Off the Top Rope: AEW Dynamite Review and Exclusive with WWE Champ Kofi Kingston
All Elite Wrestling exploded into the mainstream with the inaugural episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT. After months of anticipation, the show somehow did the impossible, exceeding what felt like absurdly high expectations.
The promotion promised it would differentiate itself where it matters most—inside the ring. And, true to its word, AEW delivered an exceptionally balanced show between the ropes. Several matches got time to develop nicely, including a hot opener between Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevara and a women's title match between new champion Riho and Nyla Rose.
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Perhaps the most pleasant surprise was the announce team of Jim Ross, Excalibur and a debuting Tony Schiavone. The former WCW play-by-play stalwart helped provide some balance to a team that had struggled at times during AEW's previous events, relieving some of the pressure from Ross and letting him focus on hitting the high notes. They immediately announced their presence as one of the top broadcast teams in the sport.
AEW Dynamite wasn't all technical wrestling and tricky high spots, though. There were also several angles that helped advance the promotion's developing mythology, including a surprise appearance by Jake Hager, formerly known as WWE's Jack Swagger.
Most memorable, however, was the return of Jon Moxley, who planted Kenny Omega through a glass coffee table in the backstage area and continued a blood feud that promises to steal the show at the Full Gear pay-per-view on November 9.
Production: From the stellar opening montage to the pitch-perfect announcing, the show looked big league from the moment it faded up from black.
The brightly lit arena was perfect for all the colorful characters, and the crowd was mic'd well enough to feel their enthusiasm without overshadowing the announcers.
There were a few issues with the sound, and they cut way too often to reaction shots in the crowd, but this was more than serviceable in the key areas. 3/5
Wrestling: While there were no match-of-the-year candidates, every bout on the card delivered what it was supposed to.
Cody and Sammy Guevara opened the show with a bang, and The Elite closed it with a solid match against Chris Jericho and his henchmen, Ortiz and Santana. Though promising on paper, that match couldn't really compete with the shenanigans and hijinks that ended the night, with the villains standing tall over the show's heroes. 8/10
Angles and Interviews: The video package that opened the show, familiar to viewers of AEW's Road To... YouTube series, was very well done, establishing clearly who each competitor was and what the stakes were. There was a misfire when the promotion attempted to highlight actors Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, but that was the show's only true botch.
The angles to close the show, with Moxley DDT'ing Kenny Omega through a glass table and Hager making a surprise appearance to demolish the babyfaces, were both effectively done and compelling television. 7/10
Overall: This was a remarkable debut, establishing what AEW is all about while leaving plenty of room to grow. As good as this was, I expect it to get even better as the promotion hits its stride. 18/25
Tune into TNT on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET to catch all the action of All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite.
Kofi Kingston Exclusive Interview
It's an exciting time to be a wrestling fan. While hardcore enthusiasts have been focused on the brewing Wednesday Night War between NXT and AEW, WWE has turned its attention to an even bigger debut on Friday.
SmackDown Live, long the little brother to Monday's flagship Raw, is asserting itself as the top show in all of wrestling on the Fox network.
Leading that charge is WWE champion Kofi Kingston, who defends his title against Brock Lesnar in one of the biggest matches in the history of the blue brand.
I sat down with the New Day member to talk about life as champion, wrestling a real-life tough guy like Lesnar and why representation is so powerful and his reign means as much as it does to people of color.
Jonathan Snowden: It's been a crazy couple of weeks for you. I've seen you guys everywhere promoting the transition of SmackDown to Fox. As one of the top guys in WWE, has your schedule outside the ring been as tough as it seems?
Kofi Kingston: Yeah, definitely, man. It's been crazy, crazy busy but in the best way possible. Because this partnership with WWE and Fox is really something special. It's something that we know is huge. So everybody on the roster wants to make sure we do everything we can to make sure people know what's going down.
Everybody wants to have as much of a workload as possible, especially in these times when SmackDown is essentially going to be as big as it's ever been. It's awesome to be a part of it and, for me, personally, to be at the forefront of it all, it's amazing.
JS: A few years ago, a wrestler told me, 'Everybody wants John Cena's spot. But they don't understand what that comes with, how much he puts on his shoulders every week to promote the company.' Who have you watched over the years who made you say 'Yeah, that person is doing it right. That's how I want to do it'?
Kingston: Cena is definitely the paradigm, the best case of someone able to juggle so many things and wear so many hats. We saw him all the time, wrestling, doing things with Make-A-Wish, doing things with Be a Star. That's the kind of example that you want to follow. John Cena is definitely a guy who puts his heart and soul into WWE 100 percent.
...John is a guy who does all of these things. Roman Reigns is another and AJ Styles, pretty much everyone who has been in this top spot knows the trials and tribulations and the sacrifices that come with being WWE champion. But I'm ready to follow in all those guys' shoes and step up while it's my turn.
