Reviewing the Elite (11/4/20): Word To Your Mother

OH MY GOD THAT JON MOXLEY/EDDIE KINGSTON PROMO WAS SO GOOD!

No point trying to hide the fact that this was the main highlight in this week’s stick of AEW Dynamite. Despite not having a lot of time, the build to Jon Moxley vs Eddie Kingston for Full Gear has been fabulous. You already felt the personal animosity between these two in freaking video packages so putting them together face-to-face was an ace idea. We all knew it would be good but these two managed to overachieve and blow away all our expectations.

Honestly, no words can do this promo justice since the promo is online for everyone to see. The only things I can add are how magnetic Eddie is when he speaks since you believe wrestling is real to him once he has the microphone. I believed him when he said wrestling is the reason why he has no wife or kid and how he’s going to bring this belt to his mother, even if it’s going to disappoint her. Moxley was on fire as well, when he brought up how he knows Kingston’s mom, Ruthie, and how he broke her promise to keep her son safe. 

Fucking great.

           

While that was the biggest story of the night, I also feel that people are sleeping on the great interview Hangman Page had with Jim Ross. Hangman tried to BS his way through the interview and say that he’s more than ready but Ross saw through this, asking if he’s nervous to face Kenny Omega at Full Gear. You know what? He was and Hangman mentioned how no one believed in him when he said he was going to be the first AEW Champion and the doubters ended up being right, it broke my heart.

I just want the sad yeehaw man to be a happy yeehaw man you know? Also, Jim Ross is really good as an interviewer. Ross gets a lot of heat from fans—some of which he deserves—due to being a grump and kind of a pervert at times but excelled here so credit where credit’s due.

            

The excellent Hangman Page story also continued since he actually helped The Young Bucks when FTR attempted to destroy Matt Jackson’s knee again. I gasped when this happened and genuinely didn’t think he would, but given their history and how he cost The Bucks their title shot, it makes all the sense in the world. Kenny coming out after Hangman was great too since it begs the question: Was he just late? Did he not want to look like an asshole? Or did he not want to get shown up by Page, who he has been subtly dissing since they broke up? 

So much to ask and the fact that AEW made it overshadow The Young Bucks vs. FTR shows they know which one is more compelling.

If only they put this much emphasis on the women’s division. Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose was announced randomly last week with no build prior, showing how much this company cares about their female wrestlers. It’s a real shame too since the segment where Vickie Guerrero told Shida to enjoy her last three days as champion was good! If they spent weeks with Vickie telling Shida “tick-tock you're gonna get clocked,” this could have been a compelling rivalry! As it stands, this was just a last-minute decision that will be saved by the women’s wrestling skill but they deserve so much better than this.

           

Honestly, the promos of this week’s Dynamite made this episode, though the actual wrestling wasn’t too bad. MJF and Wardlow beating Ortiz and Sammy Guevara was a really hot opener, while also showing us that Guevara would be a great babyface in the future. The fact that Cody and The Gunn Club vs. The Dark Order was this week’s episode was absolutely baffling since a) it looks like an AEW Dark match and b) it was nowhere near as good as the Jon Moxley/Eddie Kingston promo, but it was a fine enough match. 

Nothing wrong with the wrestling, but they weren’t the highlights of this show.

Final Grade: Good build to Full Gear despite them not caring about the women. B+.

Bullet Point Party:

• Chris Jericho says MJF doesn’t have a killer instinct, gets beaten up later on: Good segment here and was an effective bit to put this already over match to the moon. Jericho was also really good on commentary and almost made me forget that he donated money to Trump’s campaign. Now I’m sad again.
• Miro beats Trent in his first good AEW match: It seems that Miro is still trying to shake off that rust but he had a solid showing here. Shame that the match was kind of hindered by Dark Order and Orange Cassidy but it didn’t completely ruin this. Really hope Miro can do something more interesting soon.
• PAC is coming back: AEW hasn't been the same without The Bastard and it looks like he's coming for Eddie Kingston. The video package was incredible and had some vivid imagery, particularly that part where PAC in a suit is being haunted by multiple PACs in their wrestling gear. Good stuff.
• The Young Bucks beat Private Party: Fun match, even if the Bucks are horrible babyfaces. Marc Quen looked like a moron for not working on Matt’s injured leg, though the fact that Matt is working through a real injury is even more moronic.
• Serena Deeb vs. Allysin Kay is added to the Full Gear Buy-In Show: Zero build for this but I like Deeb a lot and the internet has nice things to say about Kay so consider this watched. The fact that AEW needs the NWA’s women’s division says a lot about this company (and yes, I know Deeb is signed with AEW but they could hire more female workers is what I’m saying).
• Orange Cassidy vs John Silver gets added to the main show of Full Gear: Silver has been hilarious in BTE so I’m happy to see him get a match on pay-per-view, even if Cassidy is winning.

Images from AEW

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.

November 07, 2020