AEW Dynamite 6/12/24: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the show where the evil stable trying to take over the promotion is easily held in check by a guy in a suit who still wrestles every so often. Such stakes, so drama! Wednesday nights have been a mixed bag of late, and this episode was no exception — there were many moments that had the WINC staff smiling from ear to ear, and many other moments that had us slamming our heads into our desks. Some things, of course, didn't really make us feel anything (yes, the Jericho segment was bad again, what more is there to really say?) and this is a column about things that made us feel strongly positive or strongly negative things, we so can't cover the entire show here — check out our "Dynamite" results page for a more comprehensive breakdown. But as always, that doesn't mean we don't have lots to say!

So, were we tremendously affected by Jack Perry smearing his chest with the blood of the Rhodes family? Are we excited for even more blood (and also guts) coming up next month? And most importantly, were the title defenses for Mercedes Mone and Will Ospreay brought down at all by the fact that it was super obvious they were both winning? Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 6/12/24 episode of "AEW Dynamite."

I am not one for incredibly predictable matches, but the first match we got on this week's "Dynamite" was just that. After The Elite came down the ramp and had their exciting announcement about Blood & Guts, we were off to the races with Jack Perry against Dustin Rhodes in the Forbidden Door ladder match qualifier for the vacant TNT Championship. Don't get me wrong, Rhodes is absolutely a legend in his own right and it's great to see him when he pops up every now and again, but we already know Perry is going to be in the match. For some reason, before I saw this week's show graphic, I thought Matthew and Nicholas Jackson had somehow already gotten him into the match, despite interim EVP Christopher Daniels stepping in and being the one to make the ladder match to begin with to keep them from just awarding Perry the belt.

I suppose I'm glad Perry had to qualify for the match like everyone else, but the fact it was against poor Rhodes made it so unbelievable, in a bad way, for me. Rhodes bleeding not even 20 minutes into the show was also a lot for me. I'm not one for blood on my weekly TV shows (Blood & Guts not withstanding, it's right there in the name, and I'm not squeamish about it,) I much rather it be saved for bigger pay-per-view events. On AEW TV it happens every week. It doesn't feel raw or shocking or special like it should (again, hello, Blood & Guts!) But, Dustin is a Rhodes, and bleeding is one of those things the Rhodes family seems to do best. If it was a blade job, it was excessive and completely unnecessary in this match, and if it was an accident, I feel really terrible that Rhodes might have gotten injured in a match that really didn't mean anything for him from the word "go." Either way, it was a ton of blood for the opening match that was predictable in the first place.

Perry absolutely needs to be in the ladder match, and I do think he's taking the TNT Championship at Forbidden Door. He'll be great in the match and probably pull off a ton of ridiculous spots. I just wish him getting in the match was a little more believable. We weren't even told if it was The Young Bucks who booked Rhodes against Perry to make it "easier" on the younger man. Perry being in the ladder match now is all that counts, I guess, but on a pretty "meh" show leading in to Forbidden Door, I could have used something less predictable.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Wrestling is a tricky business for people who want to be ethical critics. Normally, the violent impulses of an unhinged loose cannon would not be the kind of thing one would suggest nurturing and showcasing, but wrestling is not a normal business.

On Wednesday, Rush prepared for his upcoming match at Forbidden Door by absolutely demolishing a local competitor. I don't know what his name was. It doesn't matter. Sorry to that man, but all that mattered was that Rush nailed him with a stiff elbow out of the gate and proceeded to hack away at him with chops that did not exactly look reined-in. Rush, a man known for his brutal tendencies, unleashed a sound beating on a local talent, a true-blue squash match in a promotion that seemingly doesn't understand what a squash match is supposed to be.

So often, AEW squash matches are anything but. The promotion favors competition over dominance, and it has led to a roster full of grey mush. No one means anything because everyone means everything. Rush vs. Whatever That Guy's Name Was had clean, defined lines. Rush was "the guy to watch," and the anonymous local competitor was a sacrificial lamb (kudos to Deonn Rusman, who I'm sure takes my good-natured jesting about his anonymity in stride; I owe you a beer or something).

After Rush broke his opponent's body and spirit, he got into a knockdown drag-out brawl with his Forbidden Door opponent, MJF. MJF didn't cut a cute promo full of references — he and Rush just swung at each other and didn't stop, come hell or high water. Sometimes wrestling is at its best when it's just two guys fighting (and possibly a third guy).

Written by Ross Berman

AEW has traditionally been known as a tag team company, but as time goes on, they have also become more known as a trios company. While there have been plenty of good trios matches in the company, just because you can call them that, doesn't mean that there's a need to include a trios match on a show just for the sake of including one. That latter statement is certainly applicable to the match between The Don Callis Family and Roderick Strong, and Orange Cassidy, Mark Briscoe, and Kyle O'Reilly.

The two teams felt very random and thrown together at the last minute. Sure, Cassidy and The Don Callis Family are in the middle of a storyline with one another and Briscoe will be meeting Takeshita in the TNT Championship Ladder Match at Forbidden Door. However, throwing The Undisputed Kingdom and O'Reilly into the mix felt a little uncalled for and I almost found myself pulled out of the match at certain points trying to figure out where O'Reilly and The Undisputed Kingdom came into play.