I feel like I was able to see over the years what it's like to be in this top position. I worked up to that kind of workload. Big E, myself and Xavier [Woods] were always pushing ourselves to have great matches, to make sure our stuff was top notch and cutting edge at the tip of pop culture.
It's really been an 11-year training session to get to this point. I'm ready now to carry the load. It's business as usual, and I'm ready to be the WWE champion and face of the company.
JS: As you say, you've been there over a decade and seen a lot of different television deals all over the world. To me, this one feels different. Maybe it's the breadth and scope of the opportunities Fox presents for you. I've seen WWE wrestlers at Major League Baseball games, NFL games, cable news, and I even saw Big E introduce Shawn Porter at the big boxing pay-per-view on Saturday. It feels like this partnership includes a level of commitment that must make you feel pretty wanted.
Kingston: One hundred percent, man. Everyone at Fox has been awesome and super onboard. This is the biggest that SmackDown has ever been.
I've got people calling me who I haven't talked to in years talking about 'I just saw you on Thursday Night Football, I'm seeing you in all these ads.' People are contacting me who haven't talked to me in the longest time. Now we're reaching those people because of the commitment and dedication Fox has shown.
They're 100 percent behind us, we're 100 percent behind them and we're both kind of in cahoots in the best way to make this partnership the biggest it's ever been. That's the mission. And Friday night is going to be huge. SmackDown on Friday nights is going to be awesome.
JS: The word "huge" gives us a natural way to transition to Brock Lesnar, an incredible specimen of a human being. From the research I've done, you've only faced him in a singles match once. It was in Tokyo and the whole thing lasted less than three minutes. That was four years ago. What can you take from something like that?
Kingston: That's the only time I've been one-on-one against him in a match setting. He was coming back to WWE after a hiatus and it was a big deal. Unfortunately, it didn't really go that well for me.
But being in there with someone like Brock—he's a guy who transcends generations. You look at him and you know he's a monster. You know he's a phenom to look at. You know his credentials. You know his history. You know his national collegiate championships, you know he had a stint in the NFL, his UFC accolades. He's a beast. When they say he's The Beast Incarnate, that's for real.
I feel like I have grown so much since that match in Tokyo; so many things have happened. I've developed as a performer and as an athlete, and I've come such a long way. I've always prided myself on wanting to challenge myself. All of us—myself, Woods and E—pride ourselves on never coasting on our laurels. We always want what's next. We want to top the thing that we did last.
My favorite quote, that I've said in every single interview for the last five months, is, "At the top of a mountain is the bottom of another mountain."
As arduous as it was to get to this point as WWE champion on this 11-year journey, and as hard as it's been to keep that title facing top Superstars like Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens and Daniel Bryan, I've beaten some of the top guys in the world. I just want to keep the momentum going.
JS: That's an interesting quote. You climbed to the top of the mountain to claim the world championship. What could possibly exceed that?
Kingston: Lesnar is the next mountain to climb. A lot of people are kind of worried. They wonder, "Why would anybody accept a match with this guy?' But, for me, it's all about pushing myself. There's nobody else out there who would be a bigger notch on my belt.
It's a heck of a mountain to climb, but I'm more than prepared to meet that challenge. On Friday, we gonna climb! And it's going to be an awesome match. I can't wait.
JS: Samoa Joe once told CBS Sports that if you didn't approach a match with Lesnar the right way, he'd eat you alive. You have to earn his respect. Knowing who he is and what he can do, is there something a little different about wrestling him?
Kingston: Brock is a legend in this industry. He's a future Hall of Famer. Look at the guys he's faced over the years and the classic matches he's had: Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Triple H, John Cena.
Anytime Brock is in the ring, the match is automatically elevated. From a performance aspect, you've got all eyes on you. That's what you strive for as a performer, as a WWE superstar and as WWE champion: You want all eyes on you. Being in the ring with Brock Lesnar automatically does that. And I'm looking to knock it out of the park.
JS: Like you, Bleacher Report has its own universe on our app and social media. So I've given some of the fans there a chance to ask you a question. Josh Miller says when he saw Booker T as a kid, it motivated him. He was the first person who looked like him who'd made it to the top. Josh wants to know how it feels to know you're playing that same role right now for thousands of African American fans and people of color all over the world?
Kingston: It is an amazing responsibility, and I take a lot of pride in being that guy people can look to for motivation. It's one thing to say anything is possible; it's another to actually see it. That way you know it's possible, not just through assumption, but because it actually happened.
I still get goosebumps even talking about it. Being at WrestleMania 35 and winning the WWE Championship was such an amazing experience, because everybody in the WWE Universe wanted me to have that moment and there were so many people emotionally affected. So many people posted videos of themselves crying in absolute elation that I was up there holding up the most prestigious title in the history of wrestling.
