AEW 2024 Weekly BreakDown 5/27-6/2

 AEW Dynamite 5/29 

The show opened with Mercedes Moné marching to the ring in celebratory fashion with her new TBS Champion. She went the babyface route showing respect and appreciation to Willow Nightingale. She also shared her support with Stockley and Statlander attacking her. But then a package started playing on screen. Mercedes' attacker a couple weeks ago was revealed to be Skye Blue. When the camera went back to Mercedes, Blue was behind her ready to attack. Mercedes fights off Skye Blue and a match between the two is announced for later tonight. This was a strong promo and segment by Mercedes who’s struggled with the mic. You can tell she’s relieved after her first match back, and some of her confidence has been restored. 

We then rolled into a promotional match for House of Dragon where Swerve Strickland, the champion, squared off with Killswitch. Even though Killswitch is technically a dinosaur, and the American Dragon Bryan Danielson would have made much more sense, I see what they were doing here. Swerve and Killswtich had a great match, and Swerve came out looking a lot stronger than he has the last couple weeks. He then cut off some of Killswitche’s hair.

Then AEW rolled out a new segment. TV time with Chris Jericho. I’m all for a heel trying to get heat, but this is clearly Jericho acting out against the fans who’ve turned on him. This is just creating a rift between Jericho and the viewers who genuinely want him to retire. Even worse, he’s doing more damage to Bill and Keith who join him now. Hook came out to exact his revenge, but Joe stopped Hook before he could do anything. That’s an excellent example of a vet taking a youngster under his wings. Sting showed the way an elderly competitor can be relevant. Jericho should take notes. It just feels like he’s making these youngsters his followers. Imagine what he could do if he took on a Sting role for someone like Jack Perry? 

The next match was Jon Moxley VS Rocky Romero. Moxley put Romero over saying very kind words about him in a video package. Unfortunately, Romero is getting killed on a weekly basis when appearing for AEW television. And Moxley did much of the same with Romero, letting him get some early spots, but dominating as the match went on to a decisive victory. It will be fun to see Moxley’s role at Forbidden Door, and who the challenger for his title will be. 

Don Kalis came out with a contract to sign Orange Cassidy to a contract to represent him. The crowd was loud in their defiance of this alliance. Cassidy of course ripped the contract up. But Stockley and Statlander came out and said the real contract was accepted. Just then Trent came out and attacked Orange Cassidy. Then Don and Trent did the best friends hug to seal the deal. The segment was great, even though it was a bit predictable. 

Mercedes and Sky Blue came back out to squash their beef. I use the term squash purposely here because that was what this match was. This long term story ends with Mercedes killing Sky Blue in the ring. It was what Jim Cornette would call “lazy booking.”

The Elite then came out to try and crown Jack Perry the TNT Champion following their win at Double or Nothing. They gloated a bunch, and Matt Jackson mentioned Adam Copeland's injury which he took the blame for because he said “break a leg.” That was a funny line, and this was a pretty good segment. The Elite are doing a good job at being hateable and being a threat to all the wrestlers on the roster. But before things got too good for them, an elevated Christopher Daniels would come out and claim he’s now the interim executive vice president in Kenny’s absence. And so his first line of action was making a ladder match for the vacant TNT Championship. 

The final match of the night was the Casino Gauntlet Match for a shot at Swerve’s AEW Championship at Forbidden Door. The match included the likes of Pac, Mystico, Jay White, Claudio Castagnoli, Lio Rush, Orange Cassidy, Hechicero, Will Ospreay, and a surprise entrant Shota Umino. Ospreay took advantage of the injured Orange Cassidy and got the pin. I don’t like one match featuring two championships. Unless they intend to work Ospreay twice in one night, the victory for the International Title was a bit of a waste. 

AEW Rampage 5/31

Dynamite opened with a TNT Championship Eliminator match. Konosuke Tekshita faced off with Penta El Zero Miedo. Rampage has been almost impossible to watch the last couple months. This was one of the best matches that I remember ever seeing on the program. Takeshita and Penta traded back and forth in a competitive affair that had the fans on their feet chanting AEW! Takeshita closed the match out with an emphatic win. Takeshita is an early favorite to win that vacant TNT Championship. 

