The AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite Thread

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I vomited when I first saw him. But now he's the best thing on the show. Absolute star.

[I Bent My Wookie]

Its always fun to look back on old threads after so much has happened with regards to the topic. 

Having glanced over the first 20 pages or so I honestly forgot how much people thought this was gonna fail, be a nothing enterprise, even comments about the show not even making it to a big network like TNT and being a new TNA essentially. 

I'll be honest even as someone who was fully up for the idea at the time as something fresh and new, I don't even think I really thought that it would be as big as its become. 

It could still get bigger with the next 6 months ahead, depending on when shows and arenas return to some stability. The likes of Handsome Rusev being on the radar, Rey Mysterios contract being up soon, even the likes of a proper return for PAC, Pentagon and Co once they can re enter the country, the roster could still get much stronger from coming off a super hot pay per view. 

 

[RedRooster]

I remember shitting all over Orange Cassidy when they signed him based on, admittedly, a limited number of YouTube videos and a fear he represented the same kind of ironic comedy that would plague their early pre-shows. How wrong I was. OC is one of the best things about the company, and his match with PAC is probably my favourite match of this year.

Truth be told, very few of their signings have flopped, and even the ones who have generally have some level of upside. They’ve done an outstanding job of compiling a roster. Even the Women’s Division, a long-standing weak point, is starting to look good with Britt Baker, Nyla Rose, Shida, Penelope Ford and Big Swole all either compelling characters or wrestlers.

As far as this place goes, a special mention to @UK Kat Von D. I really enjoy reading his posts about AEW each week, whether I agree with them or not. 

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by RedRooster

[cobra_gordo]

Yet again, it's all about Sammy. When I first saw him, with his shit panda head and the "he calls himself The Best Ever" shtick which is not only a shit name but a shit name badly delivered, I thought he had local indy shitarse written all over him. It's brilliant to be so incredibly fucking wrong from time to time.

What was the turning point with him? Trying to get Jericho to laugh? Singing his entrance theme? I'm sure all that character stuff came before all the mad bumps and selling.

[HarmonicGenerator]

He’s got steadily better and better since Dynamite started, I don’t think there was one moment you could point to. He had a great match with Cody on the first episode, but to me it’s more like generally being in segments with Jericho on a regular basis has helped him to become the star he is. Even in the earlier Inner Circle in-ring stuff like the Thanksgiving episode he shone - it’s just got shinier and shinier as the months have passed.

[CavemanLynn]

The turning point for me was watching Jericho beaming at him from the stage as Sammy belted himself hoarse soloing "Judas in my Mind". A proper look of a proud dad saying "That's my boy!". Sammy was already on the up at this point, but this was the moment I officially bought in on Guevara.

[DEF]

Initially I was quietly confident that would do a couple of ppvs that would be solid and draw well but figured there TV would be TNA level and that they would run smaller buildings for TV. The TNT rumours started and I really didn't dare to think it was true.

The only thing I really saw coming was that Cody would be a genuine main event draw and a bloody good one at that. There was many a doubter on that one but the Aldis match at All In proved it and there was no way that match was an accident. So when there was a fair amount of 'imagine thinking Stardust could be a main eventer' well after that I quietly said to myself this guy has it.

Other than that AEW has out performed my wildest dreams. At best I thought it could be as good as TNA when it was pretty good. But for my money Dynamite has been on the level of monday night war Nitro/Raw great pretty consistently and the ppvs have been even better.

 

[kamicazze]

Add me to the love of AEW. I was excited when this began, yet saw it as hopefully an entertaining alternative in the same way TNA was between 2006 - 2012 thinking i would never cough up in the same way as I have for WWE (been to Mania twice in last 4 years albeit an excuse to a holiday destination i wanted). I could honestly imagine doing Vegas whilst AEW is on to kill those 2 birds 1 stone.

Everything about it is superb. When Jericho was on commentary i found myself watching whole episodes of weekly television which is something i haven't done for years. There is always some fast forward in there.

The tag teams matter. From not getting Orange Cassidy at the beginning I now find him fascinating, Darby Allin has got the IT factor, Cody does big matches like nobody else around, Mox is now interesting, the Broken Matt stuff is entertaining, Britt Baker is the most entertaining female in wrestling right now, Stables are great, and the stories matter. 

