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The AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite Thread


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They've developed this vibe about the show that is WCW at its best, that TNA tried for years to capture but never could (even when they had half the staff and roster of WCW.) The look of the show and the way the angles are presented are so good. The feel of it is what makes it. Its not perfectly, obviously, but they usually do more good than bad.

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14 hours ago, Supremo said:

I always think back fondly to those Triple H matches with Taka Michinoku and Rikishi from the year 2000, where a plucky mid carder got a proper rub for going the distance in a fun match with a top star.

Then I realise that was nearly twenty years ago and I can’t remember WWE having done many since. 

By contrast, AEW have already done it twice in the space of a few weeks with Darby Allin’s matches with Jericho and Moxley, and now they’ve got another one this coming Monday with Scorpio Sky’s Title shot. Good stuff.

It's all in the follow up, really. WWE did similar just recently with Buddy Murphy. After the Roman and Bryan matches he seemed destined to break out as a new hot babyface. Instead they had go-nowhere Ali pin him clean the next week, removed him from the Lets Kill Roman angle, and then took him off TV for months. And when he finally did return they brought him back cold . . . as a heel. 

But yeah, I've seen nothing yet to suggest that AEW will fumble it with Darby and the like.

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John Cena's debut was one. Most of John Cena's TV opponents for most of 2015 as well. A bunch of Seth Rollins' opponents since then. Buddy Murphy, as mentioned above. Humberto, more recently than that. There are loads, actually. It just doesn't really register so much in modern WWE, because it's only Brock who is a big enough star that it'd matter, and everyone else has a PPV-type match with everyone else all the time. And the issue of them not bothering to follow it up doesn't help, of course, although that was also true with the Taka vs HHH match and we still remember that one.

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9 hours ago, King Pitcos said:

John Cena's debut was one. Most of John Cena's TV opponents for most of 2015 as well. A bunch of Seth Rollins' opponents since then. Buddy Murphy, as mentioned above. Humberto, more recently than that. There are loads, actually. It just doesn't really register so much in modern WWE, because it's only Brock who is a big enough star that it'd matter, and everyone else has a PPV-type match with everyone else all the time. And the issue of them not bothering to follow it up doesn't help, of course, although that was also true with the Taka vs HHH match and we still remember that one.

The Taka/HHH match is a funny one. I think we all remember it because it was more about the angle of Triple H as an arrogant heel champ thinking he was being clever by doing his mandatory title defence against a comedy jobber and almost getting his comeuppance. Plus, it was so out of the blue - all of a sudden we got this shock of seeing Taka look like he was threatening to beat a red-hot Triple H for the WWE championship. But that match was pretty much the climax of the mini-arc it was supposed to be; I don't think it could've gone much further than it did, if at all.

For me, that's actually a good example of something that I always liked: mini-storylines, self-contained within a show or a couple of shows, especially when it involves midcarders - gives them more of a purpose than simply being higher-level talent enhancement, and adds a bit more texture to a show in general.

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5 hours ago, Carbomb said:

The Taka/HHH match is a funny one. I think we all remember it because it was more about the angle of Triple H as an arrogant heel champ thinking he was being clever by doing his mandatory title defence against a comedy jobber and almost getting his comeuppance. Plus, it was so out of the blue - all of a sudden we got this shock of seeing Taka look like he was threatening to beat a red-hot Triple H for the WWE championship. But that match was pretty much the climax of the mini-arc it was supposed to be; I don't think it could've gone much further than it did, if at all.

For me, that's actually a good example of something that I always liked: mini-storylines, self-contained within a show or a couple of shows, especially when it involves midcarders - gives them more of a purpose than simply being higher-level talent enhancement, and adds a bit more texture to a show in general.

I agree with this, but I was more talking about how Taka didn’t really benefit from it after the fact. Kaientai were in the same comedy job spot they were before.

For me, a better example of one of those angles would be Santino nearly winning the belt in the Elimination Chamber in 2012. It added to Daniel Bryan’s arrogant heel persona, it gave Bryan the opportunity to be a vicious little prick (his title reign to that point had been him running away from Big Show and Mark Henry), and it elevated Santino for a bit. He got on the WrestleMania card a few weeks later, and won the US title around the same time.

But I have way fonder memories of the Triple H/Taka one. I didn’t even remember the Santino thing until just now.

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5 minutes ago, King Pitcos said:

I agree with this, but I was more talking about how Taka didn’t really benefit from it after the fact. Kaientai were in the same comedy job spot they were before.

Oh, absolutely. What I meant to convey (and did a poor job of) was that I think that was always the plan, though - I get the impression, from how they booked Taka overall before as well as after that they never really planned to do much with him in general, however well he might have done, and I think a big part of that was simply his size. Not in a "push the cruisers" rage way, but simply Taka was quite a small guy, and looked it. Possibly one of the reasons why the match shocked too - Triple H just dwarfed him.

5 minutes ago, King Pitcos said:

For me, a better example of one of those angles would be Santino nearly winning the belt in the Elimination Chamber in 2012. It added to Daniel Bryan’s arrogant heel persona, it gave Bryan the opportunity to be a vicious little prick (his title reign to that point had been him running away from Big Show and Mark Henry), and it elevated Santino for a bit. He got on the WrestleMania card a few weeks later, and won the US title around the same time.

But I have way fonder memories of the Triple H/Taka one. I didn’t even remember the Santino thing until just now.

They did some good stuff with Santino, didn't they? I always remember him nicking Lawler's sandwich, his "Tom Hanks with the AIDS" feud with Austin, and, similar to what you've mentioned there, how he almost won the Rumble - the crowd were mental for that.

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Dark is such a fun show.

TH2 get a lot of shit but imo they are perfectly fine as a mid card heel team. Really enjoyed Jack Evans Vs. Kenny Omega.

The Kong/Brandi pairing is growing on me. Surely their antics have to lead up to a hair match?

Spears is a pretty decent commentator.

 

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I thought that about Spears too.

Related to people talking about main eventers having matches that bring undercard opponents up to their level, I think that’s hit upon my main issue with Kenny Omega in AEW: he does that too much. He gives his opponents way more than they should be getting if he’s supposed to be a top star, and it doesn’t bring them up to his level because, in AEW, his level hasn’t been established well enough yet. He’s in a YouTube match with Jack Evans, and Evans is getting half the offence and kicking out of most of Kenny’s moves. He should have bulldozed him in 5 minutes. Jericho vs Sky has absolutely the right dynamic, but if it was Omega in Jericho’s position, it’d feel more like two Takas than Taka vs HHH.

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All this talk comparing Sky to Taka baffles me. I actually would equate Sky vs Jericho way more to HHH vs Jericho when Jericho won the title and it was later reversed. 

Taka was a jobber his entire career, Sky has been pushed a decent amount and has looked a million dollars IMO. Him standing in for Daniels in street clothes was one of my favourite moments in wrestling this year.

I actually wouldn't be against the idea of them ripping off the finish of Jericho v HHH of having Sky win for it to be reversed later in the same show.

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