AEW Dynamite Thread 2022

[CavemanLynn]

13 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Feel like we've been saying this a lot recently. "Once the ROH PPV is out the way", "once Forbidden Door is out the way"...they just need to sort their shit out. There's so much fucking great stuff every week in this company but so often gets surrounded by shit.

This, with the addition that it often seems the good shit is in spite of the surrounding bad shit. No matter the rest of the show, you can always count on Mox and the BCC, Danielson, Kingston, and (yes) Jericho to turn out a quality match, promo or angle that gets your hopes right back up after a run of meh. It shouldn't feel like these guys are swimming against the tide or being relied on to prop up/mask the wider failings of the show's direction. An earlier post said that it just takes a decent promo next week to get things right back on track, but the problem is every week is hot then cold then hot then cold without any of the building of anticipation to fever-pitch. It shouldn't be two weeks out of a PPV and the main hook of the show being "what will the main event be?"; it should've been set in stone a month ago, then let the two opponents to do what they're paid to do best and add the spice in the run-up.

I also saw there was a shooty-bollocks war of words after the show between Omega and Osprey. It's creatively bankrupt and fucking everywhere. It's no wonder so many talent are getting restless, now the grass is looking DX-greener on the other side.

[LaGoosh]

I hate shooty stuff and backstage stuff being included in on-air storylines so much. If you look at all the best stories in wrestling history not a single one of them has any of that rubbish. It literally never works and for some reason people keep trying it over and over.

[DavidB6937]

Not that they don't do layered and complex storytelling, but when they do it tends to be in addition to the main basic storyline - see Hangman/Omega. That worked well for different people on different levels.

Mox/Punk should've been a really easy thing to book whatever angle you want to take. Face of AEW vs outsider. Undervalued champ vs 'real' champ. A mixture of both. Whatever it was, it should've been simple, easy and logical booking that got us there. And they've absolutely fucked that.

Whether it's because Punk is injured or whatever, I still think they could've done something far better than they have done. It's very frustrating. They're taking detours where it's just not necessary.

[BomberPat]

7 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Or we could've been sat here after All Out saying what a great match they had without all the shit that's happened.

Exactly. It seems to be an alarming hallmark of Tony Khan's booking that he can't get from A to B without a detour to X; too many things take the longest, weirdest route to get where they're going.

It was really obvious with the Gunn Club turn - the payoff was The Acclaimed siding with Billy against his kids, but that's where the story started too, so why did we go through a Dumpster Match and Billy telling his kids to get their act together (after a match that they won) and then only turning on him after another win? Why do the turn after the big gimmick match, and do what should be the emotional catharsis long after anyone gives a shit, only to segue sharply into Swerve & Lee vs. The Acclaimed instead? 

You can overlook some of that when it's midcard stories about Billy Gunn's kids, but fucking hell, when it's your pay-per-view main event? And an on paper biggest match available (I agree that Punk/Danielson and Punk/Omega are bigger matches in a vacuum, but in the current context as a Champ vs. Interim Champ match, this is the biggest match) absolutely shouldn't be fucked with like that. 

I'm hoping that the stories of the match still being on are false, because there's just no satisfactory way to get from last night's match to the same match happening as a PPV main event in just over a week's time, that would be preferable to having not done the 3 minute match and injury angle. In kayfabe, why would Moxley care about fighting Punk again, or agree to give him a rematch, when he just beat him easily? In kayfabe, why does Punk warrant a rematch after that performance over the top ranked challenger? (Similar question could be asked of the women's title - Shida and Hayter aren't in the top five ranked wrestlers, what's the point of having rankings if your interim/vacant title match is just throwing whoever you like together?)

If the intention is to set up a rematch with some kind of added stipulation, there's a hundred ways to get there without the match on Dynamite. If it's CM Punk putting his career up against Moxley's title, they could have teased the injury and whether or not he'd be medically able to compete without giving away the match and having him lose in short order. Could have had the exact same spot of his foot giving way after a high kick just during one of the brawls last week, and then there's intrigue around whether that would be enough to cost him the match, without just telling your audience that yes, actually, it would.

The conventional logic when booking a big rematch is that you add a new flavour that wasn't present in the original, and that's usually a way of "guaranteeing" that something will or won't happen - if a heel keeps winning by count out or through outside interference, you book a cage match to prevent that happening. If they keep getting DQ'd, it's No DQ. Simple stuff. The job that Tony Khan has now is to sell, without breaking kayfabe, "the match you just saw end in three minutes will go longer at the pay-per-view" - because "the World Title match might only be a couple of minutes long" is a terrible way to try and sell an event unless you've got a heel people are desperate to see get battered, and a Bill Goldberg type on the opposite side. That's not what people want from a Moxley/Punk PPV match. So what's the extra flavour to make it worthwhile? And I really have to hope it's not another layer of new worked shoot bullshit.

I'm hoping that Meltzer et al and the rumours that it's still Punk/Moxley at the PPV are wrong, and that there's a reason that match isn't happening, and last night was to change course, rather than to take an insane route to the same match. If last night's match was just designed to pop a rating, or "get people talking", at the risk of fucking over the PPV match, then it sets a dangerous, almost Russo-esque precedent. If last night was always the plan for this storyline, then someone needs to have a word with Tony Khan about story structure.

[Keith Houchen]

5 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

someone needs to have a word with Tony Khan about story structure.

Maybe advise him to use a straight line to get from A to B and have something he’s familiar with as a visual representation of said straight line?

[CavemanLynn]

2 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Maybe advise him to use a straight line to get from A to B and have something he’s familiar with as a visual representation of said straight line?

Just don't tell him his storylines would be better on rails.

[DavidB6937]

3 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Maybe advise him to use a straight line to get from A to B and have something he’s familiar with as a visual representation of said straight line?

Nobody wants to see a dog's willy on Dynamite.

[The Gaffer]

9 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Maybe advise him to use a straight line to get from A to B and have something he’s familiar with as a visual representation of said straight line?

No need. This is all clearly building to one big blow off for their feud. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

You should start a thread called Tony Khan Drug Jokes so you can fuck off over there and leave the grown ups to talk about Dynamite 

@Keith Houchenyour original reply was funny tbf

Edited August 25, 2022 by Hannibal Scorch

[Joe Blog]

1 minute ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

You should start a thread called Tony Khan Drug Jokes so you can fuck off over there and leave the grown ups to talk about Dynamite 

A Dynawhite thread if you will.

[DavidB6937]

Until anyone can prove the downturn in Dynamite's quality isn't to do with (a) drugs (b) wanking off dogs or (c) both then it's a fair subject.

It's not like anyone would get angry if something else was constantly brought up in a negative light or anything.. say Disney.. oh wait.

[Keith Houchen]

18 minutes ago, Joe Blog said:

A Dynawhite thread if you will.

AEW Chinawhite!  

[DavidB6937]

Another thing I don't like is the way they refer to the Trios stuff as 'Dynamite Final' and 'Rampage Final'. I'm easily confused. I just want one final.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

I woke up at 5 so I could watch the match without it being spoiled for me. I came away disappointed, and uninterested in a rematch. Hell, I'm regretting having paid for the PPV.

Yeah, it will probably be great, and maybe the story will be great. But, nah mate.

[Daddymagic]

I don't see the point of Mox vs Punk again next week, especially as they did an injury angle for Punk so in theory he shouldn't be able to compete or it makes him a plucky underdog against the companies top face.

 

Strange and frankly silly booking.