AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[The King of Old School]

No way is Joe winning the belt next week.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

AEW I've been supporting and following since the early days on ITV4 but recently I've started to feel like it's a slog to watch 5hrs of AEW a week. I've found myself fast forwarding a number of matches more and more and enjoying the promos more. There's plenty that can be done in 2 shows. I don't watch RoH or any of the YouTube shows that may or may not be sticking around but I do feel that 5hrs is too much right now. Even more so if you're switching people back and forth between shows as if you miss a show you can easily slip out of a storyline. I get TK wants people to watch all the shows in full, but I don't think he's going about it the right way.

[LaGoosh]

I thought it was a very solid but very unspectacular and unexciting show this week. AEW are in a position where they have an huge number of great characters and great wrestlers but none of them are doing anything hugely exciting. 

Joe should definitely win the title next week. Give him a short but strong reign, he drops it to Adam Cole then you run MJF vs Adam Cole for the 3rd and final tine with the Champion roles reversed. Give MJF the big babyface chase after the title, have Cole turn on MJF and seed the MJF 2024 contract story into it. It'll be golden.

We also really need to refresh the majority of the Champions I think to give the shows a shot in the arm. Over the next few months I'd like to see something along the lines of: World champ - Joe, TNT champ - Ricky Starks, International champ - Swerve or Takeshita, Tag Champs - Jay White/Juice Robinson, ROH tag champs - Gunn Club, FTW champ - Mike Santana.

As for the general booking, I don't think getting rid of Rampage or Collision makes any logical sense. They just need to book the shows better. Create a list of the top 10 acts and every week make sure they have something exciting and substantial to do on television. Don't hold off so much on booking big matches, play to wrestlers strengths, strike while the iron is hot, maintain momentum. Have each show have a different feel - Dynamite is the big circus show that throws everything at you, Rampage is the weird cousin where you have low stakes wacky and fun matches with lower card characters, Collision is the slower paced more traditional wrestling show with a hoss division, longer matches and old school promos.

Being on AEW's booking team would be my dream job to be honest. The untapped potential is absolutely enormous. 

Edited September 15, 2023 by LaGoosh

[d-d-d-dAz]

I couldn’t be more in favour of Joe getting a short reign to facilitate the transition into Cole (c) v MJF.

That said, if we’re doing that, can Dynamite start next week with a shot of a bin backstage and as Joe walks by he just dumps that ROH TV title right on in there?

[Infinity Land]

Just make Final Battle an ROH v. AEW show and mark the end of ROH

Right now it'd be something like:

World Title: MJF v. Claudio

TV v. TNT: Samoe Joe v. Luchasaurus

Pure v. International: Shibata v. Moxley

Tag Titles: FTR v. Better Than You BayBay

Women's: Athena v. Saraya

Trios: The Acclaimed v. Cage & Gates of Agony

Farewell Honor Rumble

 

 

[mim731]

7 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

Just make Final Battle an ROH v. AEW show and mark the end of ROH

I always assumed, long term the tape library was the main thing Tony Khan was after out of the ROH deal in business terms (to pad out the content offering on a future AEW streaming service), so if they aren't getting a TV deal for it I could definitely get on board with absorbing it into AEW. 

[DavidB6937]

To be fair, ROH has worked on some levels. Especially for those like Athena that needed to find themselves and really work out what clicks. In that sense ROH can and should work. It's just when it starts getting messy with the crossovers with the AEW programming etc that it starts being annoying.

[gmoney]

Yeah, it's extremely easy to ignore ROH, so it seems almost spiteful to want to see it turned off. Wrestler's are earning money and getting reps being on that show,

[BomberPat]

I think the downside of ROH is the "everybody has a title" problem - it's not something that bothers me that much, but it does start to become an issue when both guys in a World Title match are also carrying secondary belts from the little sister promotion. It feels very weird for the World Title programme to be ROH's TV Champion vs. ROH's Tag Team Champion. 

