AEW Dynamite Thread 2022

[Chris B]

2 minutes ago, Mr Butternut Squash said:

If Page, Jericho etc have to lose to Moxley, so be it. The world title is up for the taking, so if not now, then when? Top guys should want the top title otherwise the promotion feels flat and rudderless. 

See, I totally get this point of view, but I also really disagree with it. It's the kind of thing that led to booking Punk/Ryback at the exact worst time possible to do so, or the other times we've had stories that have been booked into a corner where you can't really cause damage to either guy. 

I've seen a few people suggesting Wardlow should be the one getting the big push right now, and I think that would be in serious danger of damaging him long-term. Giving Punk the title last year would have been the wrong call, but there were people immediately calling for it.

I do think you have to spread out those losses. But I also think the reasons obvious contenders aren't in it should be fairly easy to explain as well.

[RedRooster]

31 minutes ago, Chris B said:

At which point, what do you have to gain by adding Page/Wardlow/Jericho, etc? If they get thrown over, they lose to a Kyle O'Reilly. If they win, they lose to Mox. 

But it's a Battle Royale. Even if you have O'Reilly go over, it's hardly a crushing blow for the likes of Joe, Page, Jericho and Black. It's not like he's pinned them, or even that he's directly beaten them. I can understand keeping Wardlow, and even Miro, out of this match, but the rest of them...I just don't think it's justifiable. 

42 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Personally, my rationale for it is that this was Battle Royal aimed at the Rocky Balboas - the guys who aren't generally that high in the rankings. The higher you are in the rankings, the more losing it means (like, I genuinely think it should be counted as a loss for everyone who doesn't win), and you have to do double duty and take on the most dangerous guy in the company. For heels like Jericho, that's enough reason to give it a skip.

Page is upset that Mox got the by instead of him, but he's focusing on the NJPW title and Okada. Wardlow is playing the long game, and wants to build his way up there - the TNT title does work better for him right now. The guy who's the most likely to take the risk is Eddie, and he did (and got beaten up by his enemies for trying).

If it's a battle royale designed to help someone breakthrough, then it should have been framed as such - kind of like the battle royale on Raw all those years back that led to Sheamus facing Cena, and winning his first WWE title. 

Having said that, I don't think it's the time to do something like that. I don't think losing the Battle Royale, or even losing to Moxley would have been a damaging blow to most wrestlers in the company (and if they'd gone with - for example - Kingston or Jericho as the winner, it could tie pretty effectively into the BCC/JAS feud) - certainly not something that they couldn't recover from, or use to build on their characters. The main issue, though, is the damage it's done to the title, and even to Dynamite itself. 

First, the interim title. You want people to care about this belt, but the people being pinned in the run-up to its creation are a former NXT wrestler who lacks credibility, and Japanese wrestlers who are completely unestablished in the AEW universe. For this belt to matter, you surely want top contenders to be competing for it right from the get-go. The opportunity to become interim Champion should matter to each and every wrestler, and the crowning moment should feel like a huge deal. 

Secondly, I think it does damage to Dynamite. The week after MJF becomes a defacto babyface by rallying fans against the prominence of former WWE wrestlers, Tony Khan main events a show with the worst example of that. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it would have mattered had a credible former WWE wrestler won the match. However, this was an opportunity to say "hang on a second, no we don't" and give someone like Jungle Boy, Ricky Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs or Eddie Kingston that chance. In the case of the first three, it would have given them a real opportunity to show their worth, and perhaps create a star-making moment. Heck, imagine the buzz if they'd given the win to Hook? Who cares if he loses his first match to Moxley? There's something of a burden to having an unbeaten streak anyway. 

It's rubbish to have your plans disrupted by injury, but this gives you the opportunity to have a hot, exciting one-off episode of television. Instead, they Kyle O'Reilly-d it. 

[BomberPat]

another thing to remember around worrying about people's heat/credibility if they get eliminated from the Battle Royal - other than the countless workarounds like having two hated rivals end up eliminating each other at the same time, stablemates helping someone, and so on - is Hangman Page, who wasn't in the match, and Eddie Kingston, who was but whose elimination wasn't treated as a significant moment, are both wrestlers who are in many ways defined by failures to win important matches, it needn't have to have hurt them.

[Nick James]

2 hours ago, Chris B said:

But he constantly looks like he's forgotten his gear and is just wearing something someone else left over.

Don't know what you mean.

[Loki]

13 hours ago, adjarrell said:

I've been viewing this forum for about 15 years and never posted. I've retrieved my password and jumped on just to say that this post is absolutely bang on. I couldn't agree more. So much frustration with AEW at the moment. I watched pro wrestling for 30 years and stopped around 2018, apart from Rumble/Mania. When AEW debuted it got me right back in with regular pro-wrestling watching, but for all your valid reasons listed above, I'm starting to get a little disheartened with it and slightly worried. Hope it's just a blip. 

Welcome!  And also… 15 years??  The amount of shit we talk on here, that’s impressive.  I had never even considered people might read but not post, seeing how old and obscure this place is now.

[adjarrell]

20 minutes ago, Loki said:

Welcome!  And also… 15 years??  The amount of shit we talk on here, that’s impressive.  I had never even considered people might read but not post, seeing how old and obscure this place is now.

