The AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite Thread

[RedRooster]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

I did think the main event finish was a bit weird though. Glad MJF went over but Jericho being worried about using the elbow when he'd already used a bat in that situation felt a bit jarring.

I wonder if there was a timing issue with the ref there? I can only assume she was supposed to turn round sooner than she did. 

Overall the show was great fun, and it’s a bold move on their part not to explicitly announce Punk for Friday. It’ll be surreal to see him in an AEW ring.

Sting is absolutely incredible, and that tag match was great fun. I’d love to see Darby/Sting vs The Bucks.

Miro/Kingston should be really entertaining.

I’m also feeling underwhelmed by the All Out card. It feels very cobbled together. Perhaps that was made necessary due to Page pulling out late, and Punk signing, but I don’t feel massively driven to order it at this stage. 

[garynysmon]

12 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Overall the show was great fun, and it’s a bold move on their part not to explicitly announce Punk for Friday. It’ll be surreal to see him in an AEW ring.

Pretty stupid move if you ask me.

They've landed in a position where the live crowd is expecting him there and will be clearly annoyed if he doesn't. Its all well and good saying that everyone knows he'll be there, but not everyone reads wrestling websites and follows the ins and outs.

If AEW gets a million viewers a week, average, a lot of those people follow the weekly shows and nothing else, ditto the extra lapsed or current WWE fans who would probably be tempted to tune in if they knew it was happening.

They've ended up in a weird half way house where it won't be a massive shock to anyone, thus losing that surprise factor, while also not doing all they can to pop as big a rating as they could.

Edited August 19, 2021 by garynysmon

[BomberPat]

It's not a one and done, though. Those curious ex-WWE fans will hear about him showing up, watch it on repeat, on YouTube, whatever, and hopefully tune in to the next episode, while they've built up enough hype through insinuation and word of mouth that Rampage is bound to be huge regardless.

They're advertising it in their TV ad spots as one of the most anticipated events in TV, they have billboards up in New York, NFL commentators are dropping references to it.

Pretty much anyone with a passing interest in wrestling will have seen some of the hype. Those who haven't will hear about it after the fact and think, "this is a show I should be checking out". 

 

I think by not announcing it, they're actually making more people inclined to watch it live through fear of missing out rather than just checking up on it the next day, because there's so much buzz about it. Everyone knows Punk is coming in, but by coming just short of actually saying it, they're keeping a little bit of tension around it - I actually think some of the excitement would have dissipated if they'd just come out and said it. Though I am surprised there wasn't a little more of a tease on this show.

[RedRooster]

20 minutes ago, garynysmon said:

Pretty stupid move if you ask me.

They've landed in a position where the live crowd is expecting him there and will be clearly annoyed if he doesn't. Its all well and good saying that everyone knows he'll be there, but not everyone reads wrestling websites and follows the ins and outs.

Pulling a one-off big rating is great, but fostering an attitude among fans that each episode is ‘can’t miss’ because you don’t know what might happen, or who might turn up, I’d argue, is also an effective strategy. 

If you announce the big signings in advance, then surely you inadvertently suggest that episodes with no such announcement are can-miss?

Purely as a viewer, I love the fact they’ve not announced it. He’ll almost certainly be there, but there’s just enough doubt in my mind to make Rampage my most anticipated episode of wrestling TV in years.

[Guest]

Khan had said last year that they were told they had to pre announce big debuts after Sting just showed up. Really surprised there was wasn’t even a strong hint this week. Wonder if something will drop on social media Friday 

[RedRooster]

11 minutes ago, Louch said:

Khan had said last year that they were told they had to pre announce big debuts after Sting just showed up. Really surprised there was wasn’t even a strong hint this week. Wonder if something will drop on social media Friday 

It was Chris Jericho who said that, but Khan later clarified and said it wasn’t true. 

[tiger_rick]

Can't think of a wrestler I last thought was so utterly shit who I now don't mind at all before QT Marshall. If I was watching WWE, maybe Baron Corbin would currently fit the description too. I think he's alright. Ring work is fine, promos are solid. Come a long way, he could be the DDP of this generation!

[The King Of Swing]

Don: They (Jurassic Express) have over 5000 people behind them.

