AEW Weekly BreakDown: July 1-7

 Written by: Danny Albers 

AEW Dynamite: Beach Break 7/3

Now that we’re out of Forbidden Door, we’re looking ahead to All Out/All In London. And some of AEW’s top stars are making returns. We’re also finishing up the Owen Hart Foundation tournament for both the men and women. And that is where we kicked off Dynamite, with Pac and Bryan Danielson facing each other. This match was exceptionally physical. I thought it was impeccable that they’ve only wrestled each other twice in their careers, and the last time was nearly 15 years ago. Danielson is on a bit of a hot streak right now, and I’m not just talking about the fact that he followed up a key win at Forbidden Door against Shingo Takagi with a victory over Pac. But this was the second straight physical masterpiece that Danielson was involved in. He seems to be doing some of his finest work in his career right now, and this was one of the best matches I’ve seen on AEW television in a long time. 

Mark Briscoe cut a passionate and hilarious promo. He announced that he will be a member of Team AEW at Blood & Guts. It wasn’t a long promo until Jack Perry came out of nowhere and attacked Briscoe from behind. He did some type of Raven stance at the end of attacking Perry. I’m struggling to take Perry seriously. He’s just not menacing at all. If it was a real fight, it’s obvious Mark Briscoe, whether hit from behind or not, would kill Perry. Kyle O’ Reilly came down to help Briscoe, but was attacked by The Elite. The Acclaimed ran down to the ring but The Elite ran off. 

The next match was the continued war of Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale. They finally faced each other in one-on-one action since Kris and Stockley Hathaway turned on Willow. I thought these two did a really good job ramping up the emotion in this match as this feud progresses. After the attacks, you just can’t have an honest match. Willow got the pin over her friend-now enemy, and got an incredible response from the crowd. 

Britt Baker made her return to AEW. She spoke about her injuries, and revealed that she suffered from TIA (a mini stroke). She lost all control over her right side. She said that she decided to come back when she heard that there was a new face of AEW in Mercedes Moné. She dropped some vicious lines, like revealing that the CEO is piped into Mercedes’s intro. The Chicago Fans ate Mercedes alive in this segment as they chanted “shut the fuck up” at her. The two ladies did a good job in making this segment feel personal. I just didn’t like that Britt acted like Mercedes is the AEW Women’s Champion. I also didn’t like how Mercedes didn’t acknowledge that she’s yet to win the main prize in AEW. A way to fix this scenario is to make Mercedes into a heel similar to the Kenny Omega “belt collector” character. 

In the next match, Samoa Joe, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata took on the Cage of Anthony. It’s cool that Cage of Anthony is getting TV time, but they’re getting buried every time. Joe, Hook, and Shibata all locked in chokeholds to win the match. But then Jericho, Big Bill, and Bryan Keith attacked the 3 winners. To everyone's disappointment, it looks like AEW is going to continue this angle. 

The next Owen Hart Foundation match was Jeff Jarrett taking on a wildcard which ended up being Hangman Page. Jarrett looked really great in this match which is impressive given his age. Hangman is continuing his work as a vicious heel and the unhinged muscle for The Elite. This was an excellent way to bring Hangman back. In one segment, he became a more vicious and serious heel than his Elite team members. 

In the final match of the event, Daniel Garcia challenged Will Ospreay for the International Championship. MJF was in the corner for Garcia during this match. Ospreay worked really fast to keep the match at a pace that Garcia struggled to maintain. But Garcia stepped up and showed to a lot of people he belongs at the top of the ranks of this company. Ospreay won the match and congratulated Garcia on his efforts. MJF came in and kicked his private region, dropping Garcia and revealing that heel MJF is back. He then went on to viciously attack Garcia to a booing crowd. This was an excellent closing segment to the evening, and even though the crowd was booing, I think everyone was hoping this was the type of MJF we’d get. A fantastic show to kick things off after Forbidden Door. 

Show Grade: A-  

AEW Rampage Beach Break 7/5

The show kicked off with Rush taking on Komander. Komander had Alex Abrahantes as manager and still got destroyed in this match. What’s the point of putting a manager on a guy who never wins? And Rush has slowly turned into the Mexican Lance Archer. He goes out on smaller shows and destroys non-main event talent, but they use that build to put over other top stars. That leads to the crowd not to take him seriously. Regardless, Rush wins by pin and it seems he will be joining the Don Callis family. 

