All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite: August 21, 2024: Cardiff!

August 21, 2024 5:57 PM - Season 5, Episode 47

Not only is the first episode in five years to air from outside of North America, not only do we get two championship matches, but it's also this the go-home episode before All In: London. Ratchet up the tension, Tony!

The announced card for Dynamite tonight:

The Final Showdown: A sit-down talk with Bryan Danielson and AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland, moderated by Nigel McGuinness (who's spent the last two years dragging Danielson on commentary)

Contract signing for the TBS Championship: Mercedes Moné (c) and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.

Face-to-Face: "American" Champion MJF and Will Ospreay

Trios Match: Darby Allin & FTR vs. The Elite (The Young Bucks and Jack Perry)

AEW Women's World Championship Match: "Timeless" Toni Storm (c) vs. Saraya Knight

AEW Continental Championship Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli

posted by The Pluto Gangsta (4 comments total)

Cardiff crowds, like a lot of UK audiences when WWE comes through, are so appreciative of having a big promotion that they're hot for everything -- including some middling promos from Mercedes and Britt. I've never had problems with Britt's in ring work, but why does she sound so bored every time she speaks? Mercedes has a similar problem, but for her it always surfaces as sarcasm that works for a heel.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:44 PM on August 21

It was no surprise for Toni Storm to retain her title tonight -- no way is AEW giving up that Mariah vs. Toni energy early -- but Saraya did make it competitive, and her weird energy with Harley Cameron is still funny. Toni memorably ends the match by planting surprise smooches on both women, wonder where that thread goes in the next few weeks.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:52 PM on August 21

On the side of much better talking segments, WIll Ospreay comes out to be ne-plus-ultra Englishman in Wales, namedropping both "Gavin & Stacey" and Barry Scott (or Peter Serafinowicz?). MJF comes out with American flag apparel plus a flag pin -- a real hat on top of a hat there -- and keeps the promo moving forward until Ospreay uncovers his deep insecure jealousy, so he goes nuclear heel yet still playing to those sympathetic tendencies that eventually got him babyface.

Comments from my watch group:

"MJF is SO self aware about his character, its brilliant"
"oh wow, quoting Ben Shapiro. That's the HEELEST MOVE EVER and I trust MJF to know that"
"MJF is a generational crowd worker... MJF knows his character on EVERY level and he's a heel's heel, not some cool heel"
"I think Max knows the more layered character has flexibility in terms of where he goes on the card and in programs... like, my respect for MJF's awareness of how his character develops is soooo high"
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:12 PM on August 21

Castagnoli vs. Okada to a draw is... good, I suppose? Both men are such high-caliber of performer that a bad match would seem impossible unless one of them got injured (turn turn spit). Though I would have flipped out for an actual title change in Cardiff -- keeps the viewing audience on their toes, and it seems unbalanced that Claudio got to hit most of his signature moves (less the Ricola Bomb) to no victory when Okada was mostly elbow strikes and dropkicks.

Darby picks up the win for his side in the trios match, pinning a Buck, which neatly keeps all the actual tag teams competing for the tag belts on Sunday on a roughly equal level but makes me think he's probably not winning the TNT title from Perry. The Acclaimed come out to run down FTR and the Bucks, getting more heelish by the day.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 9:18 PM on August 21