AEW Dynamite Thread 2022

[BomberPat]

3 minutes ago, JimmyAnderson said:

Can Archer just get a title shot though? Doesn't it make a mockery of their rankings if Lance Archer who hasn't been seen for months just walks in and challenges their world champ. Especially when you consider Archer hasn't won on Dynamite since last July. Even with everyone's records resetting, Archer has to be behind others in the pecking order.

That could easily be the story - he's targeted Hangman Page to make his intentions clear, and then is going to wreck his way through other wrestlers, with Page knowing that this big fucker has him in his sights. Either that or Hangman Page appeals to Tony Khan to bypass the ranking system and grant him a match with Archer for revenge - maybe they do the Unsanctioned Match deal, rather than a title defence. There's a few ways they can go from here without the rankings being disrespected.

What's clear from AEW at the moment is that they're a bit of a victim of their own success - I don't think the last few weeks have been bad TV, but they feel like it when you compare it to a really hot run that came before it. On top of that, I think they're really hurting from the absence of Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega. What Tony Khan (and whoever else is involved in booking) have proved a few times now is that they've got a pretty firm handle on the "bigger picture" side of things, to pull off stories like Hangman vs. Omega, and generally have a sense of where all the main stars slot into months or years worth of stories. But they seem to fall down when it comes to the short-term, and the last-minute decision making that comes of an unexpected injury or absence - and a good booker needs to be able to do both, and to spin off into new directions if their hand is forced. Instead, it really feels like a lot of people are in holding patterns right now.

[Infinity Land]

21 minutes ago, JimmyAnderson said:

Can Archer just get a title shot though? Doesn't it make a mockery of their rankings if Lance Archer who hasn't been seen for months just walks in and challenges their world champ. Especially when you consider Archer hasn't won on Dynamite since last July. Even with everyone's records resetting, Archer has to be behind others in the pecking order.

He had a good enough record to be entered into the World Title Eliminator where he only lost out in the match due to an injury and has been benched since then.

Pretty sure Rey Fenix got a World Title shot under similar circumstances. Albeit he won his Eliminator match only to resign from the tournament due to injury.

 

[Jazzy G]

Could they not have one of their non-title "eliminator" matches where if Archer pins Page he gets a shot? 

[LaGoosh]

46 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

What's clear from AEW at the moment is that they're a bit of a victim of their own success - I don't think the last few weeks have been bad TV, but they feel like it when you compare it to a really hot run that came before it. On top of that, I think they're really hurting from the absence of Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega. What Tony Khan (and whoever else is involved in booking) have proved a few times now is that they've got a pretty firm handle on the "bigger picture" side of things, to pull off stories like Hangman vs. Omega, and generally have a sense of where all the main stars slot into months or years worth of stories. But they seem to fall down when it comes to the short-term, and the last-minute decision making that comes of an unexpected injury or absence - and a good booker needs to be able to do both, and to spin off into new directions if their hand is forced. Instead, it really feels like a lot of people are in holding patterns right now.

Yep, spot on. Listening to any interview with Tony Khan about booking he definitely has the philosophy that long term stories are good stories. He loves to mention how long a story has been going for over anything else about it. So while you get some really great stories from long term booking you also equally get a ton of wheel spinning and weeks where not much happens and everyone feels a bit lost or things get repetitive. Fortunately for AEW so far, usually the blow off match is so good everyone either forgets or forgives how bored they were of the story beforehand. Perfect example being the awful, awful, awful Miro vs Orange Cassidy feud which ended with the absolutely spectacular Arcade Anarchy match. I'm hoping that Tony Khan realises soon that sometimes a short and exciting feud over a few weeks is often a better idea for the overall product than dragging something over 3 months to make it more "epic".

Edited January 14, 2022 by LaGoosh

[The King of Old School]

9 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Could they not have one of their non-title "eliminator" matches where if Archer pins Page he gets a shot? 

Yeah I think that's the way to go.

Page has to be winning though.

