AEW Dynamite Thread 2022

[Guest]

You are right @Supremo , there’s always something good in the “worst” dynamites. Most of the criticism comes from a place of people know they can be better than actual burying. Well bar a few who can’t take that Papa H isn’t everyone’s lord and saviour. 

[JimmyAnderson]

Couple of things that I haven't seen mentioned yet that I picked up watching this week's show.

Firstly I wonder if the crowd jump by Andretti was pre-planned or if it was just a spur of the moment thing. Because it was Jericho he beat, I imagine it's pre-planned with Jericho using it to as a dig at Punk.

And the other thing, when House of Black destroyed the Factory, the table spot with Lee Johnson looked fucking nasty. Looked like he did land right on his neck. The commentary team mentioned it briefly then quickly changed tact which makes me think it was a bit more serious than they'd first thought.

[poetofthedeed]

Amazing how Jericho losing one match makes everyone forget that he managed to block the momentum of everyone he's feuded with in AEW, Maybe he is the GOAT.

[Chris B]

This felt like the most focused episode of Dynamite in a long time, and just plenty of good stuff with the Jericho/Andretti thing coming as a nice surprise. I don't think the crowd jump was a Punk dig - really, not everything is about Punk or making digs.

Jungle Boy and HOOK? They know *exactly* what they're doing with that, and fair play to them. Also, while I don't like Brian Cage, he's been steadily improving recently - a handful of decent matches against good opponents. One of those people who isn't annoying me as much as he used to.

Enjoying the Best of 7 series a lot - and changing the last few to gimmick matches makes a lot of sense, and it feels like there's more of a story than just a series of matches. Which was definitely necessary. Also, I find it odd how Kenny's now using his 'Good night and good bye' catchphrase, which he's mostly avoided in AEW. 

I find it interesting how AEW book and why it sometimes doesn't work - they very much book around PPVs and then work their way back. So, when it's at its worst, it's because some of those plans changed, and they've shoehorned a new plan in - and because it wasn't what they wanted to do, there's a palpable sense of just going along with it until it's done. But it's interesting that you can see the feuds being booked and people being moved around to put them into the right place for that feud - whereas, in WWE, it felt like people got booked to fill spots, rather than around particular feuds, with a rough plan for a number of heels and faces at various levels. Struggling to explain it, but it feels different, and with its own positives and negatives.

 

[BomberPat]

The thing with Brian Cage is that I just don't care about anything he does. There's a channel on Plex that just shows old TNA/Impact stuff, and we watched his match with Fenix on there shortly before Final Battle, and there was just nothing to him, and he's been that way on everything I've seen him on - AAA, Impact, Lucha Underground, and now AEW. If he weren't the size he is, he'd be every other early '00s flippy indie guy with no sense of psychology, he just strings moves together with no rhyme or reason, and doesn't give any of them enough time to sink in. The novelty of him being a big bloke doing athletic and acrobatic stuff quickly wears off when it's every move. Contrast that to Jeff Cobb in his match at Final Battle, and it's night and day - Cobb is athletic as fuck, but everything looks like it has some heft behind it, and when he pulls out something like a standing Moonsault it makes you stop and think, "fucking hell, fair play", whereas when Cage does that stuff it just feels like a Create-A-Wrestler with an inappropriate moveset.

Jericho and Action Andretti is an interesting one, because the focus is all on how creative and selfless Jericho is, not on how shocking a win it was for Andretti. The thing with star-making performances is that you have to follow through and make somebody a star at the end of it all, and that's what remains to be seen here - I think it's more likely we see this as the start of a "downward spiral" story for Jericho after losing the ROH Title, rather than a genuinely star-making moment for Andretti, but prepared to see how it pans out. It did make me thing that it's sad Sean Waltman doesn't get the respect he deserves as a "legend", though, and how fun it would have been to do this story with Waltman as the veteran and Andretti in the 123 Kid role, just for the narrative symmetry of it all.

[LaGoosh]

Brian Cage is perfect for the occasional decent TV match and nothing more. Because of his look and size up and coming babyfaces get a good shine from beating him and he doesn't really lose anything from it because he's an absolute freak so he's always credible as a threat. Guys like that are always useful to have on your roster.

[gmoney]

For someone his size and with his athletic ability, it's astounding how little presence he has. I would much rather watch Warlord matches than his. 

Edited December 16, 2022 by gmoney

[Loki]

I'm surprised nobody at AEW has tried to help him improve, or maybe they have and he's not interested.  He has every tool you would need to be a major star except as you say, no character or personality.

He's exactly the sort of wrestler I want to see in main events, being a fan of big scary looking wrestlers, but even I can see why he never gets further up the card.  He often has the look on his face of someone really thinking about the catering table.  In that regard at least he reminds me of mid noughties Big Show.

[The King Of Swing]

12 minutes ago, gmoney said:

I would much rather watch Warlord matches that his. 

Well that goes without saying.

[Infinity Land]

17 minutes ago, Loki said:

I'm surprised nobody at AEW has tried to help him improve, or maybe they have and he's not interested.  He has every tool you would need to be a major star except as you say, no character or personality.

He's exactly the sort of wrestler I want to see in main events, being a fan of big scary looking wrestlers, but even I can see why he never gets further up the card.  He often has the look on his face of someone really thinking about the catering table.  In that regard at least he reminds me of mid noughties Big Show.

He came in as the Joker and was Mox's monster of the moment. Never really got a singles run beyond that with Taz as his mouthpiece. Ricky Starks would be added right after the title shot. Straight away people saw more potential in Starks. Leaving Cage playing 2nd fiddle. Then Hobbs and HOOK followed which lowered his standing even further.

Getting more time on his own with Taz doing a lot of the heavy lifting wouldn't have changed much. He's been around long enough and in main event spots it's obvious he's rather limited as a talker. It could have given him more time to show his own personality. Then people might have found something to latch onto.

[Merzbow]

For someone who idolizes Chris Kanyon so much you'd think he'd try to emulate some of that charisma, I'm not saying he could but he doesn't even try.

[LaGoosh]

Also weird that for a guy who is insanely muscley that his moves don't really look like they hurt very much. Still though, with the right opponent you'll always get a perfectly fine 10 minutes of TV out of hin.

Edited December 16, 2022 by LaGoosh

[Nick James]

Rather than solid muscly, he looks inflated so his flips etc don't look as impactful. 

[westlondonmist]

While he is insanely muscular, he looks a bit of a short arse which is a problem when he goes up against anyone above average height. 

 

Edjt: wiki says he is 6ft but I'm not sure he is. 

Edited December 16, 2022 by westlondonmist

[TildeGuy~!]

Big Bill who has got into amazing shape so fair fucks to him running away from Hook was hilarious.