'AEW: Dynamite' Anniversary - One Year Later - Electric Bento

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The AEW: Dynamite Anniversary episode is right around the corner. We’ll ignore the fact that the one-year anniversary was this past week.

It’s been a year since AEW emerged on cable TV. All Elite Wrestling promised a wrestling revolution.

And while some would argue that it didn’t quite deliver, one thing is certain. It gave wrestling fans an alternative.

Revolutionary or not, it was a sorely needed alternative. And for the most part, AEW: Dynamite has put together an awesome show. For the most part. It hasn’t all been perfect. But it’s been a fun year.

On the eve of the AEW: Dynamite Anniversary, let’s look back at the hits and misses from All Elite Wrestling’s first year on the air.

HIT – The Inner Circle

In a post-nWo wrestling world, factions can be tough.

They either feature in every segment of every episode or they don’t appear enough. With the AEW: Dynamite Anniversary on the horizon, it’s worth looking back at why the Inner Circle works.

The faction had its foundation in a post-All Out segment, where Santana & Ortiz were the only ones to thank Jericho after winning the AEW Championship. And then they formed on the premiere episode of AEW: Dynamite with the addition of Sammy Guevara and Jake Hager.

Story-wise, the Inner Circle serves a purpose. They’re Jericho’s muscle. They regard him as a Messiah (WWE struck out on that one, eh?), and they’ve got his back 24/7. And functionally, they serve a deeper purpose. AEW gets to use the faction to get guys over.

Sammy Guevara missed being our pick for Breakout Star of the Year by that much last year. Jake Hager puts on hoss fights like it’s a bodily function. And Santana & Ortiz put on the best TV brawl since the Attitude Era.

And it’s cyclical. In turn, the Inner Circle gets Jericho over. I say this in almost every AEW: Dynamite review, but this stuff isn’t hard.

MISS – The Nightmare Collective

Well, they tried.

As we look back on the AEW: Dynamite Anniversary, this one still makes me scratch my head. If you don’t remember, no one can fault you.

For a couple of weeks, Brandi Rhodes became a crazy person. She, Awesome Kong, Mel (remember her?) and Dr. Luther (right?), went around, beating up random women, and cutting their hair. And they formed the Nightmare Collective.

I don’t know if Brandi just felt like she needed more to do, or if it was an ill-advised way to get Kong, Mel, and Luther over. But it didn’t work.

And it didn’t work in a big, bad way. AEW brushed it aside and never mentioned it again. We’ll be talking about that a lot as we look toward the AEW: Dynamite Anniversary.

HIT – Best Wrestling On TV

When the Wednesday Night Wars started, wrestling fans knew we would get an embarrassment of riches in the ring.

The combined rosters of AEW and NXT are a veritable who’s who of Internet Wrestling Community darlings. And AEW hit the ground running with the most famous Bullet Club roster ever, Chris Jericho, and SCU.

But here’s the shocking thing coming into the AEW: Dynamite Anniversary special. AEW put on classic matches on a weekly basis, and they weren’t all with the Meltzer-approved darlings.

Orange Cassidy, Best Friends, Santana & Ortiz, and more have put on bona fide classics without an Internet “name” in the match. Meanwhile, you’re still getting great wrestling from the names you’d expect. The Codys, Omegas, and Young Bucks of the world turn up the volume pretty well themselves. Mix them all up, and you’ve got classic wrestling just waiting to happen.

Old timers like to say that it says “wrestling” on the marquee. With the AEW: Dynamite Anniversary coming up, AEW proved that point and made money with it.

MISS – Matt Hardy

For a few weeks, Matt Hardy showing up on AEW: Dynamite was fun. All the way up until the Stadium Stampede at Double Or Nothing, it was working.

And then AEW figured out it didn’t quite know what to do with Matt Hardy. The funny stuff wasn’t quite hitting, and when they needed to go serious with ‘Broken’ Matt, the timing was all wrong.

The AEW: Dynamite Anniversary gives us a little perspective. But, as with the Nightmare Collective, AEW put it to the side. Unlike the Nightmare Collective, though, they didn’t completely put it away.

They made Matt Hardy the mentor to Private Party, and they put together a “who beat up Matt” angle that they seem to have forgotten. Until they don’t.

HIT – New Stars

A year ago, lots of casual wrestling fans didn’t know who MJF or Orange Cassidy were.

Today, with the AEW: Dynamite Anniversary around the corner, they’re legit wrestling superstars.

Orange Cassidy has two wins over Chris Jericho – who AEW has done a masterful job of building into a bigger legend than he really is. And MJF is one of the most resoundingly hated heels in all of pro wrestling.

But it doesn’t stop there. The Butcher and the Blade. No, really, the Butcher and the Blade are now big stars in tag team wrestling. Best Friends, ‘Hangman’ Page, oh man, I haven’t even mentioned ‘Hangman’ Page yet.

MISS – The AEW Women’s World Championship

The AEW: Dynamite Anniversary celebrates lots of accomplishments and lots of jobs well-done. AEW’s women’s division – and more specifically the state of the AEW Women’s World Championship – is not one of them.

The company flouted its devotion to diversity and sports-based pro wrestling. And in the first match for the AEW women’s title – on the first AEW: Dynamite – 90-pound, Japanese-born Riho defeated 200-and-something-pound Nyla Rose, the first openly trans women to work for a major wrestling promotion.

Wait, what?

Don’t worry, it gets worse. Riho’s matches were short, and she was constantly presented as “just lucky to be there.” About five months too late, Nyla Rose defeated Riho for the title. And then she was booked as an afterthought. Now Hikaru Shida is the AEW Women’s Champion, and she’s on maybe one out of every three AEW: Dynamite episodes.

Shida is set to defend the women’s title against Big Swole on the AEW: Dynamite Anniversary episode. And it’s the least interesting item on the card.

I’ve said it a billion times. But it bears repeating on the eve of the AEW: Dynamite Anniversary. AEW’s women’s division is a big, big problem.

The Breakdown

AEW: Dynamite has been on the air for more than a year. All Elite Wrestling promised a pro wrestling revolution.

To the casual viewer, it didn’t deliver. After all, it’s just pro wrestling done right. What’s so revolutionary about that?

Everything is revolutionary about that. If you’ve been watching Raw and SmackDown for the last 20 years, it’s revolutionary to see the concepts of pro wrestling – basic and simple as they are – resulting in an incredible product.

Our look at the AEW: Dynamite Anniversary shows that it hasn’t all been perfect.

All images courtesy of All Elite Wrestling.

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