I take a lot of pride in being the guy young African Americans can look to but also that anybody who has struggled—whether black, white, from Asia or anywhere in the world—you can look to me and see that if you work hard enough at something, if you believe in yourself and keep on pushing, it can happen.
Everybody out there has struggled at some point and everybody has questioned whether they could achieve their dream. Now I get to be that example or somebody who did it. They can look to me and be motivated. It's an awesome responsibility. I take a lot of pride in being that guy.
JS: There were a lot of questions about pancakes. One comes from a six-year-old in Toronto who wants to know who in The New Day loved pancakes so much that they decided to bring them to the ring?
Kingston: It happened because we were in a lumberjack match. It was myself and Big E versus Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Everybody on the outside from the locker room were lumberjacks.
Woods was also a lumberjack, but because he's part of the team, he was kind of above the rest of them. We made him the chief lumberjack. To make him stand out, he dressed up as an actual lumberjack. He had the flannel, the hat, and he had pancakes—because everybody knows lumberjacks eat pancakes.
From that moment, everybody started chanting "We want pancakes." So, the next week, we decided to bring them out again, and it just took off.
We are a group that give people what they want. And, if the WWE Universe wants pancakes, then by goodness, we're giving them pancakes.
JS: Friday's show is huge. You've got Lesnar fighting for the world title and The Rock will also make an appearance. I'm trying to picture what it's like in the back on a night like this. Is everyone politicking for a chance to be in a segment with Rock, since that is almost guaranteed to go viral? What's the mood like when the stage is set like this?
Kingston: The mood is, everyone is scrambling to get on the show. Why wouldn't you? It's the biggest show in SmackDown history. To be a WWE Superstar, you have to be the kind of person who craves the limelight. You have to be the kind of person who wants to be in the segment with the most eyes on it. You want to be on the biggest shows and to show everyone your level of talent, your level of passion.
And to have The Rock on it, the guy who started it all, it makes it that much bigger.
It's great. It's almost like a competition, for sure. You want to get on the show, but you also have a sense of pride in carrying the tradition that has continued from The Rock to Kurt Angle to Edge to Christian and all these top Superstars who have put everything into this industry to make SmackDown what it's been.
Now we have a chance to push it even further. It's our responsibility to keep that ball rolling.
Kofi Kingston defends the WWE title against Brock Lesnar Friday night on SmackDown, the inaugural edition of the long-running wrestling program on Fox.
Match of the Week
Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Candice LeRae (NXT, October 2): There was a lot of competition this week, as both major wrestling companies had plenty to prove in the first week of head-to-head competition. But the best match was this sizzler from NXT.
Despite being interrupted by two different commercial breaks, Baszler and LeRae had the kind of hard-hitting, high-flying match that defines contemporary wrestling.
In just a few weeks, LeRae has reestablished herself as one of the best female wrestlers in the entire sport. Everything she does is solid, from her punch to the throat to her dive outside the ring. Baszler, meanwhile, may be the most compelling champion in all of WWE.
The two had good chemistry, worked smartly and somehow stole the show back from the opening bout between Matt Riddle and Adam Cole.
This was pure excellence.
Honorable Mentions: Cody Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara (AEW Dynamite, October 2); Adam Cole (c) vs. Matt Riddle (NXT, October 2)
Hard Times Promo of the Week
"Aaaaaaaw, Staples Center, don't you dare be sour...."
If you've seen The New Day on WWE Television, you know the rest of Big E's iconic introduction by heart. But sometimes a change of venue is all it takes to remind you just how awesome something you take for granted truly is.
On Saturday, Big E introduced lovable boxer Shawn Porter as he began his walk to the ring to face Errol Spence Jr., one more opportunity for WWE to make its presence felt on a Fox property prior to the Friday Night SmackDown debut this week.
This potent combination of positivity came courtesy of Sporting News journalist Andreas Hale, who set the two men up and created a cool opportunity to let Big E shine outside his usual circles.
Three-Count: Looking Ahead
WWE Hell in a Cell (Sunday, WWE Network)
- Universal Championship (Hell in a Cell): Seth Rollins (c) vs. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt: The Fiend has been the highlight of WWE Television for weeks. It's a great gimmick, but now Wyatt has to deliver in the ring. The Hell in a Cell stipulation will help hide some of his weaknesses, but his actual wrestling has always been where he falls short.
- Raw Women's Championship (Hell in a Cell): Becky Lynch (c) vs. Sasha Banks: Banks was reinvigorated by her time off, and this is the most promising match WWE can make in the women's division. These two have a big act to follow after Baszler and LeRae tore it down on NXT, and I expect them to do their darnedest to deliver.
- Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan vs. Erick Rowan and Luke Harper: WWE has invested a lot of time into building Rowan for this moment. My prediction? Bryan turns on Reigns and reveals he's been the true mastermind of the months-long attacks on The Big Dog.
Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report and is the author of three books, including Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling.
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