Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary blog to the ODPH podcast & #607TWS on Twitch. For this edition, it’s time to celebrate a milestone. On this day (Oct. 2nd, 2019), All Elite Wrestling made its debut on TNT with AEW Dynamite. The flagship show of AEW has been a staple of viewing for the wrestling community on Wednesday nights. It’s had it’s ups and downs throughout the past 2 years & for this blog, let’s take a look at the past, present & future before the upcoming anniversary show!
Photo Credit: All elite wrestling
Coming off the heels of Double Or Nothing & All Out, there was quite the buzz surrounding pro-wrestling returning to TNT broadcasting. “The Elite” knew they had one shot o make a first impression & stacked it with their biggest names at the time. AEW kicked off Dynamite’s first episode with a pre-#Rhodeslander Cody vs. Sammy Guevara. Remember those days? I digress. The rest of the card shaped up very nicely for a TV debut:
MJF beat Brandon Cutler, PAC defeated Hangman Page, Riho became AEW’s first women’s champion in a a great match over Nyla Rose, & the main event was a solid one. Kenny Omega teaming with the Young Bucks to face Chris Jericho w/ Santana & Ortiz. With a run-in from Jake Hager & Guevara coming back out to help Jericho, little did anyone know that was going to set up the building blocks for an all new faction: The Inner Circle w/ Jericho leading.
Photo Credit: All elite wrestling
Since that point, AEW has gone thru the growing pains of any live weekly show. Production flaws really stood out along with the sense that many of the AEW talent took time (imo) to get used to live TV shows really showed. Factor in the pressure they put on themselves with a “Wednesday Night War” with WWE’s developmental/third brand, NXT & the early shows had their work cutout for them. Never the less, AEW fans railed behind the show.
The road continued on with new faces joining the roster & new stars finally emerging (like a heel Britt Baker pictured below) to carry Dynamite into its’ next year. It’s hard to believe one year ago on the 1 year anniversary show, Moxley & Kingston were just starting a feud. One of the best pairings in the company’s history without question. Even with these moments, they still struggled to hit over 1 million viewers per week & for a company that thrives on talking ratings & demos, this was an important goal to obtain to be taken seriously in some fans eyes’ as being a major player to the WWE.
Photo Credit: All elite wrestling
Photo Credit: All elite wrestling
Since the year one anniversary, we’ve seen AEW continue to grow as a company. They have rolled out another weekly show, “AEW Rampage” & are slated in a contract move to head to TBS network in 2022. The biggest “roadblock” for AEW Dynamite was removed to allow this to happen. NXT went to Tuesdays as part of a new deal with USA Network & USA receiving programming formerly from NBCSN. Once moved, AEW started hitting 1 million viewers on a consistent basis & have really picked up steam heading into the 2 year anniversary.
AS for the future of AEW Dynamite, it’s going to be centered on the 3 superstars you see here:
Photo Credit: All elite wrestling
Photo Credit: All elite wrestling
Photo Credit: All elite wrestling
With the recent additions of Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson & CM Punk, AEW made a loud statement in telling the wrestling world they could land main-event level free agents after some had chosen to pass them up. This has caused a slight increase in viewership but as far as growing it, it feels like a “wait & see” approach for fans.
We’ve see Danielson get thrusted into a main-event program with Kenny Omega out the gate, the other two haven’t started anything noteworthy just yet. Cole has had great singles matches against Kaz & Jungle Boy but nothing as of story-line just yet. Cole is only a matter of time, but personally, I’m hoping its locked and loaded for Hangman Adam Page.
Punk, on the other hand, still seems to be getting his groove back after such a long layoff. From a solid debut vs. Darby Allin (& helping Darby have his best match in AEW imo), he seems to be on this “road of redemption tour” with happy promos & working with the mid-card.
Note, I’m not complaining. This is a great way to get Punk back into the swing of 2021 pro wrestling but I’m just waiting to see the REAL return of Punk. I’m waiting for the “PipeBomb Best In The World” Punk to return with a vengeance. The honeymoon phase is only gonna last so long till we get “The Best In The World” back doing what he does best. The question is if AEW is ready?
Regardless, making it 2+ years on network is no easy feat these days. AEW has made “Dynamite” into a presence on television weekly. Whether you love it or hate it, they’ve done what they set out to do. Now the challenge becomes Grow or stay still. How does this all play out?
Let me know what you think of AEW hitting 2 years of Dynamite. Also, let me know your favorite Dynamite moments thus far on Twitter. As always, thanks for reading.