AEW Dynamite Grand Slam 2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

By Wrestling Inc. StaffSept. 26, 2024 1:57 am EST

AEW/Lee South

Jimmie48 Photography/Shutterstock

Arthur Ashe Stadium looks cool as hell, this is just a fact. It's a cool-looking venue and it's made "AEW Grand Slam" a yearly event with a distinct presence, until now.

This year's "Grand Slam" featured dark lights, lots of screens, and the same old "Dynamite" entrance that we usually see on Wednesdays. It felt like it could've literally been any Wednesday in any venue in any city. It was disheartening to see such a visually striking building reduced to the usual darkness and LED of regular TV shows.

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Maybe it was a safety issue. Last year's "Grand Slam" saw Adam Cole leap from the elevated ramp in Arthur Ashe and shatter is ankle in unimaginable ways. Tony Khan would not be blamed for wanting to make a safer set but what I saw on Wednesday was an overcorrection. This year's show had some legitimately great matches and it was hyped up as a major event, which is why seeing the run-of-the-mill setup mildly deflated me over the course of Wednesday's event.

Variety is the spice of life, and pretty much every wrestling promotion has opted for the bland safety of LED sets and lighting setups that look the same. It's a woeful state of affairs. Unless it's WrestleMania or All In, it feels like there is no money for a little bit of flair, a little bit of style, a little bit of creative daring.

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"Grand Slam" is supposed to be filet mignon, and AEW served up a Big Mac.

Written by Ross Berman

AEW/Lee South

If you had told me at the start of the year that by the time New Year's Eve rolled around that Nigel McGuinness would have wrestled Bryan Danielson one more time, I probably would have told you to go to bed because you were drunk or something. Yet, here we are. Arguably the rivalry most closely associated with Ring of Honor being revived almost 15 years to the day that it was last visited in the exact same city.

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For starters, I will throw my hands up and say that this wasn't the epic that some people may have thought it would be. If you were coming into this one expecting the ring post to have McGuinness' forehead imprinted on it, you might be disappointed. However, if you came into this one knowing that this would most likely be two old rivals having one last dance to finally settle an old score that was never fully settled, this is a great old time.

McGuinness rolling back the years with his heelish antics that, honestly, outshines a lot of the people on the AEW roster in 2024, and it was the simple stuff that did it too. Asking for a count out when Danielson didn't initially arrive, targeting the forearm and sticking with it knowing that it would hamper the LeBell Lock, as well as setting up The London Dungeon perfectly. The chain wrestling at the start let everyone know that yes, McGuinness can still pull out stuff out of his bag of tricks despite not wrestling for 13 years, and he can still hang with the man everyone calls the best in the world.

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As for the AEW World Champion, he came into this looking like he really didn't want to be there, but in a good way. Giving the vibe of 'man do I really have to teach this guy a lesson again?' Only for him to be taught a lesson himself, old habits will always die hard. There are probably a few people who won't give this match a second viewing because it wasn't the 14 star classic people hyped it up to be, but for the loyal ROH nerds who always wanted that final chapter to be written in this story, we echo what McGuinness said before he finally conceded to the fact that Bryan Danielson is a better wrestler than him, and that is thank you.

Written by Sam Palmer

AEW/Lee South

As a devout fan of Bryan Danielson's bodywork, especially that which took place in ROH during the 2000s, I was amongst the fans relishing the opportunity to see the "American Dragon" tie back up with Nigel McGuinness. Their matches together were depictions of violent savagery in the name of being the best, pushing one another beyond their limits – for better or for worse – and surely setting both onto a path of success and fortune in the ring for years to come. That could be said about Danielson, immortalized with his WrestleMania 30 WWE Championship victory and fairytale return from retirement in 2018. But unfortunately that never turned out to be the case for McGuinness, retiring to the commentary booth from 2011 until his own seemingly impossible return at All In earlier this year.