Thanks for the welcome mate. Honestly weirdly on this every single day and have enjoyed reading for probably over 15 years truth be told. 

Guess I'm hooked (no pun intended) with AEW enough to warrant contribution to boards. I simply agreed with the post so much that I just had to retrieve that old password! Haha. Looking forward to joining in the fun (is that the word?) from now on. 

[RedRooster]

1 minute ago, adjarrell said:

Looking forward to joining in the fun (is that the word?) from now on.

Not if you're talking about the most recent episode of Dynamite. 

[JLM]

If any other lurkers want to break their posting virginity to agree with me I would not object to this. If you could wait until I'm losing an argument really badly and come in for the save that would be extra helpful. 

[Chili]

34 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Not if you're talking about the most recent episode of Dynamite. 

We get it, don't veer into hate watching it. I'm willing to give them the time to pull this out. 

I'm not sure about that All Atlantic Title. Where does it fit in. If the TNT belt is sort of your Intercontinental/US deal now, then this one becoming a TV title would be ok. Dunno if it was a network decision. Then again with Forbidden Door it might become our version of that IWGP US belt that pops up, but on their side. 

[RedRooster]

10 minutes ago, Chili said:

We get it, don't veer into hate watching it. I'm willing to give them the time to pull this out. 

I was joking. But criticising AEW isn't hate watching. I'm certainly not accusing you of this, but I think "hate watching" is a bullshit phrase, used to deflect legitimate points of view; as in "the problem is the viewer, not the points they raise." 

And if people aren't talking about what they're doing wrong, they're not going to stop doing them and therefore it's going to be less likely that they pull out of any creative rut. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 hour ago, RedRooster said:

I was joking. But criticising AEW isn't hate watching. I'm certainly not accusing you of this, but I think "hate watching" is a bullshit phrase, used to deflect legitimate points of view; as in "the problem is the viewer, not the points they raise." 

And if people aren't talking about what they're doing wrong, they're not going to stop doing them and therefore it's going to be less likely that they pull out of any creative rut. 

I also question whether you can ever truly ‘hate watch’ wrestling.

If you like the concept of wrestling, you can’t ever say for certain you hate a show and will always hate it - wrestling is too varied, with too many different things going on. It’s not like a normal TV show which will be tonally similar throughout its run, so you know whether you like it or not.

There’s always the possibility with wrestling that something good might happen.

I think ‘hope watching’ is a more accurate term, particularly for WWE. I don’t always love their shows but I watch (often on FF) because I hope to see something I do love, and that position has been vindicated millions of times over the years - as we all know, when wrestling is good, it’s fucking great.

I don’t think AEW has become ‘hope watching’ yet, as they still hit more than they miss though.

Edited June 10, 2022 by d-d-d-dAz

[JimmyAnderson]

The battle royal was a cock-up from the minute they announced it. 

Protecting your top stars is not a reason to not have them in a match of that type because you can easily justify any elimination from a battle royal. Wardlow has already lost in his career, so getting eliminated by four or five people at once isn't going to kill his momentum. Jericho doesn't need protecting at this stage of his career. Adam Cole could of done his promo on Page during the match and caused him to be eliminated that way. 

And even if you must protect your toppest of top stars, put the next bracket in there. Sammy, Joe, Scorpio, Pac, Black, Spears, Dustin, Hook, Jungle Boy, Christian and Ethan Page would have made for better viewing than just lashing every mediocre tag team they have in there. Topped off by Andrade being the joker and achieving fuck all except looking like a tit again. If you're going to have Yuta in the match, then have him as the joker and play on the possibility of him v Moxley for BCC against BCC (which they did at least mention in the main event with Regal) They could have thrown Paul Wight in it and allowed Hobbs to powerslam him to show off his strength. And Keith Lee throwing him over the top rope to showcase his power as well. 

And if you still have to have Kyle O'Reilly win then at least he's beaten a credible name or two. Well respected people in the industry, current or former champions within the company as well as former world champions in some of the world's biggest wrestling companies. It's a bigger feather in the cap for O'Reilly to say I've outsmarted Chris Jericho, Samoa Joe and Dustin Rhodes rather than I've beaten some bloke called Tony Nese who nobody seems to think can amount to anything, I beat that fella John Silver who was red-hot a year ago but has since all but vanished from the main AEW shows and Dante Martin who's work is impressive but once his brother returns will just become another fancy, high-flying tag team.

The only person who came out of that battle royal looking better than they went in was Swerve. The rest achieved nothing. 

And the rest of the show couldn't recover because of the piss-poor start. 

[Merzbow]

Could that women's match be the worst title match in the company's short history? I'm a sucker for a shooty match like UWFi, GLEAT and all that but this was embarrassing.

[Love-Wilcox]

Either Tony has lost his mind with this All Atlantic title or he's planning on giving it to a NJPW or other non-AEW guy. That being said, I do think the belt itself is absolutely beautiful, perhaps my new current favourite in terms of visuals. Let's hope the booking can do the strap itself some justice.

[Merzbow]

Isn't there just one NJPW guy in the tournament brackets? I think they were not named yet.