The AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite Thread

[Hannibal Scorch]

The thing that shocked me the most is that 57 year old Billy Gunn hasn't aged since 1999. He looks and pretty much moves the same. How do people like Jericho look like old leather and he looks the same whilst being older? 

The show overall was fine. All the matches were entertaining, but the Blood and Guts match is taking too much focus without needing anymore build. In fact, the amount of pushing is actually diluting my interest in the feud.

That Ricky Starks botch though. Jesus. How he just got up after that and carried on as if nothing happened. Could have been nasty. Hook needs to work on his stomps as well.

Last thing, I didn't get the Elite and Mox/Kingston exchange. Did they hit the wrong truck? What was the point? +1 for the banter of Mox and Kingston as a double act and Nick Jackson shouting we're live pal.

Still, better then NXT and leagues ahead of Raw so even an average show is better then most other output.

[I Bent My Wookie]

I enjoyed this week's show. Yes Jericho comes across cringy as hell but I kinda like that for his character that a lot of what MJF is saying (in a very "What about me? What about Raven?" sense) is true and it is Jericho surrounding himself with all these young potential stars, and Shawn Spears.

Jungle Boy and Darby was really good for me and I really enjoyed the Women's Title match, though knowing it's a precursor to Britt taking the title, I'm more excited for Conti to take the title from her eventually.

I don't mind the faction war, yes it's obviously a ploy to get a ton of people on the show outside of Dark and Elevation but it's nice for a wrestling company to show people do work out and train together, hang out backstage, support each other. The fact that some of the few who don't hang out with more than 1 person is Mox/Kingston, Archer, Darby and Sting etc adds more to their character of well if they get into trouble, who has their back? Why don't they hang out with the guys in the back? From a standpoint of "realism" you're not gonna get any better training by yourself, especially in ring, so it's fine to show that you've a team behind you. 

Would you wanna go for a Beer with Best Friends? Hang out with the Dark Order on a lawnmower? It just gives lower totem guys something to do and get involved in. 

[BomberPat]

yeah, I don't mind the faction thing. It makes them stand out from WWE, and it's a welcome change from the WWE booking where two people will suddenly become "best friends" on-screen for the sole purpose of one turning on the other three months later, or where babyfaces have no real friends to speak of. The most egregious factions were the Nightmare Family and The Elite, in terms of not really having any real defining characteristic about what they were all about, but The Elite finally becoming a heel act and the QT/Cody story with the Nightmare Family is giving them purpose.

Some of the booking around them can be repetitive - I've lost count of how many times I've read "someone interfered in Darby Allin's match, then Sting and/or The Dark Order showed up" - but that's a separate issue.

I'm just glad Dustin has showed up. Aside from it being QT Marshall in the first place, the worst part of this story has been that it was QT turning on Dustin, costing their tag team a title shot, walking out on him and so on, yet Cody was the one to feud with QT over it. 

[LaGoosh]

Starks and Page definitely have a better match in them. If they had 10 matches in a row this would definitely be the worst of them. And it was pretty good. Starks definitely seemed to have a rough night though. Dumped on his head, then clotheslined right in the face shortly after seemed to knock him loopy then he seemed to hurt one of his feet.

Darby is just fucking great though. What a star. Just has that unteachable It factor alongside having brilliant and unique matches every week. Long term I hope he gets a World title run at some point. That's if his body holds up long enough the mad bastard.

[Michael_3165]

3 hours ago, RedRooster said:

Babyface Jericho is almost certainly going to be the shits if he leans into his sense of humour. The early days of his podcast were impossible to tolerate thanks to "jokes" on the level of "My Jerkoff Friend" and whatever the fuck that song was.  

I hated this show. For me, it summed up how ridiculous AEW is right now. Every match or segment featured a faction or someone who is in a faction outside of the Women's Title bout and Miro's promo. Enough, already. Stop trying to cram everyone on to every card and either cut the dead weight, or loan some of your wrestlers out to the NWA and/or Impact to allow them to develop. 

I can accept QT Marshall - barely - as Ogogo's coach, but when you have so much talent on your roster, why is he getting the push that he's getting? Is there anyone out there outside of AEW who thinks this is a better use of TV time than the Penta/Cody feud they originally hinted at?