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That tragic parallel fed into their match. It drove the emotional core of the match even taking place outside of the fact it was an undoubted dream match; McGuinness' returning to the ring seemed by design, a last-ditch effort for him to realize the long-awaited rematch with his nemesis. So, when it was booked for "Dynamite: Grand Slam" for the World title or not it screamed main event. Taking it one step further, the idea that Danielson might not be ready for the bout was extended until now, why not keep that anticipation building through the show?

To truly put it into context: the reigning AEW World Champion currently on his final full-time run in wrestling locked up with an old nemesis he had last stepped in the ring with almost 15 years ago to the day, and it was relegated to open in lieu of a rematch from 2020 for an opportunity to challenge for Danielson's title. The match itself was great, nothing spectacular especially when compared to their previous matches. But that wasn't even remotely expected to be the case considering it was McGuinness' second match in thirteen years, and their previous work can also be used as a case study for why he had to hang up the boots in the first place. The point is that, once again, AEW booked its World Champion as an undercard performer. It is clear that it was formatted this way to shoot the closing angle with Danielson challenging Moxley at WrestleDream, but it's another example of creative breaking pieces of the puzzle in order to make them fit, rather than trying to fit the right pieces in their slots.

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What happens is a previously deemed to be impossible dream match doesn't feel all that much of a dream, playing second fiddle to an impending match that has happened twice already. One could have easily had Moxley go over Allin as he did in the opener, closing with McGuinness and Danielson before the final interaction between the WrestleDream opponents. It's simply a case of inverting the format that was went with, but it would have allowed both matches to truly stand as their own narratives before weaving into the Mox-Danielson angle, rather than one feeling like it was rushed to get to the next bit.

Written by Max Everett

AEW/Lee South

When I was thinking about Grand Slam throughout the day, I never thought about possible debuts, so MVP rocking up on AEW television really took me by surprise... and I absolutely loved that. Sometimes the best, most effective debuts are ones that you never see coming, without possible teasers or anything. I know from all the news and headlines we've all seen throughout the weeks that this was likely to happen, but still, with no indication that it would be this week, I really appreciated the simple surprise of it all.

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MVP showed up when Prince Nana was out on the stage with Tony Schiavone to address former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland's status after his gruesome unsanctioned cage match against "Hangman" Adam Page. Nana was his usual happy-go-lucky self, with reason, as he said Strickland isn't cleared, but working to get better and get back to the fans every day. Personally, I absolutely adore Prince Nana as a character and a manager, so I was looking forward to his segment, because hearing from him and not seeing Strickland so soon after how darn brutal that match was makes sense. But when the new music hit and MVP strolled out, the segment got even better. MVP showed up and like a good manager does, ran down all of Strickland's accomplishments within the last year. When he launched so quickly into it all, I couldn't help but thinking we're looking at a feud, or at least an interesting storyline, where MVP attempts to take Nana's job as Strickland's manager. That's something I want to see, as a fan of both Nana and MVP.

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Of course, the rumors are that MVP is starting "The Hurt Syndicate" stable in AEW, which could also feature the likes of Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin. I would love to see Strickland be added into that stable, or if not, to feud with Lashley and Benjamin to prove the fact he's still got it and can go at it alone, with just Nana as his manager by his side. Any storyline I can think of with this is just gold to me and sounds really enjoyable. I do, however, hope Prince Nana stays involved with Strickland, even if he's folded into the new possible Hurt Syndicate stable along with him. I don't see Strickland staying with a group for long, but just to see him alongside MVP for awhile would be an excellent change of pace for him. MVP ended the segment by telling Nana to tell Strickland he wants to talk business, and I want to see that go down sooner rather than later.

Written by Daisy Ruth

AEW/Lee South

Two weeks ago, I said that the Tag Team Casino Gauntlet being won by two singles wrestlers was a bad move, and both Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher did their very best to prove to me that it was the right choice against The Young Bucks. The match itself was frantically entertaining. It never gave anyone a chance to sit back down as the next high spot was right around the corner, and while the Ospreay/Young Bucks style of match isn't to everyone's taste, this was a bout that had everyone in Arthur Ashe Stadium on their feet...until the finish.

