All Elite Wrestling has been around for three years now. In that time, they’ve been all around the country, but the farthest west they’ve been is Las Vegas, Nevada. Las Vegas is the ceremonial home of their annual Double or Nothing PPV show, but they actually made it to Los Angeles at the Fabulous Forum. It might not have been a PPV, but getting AEW Dynamite live was a good consolation prize. As for the show, from the floor of the Forum, I could see everything, the people ringside, the fans in the cheap seats, signs, stars, and more. It was quite the experience, and for those on TV, if you could hear the crowd, it was even louder in the building.
Fans were ravenous for the opening show of AEW Dark: Elevation, and then once Dynamite started, it was off to the races. Let’s go through some of the biggest moments from the live crowd in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 1st.
CM Punk Makes His AEW Champion Debut
It was a thunderous ovation for CM Punk as he made his debut on Dynamite as AEW Champion. Fresh off beating Hangman Adam Page for the title at Double or Nothing, he came out with FTR for the opening match. Los Angeles wrestling fans haven’t seen CM Punk in person since, what, 2013? So seeing him for the first time in nearly a decade was absolutely surreal. he might not have had the best match, he did trip up on his hot tag into the match, but that doesn’t matter, and didn’t matter to the crowd. They were hot from the get-go and kept up that energy for Punk through the whole thing.
As a bonus, the crowd was chanting “Ass Boys” the entire match, so both sides really got over with the crowd.
Miro “The Redeemer” Returns
It’s been a long time coming for Miro to make his AEW re-debut. Johnny Elite was supposed to make his Dynamite coronation here, but instead, faced a brick wall in Miro. Even if he’s a heel, and going up against an immensely popular wrestler like Johnny Elite, Miro popped the crowd in a way he hasn’t in a long time. Fans wanted to see more from him and the live crowd went nuts when he submitted Johnny. It seems like Miro is set for a push because he has a TNT Title opportunity against Scorpio Sky Friday night on AEW Rampage.
Britt Baker And Jamie Hayter Recieve A Heroes Welcome, Then Smack The Faces With A Title Belt
It’s going to be hard for AEW to keep Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter as heels when they’re getting crowd reactions the way they are. Ever since she had the main event match with Thunder Rosa, Britt Baker has been slowly gaining the favor of crowds. Her partner, Jamie Hayter might be more dastardly, but she was the breakaway star of their tag-team match on Dynamite. With multiple people screaming in support of Hayter. Their opponents, Toni Storm and Ruby Soho also got some support, but it wasn’t nearly as much as Baker and Hayter.
MJF Tries To Turn The Crowd Against Him, They Won’t
To upstage a night with Jon Moxley, CM Punk, or multiple former WWE champions on the card, you need to do something special. MJF did just that last night. His segment was among the most anticipated of the night and it did not disappoint. Maxwell Jacob Friedman tried to get the crowd to boo him on multiple occasions throughout his scathing promo on AEW and Tony Khan. They didn’t, even when he asked them “where was this energy before?”. I think that only made the crowd louder. It might not be leading to Tony Khan vs. MJF, but if this takes us down a path for an MJF face turn or “tweener” status, I’m all for it.
The crowd in Los Angeles was hot, and especially after MJF hit the crescendo of his promo and scampered through the crowd, AEW might have made an already bright star, that much bigger.
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