[Infinity Land]

11 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

To be fair, ROH has worked on some levels. Especially for those like Athena that needed to find themselves and really work out what clicks. In that sense ROH can and should work. It's just when it starts getting messy with the crossovers with the AEW programming etc that it starts being annoying.

The Athena rebuild started on Dark with the reaction to the Jody Threat match. A lot of the early groundwork was laid there before ROH became a weekly show again. Instead of building that into AEW TV it was cordoned off in ROH.

2 minutes ago, gmoney said:

Yeah, it's extremely easy to ignore ROH, so it seems almost spiteful to want to see it turned off. Wrestler's are earning money and getting reps being on that show,

I largely ignore it now. It's not been as good since going on the road with Collision. They're starting to weave more story and character development back in but it does feel like a glorified Dark/Elevation instead of an ROH show. I don't think anyone would object to Dark/Elevation returning (except WBD which would mean just Dark matches). So its not necessarily a case of people losing work.

[Supremo]

Yeah, viewed in isolation this wasn’t a bad show at all. Three solid matches and some good character work. The problem is everything surrounding it. This deafening, blinding sense of them being ice cold. A roster bursting with talent, yet none of them doing anything particularly exciting. In the space of seven days they had two fantastic pay per views that felt like big bangs, real launch shows, only for it to immediately feel like they never happened, with zero momentum to speak of. Remember the buzz for that first Arthur Ashe show? They arguably have a better roster now than even then, and yet they’re buzz-less.

Father, Father, Father, help us.
Send some guidance from above.
Cause people got me, got me questionin.
Where is the buzz.

Unbelievable that they didn’t send out Eddie Kingston to cut a huge, emotional promo to sell some tickets for Arthur Ashe. Never have they needed him more, and yet it’s like they’ve already given up trying. The last map I saw of the tickets sold, I’m not even convinced their usual lighting and camera tricks are going to hide the embarrassment. They’re going to have to bring back the Covid-19 Cardboard Cutouts.

I liked Mox vs. Big Bill, if for no other reason than for the novelty of seeing Mox play babyface in peril against a big giant oaf. More of this please! I’ve had my fill of Moxley beating up flippy guys.

The Crimes of CM Punk continues to grow, even in his absence. He left Ricky Starks in such floundering shit, without anyone to feud with, that I’ve got to watch the Blackpool Combat Club play babyface and heel in the same fucking segment. Thanks a lot, Punk. Gave me a right headache. Like I’d been stabbing myself in the forehead with razor blades under an announce desk.

Hangman and Brian Cage have some wonderful hoss chemistry together. Fun match. I liked them calling back to their previous matches. The dream scenario is watching that footage back has reminded Tony Khan of how fantastic that first match was, when a seemingly innocuous TV match had massive World Title ramifications because Hangman losing to Cage knocked him out of the number one spot. Great times. Bring back the rankings!

Encouraging finish to the Women’s Four Way. I thought they’d delay Toni Storm vs. Saraya until at least Wrestle Dream or Full Gear. Maybe Toni has sped things up being so brilliant in this new character. Maybe Saraya has sped things up being such a dickhead on Twitter, trying to play, “heel,” but just coming across as a horrible prick. Or maybe Tony Khan knew all along. The only reason to ever to give Saraya the belt was for the home town pop, so why pretend otherwise. Get it back on Toni as soon as possible. Fingers crossed she wins via shoe to the head. Chin up. Tits out.

Takeshita targeting Ibushi would have been a wet dream six months ago. Not now. If Ibushi looked bad surrounded by world-class talent in both Blood and Guts and All In, how the fuck if he gonna pull off a singles match? I don’t have high hopes. In imagining who the target might be though, I realised what a dream match Takeshita vs. Darby Allin is! Book that! Have them compete at hitting the ropes the fastest, see who breaks the speed of light and sound first!