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Don Callis' involvement in matches has often been the one thing that has blemished otherwise fantastic bouts. It happened in Ospreay's match with Kenny Omega at Forbidden Door, it happened in Ospreay's match with Swerve Strickland, and it happened here again. Ospreay trying to be the good Samaritan and stopping Fletcher from using the screwdriver to win him another championship in AEW. To borrow a phrase from Ospreay himself, bruv, what are you playing at?

Not only did Ospreay stop his tag team partner from winning the match, but he literally took the screwdriver and showed it to Rick Knox. Like seriously, you're going to show the referee, the man who could literally throw the match out if any rules are broken, that the man who accompanied you to the match, broke the rules? Will, do us a favor would you and stay away from screwdrivers for a billion years?

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I get it, Ospreay is the noble babyface that wants to do things honestly, he wants things done the right way, he doesn't want his best friend being dishonest. But if we are all being honest with ourselves here, he just looked like an idiot at the end of this match, and you could literally hear the air being sucked out of the stadium when he showed Knox the screwdriver, making the finish fall short of where it would have fell had the screwdriver not been introduced. Had it not been for the finish, this would have been a lock for some people's match of the night, but Ospreay doing the wrestling version of 'I'm going to tell the teacher that you've been naughty' to his own tag team partner makes me wish I never see another screwdriver ever again, in AEW or in real life.

Written by Sam Palmer

AEW/Lee South

Jon Moxley overcame Darby Allin in dominant fashion to usurp his place as number one contender to Bryan Danielson's World title, ascending to become the Omega-level threat to the title reign – thus, career – of the "American Dragon" at WrestleDream next month. It was a moment of inevitability seemingly from the moment Moxley and his BCC mutineers ejected Danielson from the group at All Out, suffocating him with a plastic bag to close out the show in Chicago. But it was done in a way that was far from expected, with the normally inhuman Allin appearing to be three steps behind his opponent at every turn, leaving it to Moxley to find new ways of brutalizing him – which he did to maximum effect. The match ended much in that vein, Allin finding the strength in him for one last flurry and taking to the top rope for an avalanche move.

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However, much as she had made her presence known when the referee had his back turned, Marina Shafir climbed the apron to afford her mentor enough time to scout the attempted move and deliver an improvised avalanche DDT to close things out. Moxley has had the attitude of a killer since he made his return, but this was a glimpse into how that translates into the ring, and it was some of Mox's best in-ring storytelling for quite some time. Everything was believable and had a degree of synergy with the overarching storyline. Moxley will now be stepping inside the ring with one of – if not the - best bell-to-bell performers in the world in Danielson, and his new edge had to shine through with his last in-ring outing a defeat to Tetsuya Naito. So to do it opposite one of the most plot-armored characters on AEW's roster, neutering everything that separates the "Half-Dead Daredevil" from your average 5'6 skater boy, delivered on that idea to great effect.

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The only thing that could have feasibly cost the "Death Rider" this week was complacency on his behalf, but he remained true to his goal and decimated his opponent. Even as Danielson emerged for an ill-advised melee with Mox, becoming swarmed by the BCC before Private Party and Komander made the save, it appeared to be a situation the villain was in control of. It was like he expected and wanted the ambush, if only for an opportunity to administer further punishment, but he would make do with Danielson's declaration of war; Moxley smirked as he exited through the crowd, a somewhat composed way of reacting to someone saying they'll kick your f***ing head in. There is a very strong chance now, with the trajectory being Danielson vs. Moxley at WrestleDream, in the Tacoma Dome where Danielson said he wanted to wrestle his last match, that the "American Dragon" finds his final destination at the hands of the man he formerly called brother. If this week is anything to by, then it certainly won't be pretty.

Written by Max Everett