Only downsides for me is i don't see how Jimmy Havoc fits this environment, Nor Joey Janela, feels like they need a constant of hardcore matches. Though i guess you need some jobbers. 

Sometimes I dread seeing a performer sign with WWE for what could happen to them, whereas i am excited if they sign tainted talent released by WWE as they could make them seem stars. 

Liking how some of the PPV's have themed names too in All in, All out, Double or Nothing. Gives them opportunity to have a load more such as Roulette themed one, Royal flush, blackjack etc.

On Double or Nothing - Stadium Stampede was superb. Was everything that Money in the bank match wanted to be. Drowning spot didn't bother me, fit with the gimmick. I know the Ultra sensitive PC brigade and society look for things to nit pick i couldn't fault it. Humour, action. and memorable moments. Was half expecting Hager vs Cole to become like that scene in mean machine where they take a shot then slap one another. 

Cody and Archer was also really good. Kept Archer strong and cody wins clean. Same can be said for Mox vs Lee. Their booking at present is great. Be nice to see the tag titles a little more active.

Cannot wait to see PAC back in the mix. One of my favourite things on tv. 

[BomberPat]

I was quietly optimistic after the first press conference, though before that I was a bit doom and gloom - I saw too many people hyping the company us as a WWE-beating surefire hit before they even officially existed or had a name. There were rumours in the early days of everyone from Randy Orton to Sting jumping ship from WWE, how they'd sign up all this talent, with one of the shittier news sites even saying that John Cena might jump ship purely because he's apparently friends with Cody. As so often happens, the fans put me off the product before I'd ever seen it, through the usual entitled mess of expecting a realistic, down-to-earth show with lots of flying robots, and wrestling's insistence on reliving a brief window of time in the late '90s meaning that nobody could contextualise another major wrestling organisation existing without seeing it in terms of WCW to the WWF.

I hadn't been a fan of the All In show that preceded AEW, for the most part, and kind of expected more of the same. I also wasn't a fan of Being The Elite, and while I think the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega are occasionally capable of greatness, they are - and certainly were before AEW - far more consistently likely to indulge their worst qualities.

 

What I got hyped for during the first press conference was the signing of PAC (and what, at the time, felt like it would be a working relationship with Dragon Gate), the announcement of focus on the women's division, involving talent sharing agreements with multiple Joshi companies, the relationship with AAA, and the announcement that they would be partnering with OWE. I've said it countless times, but some of the younger talent in OWE I think are the closest thing wrestling is likely to get today to the experience of seeing Rey Misterio Jr in WCW for the first time and recognising it as a quantum leap in what is possible in professional wrestling. 

Pretty much all of that fell through - outside of the Lucha Bros, there's been no benefit to AEW of the AAA relationship, OWE amounted to CIMA and T-Hawk showing up a few times but none of the young lads, and while I was excited to see Aja Kong and Emi Sakura announced, Aja Kong vanished entirely despite being flown in for one show just to do a staredown spot, and while Emi got a title shot against Riho, they never invested any time into explaining why that mattered. I also think that Emi hasn't even come close to showing her full potential in AEW - and some of that is on her as much as on the promotion. The women's division as a whole has been a bit of a damp squib, as much as a fan of some of the people in it as I am.

 

Where it's succeeded is just in good TV, far moreso than I thought it would. There's been a logic to most of what's happened, and a charm to most of what hasn't been logical. They've been quick to undo bad decisions, and generally there's more good than bad. They've taken a guy in Hangman Page who I used to say was the last person I would ever remember was in Bullet Club, and who I'd forget existed the moment I wasn't watching him wrestle, and turned him into one of my favourite acts in the whole company. They've made a TV star out of Orange Cassidy, and they've proved that Jericho's stock in wrestling is even higher than people thought. 

 

[tiger_rick]

I was always, and still am, in the middle. Never got on board with the shills' opinion that this was going to be the best thing since sliced WCW and never understood the sad fucks who were praying for it to fail, so they could say they told us so.