Satnam Singh (W/ Sonjay Dutt) then had a squash match with Peter Avalon. On a side note, it seems like Jericho will permanently be gone from his announcing role on Rampage, replaced by Matt Menard. Satnam got the win, and I’m still trying to figure out what their direction with the big man is, or if they’re just having him wrestle for no reason? They’ve promoted him more than some of the other part time talents on the roster, but he hasn’t really done anything of substance besides lose to Bryan Danielson. It just feels like a waste of talent. 

Toni Storm was next and she had a squash match with a lady named Viva Van. Toni pandered to the crowd, smashing her large backside into the face of Van. It’s to Toni’s credit that she can wrestle a no name opponent, and still garner the attention and admiration of the crowd the way she does. The squash matches weren’t over though. Kyle O’Reilly came out and faced Jordan Cruz. AEW clearly was using this as a promotion to put over Kyle’s match with Will Ospreay on Saturday Night Collision. O’ Reilly didn’t disappoint and put away his opponent quickly. 

The final match of the night was an exciting one between Rey Fenix and Isiah Kassidy. There were no limitations to this match and the two were allowed a lot of time to put something together. The fans were on their feet in appreciation for the two athletic young wrestlers. The match was filled with high flying reversals, before Rey Fenix would plant a double underhook and drop Kassidy on his head for the win. The final though on this show was it was one of the better Rampage’s in a long time, mainly because it opened and closed with two really competitive matches featuring young AEW original talent. 

AEW Collision 6/1 

The show opened with FTR talking about their match at Double or Nothing. FTR vowed that they’re not done with The Elite, and that they will make their lives difficult. It seems that FTR will have to get some new allies in this battle, as it sounded like both Darby and Bryan Danielson might miss time from injuries after the match. Jack Perry’s video package backstage after the match felt like an old cheesy ECW backstage package. It will be interesting to see if they really do put the TNT Championship on Jack, or have him go after something else. 

Lio Rush and Roderick Strong were the opening match. Roderick Strong’s size and power looked a lot more obvious when he’s in there with a smaller opponent like Lio Rush. Rush also did a great job at selling all of Strong’s moves. Strong stormed to Tony Kahn after the match, demanding he face Swerve Strickland for the AEW Championship. 

The Workhorsemen came on next to work a match with Daniel Garcia and Katsuyori Shibata. The Workhorsemen got featured on the opening credits, and got a lot more highspots in this match than they typically do. JD Drake hit a moonsault that sent the fans in a frenzy. Shibata and Garcia eventually got the win, but it wasn’t easy. Also, Drake looked to actually injure his leg. Let’s hope he’s alright. 

Thunder Rosa VS Reina Dorada. Not exactly sure why they brought Dorada who works for another company just to get squashed by Rosa. This match had no time at all. Rosa just came off a loss on the pre-show to Purrazzo. This should have been a more competitive match. Companies are going to eventually stop wanting to partner with AEW if this is how their talent gets over on the show. 

Cage of Agony had a squash match against some local talent. They displayed some insane trio moves and the team looked more vicious than ever before. After the match we rolled right into Claudio Castagnoli VS Johnny TV. I’m enjoying some of the work Johnny TV is getting to do on Collision. They really gave up on the cringy storylines, and now he’s just asking to wrestle people he hasn’t worked before. It works for me, and fills the card with an interesting match. 

Another crossover match showed Shane Taylor Promotions taking on the West Coast Wrecking Crew. Again, The West Coast Wrecking Crew is well known talent from Japan. The fact that they got squashed by the waste of time of Shane Taylor and Anthony Ogogo was flabbergasting. Again, AEW is just set to kill the other talent's momentum like they’ve done with the IWGP World Title. 

The match closed with one of the better televised matches that AEW has put on in a while. Will Ospreay and Kyle O’ Reilly tore down the house. Although Kyle lost, to be out there this soon after his injury giving a fight to Will Ospreay really put him over, an amazing job by Ospreay to elevate his opponent. And I’ve loved everything that Will Ospreay has done. And not to shit on anything Swerve has done, but if Ospreay beats Swerve at Forbidden Door I wouldn’t complain. They’ve really quelled the viciousness and intensity that has got Swerve this far in the first place.