AEW Dynamite Thread 2022

[RedRooster]

On the whole, Dynamite is an entertaining watch; but there have been some serious missteps recently. 

The Eddie Kingston/Chris Jericho feud, initially, was fantastic. The Jericho Appreciation Society vs. Kingston/Santana/Ortiz feud (and whoever else they inevitably draft in) is crap. Too many cooks really do spoil the broth. It's gone from being a very personal feud, to having limited focus. Daniel Garcia just isn't working out in his new role. His mic work is fairly mediocre, and his new look makes him look like 90s enhancement talent. 

I'm pretty flabbergasted that they put the TNT title back on Scorpio Sky. Why bother changing the title in the first place? They've done so much damage to the credibility of that title since Miro dropped it, which is a real shame given how well they did early on. 

The FTR match was good, but they fucked the build-up. Before even announcing that match, they should have played a video package to explain why it was happening in the first place. I've said it before, but AEW is crap at making matches feel as big as they could. They seem to assume that a match speaks for itself, and while that can be true, as WWE has shown time and time again, sometimes it makes a massive difference to actually speak for the match. 

I really enjoyed Punk's promo though, the way he delivered it felt pretty different. MJF vs. Wardlow continues to be fun, and they absolutely need to get the title on MJF as soon as this concludes. 

Deeb vs. Shida was a lot of fun, and I'm definitely on board with Deeb vs. Rosa. 

The Blackpool Combat Club...their multi-person matches give me the fear that Khan is planning to introduce a trios title. Please don't. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

22 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

 

The FTR match was good, but they fucked the build-up. Before even announcing that match, they should have played a video package to explain why it was happening in the first place. I've said it before, but AEW is crap at making matches feel as big as they could. They seem to assume that a match speaks for itself, and while that can be true, as WWE has shown time and time again, sometimes it makes a massive difference to actually speak for the match. 

 

They showed a small VT on Rampage. They had a longer version of it on the Road to Dynamite on YouTube. But I guess what you would like is a 3 Hour Dynamite instead?

I thought it was an enjoyable, but completely packed episode. Opener was good, the BCC had another fun match and more Regal commentary. Wardlow put in another great showing, the Philly street fight was really good, 10 man tag was fine and whilst I hear the hotshotting of the TNT title, I think creative know they made a mistake by giving it to Sammy and reversed the mechanism on the reign. Plus Kaz V Sky should be fun.  

Edited April 28, 2022 by Hannibal Scorch

[RedRooster]

7 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

They showed a small VT on Rampage. They had a longer version of it on the Road to Dynamite on YouTube. But I guess what you would like is a 3 Hour Dynamite instead?

That’s quite the leap.

Before announcing the match - immediately beforehand, on Dynamite (the show with the much larger audience) - play a video package to explain why it’s happening. Then have the announcers chat a bit about how big a deal it is, get people excited and build that anticipation.

To do that, obviously, does not require a ‘three hour Dynamite’, just cut something else from the show. Slow it down a little.

AEW is a very good show. But they really undersell their own content. Case in point - Jon Mosley be Wheeler Yuta. If you didn’t watch Rampage; you’d have had no idea how emotionally brilliant that match was. They could have opened Dynamite with a recap, hype that Danielson, Yuta and Moxley would be appearing on Dynamite for the first time, have the announcers talk - throughout the show - about this incredible match, and really make the moment count.

Another example - Adam Page vs Adam Cole on Rampage. On the week of the match there was virtually no hype for it, and on the Rampage itself no one spoke much about the match until it happened. They had a huge title match on free TV, and it just kinda…happened.

There have been WWE World title matched where they have spent the whole show building it up - and they’ve felt huge as a result.

AEW just isn’t any good at this - whether it’s ahead of the match, or after. They don’t make the big moments count as much as they could.

YouTube is not a suitable substitute. 

None of what I’m saying means Dynamite is a bad show - but I do believe it would make it better. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

13 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

That’s quite the leap.

Before announcing the match - immediately beforehand, on Dynamite (the show with the much larger audience) - play a video package to explain why it’s happening. Then have the announcers chat a bit about how big a deal it is, get people excited and build that anticipation.

To do that, obviously, does not require a ‘three hour Dynamite’, just cut something else from the show. Slow it down a little.

AEW is a very good show. But they really undersell their own content. Case in point - Jon Mosley be Wheeler Yuta. If you didn’t watch Rampage; you’d have had no idea how emotionally brilliant that match was. They could have opened Dynamite with a recap, hype that Danielson, Yuta and Moxley would be appearing on Dynamite for the first time, have the announcers talk - throughout the show - about this incredible match, and really make the moment count.

Another example - Adam Page vs Adam Cole on Rampage. On the week of the match there was virtually no hype for it, and on the Rampage itself no one spoke much about the match until it happened. They had a huge title match on free TV, and it just kinda…happened.

There have been WWE World title matched where they have spent the whole show building it up - and they’ve felt huge as a result.

AEW just isn’t any good at this - whether it’s ahead of the match, or after. They don’t make the big moments count as much as they could.

YouTube is not a suitable substitute. 

None of what I’m saying means Dynamite is a bad show - but I do believe it would make it better. 

So you would rather cut out a few matches to fill them with VT's? Because the complaint with WWE Programming is in a 3 hour Raw, or 2 hour Smackdown you only get a few matches due to promos, interviews and VT's. You Tube is absolutely a suitable substitute. Watch at your leisure, whenever. If you can't be bothered, thats on you. 

