The AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite Thread

[Chris B]

15 minutes ago, KingofSports said:

First thing I'd do (in kayfabe world) if I were Cage, would be to sack him off.

 

Cage has tweeted about thinking of doing so. Taz is scheduled to talk about it on the next Dynamite, so there'll presumably be some fall-out/making-up.

 

 

 

[RedRooster]

45 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

I think it's quite a tough thing to maintain any hot streak without the fans you know? Not  that they couldn't be booking him better or whatever, but there's no doubt that having people behind you really helps fire up certain characters, and I do think Cody is one of them.

A lot of it is just meaningless matches at the moment, which might be a deliberate choice in the COVID era. I'm not sure. I do wonder how we'd be looking if we hadn't had such strange times.

I take your point about the fans, but it’s even harder when you don’t play to someone’s strengths. I’m not saying that you don’t have Cody wrestle, I just don’t think it benefits him to wrestle every week. Or Dynamite as a show, for that matter.

You could almost always rely on Cody’s feud to be a highlight each Wednesday night, whether he’s getting whipped by MJF, parodied by Jericho or belittled by Jake Roberts. Removing his ability to have these moments has hurt the show for me.

If he turns heel at least that immediately plunged him into the middle of another storyline. Maybe he snaps, he cuts a killer heel promo and Dustin comes out to try and persuade him that he’s doing the wrong thing, maybe he beats the shit out of Dustin and boom, you have one of the most anticipated rematches that AEW is capable of offering.

Fantasy booking, but my point is that AEW doesn’t necessarily need Cody as a face. But they do need him in the middle of a must-see storyline. 

[Chris B]

From the way Tony Khan has talked about it, I think it might be a business thing around building prestige for the belt for a little while. Cody's one of their bigger names and more solid hands, so it's all about that relationship and media building with TNT. Plus, while he's facing babyfaces, it makes sense for Cody to be a little bit of a tweener for a while. It's about getting them cheered and some exposure.

Also, this week's BTE was a decent one. The bit that had me laughing the most was Matt Jackson's new segment about gardening, in a desperate attempt to get more of the 50+ demographic to watch.

[Sheffbag]

23 hours ago, CavemanLynn said:

There was no need for it to be the be-all and end-all of the angle, but after a string of shows where the heel hypes that he's got the champion's number, it would have made the build that one bit more intriguing by having the champ turn round the week before and shit up the heel by letting him know he knows his weakness. This was especially considering it played into the final spot of the match. Not a dealbreaker, but a waste of an extra bit of spice.

It's all part of what looks like a slow turn. Instead of the open challenge biting him in the arse and getting more desperate to cling onto it, it looks like they're spinning it as him getting cocky and disrespectful from winning all the time. They made a big point, which I liked, of showing Arn pulling him to one side and yelling at him to get his head out of his ass. That combined with the emphasis on Tully in the crowd adds weight to the idea of an AEW Horsemen stable on the horizon.

i thought Tully was there to scout Cody for Spears

[CavemanLynn]

32 minutes ago, Sheffbag said:

i thought Tully was there to scout Cody for Spears

That's another possibility. I think it'd be another backward step to go back to that well, but that might just because I hate that Spears has gone from being an entertaining gobshite at the start of lockdown, peaking with Shawn Spears News, to being reduced to trying to get a black glove over.

[DavidB6937]

15 minutes ago, CavemanLynn said:

That's another possibility. I think it'd be another backward step to go back to that well, but that might just because I hate that Spears has gone from being an entertaining gobshite at the start of lockdown, peaking with Shawn Spears News, to being reduced to trying to get a black glove over.

Sadly that's his career all over. Glimmers of something really entertaining but absolutely no consistency. Companies seem to just get bored of him.

[CavemanLynn]

I don't know how much of a coincidence it was that, shortly after his daughter burned her bridge with Impact, Tully was yelling at a midcarder to get serious about his career. Such a step back though. That look over his shoulder at the camera after trolling Dustin's theme music was the best thing Spears has done in his entire career.

[cobra_gordo]

A much better episode this week. Just felt a lot more focused.

Was initially unsure about the opener as I had no idea who Eddie Kingston was but his pre-match promo was solid and I enjoyed the match. Hard hitting and genuinely didn't think Cody was going on the tacks.

Britt Baker is still one of my favourite things on the show, she's amazing. Thought some of the Jordan stuff missed the mark but she can get away with it.