[Pinc]

I'm hoping Archer is just a 2 week feud for Hangman to play into him being a fighting champ. There's a good pool of potential challengers far more interesting than Archer. If they waste a whole PPV cycle on him I'll be gobsmacked with Miro, Andrade, Cole, Cody, Punk, MJF, Kingston all knocking about.

[Jazzy G]

As has been mentioned it'd be a good stopgap into Beach Break, then if Moxley is back they can spend February building to that match at Revolution. There's still going to be a returning Kenny Omega to deal with as well. 

[Merzbow]

So who's joining The Flock of Black? Julia "Scotty Riggs" Hart feels like a shoo-in and is PAC going to turn becoming the next Perry Saturn?

[RedRooster]

19 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

So who's joining The Flock of Black? Julia "Scotty Riggs" Hart feels like a shoo-in and is PAC going to turn becoming the next Perry Saturn?

Julia Hart seems possible, if not probable, but it also feels like a bit of a retread of Anna Jay joining The Dark Order. To be honest, I think the stable is a mistake. Part of Black’s mystique was down to the fact he cut a solo figure. He was scary, but his motivations were unclear. One week he’d do something awful to Arn Anderson, the next he’d be nodding in approval to Dante Martin. It didn’t feel inconsistent to me, it worked well. I don’t want him to lead a second rate Ministry or Wyatt Family…I’m just not convinced by this.

Edited January 14, 2022 by RedRooster

[Joe Blog]

I wonder if they have realised just how much talent they have now and are trying to work out a way to accommodate everyone. Black and Brody can be used as a tag or if they recruit more they could slot into the potential trios division? I feel that is the way they are going with Eddie and P&P as well. 

[Infinity Land]

The two of them are tagging in PWG. It seems more of a them thing than anything. A lot of these guys are inspired by the New Japan way where a stable/faction is the default.

 

[JGP]

I agree with what has been said here about the stars not fighting often enough.

I only started watching AEW around the time of Darby vs Miro where it felt like Darby was rising through the ranks but you knew Miro was a monster which made there TNT title match so exciting.

It also felt like you had things paying off all the time (even if that wasn’t the case). But now they don’t seem to do many star vs star matches as all the stars want to win. 

Its almost like another version of the 50/50 booking - where they don’t want to pick so everyone gets a win. In AEW they don’t want to pick so you get lots of winners vs loser feuds. it’s 100/0 booking. Multi Man matches always have there stars and there losers for example again removing the jeopardy from things.

Adam Cole vs Orange Cassidy could be a star vs star match but they have made it clear that Cole is the star and Cassidy is there to lose even if he gets a win here and there (so maybe 80/20 booking). 

So yeah, I want AEW to make more choices and have some stars lose more often.

[DavidB6937]

It's a fine line really. When you look at WWE everyone wrestles so often that they burn through all the interesting matches and have endless rematches that by the end you're sick of those people wrestling each other when you were excited for it in the first place.

I appreciate that AEW aren't going down that route. But they don't want to be too far on the opposite side either. And even though I appreciate them not having too many PPVs they do need to be careful about the booking between them. Not every storyline needs to be that drawn out. It'll become less and less special and lose the impact. Some feuds can be super hot for a short time and be done with. That's okay!

[Infinity Land]

It's the Holiday season which is typically a lull. Not to mention multiple people have gone missing at points for things outside the booking's control.

I'll probably remember the good more than the bad since 'Winter is Coming' a month ago.

Hangman v. Danielson 1 & 2

Deeb v. Shida 3 & 4

Punk, Sting, Darby in the face paint v. FTR & MJF

Cody v. Sammy for the TNT Title that was going somewhere and been sidetracked by his quarantining

TayJay v. The Bunny & Ford bloody finale

Jurassic Express v. Lucha Bros

 

 

 

[Mr.Showtime]

The only thing that really bugged me about the show this week was that Orange Cassidy got kicked in the balls AGAIN. I swear that's been about 54 times. Why is he being made to be such a moron??