I think it's been a good year overall for them. The first PPV was superb and was always going to be hard to match, let alone top, so the next couple of specials being very meh was understandable. They made a lot of mistakes early though allowing some utter tripe to be on the shows. As we've been saying all year though and others have said already recently, they do seem to learn quickly what stuff is absolutely dogshit and have tightened up quickly. The Dark Order stuff is probably the major exception.

The Coronavirus stuff came at a really bad time because after a rough period of TV before Xmas last year, I thought they were putting out a superb product week on week earlier this year. Obviously we all love the handsome bastard that is Hangman Page but up and down the card, you had good acts who were getting over and heading into that proposed Blood and Guts match, things were looking really rosy. It's taken a bit of hit since then which is understandable. That they've pulled off some really memorable stuff in the midsts of this lockdown is credit to their creativity. I still don't think they should have been running shows though, same as WWE, but they've made a better fist of it.

The next year will be even more interesting. As entertaining as they've been, they've not showed any real growth in TV numbers. Some consistency but not improvement. I've no idea what they were doing on PPV but across the board, they'd ordinarily be looking to grow TV ratings, PPV buys and attendances a well as improve their commercial output. In the current climate though, I think they'll be happy to just be alive, viable and still on TNT by the end of 2021.

In the ring, I've been most impressed with their ability to get guys like Hangman, Sammy, Darby Allin and OC over. They've made good acquisitions like Archer, Santana and Ortiz, they've made me interested in Hager and even Spears for one match, and they've not over-used some of the guys who just weren't working like Janela and Havoc. They can improve loads in their quality control but I'd take the fuck ups we've seen from them over the complete control and lack of spontaneity in WWE we've had for the last few million years.

7/10 for me.

[Otto Dem Wanz]

Dynamite is the only time I've ever bothered to consistently watch wrestling weekly tv, not much more I can say than that! Big up Fite TV for their coverage, all for just 3 quid or so per month. 

One thing that particular stands out about AEW is just how much fun everyone seems to be having when working there. The Inner circle comedic stuff especially, they all look like they're having a blast and that really radiates through the screen.

[WyattSheepMask]

Hard to argue that that it’s been anything less than a successful first year even when you factor in how everything has been for the last couple of months.

Chris Jericho was an absolute laughing stock 18 months ago. Now he’s consistently entertaining and has a great pairing with an up & coming talent in Sammy Guevara as well as the rest of the Inner Circle.

There are still things they do that I’m not particularly enamoured with, and early on they were guilty of putting matches on that had too going on and going far too long and the less said about that Omega/Moxley match the better. But, as has been mentioned, they seem more open to criticism and changing things, or in some cases like the Nightmare Collective, dropping them completely.

The big worry going in was that The Elite has conned a billionaire into finding their own personal vanity project for them and their mates. That’s something that I’m still not totally convinced isn’t the case, but at the same time it could’ve been far worse.

Edited May 27, 2020 by WyattSheepMask

[Merzbow]

You know what can determine just how well they're doing? How many of us would buy a sticker album if they brought one out tomorrow?

I don't have much more too add except they were starting to slide down a slippery slope with the Dork Order, Nightmare Collective and the dreadful womens division amongst other slip ups with the "internal struggle" until Tony supposedly called an audible near the start of the year and set things straight again.

But yeah, overall I've enjoyed the shows more than anything since the HogOff era of TNA (aside from LU but they're in their own world).

[UK Kat Von D]

43 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

The big worry going in was that The Elite has conned a billionaire into finding their own personal vanity project for them and their mates. That’s something that I’m still not totally convinced isn’t the case, but at the same time it could’ve been far worse.

Well it’s making money and the billionaire is hands on and having the time of his life. For it to be a con you would have to look at someone who’s come off worse for AEW existing.

As for a sticker book, I would definitely get one for my kid as long as he knew he wasn’t allowed to touch it 

[tiger_rick]

46 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

The big worry going in was that The Elite has conned a billionaire into finding their own personal vanity project for them and their mates. That’s something that I’m still not totally convinced isn’t the case, but at the same time it could’ve been far worse.

Don't think that's remotely true. Not that Tony Khan isn't naive but he's right on board with it. It's worth any amount of money to hang out with wrestlers and play out his fantasies. I think it's an ideal combo really. Billionaire willing to spend some money and a bunch of dudes not arsed about working for WWE.