"He won't tap so I threw the towel in" makes perfect sense for Taz if we're ignoring the fact Mox had the armbar on the wrong arm. I had to rewind and watch Darby get jumped a few times. How he didn't break his neck I don't know. Watch in the background when it happens, I think its Billy Gunn with a genuine "Oh fuck" reaction.

Butcher and Blade washing their hands before fighting the Bucks is what I need to see in 2020. I love AEWs falls count anywhere matches, they're generally great fun and this was no exception. Plenty of fun moments, highlight probably being Blade disappearing off screen after being superkicked on to the escalator. Him missing the table diving to the outside though? Fucks sake.

I've never been the biggest fan of Cabana but I'm really liking the stuff with him and Dark Order. He's doing such a good job of being the naiive guy being coerced by someone he thinks he can trust. Wait a minute......

Main event was fairly standard and inoffensive. Hagar has really grown on me, the big sweaty bastard. Oh and Sammy's back.

 

Edited July 23, 2020 by cobra_gordo

[Nick James]

I've only seen a clip of the attack on Allin as i'll catch with the show later on, but what the fuck did Starks have on his feet? It looked like he'd just chucked the closest pair of shoes on to take the bins out. 

[DavidB6937]

So much better than last week, which is why last week was so annoying. With WWE you get used to their level being mostly consistent shite, with the rarity being a must-see show. While with AEW, they go through runs of having the absolute best weekly show by far.

There's a clip floating around of JR saying that everyone should be watching AEW and to DVR NXT - it comes across fairly bitter and miserable as JR does these days, but would be hard to argue against his point if they could maintain this level of consistency and cohesion on a weekly basis.

It was always my main concern even before they started. Do they have the talent? Absolutely. Can they deliver a few decent shows here and there? Damn right. But can they produce that every single week? That's where the problems start.

I don't know what happened last week. I don't know why it ended up being a jumbled mess, but based on this week everything's back on track wherever it needs to be. And I would love for them to be able to carry that forward because fuck me we need it right now.

[Farrington]

Eddie Kingston must be one of the most underrated blokes of this period. Talks, genuine and believable and always puts on a decent show. Hes a really good hand.

[Supremo]

Never really seen Eddie Kingston before. Holy shit. The most believable character and promo I’ve seen in years. I’d say AEW need to sign him up immediately but it’s becoming a bit ridiculous how they sign everyone up, given them the quick run, then immediately realise they don’t know what else to do with them. Matt Hardy, Luke Harper, Lance Archer, Brian Cage, etc.

[TheBurningRed]

1 hour ago, cobra_gordo said:

"He won't tap so I threw the towel in" makes perfect sense for Taz if we're ignoring the fact Mox had the armbar on the wrong arm.

I heard someone talk about this, possibly Bryan Alvarez or someone else on that show clear that up. Basically saying Cage wouldn’t have the strength in the weaker arm to fight out of it and would have to tap. Something that could’ve been put over on commentary to try and make sense of it. 

[garynysmon]

13 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Never really seen Eddie Kingston before. Holy shit. The most believable character and promo I’ve seen in years. I’d say AEW need to sign him up immediately but it’s becoming a bit ridiculous how they sign everyone up, given them the quick run, then immediately realise they don’t know what else to do with them. Matt Hardy, Luke Harper, Lance Archer, Brian Cage, etc.

Eddie Kingston was pretty cool in Impact as the leader of the "heel" LAX incarnation, he's a great talker.

But its getting almost as easy to get lost in the shuffle in AEW as it is the WWE. It strikes me that AEW like the idea of having these guys on the roster and go in with good intentions, and don't do it to stockpile talent. But when you have such an established upper and mid card, how ton earth do you fit everyone in?

With 2 hours of TV and 3 hours of actual product every week, when you take out the inevitable TV time set aside for Cody, The Inner Circle etc, it really doesn't leave that much to share around.

 

Edited July 23, 2020 by garynysmon

[Farrington]

19 minutes ago, garynysmon said:

Eddie Kingston was pretty cool in Impact as the leader of the "heel" LAX incarnation, he's a great talker.

But its getting almost as easy to get lost in the shuffle in AEW as it is the WWE. It strikes me that AEW like the idea of having these guys on the roster and go in with good intentions, and don't do it to stockpile talent. But when you have such an established upper and mid card, how ton earth do you fit everyone in?

With 2 hours of TV and 3 hours of actual product every week, when you take out the inevitable TV time set aside for Cody, The Inner Circle etc, it really doesn't leave that much to share around.

 

Its why the business needs NWA to survive in its current incarnation. That said I think Kingston was under utilised across their shows. He would be a perfect foil for a face champion there.