throughout the show. Deonna Purrazzo who is from New Jersey came to the ring to make her AEW debut! The crowd was very hot for Deonna.
Gino’s take – Outside of the tremendous work done by Toni Storm, I thought this match and segment afterword were as good as anything we saw in the AEW women’s division in all of 2023. Deonna looked like a huge star in her hometown. I’m not a huge fan but I have a ton of respect for her as one of the best workers and talkers in the business. Great start to the year for the women!
Christian Cage State of the Union
Gino’s take – This was the standard mic work we always get from Cage. Meaning it was awesome! He’s so good in this character. He’s done with Adam Copeland. I think that’s probably true…for now. The most significant part of this was the crowd chanting “Luchasaurus” for the now renamed Killswitch after Christian treated him like an asshole. I’m not sure if I could get behind a Luchasaurus babyface push. It might happen. The crowd might react favorably to it based on their reaction here.
Paquette is backstage with The Outcasts; Saraya, Ruby Soho and new member Harley Cameron. It looks like something is brewing with Saraya and Cameron turning on Ruby. This wasn’t great but didn’t take up much time.
Konosuke Takeshita def Darby Allin – Rating **** ¼
Gino’s take – Incredible match! Hard strikes, throws and high-flying action the whole time. Darby took a brutal beating like we normally see in a match of this caliber. The Avalanche German Suplex from the top rope was amazing. Takeshita finished Darby off with a powerful knee strike shortly after. Takeshita looked dominant. Darby was valorous in defeat. This was booked exactly how it should have been.
Busy show for Renee as she is now backstage interviewing Don Callis and family. They challenge Sting and Darby Allin to a tag match next week.
Trent Beretta def El Hijo Del Vikingo, Brian Cage and Bryan Keith – Rating ** ¾
Gino’s take – Decent match. Eddie Kingston was on commentary. Trent wins a shot as his newly won Triple Crown Championship on Collision as a result. It’s nice that there was something on the line but there wasn’t much reason to care about this one. It showed with the crowd. They were quiet for a lot of it. Brian Cage had the best showing. There was a spot involving Danhausen the crowd enjoyed. I would have liked to have seen Cage get the win. I hope he’s used better in 2024.
Renee was trying to interview Daddy Magic Matt Menard. I’m not sure why. In true AEW fashion they were interrupted by an irate Hangman Adam Page. Great use of Page here. It sounds like he’s Samoa Joe’s first opponent. Fine by me!
Swerve Strickland def Daniel Garcia – Rating *** ¼
Gino’s take – It wasn’t a bad match at all. I thought it might be a lot better. Going in, I liked these two getting the main event spot. Pitting two of the hottest young stars in the company against each other after strong showings in the Continental Classic made sense to start a new year. It felt fresh. Takeshita and Allin would have been a better choice as a main event. There was an entertaining spot where Prince Nana and Daniel Garcia had a short dance battle. The crowd chanted “holy shit” for it. That was funny. There was a bad botch where Garcia tried to put a Sharpshooter on Strickland while on top of the announce table and they fell off. Things did really pick up by the end.
After the match Strickland and Prince Nana kicked Daniel Garcia and Matt Menard who was on commentary in the nuts. That drew an angry Hangman out from the back. He mentioned he was there to kick someone’s ass. He came out to collect. I’m glad he confronted Swerve. That made a lot sense as one of the longest running and best stories in AEW. I hope we get more matches between them. They had a wild brawl where security had to come out and separate them.
Gino’s take – Dynamite definitely ended on a high note.
Overall Rating for Dynamite 7.75/10
Final thoughts – Very good show to start the year off right in AEW. The whole might have been better than the sum of its parts. The Takeshita/Darby match was awesome. Deonna Purrazzo’s debut was handled perfectly. Other than that, it wasn’t really a show to remember. Although, it felt like a show AEW would have done in 2019. That’s a great thing to see. There was an excellent balance of in-ring action and storyline development all show. I think the spotlight was on the right people. There were a lot of wrestlers on this show I hope have great years in 2024 like Swerve, Hangman, Garcia, Purrazzo, May, Brian Cage, Top Flight and Private Party. I’d like to see AEW focus more on some of the wrestlers that were more prominent of the early run of the company or new talent we haven’t seen that doesn’t come from WWE. We may have seen the beginning of that on Dynamite.
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