The AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite Thread

[BomberPat]

9 hours ago, boyfriend said:

The more I see of him the more I'm convinced he's not "the guy".

I'm not convinced he's trying to book himself as if he is, though. He largely seems content to take a back seat to Moxley, Jericho and Cody in that regard. 

[boyfriend]

Oh he's definitely not to be fair. But I think the more he fucks around the more he's damaging himself long term. Basically he needs to drop the hammy shit and start presenting himself as the man, or at least on their level, because right now he truly isn't.

[CavemanLynn]

Omega, the Bucks and Cody all have that arrogant tinge that they think makes them 'cool' but just appears to me as smug. It's all affectation, and I find it insincere and irritating. My other half, who's barely a casual, insofar as she'll look over my shoulder while I'm on Youtube or watching Dynamite, refers to it as "stage school wrestling". She can see the act, and that's the problem. They come off entirely false.

The problem is I don't think the audience, when they're back, can turn them heel, which is evidently what they're truer to in real life. A heel Omega could lean into his eccentricity and melodramatic side.

[LaGoosh]

Young Bucks are natural heels. I imagine they'll be turning sooner rather than later. During the feud with Omega/Page, Matt was a superb arsehole.

As someone who had seen very little of Omega before AEW I was initially underwhelmed. After years of hype as the best wrestler in the world, he didn't really impress me. Just looked like another spot monkey of the Seth Rollins type. It wasn't until his 30 minute match with Pac that I took any real notice of him. I love him with Page. To me, it feels more like AEW has told me since day 1 that Kenny is a main event megastar but haven't done enough to show it. There's definitely something there with him, they just need to book him like he's on a different level to everyone else. 

[cobra_gordo]

The logical thing for me is Bucks and Omega all turn heel and work together. They can fuck over Hangman and Cody and take their respective titles- a feud with those two is ready made. Would be good to make the Bucks clear heels against FTR. Having Omega as arrogant twat heel TNT champion would probably give him room to show off his abilities, go for a mix of heel AJ Styles and PAC, and him and the Bucks can control that upper midcard space. Only issue for me is that would mean they've got way too many heels and do AEW need another heel faction unless Jericho somehow went face?

[Chris B]

Omega's talked about trying to round out his game, rather than doing what he's done before - learning to excel in tag matches, brawls, etc, in a way that he wasn't before. Also, they have needed to build more people, as they're still a new organisation, and he seems to be genuinely trying to work on that.

I think they've been badly hurt by so many plans changing for COVID-19. Omega's at his best when matches are built with meaning and layers - the tag match with the Bucks and the last Pac match were examples of what he can do. And everything seemed to be getting ready to show us what they can do with that kind of storytelling, etc.

However, that got derailed, and putting it back on the rails takes some time. They definitely made some missteps on the way (including the Nakazawa match), but they pulled out some decent stuff too (the brawls with the Inner Circle in particular). I think we've underestimated what a bad time it was for them to have to deal with that. And Omega being willing to work with everyone competitively has damaged him a bit.

But they're dropping hints that they're getting back on course. The moment with Omega pouring out the beer was a really nice touch, as it's one that Page clearly disagreed with. And if they can get back to those larger, layered stories, where a lot has meaning, it could really work. When he hits those moments, he comes across as a star - in the tag match with the Bucks, it was that 'kick out at 1' moment after the Bucks disrespected him. He's not the guy now, but I think they're putting the pieces into play.

Also, on Being The Elite, they had a long segment where they revisited a bunch of the issues with The Bucks. While I know a lot complain about BTE, as a fan of it, it has helped me be a big fan of Omega. They did two things in there that were fun in terms of setting things up:

1 - A short segment where the Bucks talked about Kenny ordering hair extensions and aviators, and they're worried he's going to revert to being 'the washer or the janitor or whatever it is that Reddit keep talking about being this awesome version of him'. This was a comedy segment, based around an ongoing joke with Omega threatening Colt Cobana, but it was still interesting.

2 -  A longer, serious, segment with the Elite. Kenny and Page talked about the beer-pouring, with Page making clear he thought Omega was being a dick, and that FTR offering beer was a genuine gesture. Kenny took that on board, saying he didn't trust them, but agreed he'd been a dick about it and would apologise before leaving. Then Matt told Page that he was glad they'd all got back on the same page. Page responded with 'look, I'm turning up and doing my bits and joining in, but... I love you guys, and I owe my career to you. But I don't like you very much. And you don't like me very much. And that's okay. It's like in highschool yearbooks, we'd be writing 'have a good summer'. That's what this is."

