Here’s how we rated this week’s Dynamite from Colorado. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.

Orange Cassidy def. Swerve Strickland to retain the AEW International Championship: ★★★★
The Blackpool Combat Club def. Best Friends and Rocky Romero: ★★★
“Jungle Boy” Jack Perry and Hook def. Preston Vance and Dralistico: ★★★
Konosuke Takeshita def. Damon Ace: ★
Kris Statlander def. Anna Jay to retain the AEW TBS Championship: ★★
Jay White def. Ricky Starks: ★★★

Show Highlight—

Orange Cassidy vs. Swerve. “Consistency” isn’t a word you’d marry to AEW as a descriptor of its product overall, but Orange Cassidy is the surest thing you can count on. Every week you think he’s going to lose the belt, and every week he puts on a banger opening that keeps you captivated from wavering back and forth if he’ll get the duke. How many times in this match did you think they’d go with Swerve? And how great does Swerve himself look after he bulked up a bit?
On our Podcast last week, Alex talked about a void for an upper mid-card heel that would be the plug-and-play gatekeeper to cement who the top babyface should be, and who better to fill MJF’s old role than Swerve?

What Worked—

Claudio’s uppercut. That uppercut from the moonsault was goddamn spectacular. What a trooper Trent and Chuck Taylor are. They put over talent week after week for the betterment of the promotion. At some point, I’m sure they’re gonna want to do something different or need some semblance of a refresh to rebrand themselves from the jobber to the stars slotting they’re currently (excelling) in.
MJF/Cole promo. MJF again made his advisory by intentionally recycling old bits and trolling Tweets to fuel this story. By MJF being repetitive, it set up Adam Cole to stand out by being able to hit the line about the hypothetical piss test. AEW loves its worked shoots, and if they can use the backlash towards the backlash of what Adam Cole’s perceived positioning should be to their advantage, I’m all for it. They gotta do something after that Jericho feud.
Texas Tornado match. What a great sprint of a match this was. Kinda reminded me of the Steiners vs. Varsity Club brawl at Great American Bash ’89. Preston Vance looked like he got shot in the temple, Jesus.

What Didn’t Work—

Rampage. Well that renaissance lasted one week!
Starks’s stock. It made perfect sense for Starks to lose and lose in the protected manner in which he did. Doesn’t mean Ricky doesn’t need to hit a home run with the next program he’s in to look like the star he was slated to become at the start of 2023.

Show Cringe—

Hardys as sponsors. It’s bad enough that the Ethan Page/Hardy storyline is still continuing, but who in their goddamn right mind thinks the Hardys of all people should be presented as sponsors and life coaches for anyone? Kinda like the Blackface Wild Thing Guy at DON—is anyone noticing this? If it’s intentionally a rib/shoot on Matt and Jeff, bravo…

AEW Dynamite 6/7/2023 Match Ratings and Commentary

AEW Rampage 6/9/23 Match Ratings