Pac, Fenix, The Dark Order, The Acclaimed, Nyla Rose, Paul Wight, Leyla Hirsch, Riho, SCU and Serena Deeb are among the talent who do not have direct feuds right now (you could add Jungle Boy to that list, even though he had a match this week) - they have all of these people waiting for something to do, while QT fucking Marshall is about to wrestle one of AEW's biggest name wrestlers? It's mind-blowing. 

Are they still doing multi-mans and hardcore/gimmick matches a lot for no real reason? I vaguely remember that many shows had no-DQ or other gimmicks involved but I haven't watched in a long time because I didn't "get" it. The tag matches that had absolutely no selling or rules just turned me off which is sad because I love tag wrestling more than singles. 

Can someone explain what the fascination is with Darby? I have seen his stuff and some of it looks okay though he looks paper thin and I just can't get over the fact he looks like the average person on the street could beat him with little effort. I am not knocking his in ring work (though he has to stop that Coffin Drop, he is setting himself up for so many neck problems in the future, he is hardly Mick Foley in terms of padding) and maybe I am too old to "get" the gimmick. 

 

EDIT: Ignore that. Someone posted above me explaining. Not sure I get it but some people will and tha'ts also fine

Edited April 22, 2021 by Michael_3165

[I Bent My Wookie]

1 minute ago, Michael_3165 said:

Are they still doing multi-mans and hardcore/gimmick matches a lot for no real reason? I vaguely remember that many shows had no-DQ or other gimmicks involved but I haven't watched in a long time because I didn't "get" it.

For no real reason not so much. The arcade anarchy match was the blow off to Best Friends breaking Kips arcade machine when him and Miro were doing their streamer gimmick and it worked. 

Multi man's you could argue yes, but I think a lot of them are working in the way Japan does of having your main guys on screen and protected from not taking the pinfall or themselves getting the win on someone less established, and not battering their body up as much.

Unlike Darby, who appears to be going through an absolute war each week at the moment. Either that guy feels no pain or enjoys it.

[Michael_3165]

1 minute ago, Shy Dad said:

For no real reason not so much. The arcade anarchy match was the blow off to Best Friends breaking Kips arcade machine when him and Miro were doing their streamer gimmick and it worked. 

Multi man's you could argue yes, but I think a lot of them are working in the way Japan does of having your main guys on screen and protected from not taking the pinfall or themselves getting the win on someone less established, and not battering their body up as much.

Unlike Darby, who appears to be going through an absolute war each week at the moment. Either that guy feels no pain or enjoys it.

I really worry about that guy. Firstly the drop makes no sense (why would you do it, not seeing if your opponent is in place or not) but also he does so much stuff for a guy as thin as he is and the long-term impact is likely going to be horrific for his joints (if Dynamite Kid was in a wheelchair this guy almost certainly will have some mobility issues when he turned 60). 

[LaGoosh]

9 minutes ago, Michael_3165 said:

Are they still doing multi-mans and hardcore/gimmick matches a lot for no real reason? I vaguely remember that many shows had no-DQ or other gimmicks involved but I haven't watched in a long time because I didn't "get" it. The tag matches that had absolutely no selling or rules just turned me off which is sad because I love tag wrestling more than singles. 

Can someone explain what the fascination is with Darby? I have seen his stuff and some of it looks okay though he looks paper thin and I just can't get over the fact he looks like the average person on the street could beat him with little effort. I am not knocking his in ring work (though he has to stop that Coffin Drop, he is setting himself up for so many neck problems in the future, he is hardly Mick Foley in terms of padding) and maybe I am too old to "get" the gimmick. 

The gimmick matches always have a story behind them or are blow off matches.

Darby is small yes but he wrestles EXACTLY as someone of his size and gimmick should.

He is lightning quick, he throws himself 100% at his opponents, he takes fast advantage of any missteps or open gaps from his opponents, takes big risks because he has to to get the advantage, endures brutal punishment but never gives up, will bend or break the rules to save himself or turn the tables. Match psychology wise everything he does makes perfect sense. He's ace. He hasn't had a match anything less than good for months now.

[Chris B]

Darby Allin is fascinating to watch because he really does hurl himself around like he doesn't give a shit. There's definitely an argument around how sensible that is, and whether it's right or wrong for AEW to capitalise on it. But he's doing mad shit on his own time when they're not putting it on television - when he was off injured, he was still hurling himself off things.