Speaking of the Don Callis family, Konsuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher teamed up against Private Party. Again, Private Party is the permanent tag team yet they got beat pretty convincingly. As good as Fletcher and Takeshita are, they’re singles competitors. They make for an impressive tag team, but unless you're putting the AEW Tag Titles on them don’t bother. It’s frustrating that for their first match, AEW fed them one of their longest and most talented teams. 

Kyle O’ Reilly took on a jobber named GPA. The Kingdom were at ringside which seems they’re continuing the storyline of Roderick Strong trying to recruit Kyle. At this point, I don’t think Kyle joining The Kingdom is a bad idea. He’s directionless right now, it at least gives you a reason to have him winning on television every week. The show ended with a Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Semifinal between Mariah May and Hikaru Shida. May needs to be more serious in the ring. Giving herself a wedgie and slapping her ass to the crowd when you’re supposed to defeat a former 2-time women’s champion Shida and challenge for the belt. It was my one knock on Rhea Ripley that she was pandering too hard to perverts instead of focusing on wrestling. 

Show Grade: C+ 

AEW Collision 7/6 

MJF kicked off the show where he held council in front of the AEW fans who were upset after MJF’s vicious attack of Daniel Garcia on Dynamite. MJF looked back at a promo he cut late last year about being bullied for being Jewish, and having problems accepting rejection. He then shows his disdain for the people saying that he “opened up” to them and that they turned on him when they chanted “thank you Joe” after Samoa Joe injured him. MJF seems to be in full heel mode after this explanation, and he shot a warning shot at Will Ospreay, calling him a “talentless hack.” He said that “Will Ospreay only cares about ratings from a guy named Meltzer.” This was a great segment, and it seems like we’re going to get MJF VS Will Ospreay at All In Wembley. 

The opening match was a trios match between “The Conglomeration.” A team built by Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’ Reilly, and Mark Briscoe. They took on the Iron Savages. It was a quick match, but the Kingdom came out to watch the action. This match seemed to be a message to Roderick Strong and The Kingdom, and feud is imminent between the two trios teams. Jack Perry announced that he’s giving an open challenge for his TNT Championship in a backstage interview after the match. After that, Hangman Page appeared in his own interview talking about how he’s going to win the tournament and go to All In. 

Toni Storm had her first match after defeating Mina Shirakawa. She faced Trish Adora. It was a really solid show for Trish Adora who’s developed nicely but hasn’t had a lot of opportunities. Toni’s victory has her looking in rare form for what is an inevitable clashing of student and teacher when Mariah May wins the Owen Hart Tournament and challenges Toni at All In. Expect some more solid, but easier wins for Toni in the coming weeks to keep her fresh for the PPV at the end of August. 

Jack Perry’s open challenge for his TNT Title was answered by his former partner Marko Stunt. It feels like they sent Marco out there to make Jack Perry look bigger. It was a cheap pop as the action sucked. Perry viciously squashed Stunt in this match and we moved on. In one of the best matches following Stunt and Perry, The Beast Mortos faced Claudio Castagnoli. The Beast did things that I’ve never seen someone do to Claudio like catching a running Claudio and instantaneously getting him on his shoulder for a back breaker. The Beast made a statement that he can go with some of the best that AEW has to offer, but Claudio picked up the pinfall victory. 

Riho was in action again as we build for her match with Serena Deeb. She took on Lady Frost who’s been impressing AEW fans on ROH television and Collision. This match fell short for me as both wrestlers relied too much on high flying. I don’t see why AEW is so invested in Riho, she’s decent at best in the ring, and has no ability to cut promos. Fans and the company's obsession is perplexing to me. The main event was a great battle between Jay White and Hangman Page. The Elite banned the entire Bang Bang Gang from ringside, leaving White to fend on his own. People are waiting for Jay White to get his opportunity, but Hangman had to have won this match so that we can end the deep feud between Hangman and Swerve. That was the end of the show as a lot happened in one Collision, but it did well continuing all over storylines as we begin the journey to All Out and All In. 

Show Grade: B