AEW Booms/Duds: Jericho calls out “Iron” Mike Tyson

Boom: a pull apart brawl to set the stage for Jericho-Tyson

Dud: Inner Circle should switch from comedic to serious (and this may have been the start)

First, let’s discuss the underlying issues in booking Mike Tyson.

The main issue is Tyson is a convicted rapist. Yes, he served his time, but we also can’t blame or fault anyone who holds this fact against Tyson. He’s worked hard to recreate his image from uber-tough boxing bad boy to a comedic and lovable middle-aged former boxing legend. Again, this doesn’t erase his past or mitigate his conviction; it’s an issue to be considered.

If people are turned off by his involvement, who are we to say they’re wrong? I just hope that if AEW is questioned specifically about this regarding Tyson that they do not shy away from the questions and explain their thought process in bringing in Tyson, how this issue was considered, and if it wasn’t, how it will be considered particularly in light of the last half-decade of increased awareness surrounding domestic/sexual harassment, abuse, and rape.

The issue more directly related to wrestling is the criticism of giving time and money to a celebrity non-wrestler when those could be better spent on wrestlers already under contract, such as the women’s division or mid-carders. It’s especially jarring to some considering the basis of this feud is a match from a decade ago in an organization that is AEW’s direct rival.

I’m not going to explain in detail why I’m not so bothered by these wrestling criticisms with Tyson. I’ll just say this is far different from the WWE playbook of bringing in an athlete since WWE usually thrusts them into a championship feud.

With Tyson and Jericho, there are no titles on the line, it shouldn’t main event (hopefully), and Jericho’s entire run in AEW has been about putting other wrestlers over. He, of all people, can have a mini-feud on the side with Tyson.

I did think Tyson and his crew (which consisted of former UFC champions “Suga” Rashad Evans, “The Phenom” Vitor Belfort, and recently retired “King of Cringe” and “Triple C” Henry Cejudo) looked a bit awkward and like they were trying too hard, but the end result was one of the better pull apart brawls in recent memory; I don’t know if anything tops the pull apart between Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker, though.

The pull apart is where Tyson looked intense and invested in the angle. You could almost feel the fire protruding from his eyes! Jericho reciprocated in kind by almost choking Scorpio Sky to death (who he had held against him in a side headlock-like move) as he yelled to Tyson, “I’m gonna get you you son of a bitch!” as the show went off air. The last minute or so was fun.

Now, hopefully this is the impetus for Inner Circle to switch from being a comedic heel faction to a serious heel faction, which they arguably should have been all along. I understand why they shifted so heavily comedic with these pandemic shows and their use of vignettes, but last night was the “jumping the shark” moment.

The whole punchline to the pep rally was Jericho saying he wanted Tyson’s head on a platter. It took far too long with some bad attempts at forced comedy mixed in, aside from Ortiz constantly yelling and putting on the headphones so he could stop the ringing and hear again. Ortiz, in general, is a delight to watch.

Especially with someone like Hager, whose acting skills aren’t great, forcing them to perform comedy when their character is supposed to be more of a straight up fighter is hard to watch. Hager was great his first few months as the heavy who didn’t talk and just demolished people. Going back to that would help reestablish some of his (and Inner Circle’s) credibility.

Santana and Ortiz, rekindling their edge from their days LAX in Impact, could wreak havoc on the tag division. They’ve been booked 50/50 (as with many teams), and having them embark on a nice win streak to a tag title match at All Out would elevate them, Inner Circle, and the tag division.

Jericho is pretty much Teflon at this point, but not so much for his Le Sex Gods partner, Sammy Guevara. Out of the five members, Guevara is most in need of a shift in disposition. Sure, being built like “a Spanish God” comes with a level of arrogance and self-indulgence, but he is too talented to keep taking pins and looking like a fool.

He’s an excellent bump machine as evidenced by the bumps he took from the golf cart incident and the One Winged Angel on Saturday, but that shouldn’t mean he constantly takes them to elevate everyone around him. Make him more serious, more physical, more vicious and you have someone who can quickly elevate himself to challenge for the TNT Championship.

Being more serious doesn’t mean the comedy has to disappear, but it should be more strategic. I hope to see more of a serious edge to them next week on the heels of last night’s events, but it’s also safe to say the shift may occur over a few weeks rather than just one.

A mixed bag of a Dynamite still did enough to keep me intrigued for what’s to come. I didn’t even discuss how Best Friends are #1 contender’s for the Tag Team Championship yet Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc won a title match against Kenny Omega and “Hangman” Adam Page next week. We also didn’t have an appearance from either Archer or Lee coming off their respective first losses in AEW.

Oh yeah, FTR debuted.

Next week, I hope to see Archer and Lee chart their new courses. The tag championship match should be entertaining even if it seems obvious who will win. We should also see further builds for Moxley-Cage, Shida’s next opponent, and Jericho-Tyson.

See you next week!