AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[Chili]

That Christian Cage is quite the boy isn't he? "Go fuck yourself." Absolutely nuked him, and just sauntered off like a prize prick. What a marvelous bastard.

[Nick James]

I can't quite place what it is, but Edge looks so out of place. It's really weird, but in a good way. He looks fucking huge stood near Omega and looks genuinely different from all of the others that have jumped over before him. This time it genuinely feels like a WWE guy jumping ship rather than someone who was released or didn't do too much.

Christian should never, ever, ever be a face again. The man is the #1 heel in wrestling and is absolutely fantastic at it. It helps that for as long as I can remember, everyone has always said what a dick Jey Reso is behind the scenes that it is 100% believable that he is this much of a prick. Magic stuff.

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, Nick James said:

It helps that for as long as I can remember, everyone has always said what a dick Jey Reso is behind the scenes

I think they always meant it in an endearing way. Edge once told a story on their podcast of Kane bumping into Christian at a random airport and they hadn't seen eachother in years. Kane immediately went for a big warm hug and Christian just punched him in the balls and walked off laughing without saying anything.

That final segment was next level brilliant stuff. Edge feels out of place in AEW but in a good way. Feels like a proper big time star. His promo was excellent and of course the Christian ending was just absolutely brilliant. Can't wait to see how this story plays out. Starting off with Edge vs Christian is also the perfect move. They have a cracking feud, Edge moves on and has a bunch of his dream singles matches and stories then they circle back around and end their run as tag partners.

The rest of the show was...fine. A bit dull. I hate this "tofu" shit. I like Powerhouse Hobbs with the Don Callis Family. I still don't like Sammy Guevara being with them, feels somehow both simultaneously like a backwards step for Sammy but also Sammy is kind of shit and and not good enough for the group. It's weird. I'd much rather my boy Daniel Garcia was in there. That why you got the super athlete Takeshita, the big hearter in Hobbs and Garcia as the nasty little shit. Would be a much more natural and exciting fit. The matches would be better too.

[BomberPat]

4 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

That’s weird. I watched it live and it all went out on fite. All uncensored. I wonder why the replay cuts off?

The show overran on TBS, because they had to replay the Roderick Strong/Adam Cole segment to correct the audio - presumably it being cut short on some feeds is because they had a hard cut-off.

Toni Storm is on another level right now. Her calling for an ad break mid-match was brilliant.

I enjoyed the Copeland promo. Could have done without the "Uncle Jay" stuff - no reason you can't kayfabe it to just be the same story with "Uncle Christian". It's one thing when it's somebody with an obvious gimmick name like The Undertaker, but when somebody has a ring name that's ostensibly a "real" name, it just raises too many questions when you acknowledge it's not their real name, and feels all a bit pointless. That's nitpicking on what was otherwise a really fun segment, though.

Surprised by the lack of real cliffhangers and lead-ins to the Tuesday show. The card is stacked, but I was sure we'd have some more meaningful follow-up on the Devil mask stuff, and maybe the Young Bucks cashing in their tag title shot for next week. 

 

[RedRooster]

11 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I was sure we'd have some more meaningful follow-up on the Devil mask stuff

The thing I found strangest about this was that no one really seemed to care. It can't have been a particularly severe attack as Jay White seemed uninjured and unaffected, MJF denied it was him; and Bullet Club Gold just kind of accepted that. MJF didn't even seem that bothered by the suggestion it might be, and Bullet Club Gold didn't seem massively arsed that it happened in the first place. It didn't feel like the major plot point that it should be.

There was no further appearance from the masked group, and it almost felt like it was shrugged off. If you're going to do a cliffhanger - a very good one at that - the follow-up has to be better than that. Deepen the mystery, and make people want to watch the next episode to find out more about it. Make it seem like a big deal. 

One thing Impact does really well that AEW could learn from is a recap ahead of each episode - it makes each plot point feel like it matters, and I feel like most episodes of Dynamite would benefit from that. It's a subtle thing, but it makes storylines feel like a big deal. 

[The Gaffer]

19 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Surprised by the lack of real cliffhangers and lead-ins to the Tuesday show. The card is stacked, but I was sure we'd have some more meaningful follow-up on the Devil mask stuff, and maybe the Young Bucks cashing in their tag title shot for next week. 

 

That's usually my main complaint with AEW. And who knows - maybe it's enough for their core audience since it's the 'wrestling' show I guess - but so many 'big' weeks are just big because oooh look at that crazy list of match graphics! Even when shows end up having great storyline hooks and developments, they're rarely ever teased or telegraphed. It's just matches matches matches. It winds up being slightly exhausting. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

22 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

The show overran on TBS, because they had to replay the Roderick Strong/Adam Cole segment to correct the audio - presumably it being cut short on some feeds is because they had a hard cut-off.

I am aware of that, Tony had actually put out a tweet during the show thanking TBS for allowing them the overrun. But I watched live on fite, and it ended after people came out on the stage. But this morning the replay cuts off with 3 minutes to go (which was about 2 hours and 7 minutes I think). So why they have now stuck up a version that was shorter then the live feed they had I don't know. Also, fite don't have anything censored whilst I know from clips that the TBS one did. 

[BomberPat]

42 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

The thing I found strangest about this was that no one really seemed to care. It can't have been a particularly severe attack as Jay White seemed uninjured and unaffected, MJF denied it was him; and Bullet Club Gold just kind of accepted that. MJF didn't even seem that bothered by the suggestion it might be, and Bullet Club Gold didn't seem massively arsed that it happened in the first place. It didn't feel like the major plot point that it should be.