Also, the Mox/Yuta is a bad example, because they were bigging it up on commentary the next Dynamite which shows it isn't as effective. But the only way to do what you want is to cut matches out, and I would rather not let it just turn into another WWE type product.

[The King Of Swing]

Ok show. 

FTR match was solid but not really memorable imo. 

Wardlow stuff is fun. Archer is pretty much done though and can see him being let go once his contract is up. 

Shida/Deeb was fine but I think they work better in regular matches.

Multi matches were ok.

Hopefully that Sammy near miss convinces them to fuck off ladder matches for the foreseeable, probably won't though. 

Don't know why but I had a gut feeling that Sammy was dropping the belt, guessing he'll get it back in Houston.

A bit of hot potatoe is fine once in a while, not every reign needs to be 6 months+. 

[gmoney]

3 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

So you would rather cut out a few matches to fill them with VT's? Because the complaint with WWE Programming is in a 3 hour Raw, or 2 hour Smackdown you only get a few matches due to promos, interviews and VT's. You Tube is absolutely a suitable substitute. Watch at your leisure, whenever. If you can't be bothered, thats on you. 
 

Why do you keep putting words in his mouth? It's incredibly annoying to read. I don't think it's much to ask for a 30 second - minute long video on the show before a match to recap a feud/build up a match now and again. You don't need to add an extra hour, or cut entire matches to do that, quite obviously. 

[BomberPat]

It's not about cutting matches, it's about better pacing of the show overall - taking last week's episode as an example (as cagematch don't have match times up for last night yet), would it have massively changed anything if Dustin vs. Punk went 15 minutes rather than 17, or O'Reilly vs. Jungle Boy went 10 rather than 13?

In shaving a little bit of time off here and there, you can make time for "this is why this is happening" video packages, or "just as a reminder, this happened earlier" recaps, which prevent certain things getting lost in the shuffle on especially busy shows. It doesn't have to mean a WWE show of twenty minute opening promo segments and three recaps for something that happened two minutes ago, but they could manage their time better.

Or, that time could be used to better signpost people toward the YouTube shows they should be watching to get all this information. A shortened version of one of the match hype videos, with a graphic or voiceover at the end explaining "keep an eye on AEW's YouTube channel for more...", that kind of thing. 

[The King Of Swing]

Yeah they could have easily cut a minute off of one of the multi matches and no one would have cared.

Or just don't do another crappy Britt Baker backstage segment. 

[LaGoosh]

14 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

So you would rather cut out a few matches to fill them with VT's?

Why would you need to do that? A 90 second-2 minute recap of the previous weeks main storylines at the start of the show, one or two 30-60 second recaps of events throughout and a 2 minute hype package for the biggest match that week would take up less than 10 minutes of TV time. Most matches on Dynamite are too long so a couple of minutes shaved off each one which would then be used to benefit the overall story telling throughout the show would be a win-win. 

For example, there was a great 7 minute video on YouTube hyping the FTR match. If they opened this weeks Dynamite with the best 2 minutes of that video, go into the Dynamite opening and then the match it would have really built the excitement of the match and any new viewers would have quickly made aware of the story and importance of the match. It's basic stuff that really improves things.

 

OK show this week. Didn't really feel like too much of importance happened. Really need to kick in the stories for the big matches at Double Or Nothing now. I feel like I say this all the time but it feels like they are setting the stage and building up to dream matches that never come. For example, yeah it's great to see BCC kicking arse but enough of the matches with jobbers, the BCC are over and established now, start throwing them some real competition.

I thought Philly was supposed to be a hot crowd? They were awful on this show. Quiet for everything except weapons and entrances.

Ricky Starks is so good. Really hope they start pushing him to the moon.

Edited April 28, 2022 by LaGoosh

[Merzbow]

This company doesn't deserve Shida or Deeb, I'm glad at least one of them seems to be getting a shot at the title tho. Someone to carry Rosa to a great match.

I like that they've teamed the plastic punks together, it's easier to fast forward them both at one time.

So Big Cass, hey? I've seen bits in Impact and he does look to have improved.

[The King Of Swing]

Bless em, try are still trying with Kaz even after his Elite Hunter gimmick died a death.

[Hannibal Scorch]

7 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

 

For example, there was a great 7 minute video on YouTube hyping the FTR match. If they opened this weeks Dynamite with the best 2 minutes of that video, go into the Dynamite opening and then the match it would have really built the excitement of the match and any new viewers would have quickly made aware of the story and importance of the match. It's basic stuff that really improves things.

 

They showed an edited version on Rampage, hyping up Dynamite. Why would they play it again?

[mim731]

Just now, Hannibal Scorch said:

They showed an edited version on Rampage, hyping up Dynamite. Why would they play it again?

Because not all their viewers watch Rampage. It's simple scene setting so the whole audience is viewing the match within the same required context.

[The King Of Swing]

Last I checked Rampage is in a weaker TV slot and not watched by a chunk of Dynamites audience.

[LaGoosh]

6 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

Bless em, try are still trying with Kaz even after his Elite Hunter gimmick died a death.

"I'm the ELITE HUNTER!" ...loses every single match he has with any of the Elite. What a goon. Not sure why they're bothering to be honest, Kaz offers basically nothing unique or special. He's a perfectly fine average veteran to feed to younger guys.