5 Takeaways from AEW Dynamite (May 28th, 2021)
This week, AEW Dynamite was moved to a Friday due to the NBA playoffs taking their regular Wednesday spot. With just a matter of days until Double Or Nothing, the company hopes to build further hype to a number of their marquee matches, with a weigh-in, TNT title match and celebration for a year-long champion.
Fans Are Back!
From March, Covid-19 took over everything, forcing a lockdown that stopped fans from attending any shows. Over the past few months, more and more fans have been present at live shows, building to this night where a capacity crowd was present.
This is the first wrestling capacity crowd, with the WrestleMania live audience still being limited. Both promotions are to resume live touring in the future, so this makes the move to a larger crowd a significant one.
Hopefully, this transition to a more packed group of onlookers reflects a brighter future, with a sense of normality insight at the end of the tunnel. It appears that it shan’t be too long before crowd numbers are back to the way they were previous to lockdown. The worldwide pandemic seems to be fading, which is obviously good news to wrestling fans across the globe.
Brian Cage Leaving Team Taz?
Brian Cage has done a lot during his year-long career, with Cage debuting at the previous year’s Double Or Nothing event – emphatically winning the Casino Ladder Match when flanked with Taz. He was a solo monster act accompanied by Taz where he would go on to challenge AEW world champion Jon Moxley, failing in doing so via the former ECW champion manager throwing in the towel. As a result of not capturing the world belt, he was gifted the FTW title in a similar fashion to how Taz gained possession of the strap in the Land of Extreme.
Soon enough, more members joined Taz and Cage; the first of which was former NWA Television champion ‘Absolute’ Ricky Starks. Afterwards, he was joined by Powerhouse Hobbs and Taz’s son, Hook. After about 6 months as a unit, feuding with top stars like Cody Rhodes and Darby Allin, they started to show signs of instability within the faction when Cage was outspoken about his respect for Sting. Cage was further shown to be unsteady, often arguing with the group and doing little talking.
At Double Or Nothing, Cage is set to face ‘Hangman’ Adam Page, after ‘The Machine earned a somewhat surprising win over the former AEW tag team champion a few weeks back on Dynamite. After the group have worked together to get the better of Page over the past few weeks, the match at the PPV has been scheduled without any member of Team Taz at ringside. This could potentially spell out the end of the orange and black attack’s association with the stable.
We may see a Brian Cage solo run again in AEW, perhaps this time as a face.
Jade Cargill: Next Big Thing
Whilst often mocked, AEW’s women’s division is a strong one, packed with talent. Whilst they have many potential top female faces on hand such as Kris Statlander, Tay Conti and Thunder Rosa – their heel side is perhaps weaker. Britt Baker is likely in her peak right now whilst only sporadic appearances by heels like Nyla Rosa, Penelope Ford and Abadon do not feel like true top stars. Perhaps issues such as injuries, travel or other have impacted these but Jade Cargill more than most others feels like a sure-fire star.
Firstly, Cargill is unbelievably in shape with a body not matched by any other women on the roster, with Jade having more abs than many have had years in the business (which is not a slight on the wrestlers). This week, she offered an open challenge to anyone that would challenge her, accepted by Kilynn King; who the female bodybuilder easily dispatched of.
Cargill is currently 6-0 in AEW, scoring victories on Dynamite, Dark and a live show. She is also fortunate enough to be pushed so heavily out of the gate, sharing the ring with Cody Rhodes and Shaquille O’Neil in her first All Elite Wrestling match. Her heel dominance – including 2 pinfall wins over Red Velvet – seems to imply that the company have big plans on building her up as the next big heel women after Britt.
Britt Baker To Be Crowned At Double Or Nothing?
This week, Hikaru Shida celebrated a year since she won her AEW Women’s title having defeated Nyla Rose the previous year. Shida defeated her strap for over 365 days turning down all challengers to her position. Before winning the belt, she had a memorable match against Britt Baker on April 8th edition of Dynamite in which the dentist’s nose bled heavily but Baker continued to wrestle through the bloodbath.
Since then, the DMD has fought tooth and nail (pun very much intended) to get a title match but except for a slot into a #1 contenders tournament saw nothing. Baker’s brilliant heel work, relationship with Tony Schiavone and Lights Out match all saw he stock soar, with her fighting to get the top spot in the female rankings. Likely the most liked women’s wrestler in the company, she reached the top spot earlier this month, setting up her first true shot for the belt.
The timing seems right for Baker as it seems she is at her peak popularity, doing a heel role that could define her career. It looks highly likely that with Shida’s ceremony taking place this week with a new belt coronating her feat that her run will end on May 30th. It could be seen as a missed opportunity if they do not now put their belt on Britt who has been a star of the lockdown era and has fought hard for her own time, which is now. As much a great honor for Shida to have her ceremony and as sustained as her reign has been, it just feels right that it is the doctor’s time at the top.
More Dean Malenko?
Okay, this may seem like a weird one to end on, but please stay with me here.
There is little question that Dean Malenko is one of the greatest and most underappreciated wrestlers of all time. An outstanding technician in all 3 major promotions of the 90/00s (ECW, WCW and WWF), he has a history with current AEW star Chris Jericho. During their run together in WCW, they had one of the greatest storylines of 1998 where Y2J endlessly mocked Dean’s family, including departed dad Boris, until Malenko returned from an absence to take back the TV title from the future Ayatollah of Rock ‘N’ Rolla.
Malenko has appeared on-screen before mostly as a background figure, similar to roles of other non-wrestler in AEW like Jerry Lynn. Malenko was given a more direct spot last week in a comedy skit with Jericho where Malenko relented that Jericho had 4 more holds than him. This was a reference to their feud where Jericho made a list of 1,004 holds of his compared to Malenko’s 1,000. This week, The Pinnacle had attacked the master of the Cloverleaf, tying him to the goal of a football stadium in hype for their Stadium Stampede match at Double Or Nothing.
Another featured role for the former Radical, Dean was used here as a pawn for The Pinnacle’s feud with Jericho’s Inner Circle. Malenko was in a sympathetic role as the innocent, beloved bystander attacked by the heels to get greater heat. Unfortunately, Dean was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease so an in-ring return is nearly entirely ruled out but we could see Dean in future in similar roles, whether that be comedy, sympathy or other. I think we can all agree, it is just nice to see Dean Malenko back on screen.
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