Best thing on the whole show was Orange Cassidy bumping into Hook backstage. Yes, lads! My boys! This is my AEW. Characters I love, creating and developing a friendship. I wanna see skits of Orange asking Hook to open his packet of crisps because he doesn’t have the energy. Hook in shades and denim! Let’s go!

As if Orange didn’t have wrestler of the year already sewn up! Pair these two together as the coolest tag team of all time! Call them Cheese & Onion! Or better yet, throw Danhausen into the mix and make the best Trios Champions of all time! Call them Walkers Multi-pack!

Equal parts the same energy, and yet simultaneously the complete opposite energy. I love it!

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Squeezed and Onion? 

[LaGoosh]

31 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Bring back the rankings!

Yes definitely this. Even if they were often nonsensical or clearly fixed, it just added a little bit of logic and meaning to matches. 

I also loved Big Bill vs Mox. Felt like a proper main event match )even though it was on first) and they even got me with a few of the near falls. MORE BIG BILL!

But yes definitely agree with the lack of a big Kingston promo being a huge miss. That whole post match segment was bloody stupid. Fantasy booker hat on: after the Mox/Bill match where you have the shenanigans with Starks they should have also brought out Rey Fenix to brawl with Mox then had Kingston come out and cut a fucking big time money promo on Claudio to put arses in seats. This stuff is just obvious easy booking that always works and takes about 30 seconds to come up with. Chaotic moments and passionate promos in front of live crowds is always good. Instead they had a minor scruffle in a nothing backstage segment with Fenix and an exhausted Mox then the best promo guy in the entire business just stared at his hated foe, laughed and walked off without saying a word. I mean fucking hell, it's like they're trying NOT to sell tickets with this lazy shit.

A side point: I love Darby Allin but having him on both Dynamite and Collision is too much. Give the guy a bit of a rest and drop the Nick Wayne stuff because it's really dragging, going nowhere and is very shit. The last thing this company should be doing is giving TV time to a flippy skinny indy kid who is years away from being something special.

Edited September 15, 2023 by LaGoosh

[Chris B]

One small detail that I really, really like - AEW portrays being champion as being exhausting.

In kayfabe, it makes so much sense. You're constantly having championship matches, and they're hardships because they're treated as serious things that the opponents are desperately trying to win. Champions tend to take time off when they're defeated - I still love Omega's 'Seriously, Hangman, congrats' promo when he took time off. Orange Cassidy is still exhausted after physically falling apart trying to be champion. MJF is exhausted and injured. 

I'm not saying it's entirely consistent - the main exception is Mox, who is just an unstoppable monster. But even occasionally, the idea that being champion is tiring, exhausting work? I love it. I never want to see a champion shrugging off a loss and just going onto the next show.

[d-d-d-dAz]

7 minutes ago, Chris B said:

One small detail that I really, really like - AEW portrays being champion as being exhausting.

In kayfabe, it makes so much sense. You're constantly having championship matches, and they're hardships because they're treated as serious things that the opponents are desperately trying to win. Champions tend to take time off when they're defeated - I still love Omega's 'Seriously, Hangman, congrats' promo when he took time off. Orange Cassidy is still exhausted after physically falling apart trying to be champion. MJF is exhausted and injured. 

I'm not saying it's entirely consistent - the main exception is Mox, who is just an unstoppable monster. But even occasionally, the idea that being champion is tiring, exhausting work? I love it. I never want to see a champion shrugging off a loss and just going onto the next show.

I sort of agree, but on the flip side they currently make everyone seem knackered.

MJF’s working a neck injury, so’s Roderick Strong, Orange Cassidy is covered in athletic tape, so’s Darby Allin, Bryan Danielson is leaving because he’s in pain, Kenny’s at home because he’s hurt.

These are all angles they’ve worked on TV in the past 2 weeks alone.

Working in AEW generally isn’t very good for your health, they seem to want us to think.