You really get the idea that if he wasn't on television, he'd be doing all this on a youtube channel. Hopefully, they're encouraging him to tone it down over time. It's definitely not sustainable, but it feels more real than anything else in wrestling as a result.

[Guest]

Darby a doing these on a fortnightly basis, not 4 nights a week all year. He’s getting the chance to rest up so can take risks 

[I Bent My Wookie]

Just now, Louch said:

Darby a doing these on a fortnightly basis, not 4 nights a week all year. He’s getting the chance to rest up so can take risks 

I do keep forgetting they're taping one episode and that he isn't doing much on Dark or Elevation.

But still two matches like his in the space of 4 hours is still gonna hurt like hell a few days later and start to build up.

[Chili]

The amount of factions is issue us. The viewer is partly to blame. We are so used to WWE and their aversion to stables and groups beyond that we don't look elsewhere. Think it's been said before that it's NJPW based isn't it. I've never really seen how it's booked. But it makes sense to me. Why would I want to be in wrestling on my own. I've seen wrestling, full of fucking weirdos. I'll get some weirdo mates. Some look and go 'oh it's easy booking that, just stables, where is the effort', cheeky given other promotions glowing storyline output.

The factions (even QT's sorry @RedRooster) all make sense and add to the shifting plates style booking AEW has where talent have almost a main and minor goals play into their alliances. Might be explain later more when the Diazepam kicks in.

Edited April 22, 2021 by Chili

[RedRooster]

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

yeah, I don't mind the faction thing. It makes them stand out from WWE, and it's a welcome change from the WWE booking where two people will suddenly become "best friends" on-screen for the sole purpose of one turning on the other three months later, or where babyfaces have no real friends to speak of. The most egregious factions were the Nightmare Family and The Elite, in terms of not really having any real defining characteristic about what they were all about, but The Elite finally becoming a heel act and the QT/Cody story with the Nightmare Family is giving them purpose.

Some of the booking around them can be repetitive - I've lost count of how many times I've read "someone interfered in Darby Allin's match, then Sting and/or The Dark Order showed up" - but that's a separate issue.

That's definitely one of the issues for me. On the one show, you had The Inner Circle, Pinnacle and The Elite all cutting promos to essentially say what a great faction they were. Sure it was in the context of their respective feuds, but it all felt similar, and not a massive departure from similar promos cut over the past few weeks/months. 

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Darby is just fucking great though. What a star. Just has that unteachable It factor alongside having brilliant and unique matches every week. Long term I hope he gets a World title run at some point. That's if his body holds up long enough the mad bastard.

While I don't want him to beat Omega at this stage, I'd love to see an Omega/Darby PPV main event before they do Omega/Page. It really does feel like they're heading towards the latter at the next PPV, and I really hope I'm wrong about that. I absolutely do want to see that match, don't get me wrong. I just don't want to see it yet. 

Just now, Chili said:

The factions (even QT's sorry @RedRooster) all make sense and add to the shifting plates style booking AEW has where talent have almost a main and minor goals play into their alliances. Might be explain later more when the Diazepam kicks in.

You know what? If QT was just acting as a coach type figure, I'd be fine with that. I actually like the idea of Ogogo having something of an entourage just as he might have had during a boxing match. 

I've not seen as much praise for the Women's match as I expected, but it was really fun. Putting aside the fact I wish they'd given it more build on Dynamite, both women were fantastic, and Conti has really become one to watch in that division. She still needs to find a distinct identity, I think, and if/when she does she could end up being a massive asset for AEW. 

[Chili]

6 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

You know what? If QT was just acting as a coach type figure, I'd be fine with that. I actually like the idea of Ogogo having something of an entourage just as he might have had during a boxing match. 

Ogogo should be used when ready. Didn't mind that whole angle. Glad to see more bits and pieces coming in. If Cody wasn't in this feud I think people would care even less. Good Dustin was brought back in the angle. Loved the old Dusty wooden chair spot to Nick Comorato. That looked excellent and a great redo of a classic. Don't mind seeing Dustin/QT in some texas style gimmick matches. I still the endgame is Cody and Ogogo. You can even have those lads eventually throw Marshall away once they all break off or Ogogo becomes one of their boys. 

Not sure what the May card will look like. Not a bad thing either. 

[Guest]

The biggest sports in the world are all team games. Suddenly no one wants real sports feel.....