You know, when I started watching this episode, I already pictured myself focusing mostly on the tournament matches that took place. Wrestling tournaments guarantee easy pops from marks and smarks alike since they have an easy story, are fun to watch, and usually give the wrestlers some time to shine. That was true for the most part here and AEW did a very good job with all of the matches and I’ll get to them in a bit but they weren’t the biggest talking point.
Alas, a segment that took place on this week’s stick of Dynamite has dominated the conversation on social media and is currently dividing wrestling fans—Chris Jericho and MJF’s surprising musical number or Le Dinner Debonair as it was introduced during the show. I am Smark Henry’s AEW guy so I should share my piece.
It was neat.
This wasn’t the best musical number ever but it was very entertaining. We all know Jericho is a talented singer and it turns out Maxwell Jacob Friedman is one, too, but if you’ve seen Hamilton or any other broadway musical, you’ve seen singing and dancing better than this. However, we almost never see musical-inspired singing and dancing in wrestling and it has made fans wonder if we should see these kinds of segments in our sport.
“Sport.”
You know, the sport where undead wizards, dinosaurs, aliens, and fiends that can bring you to alternate dimensions take on people in their underwear to win a shiny belt. That sport. The "fake" one.
Look, if you didn’t like the Jericho/MJF musical number, you’re allowed to think that way and no one should force you to change your mind. But if you’re going to say that these kinds of segments don’t belong in wrestling, you’ve got another thing coming, pal. Despite what all those old dudes on their podcasts will tell you, wrestling is actually a lot like ballet. Hell, wrestling is a lot like musical theater if you really think about it. Professional wrestling is a scripted show and tells a story that can only be presented by performers with incredible physical talent; and even if the ending is predetermined, the show takes a toll on the bodies of these performers.
Wrestling is violent theater and while I don’t think segments like these should be the norm, they shouldn’t be seen as the death of this business either.
Besides, that musical segment with Jericho and MJF didn’t even dominate the show. Despite all this talk about Le Dinner Debonair, this was a wrestling-heavy stick of Dynamite and a really good one at that.
That tournament I mentioned earlier? It kicked ass. Wardlow beat Jungle Boy in a very good David vs. Goliath match, with Mr. Mayhem looking good and Jack Perry looking even better. Kenny Omega squashing Sonny Kiss—replacing Joey Janela, who came into contact with someone who has COVID-19 and got pulled from the show—was a fantastic bit that reintroduced “The Cleaner” in the most heelish way possible. Hangman Page defeated Colt Cabana in a solid match with great action from both talents, showing that the "Boom Boom" man isn’t just a silly wrestler.
Of course, the biggest wrestling highlight in this episode, hands-down, was Rey Fenix beating his brother Penta El Zero M. The Lucha Bros put it all out there in this fantastic lucha libre battle filled with spots I’ve never seen before. Stiff chops, stiff kicks, a crazy head scissors from the top rope, brotherly concern, and more made this a must-watch match. Even if you dislike AEW, you should watch this match at least.
It wasn’t even just the wrestling that was good on this show. Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston cut some amazing promos on each other this week. Moxley’s promo had him responding to Kingston calling him out for working in WWE and the champ, to my surprise, actually defended his time there, stating that he won’t apologize for his success and being able to give his family a home. When Moxley accused Kingston of turning into a shitty human, the challenger flat out admitted that he had to change to survive and get to the level he’s in now. Fan-freaking-tastic. This match is going to rule.
Final Grade: Everything in this show was good-to-great. A+
Bullet Point Party:
- The Young Bucks win a four-way tag match to face FTR for the AEW World Tag Team Championships; FTR tries to break Matt Jackson’s leg: Fun four-way match. Shame AEW wants us to sympathize with the freaking Bucks after all the innocent people they kicked in the face. Yeah, I don’t feel bad whatsoever and they’re gonna need one hell of a babyface promo to change my mind but don’t bet on that.
- Alex Reynolds got knocked out during the four-way tag match: This apparently happened during Private Party's body splash/diving leg drop combo. Reynolds was able to walk after the match was over, so that's good news. Wrestling is scary.
- Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. beat KiLynn King and looked good doing it: I don’t know why but Baker has suddenly become a pretty solid worker post-injury. Her return a few weeks ago was good and this was, too! King also had some good moments and AEW might want to sign her too.
- Team Taz cuts a promo: Basically a reminder that they’re feuding with Will Hobbs and Darby Allin. Inoffensive.
- Kenny Omega's new entrance is incredible: Just the douchiest, most over-the-top entrance you'll ever see and this is from the same company that employs MJF. I hope Justin Roberts announces all of those accomplishments every time Kenny comes out moving forward.
Nico Parungo is a freelance contributor for Geeky PH and previously wrote for Epicstream. He provides weekly recaps of AEW Dynamite for Smark Henry and has contributed several reviews of PWR and MWF shows. When he isn't frustrated about the WWE, he's playing video games at home and is bugging his friends with glorious puns. He's new to the world of Twitter drama but is quickly getting hooked.
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