Fans basked in the glory of debuting Keith Lee and got a glimpse of Jay White in a pre-taped beatdown on AEW “Dynamite” this week, and there are more debuts on the horizon.
The $64,000 question: where can Tony Khan fit all the new talents in with three hours of weekly TV?
Lee’s debut included crowd shots from Atlantic City that rivaled Chicago’s embrace of CM Punk in August, so safe to say the one-time indy darling, whose shine turned to stink because of awful WWE main roster booking, is over with AEW fans.
And he got to showcase his skills in a convincing win over Isiah Kassidy in a qualifier match for the Face of the Revolution ladder match set for the March 6 Revolution pay-per-view, the winner of which gets a shot at the TNT title, currently held by Sammy Guevara.
White’s participation last night was limited to a pre-taped beatdown of Roppongi Vice in a segment with the Young Bucks and Adam Cole. A follow-up taped segment with the Bucks and Cole hinted that there may be heat between the two over White being invited to AEW, furthering the storyline tensions between the three.
Both Lee and White are valuable talent additions – Lee as a former NXT world champ, White as a former IWGP champ in New Japan.
Also rumored to be on their way to AEW are Jeff Hardy, the Briscoes, Karrion Kross, Bray Wyatt, Mia Yim, maybe Braun Strowman and EC3.
Which is all great.
Thing is, gotta find a place for these folks, and the guys and gals who are already on staff.
Quick hits
- Solid main event with “Hangman” Adam Page retaining the AEW world title with a Texas death match win over Lance Archer. Lots of blood, which turned off the women (judging from the watch party at the AFP home office). The post-match appearance of Cole to challenge Page at Revolution was a nice postscript.
- The breakup of the Inner Circle is being done to put Santana & Ortiz over as a top babyface tag team, which is the way this one needed to play out.
- I like the slow build for Wardlow. It feels Bill Goldberg-like.
- FTR jobbing to Punk and Jon Moxley is normally something I’d frown upon, but the stipulation that Punk needed the win to get a rematch with MJF necessitated that, and at least FTR got good TV time.
- The MJF opening segment, which featured him being carried to the ring on a throne, was classic stuff.
- Two women’s matches on one show: Jade Cargill went to 27-0 with a win over the debuting A.Q.A, and Serena Deeb continued her nice heel turn with a squash over Katie Arquette. Plus, a video package kept us up to date on the Thunder Rosa-Mercedes Martinez feud, and reinforced that Britt Baker is involved in this behind the scenes, hinting that Rosa will ultimately win and get a title shot at Baker.
Story by Chris Graham
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Chris Graham