Excalibur: Marko Stunt isn't that big, Don.

Big Tony's delight over The Elite freaking out was lovely.

Miro Vs. Eddie is one of those matches I want to slap myself over for not considering before. 

To be honest I thought Ford looked pretty bad out there this week.

2.0 and Garcia are getting a lot for only debuting recently which I'm cool with since they have been perfectly fine main event/upper midcard guy fodder so far.

Know I'm in the minority but outside of her hometown reactions I'm not buying into Britt as a massive star.

Pac saying bollocks made me chuckle. Yes I'm immature.

Andrade is a damp squid though and really needs to pull something big out of the bag.

Paul Wight segment dragged but was worth it for QT's reaction. 

[Chili]

10 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Can't think of a wrestler I last thought was so utterly shit who I now don't mind at all before QT Marshall. If I was watching WWE, maybe Baron Corbin would currently fit the description too. I think he's alright. Ring work is fine, promos are solid. Come a long way, he could be the DDP of this generation!

He's absolutely fine isn't he. I need old stupid shit heels like him about and he fills a lowercard arsehole role well. Plus he's gonna get chokeslammed in like two minutes. 

[chokeout]

2 minutes ago, Chili said:

He's absolutely fine isn't he. I need old stupid shit heels like him about and he fills a lowercard arsehole role well. Plus he's gonna get chokeslammed in like two minutes. 

My money is on chokeslam, interference, big punches and chokeslams all round for the stooges and another chokeslam. I'm dreading him wanting to show he's motivated and trying to have a match. Be shocked if it isn't just a reason to tease Show / Shaq again

[Chili]

22 minutes ago, chokeout said:

My money is on chokeslam, interference, big punches and chokeslams all round for the stooges and another chokeslam. I'm dreading him wanting to show he's motivated and trying to have a match. Be shocked if it isn't just a reason to tease Show / Shaq again

I'm expecting something slightly movezey as I love when Show tries that stuff, like his rope assisted nip-up. 

I'm hoping for the world's biggest enzuguri or something silly. 

[I Bent My Wookie]

Part of me expects Ogogo to turn up and knock Big Show out leading to a match between both of them when his eye is fully healed.

I enjoyed this week, something about AEW pacing is the two hours just fly by. I was expecting some 30 minute match when MJF came out but I swear it was the last 15 or so minutes of the show.

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

Can't think of a wrestler I last thought was so utterly shit who I now don't mind at all before QT Marshall.

This is how I feel about Shawn Spears. For ages I had no idea why AEW bothered keeping him on the books but he's recently really come into his role. He's the perfect First Level Boss type who constantly jobs to the other stars but is convincing enough that beating him isn't meaningless and actually gets people over. He's been through a million gimmicks in his run in AEW but now he's ditched them all and stuck with just The Chairman thing and being a nasty, weird bastard I actually look forward to seeing him now. A complete turnaround.

[Hannibal Scorch]

One thing you have to say about AEW is they carry on until it clicks. Like Brandon Cutler in the other shows thread, Shawn Spears above, or Miro, Dark Order and QT Marshall, people have complained about their gimmicks, or angles, but they keep going, tweaking things until it works. Again, polar opposite of the ‘E where their idea of tweaking is adding bullet sounds to entrance music as the solution to why Ricochet isn’t getting over enough. It’s impressive really how many wrongs they’ve righted.

[Supremo]

I think that’s one of the better things that AEW do. They take the shittest members of the roster that I’m convinced I’ll never care about, then manage to make them a completely acceptable part of the show. QT Marshall, Ethan Page, Shawn Spears, even Ryan Nemeth. None of them would’ve stayed employed for longer than a few weeks if I was running the company, yet all of them have now found an entertaining enough niche. I think half the reason it works is because being slotted in the lower part of the card isn’t the death sentence it is in WWE. It’s one of the few things about the Attitude Era that has aged well. Everyone has an act. Everyone has something going on. Same thing here. It makes for a far better show.

So yeah. Absolutely no problem with Paul Wight wrestling once or twice a year and smashing someone like QT up. Looking forward to seeing the World’s Largest Canadian Destroyer. I can’t wait.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Supremo