AEW Dynamite (June 8th, 2022): Interim All-Atlantic Western Stages Heritage Clustermuck

Some questionable stuff from All Elite Wrestling, which should shock some folks, I'm sure, but like I said a couple times, the honeymoon period is long gone and now I've got things to complain as it relates to this recent of Dynamite.

Before we get to that, let me just say that wrestling-wise, this episode delivered the goods. There was a really good main event in Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O'Reilly. I might not think of Cool Kyle as a top-tier name, but he's getting there. PAC vs. Buddy Matthews was pretty fun as well... yes, I'm forgoing the usual PAC gimmick; that's how dour I am. Hangman Page getting a big win over New Japan's David Finlay resulted in another good match. Thunder Rosa, your reigning AEW Women's World Champion, was stuck having to carry one of Cold Ronda's buddies to a borefest of a match, but at least she was on TV.

Okay, so we've highlighted the highlights, which remains the wrestling. Now click the break to start an effigy on the booking, which BAFFLED me to no end.

First off, I guess we should mention the MJF thing. He missed a meet-and-greet, booked a flight out of Vegas the night before the Double or Nothing PPV, but didn't actually take it... showed up for the PPV, got killed by Wardlow, gave that guy a big moment that was followed by a feud with the lawyer character, which is kinda fucking lame, but if it means he gets to powerbomb a bunch of dudes until he's ready for the next big feud, then fine, whatever... and then MJF cut that big worked shoot pipebomb  or whatever you want to call it promo and people are praising as a possible gamechanger...

And AEW followed up by making persona non grata. No longer on the website, no longer followed, no longer featured... we'll see how long this plays out, but this is exactly what they needed to do to follow up on that... now where this goes is another story because as much as we romanticize these worked shoot type of situations because they tend to blur the lines between fiction and reality, what I tend to be more interested in and what I feel is more vitally important, is the follow-up. What happens afterwards? Because as great of a moment as that was, it has to lead somewhere because everything does and if it leads to nothing, then all you got was a memorable promo that garnered more regard than it actually deserved.

I've said this before; a lot of these "so-called" pipebombs lead to nothing. That CM Punk promo; yeah, his stock rose a bit, he got a couple WWE title runs out of it, including one that lasted well over a year, but during that time, he was playing second fiddle to John Cena, who was main eventing WWE PPVs against guys like John Laurenitus and FUCKING BIG SHOW during the time that was dubbed the worst year in John Cena's career. Hey, if my worst year comprised main eventing PPV cards and overshadowing the reigning WWE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD, then I want in on that action.

The whole Brian Pillman thing, "I respect you bookerman" stuff... only benefitted one guy: Brian Pillman. WCW gave that guy his release as part of the storyline they were telling and he jumped over to the WWF... and who knows how far he would've gone if not for the humvee accident and 

The Kevin Owens thing from a couple years ago that most of you fuckers claimed was the next big pipebomb, but NONE of you brought up now, which goes to show how effective THAT fucking thing was? So before you call this a game-changer... maybe wait and see until it actually changes some semblance of game. Maybe it will, maybe it won't...

What won't be changing the game is this All-Atlantic Title they introduced... because that's what AEW needs is yet ANOTHER singles title. They already have the World title, TNT title, FTW Title, Ring Of Honor's three belts, this interim World title thing they've got going, which I don't like the idea of but fuck whatever... and now this All-Atlantic title, which, don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful belt, but unless China and Japan have island colonies in the Atlantic Ocean that only Tony Khan knows of, their flags shouldn't be part of that piece of land... but, yeah, when Tony Schiavone announced they were bringing out a new championship; first thought that came to mind was that they were finally going to introduce those much-rumored Trios titles. Everyone is clamoring for them. You have more than enough trios to pull off that division. This was the time to do it... and instead, you have this All-Atlantic title that EVERYONE is making fun of. This is the Universal championship of All Elite Wrestling, except at least the title belt looks nice and resembles an actual championship title belt instead of an oversized belt buckle on a strap of fake leather.

So, yeah, not a fan of this title. AEW doesn't need another singles title; they've got enough. They're practically heading in that WWE realm of excess where they've got so many belts none of them mean anything; they're just glorified props.

And I guess some of the booking baffled me... you've got this battle royal to determine who fights Jon Moxley to determine who fights the NEw Japan guy at Forbidden Door to crown the interim World title. The battle royal has very few names that could be considered big deals - Eddie Kingston, Darby Allin, and maybe Andrade are the only names that come to mind that fit the bill - and it all but guarantees that whoever wins is just fodder for Mox to kill, which  *spoiler* he does. Let's be honest; nobody is thinking one of the ass boys is going to challenge for the fake World title, let alone beat JON MOXLEY.

So where are all the big stars in AEW? Why aren't they in this battle royal for the fake World title - and that's what I'm calling it. You're keeping the belt warm for the real champ until he comes back and then you and he can fight over who gets to be the undisputed champ. Wardow sees through that shit - he said he's waiting to Punk to come back so he can challenge him and I'll defend this plot thread because if I were to challenge for a World title, do I really want my first World title win to have an asterisk to say "I won the World title to keep warm for the real champ to come back?" Or do I want my first World title win to without dispute?

Now the former champ Hangman Page? Apparently, he wasn't allowed in this battle royal for some reason... I can't think of a good reason why he shouldn't have another shot at the World title he lost, unless they're saving his next shot for whenever they have a genuine World title under their watch? Where's Jericho? Where's Christian Cage? Where's Miro? Where's all these big names you could've had in this match? I mean... fuck.

Look, I think wrestling-wise, Dynamite has some good stuff, but this is the rare AEW show that actually annoyed the fuck out of me with its booking. It's almost modern-era WWE bad and I stopped watching that show largely to AVOID that shit. Holy fuck... I may skip this Forbidden Door show as a result. Like this is likely the first AEW PPV I skip and I've seen all of these up to this point. But, yeah, I am not feeling things here. Not a fan.