So they're going somewhere. Not sure where, but it's clear they have plans.

When I'm talking the stories Omega tells that I like, this long-read on the Golden Lovers love story sums a lot of it up: https://medium.com/we-need-to-talk-about-wrestling/that-one-tweet-thread-about-the-golden-lovers-annotated-e9fc604e3a7f

[Supremo]

I think it was an interview with Observer Radio where Kenny acknowledged he’s happy for other people to take the spotlight right now and that he’s confident in his abilities that he can step up as and  when he needs to. I suspect that’s the same for the Young Bucks, too. They seem happy taking a step back.

I just don’t buy it though. There’s only so long you can hang around the midcard trading wins and going the distance before it starts doing long-term damage and there’s no coming back. It’s the same problem in WWE. Guys spend so long just existing that even when it becomes, “their time,” it doesn’t really work.

I think that’s exactly what we’re seeing this coming week. With Moxley out they’ve been left without a proper main event to compete against Keith Lee vs. Adam Cole. You can put Omega or The Bucks in that position, sure, but will it feel like a real main event that can compete? Not really, which is fucking wild considering these are the guys you would’ve expected the whole company to be built around.

[Chris B]

To be fair, it depends who it's with. Hangman/Page vs The Bucks has shown it can feel like a big main event. Hangman/Page vs The Best Friends isn't. Bucks vs FTR could be a main event if they handle it right. Bucks/FTR vs Lucha Bros/Butcher and the Blade... isn't (and Lucha Bros were thrown in at the last second, as it was meant to be Havoc/Sabian, which would have been even worse). These are starting points, not payoffs.

My understanding is that Lee/Cole has had some build? It's not like it's just a match, to be fair. Fyter-fest branding aside, AEW feels like it's in set-up rather than payoff mode right now.

[LaGoosh]

Keith Lee vs Adam Cole is considered a proper main event match? Fucking hell.

Jericho is hyping his match with OC as one of the best he's ever had. I'm intrigued. 

Edited July 7, 2020 by LaGoosh

[DavidB6937]

14 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Keith Lee vs Adam Cole is considered a proper main event match? Fucking hell.

Yes, and why wouldn't it be? Cole has been a dominant lengthy champion. Lee has had a great year or so and some standout matches.

[LaGoosh]

7 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Yes, and why wouldn't it be?

Because Adam Cole is the shits.

[The Gaffer]

The problem with Omega for me - and I will preface this by saying I've also only been familiar with him from AEW onward - is that there's nothing genuinely dangerous about his character or personal about his feuds. Every big star down through the years has had that about them at one point or another, and we feel it in good angles long after the Santa isn't real moment has happened us. Hogan, Austin, Cena, Hart, Michaels...they've all had that weird x factor intensity to them that's made their best shit seem marvellously well worked but also proper he-means-it.

Even some of the indie big hitters from this generation that initially struggled with that have gotten there now. Rollins shithousing on Twitter, that smirk Reigns properly means when he's shrugging off 10,000 boos, Owens on the mic and Joe in the ring. They all generally excel at being blokes I probably wouldn't hassle at the airport. 

I just don't get that at all from Omega. He seems like he's trying to be the best character in a wrestling video game there'll ever be. Nobody will work harder to max out their stats, but everything feels like this weird, nerdy imitation of reality and proper stars. He's just a goof. I think even in modern day WWE his character would probably have stuck at that Ricochet level. 

[Vamp]

Its interesting that New Japan didn't really even blink when it came to replacing Omega. They just slotted Jay White into that position. And while White hasn't had the same level of matches, he's probably the more interesting character. 

[Chris B]

Now, let's not go crazy here. The most interesting thing Jay White has ever done is grow a beard.

[Michael_3165]

18 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Now, let's not go crazy here. The most interesting thing Jay White has ever done is grow a beard.

I disagree. I think when he is on form he is one of the better heels. He doesn't mug to the fans in a cool heel way. He feels quite old school to me (haven't seen him in 18 months so this may have changed). He reminds me of old school HHH in some ways.