Dynamite airs tonight (Feb. 22) with a live show from Footprint Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. AEW is less than two weeks away from its next pay-per-view on the calendar, Revolution, which is scheduled for March 5.
Tony Khan has an important announcement
Last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite brought in its lowest audience since November. Rampage fared much worse, drawing its worst numbers ever, airing outside of its regular time slot.
Is it a coincidence that Tony Khan suddenly has an “important announcement” to make with AEW’s numbers heading in the wrong direction ahead of the Revolution pay-per-view? I think not.
Nobody seems to know what this announcement is about, but it better be a good one, because tonight’s card doesn’t have an obvious main event match. That is, unless you consider Wheeler Yuta, Evil Uno, Skye Blue, or The Firm to be main event level wrestlers in AEW.
It will be pretty disappointing if Tony’s announcement is focused on ROH, which has tapings coming up this weekend for new episodes on Honor Club that will start to air next week. The blunt reality is that ROH is a lesser brand that should not be the priority when AEW’s popularity is dipping like this.
Could Khan’s announcement be related to a free agent signing? It was two years ago when Paul Wight debuted in AEW and hyped up “the biggest scoop ever” for Revolution, which turned out to be the debut of Christian Cage. I suppose it’s possible that Tony is trying not to over-hype this one, but past experience tells me he would use a juicier word than “important” to describe this announcement if he signed a major wrestler to an AEW contract.
Maybe there’s more news coming on partnerships with other wrestling companies? Will Tony tell us where the f*** Miro is? Is he going to just name some participants for a Face of the Revolution ladder match? Will he announce the return of Riho? Is Tony preparing to bring us a steady diet of cringe tweet exchanges with journalists that everyone involved should be embarrassed by?
The bottom line is that AEW needs hotter characters and stories right now, so hopefully Tony’s announcement will prove helpful on that front, instead of being a desperate ploy for ratings that doesn’t warrant the hype.
The rest of tonight’s lineup
Orange Cassidy defends the AEW All-Atlantic championship tonight against Wheeler Yuta. These guys used to be Best Friends, but Wheeler was has since moved on to the Blackpool Combat Club. He was kind of an aggressive dick last week in the way that he asked Cassidy for this championship match. Yuta is looking to end OC’s winning streak and take his belt.
Jon Moxley goes one-on-one with Evil Uno tonight. Uno isn’t afraid of Moxley and says the former AEW champion will respect him when this match is over. Moxley was rather dismissive of the Dark Order, looking ahead to his Texas Deathmatch against Hangman Page at Revolution. Will the cowboy be there to have Uno’s back while Moxley is fighting for the 100th win of his AEW career?
A tag team Battle Royale will determine the next team that joins The Gunns and The Acclaimed in a four way match for the AEW world tag team titles at Revolution. Tonight’s Battle Royale will include the following teams: Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal, RUSH & Preston Vance, the Lucha Bros, Tony Nese & Ari Daivari, Aussie Open, Top Flight, Best Friends, The Blade & The Butcher, Daddy Magic & Angelo Parker, and the Dark Order.
Speaking of The Acclaimed, Max Caster and Anthony Bowens are in action tonight against The Firm’s Big Bill and Lee Moriarty. This appears to be something of a tune-up match for the former AEW world tag team champions as they prepare to regain their titles at Revolution.
Saraya is back in the ring tonight when she goes one-on-one with Skye Blue. There isn’t much reason to think Blue stands a chance here. Will she end up with an “L” spray-painted on her body?
Bryan Danielson has something to say tonight in Phoenix. He’s extremely confident heading into a 60-minute Iron Man against AEW World Champion MJF at Revolution.
We’ll also hear from Christian, who returned to AEW last week and maced Jungle Boy. It looks like Boy will have to take down his former ally before he can finally win singles gold in AEW.
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– House of Black have their eyes set on The Elite and the AEW world trios titles. Kenny Omega has been rather silent on the mic since returning to AEW. Will he finally cut a promo to make this title match official for Revolution?
– AEW creative doesn’t have much for Jade Cargill to do other than squash and defeat the same wrestlers she’s previously squashed or defeated as the undefeated TBS champion.
– FTW Champion HOOK is currently suspended by AEW, pending an investigation into his recent attack of Stokely Hathaway, who is clearly lying about the extent of his injuries.
– AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter needs an opponent for Revolution, and Ruby Soho might be the one who earns that spot after defeating Britt Baker and Toni Storm in a three way main event match last week.
– It’s no longer safe to assume that Adam Cole’s return match is happening at Revolution, at least based on his interview last week. Even so, it sounds like he is mulling over the options for who to wrestle whenever he is ready for in-ring competition.
– Powerhouse Hobbs can’t find much or any TV time on the road to Revolution.
– Wardlow says TNT Champion Samoa Joe knowingly took away his connection with his late father when he cut his hair two months ago. How will Joe respond to Wardlow’s story?
– Keith Lee returned to AEW last week with new hair. He saved Dustin Rhodes from the Mogul Affiliates’ attempt to end his career. A match is likely coming at Revolution between Lee and Swerve Strickland.
– There should be a promo hyping this week’s Rampage match of Sammy Guevara vs. Action Andretti. Will we find out what else Ricky Starks has to do in order to earn another match against Chris Jericho?
– We still don’t know what Sting means when he says he’s going out in a blaze of glory with Darby Allin. Tony Khan is unlikely to keep the duo off of Revolution, so we should soon have a better idea of where this story is going.
What will you be looking for on Dynamite?
Originally posted at: Read More