The trios match itself was fun enough to watch and the action was enjoyable, but that being said, there was too much going on both during the match and in the moments that followed afterwards. Having four people at ringside for just one team was bad enough as is in a match that already has six people in it, but adding more people to this segment made the entire thing feel even more chaotic than it already was. Kris Statlander attacking Willow Nightingale as Stokely Hathaway ridiculed her on the mic would be fine in almost any other circumstance given that they're all involved in this story, but the attack would've been that much more effective if it had happened backstage later in the show or after a singles match that could've easily been put together using any two people who were in this match.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

I know I complained earlier about blood being spilled in the opening match of Wednesday's "Dynamite," but that's an entirely different story than blood and brutality being announced for something very special and very violent in AEW. The Young Bucks announced that they're ready to take on the company's best in the match, and it was later announced that Blood & Guts is set to take place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on July 24. That's well over a month from now, but I love that aspect of the announcement, especially. I don't believe Tony Khan is one to announce things like this so far in advance for a "Dynamite. It's kind of refreshing.

We saw this week that it will be The Elite, including Matthew and Nicholas Jackson, Jack Perry, and Kazuchika Okada, who are looking for a fifth person for their team, confirming the match will once again be five on five. I thought it was really clever that they interrupted World Champion Swerve Strickland's opening promo to make the initial announcement, then follow up the rude interruption on the champ by asking him to be on their team. Also, Strickland's line about being a philanthropist and Prince Nana throwing the Buck's new Reebok sneaks into the crowd was just iconic.

It's not just The Elite asking Strickland to be their teammate, it's going to be them looking through the roster for the next few weeks to find someone, and the journey of finding out exactly who it is will be fun. Will they find someone? Thinking about it now, I'm doubtful, and maybe it'll be a return or surprise of some kind on that night. I can also see the Bucks picking out the opposing team themselves, but seeing who will step up and challenge them would be even more fun. Just sitting here pondering it, hoping Jon Moxley is in there somewhere, wondering about the whereabouts of "Hangman" Adam Page, the status of Kenny Omega after his surgery, even being a little sad Eddie Kingston won't be in the mix, is fun to think about. It also won't make "Dynamite" boring in the next few weeks, I hope, because there's a good running storyline, with the endgame being pretty brutal. I'm excited for Blood & Guts, and I think this ongoing story with the Elite is going to make it even better this year.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Daniel Garcia is finally going back to basics. Everyone's favorite little dancing man is going back to the black trunks and the no-nonsense grapple-f***ing. Also Nick Comoroto made a triumphant return to AEW television after months relegated to ROH tapings. The two of them had a match. It happened. Garcia won. I honestly can't remember anything else about it.

Garcia is finally free of the Jericho Vortex. It feels like his star should be on the rise, and yet for some reason, he's stuck in cold, formless, nothing matches with ROH talent that leave about the same impression on me as a can of flavored sparkling water. Daniel Garcia is kind of like an inkblot. Everyone sees a different problem with where he is currently. Everyone sees a different potential in him. Yet I have a feeling that not a single lover or hater of Garcia imagined his return from being a "Sports Entertainer" would be met with such apathy.

Garcia is a future world champion and still very young, but time will run out eventually and ultimately there is no such thing as "plenty of time" in this crazy thing called life. AEW should be capitalizing on Garcia, striking while the iron is hot, instead of ... aw hell, what'd he do this week? I was just writing about it.

Written by Ross Berman

I'm sure lots of people liked the Will Ospreay vs. Rey Fenix main event Wednesday night, but for my money, the best match of the evening was the other championship contest, Mercedes Mone vs. Zeuxis.

I'd still like to hear the real story about Mone's first 2-3 months in AEW, because this right here? A title defense against a CMLL luchadora, full of arm drags and stiff kicks and roll-through counters? This is what she should have been doing the whole time, if she was cleared to compete. This rules. And this is what fans want to see from her, especially in a promotion like AEW. Don't make her do weeks of talking segments, just put her in the ring and let her wrestle, preferably against someone who meshes well with her style. Mone was born to wrestle luchadoras and the fact that she gets to do that on national television is a gift. Just give us more of this, Tony.

Well, with one little change ...

As far as I can tell, Mone's arrival in AEW hasn't had much of an impact on how Tony Khan books the women's division. He's gotten better about telling multiple women's stories at the same time, and one of those stories right now (Willow Nightingale vs. Kris Statlander) doesn't even involve a championship, which is decent progress. But he's been accomplishing that on the margins, in backstage segments and video packages and promos that air on social media. This week, we had a setiup where Nightingale was going to do a run-in on behalf of Orange Cassidy, but was blindsided by Statlander instead. It was pretty clear that these two segments were smushed together just so Tony could squeeze the women in around Cassidy/Callis/Beretta, advancing their story slightly without really giving them any TV time. Is it an improvement? Sure. But Khan still stubbornly refuses to book more than one women's division match on "Dynamite," and it's still very rare to see women main event on Wednesday (or even Saturday) nights.

Where I'm going with this, obviously, is that Mone vs. Zeuxis should have been the main event, and not just because I find Ospreay matches insufferable. AEW has already gone too far down the road of Mone feeling like just another member of the roster, and if that happens, they've spent a lot of money so they could fail to maximize her potential as a draw. Matches like these are what Mone should be getting paid to do — but she should get paid to do them in the main event, with main event levels of match time, because that's how you continue to present her as a game-changing superstar without having her get into an excess of promo battles. I know AEW knows how to present wrestlers that way, because I've seen them do it with men. If they don't start presenting Mone that way soon, they're going to lose out on what hiring her could have meant for the promotion, and then her contract will expire and she'll be gone.

And seriously, we needed Samoa Joe and HOOK vs. the Premere Athletes instead of another women's match? We needed whatever the hell Chris Jericho is doing instead of another women's match? Give me a break.

Written by Miles Schneiderman