In a go-home episode of AEW Dynamite leading into Full Gear where everyone deserves an award, only a select few can receive them
AEW is days away from Full Gear, and no one better builds to their pay-per-views than Tony Khan and company. Everything has been at max intensity for several weeks, but the quiet and chilling moments of the go-home AEW Dynamite show are the moments that really build characters and stories.
AEW has several wrestlers going through the best stints of their career, so it was no surprise that the wrestling on this episode of Dynamite was superb.
However, awards mean nothing if everyone gets them, so let’s select our winners.
AEW Dynamite Superlative Awards, Nov. 10
Match of the Night: PAC vs. Dax Harwood
In a night that included a match between Rocky Romero and Bryan Danielson, the match of the night is a prestigious title. Who would have thought it would be going to Dax Harwood and PAC in a singles match?
PAC is an incredible singles competitor, so certainly he is capable of earning those bouts, but Harwood? The tag-team wrestler? Turns out he is unbelievable in the ring by himself as well!
Not only that, but this is a match that was clearly booked so that the busy storyline involving Cody, Malakai Black, Andrade El Idolo, Death Triangle, and FTR could progress. It was booked so it could inevitably lead to the same exact post-fight beat down as last week. Matches booked like that rarely deliver.
Despite that, PAC and Harwood had a fantastic 10-minute bout, highlighted by a jaw-dropping avalanche brainbuster spot. Both men came out looking strong, but PAC gets the rub after applying a submission and getting Harwood to tap.
Honorable mention will of course go to Bryan Danielson and Rocky Romero who had such great chemistry in the ring. Lio Rush/Dante Martin vs. Matt Sydal/Lee Moriarty may have had an outside shot at this award, but a lot of the Sydal-Martin exchanges in the middle were rehashed from their fight just a few weeks ago.
Worst Match of the Night: Britt Baker, Rebel, Jamie Hayter vs. Tay Conti, Anna Jay, Thunder Rosa
Upfront: This match does mark a huge progression in the type of storytelling going on in the women’s division. Jamie Hayter-Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker-Tay Conti are the immediate rivalries being progressed by the match. However, the inevitable rematch between the Baker and Rosa is also being slowly built, which fans were excited for based on their reactions during this match.
However, this match also marked some poor booking of the women’s division. Baker is starting to lose crowds a bit, and the crowd reactions in this match made that abundantly clear. That has nothing to do with Baker, who is still working hard to be the best she can be and earn the respect she did not get in the early days of AEW. It has everything to do with the poor booking of the women’s division and the top belt in that division.
The fans were not into this match, and besides a nasty crossbody dive to the outside by Thunder Rosa, it was fairly immemorable as well.
Best Promo: Miro continues his rivalry with God? His wife? His neck?
This spot should have been reserved for the main event, which was a contract signing between Kenny Omega and Hangman Adam Page. That segment was great, Hangman got in some great lines about Kenny’s past being parallel to his while Omega sounded (and kind of looked) like Protoman from Invincible.
There is no one on Miro’s level right now when it comes to cutting promos, though.
Miro’s story as the redeemer/redeemed/God’s favorite champion has been fantastically told on every single level. The complexity of Miro as a broken man with a broken theology who both praises and resents God for his life is brilliant. No line is a throw-away and no line is delivered like it either.
Miro cut another impassioned promo about the fire inside of him, having had his prize possession taken away. He knows he can settle for nothing less than becoming AEW World Champion now, and in order to do that, he has to get through Bryan Danielson. He advises Danielson goes home to his wife so that he can win the title and finally go home to his — a beautiful end to an amazing promo.
Episode MVP: The Idea of Kazuchika Okada
Before Dynamite, Tony Khan name-dropped Kazuchika Okada for the first time in a very long time. Since AEW and NJPW have formed a consistent working relationship, Khan has been careful to name any specific fighters, so his mentioning the Rainmaker set the internet alight with rumors.
It does not help that before the show, the official AEW Twitter account also mentioned Okada when talking about Orange Cassidy and The Best Friends getting invited to join CHAOS, Okada’s faction in New Japan. Fans around the world tuned in to hopefully hear the coin drop and see the most important wrestler in modern Japan.
Did Okada ever show up? No. He was mentioned a half a million times by the commentary, but he himself never appeared, even while The Best Friends and Orange Cassidy were being beaten down by the Hardy Family Office.
However, just the thought of his appearance made every single long camera shot or long beatdown segment feel exciting, and that is exactly what a go-home show needed.
Now deliver the goods, Khan. Give us Okada.
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