There was no further appearance from the masked group, and it almost felt like it was shrugged off. If you're going to do a cliffhanger - a very good one at that - the follow-up has to be better than that. Deepen the mystery, and make people want to watch the next episode to find out more about it. Make it seem like a big deal. 

That's exactly it - nobody seems to care! It didn't play into MJF's match at the PPV, and it didn't really play into this show at all either. Yes, Bullet Club Gold came after MJF, but Jay White had already made it clear he was going after him and the title before the "Devil" attack, so this story could have progressed exactly the same over the last two episodes of Dynamite without that beatdown even happening.

MJF shouldn't be doing weird insider joke backstage comedy bits with Max Caster. He's the World Champion. His argument of "if it had been me in the mask, I'd tell you about it" does make some sense, but then it also doesn't - if that's the case, why did he bother wearing the mask the first time around? And aside from that, why isn't he more concerned about someone trying to frame him for an attack on Jay White in the first place? It's just horrible pacing to not follow up on this stuff at all, and it's indicative of everything they're doing wrong with MJF at the moment - it would be even worse with a lesser talent, but sooner or later you have to start booking your World Champion like a World Champion, and treating your World Title like a World Title.

I'm guessing that whoever's in the devil mask will get involved in MJF vs. Jay White at Full Gear, if not before then, to make it clear that it isn't actually MJF. But there should still be something to keep you guessing before then, especially when they need to hook people for a show on a night they wouldn't ordinarily be watching. 

 

Even the Adam Copeland/Christian Cage stuff - it's handy that they're both doing fantastic work, Christian Cage especially being on the roll of his life, and that there's a ton of novelty value to Copeland in AEW, because for as good as it was, that segment didn't actually add anything, did it? Adam Copeland debuted in AEW by placing himself in opposition to Christian Cage. It was already announced that his first match would be next week against Luchasaurus. By the end of that segment, we learned that Copeland and Christian are in opposition to one another, and that Copeland is fighting Luchasaurus. No new information was added, there was nothing extra to bait the hook for next week. Maybe "Adam Copeland's first AEW match" will be enough. But maybe it won't, and they'll only have themselves to blame. Meanwhile, we've had no explanation from Nick Wayne for his heel turn.

Edited October 5, 2023 by BomberPat

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

Even the Adam Copeland/Christian Cage stuff - it's handy that they're both doing fantastic work, Christian Cage especially being on the roll of his life, and that there's a ton of novelty value to Copeland in AEW, because for as good as it was, that segment didn't actually add anything, did it? Adam Copeland debuted in AEW by placing himself in opposition to Christian Cage. It was already announced that his first match would be next week against Luchasaurus. By the end of that segment, we learned that Copeland and Christian are in opposition to one another, and that Copeland is fighting Luchasaurus. No new information was added, there was nothing extra to bait the hook for next week. Maybe "Adam Copeland's first AEW match" will be enough. But maybe it won't, and they'll only have themselves to blame. Meanwhile, we've had no explanation from Nick Wayne for his heel turn.

I don’t agree with this, I don’t think.

It wasn’t a seismic moving of the story, no huge new revelations, but it did move the story on and further our understanding of the situation as they build the foundations of the feud.

Christian had no agency in the events of WrestleDream. He was a bystander as his old mate returned. That part of the story was about Edge making clear that he wouldn’t align himself with Dino Dickhead and Nick Wayne, and was going to be on the side of the angels.

We didn’t know where it left with him Christian, particularly, we could connect the dots but at the end of WrestleDream all we knew was Edge was back, he’s a nice guy and Christian got out of dodge with his title.

This segment was about Christian getting his agency back. Edge came out, made clear he hadn’t turned his back on Christian and wanted to get the band back together. Christian told him to go fuck himself.

So, now we know Edge is back, he’s a nice guy and Christian wants fuck all to do with him and publicly disrespected him.

Given the amount of TV they have to fill between now and Full Gear, I’ll take incremental developments as part of a quality segment.

[The King Of Swing]

3 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Edge once told a story on their podcast of Kane bumping into Christian at a random airport and they hadn't seen eachother in years. Kane immediately went for a big warm hug and Christian just punched him in the balls and walked off laughing without saying anything. 

Amazing. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

Someone get Kenny Omega some new merchandise, that plain Primark tee he was wearing was shite. He looked a right plank next to Edge who was twice his size and dripping with his new found supply of megastar aura. Fix up, look sharp Kenny.

I’m all for MJF/Jay White.

Like I say, Edge has had the perfect start. Thrilled for him. Let’s go.

[NavigatorFan]

Really enjoyed it this week, ended up watching live and I was only gonna watch first 10 mins!

I also really enjoyed the woman's match, which is unusual for me. Timeless Toni Storm is a fantastic character, although I'm a huge RJ City fan so this was always going to be my cup of tea. I eagerly await the character developing, there's so much that can be done with it...... bravo!

I enjoyed everything on the show, the only thing I could nit-pick at would be their insistence to rush to the next segment. But that annoys me every week in fairness.

GFY

[DavidB6937]

I assume Dynamite was up against something sport related?

Still a real shame they couldn't capitalise on coming out of such an incredible PPV.

[JGPuk84]

I really liked this episode and felt excited by where things could go.

I liked the Adam Cole and MJF segments. Cole as someone who needs a “Devil” to not be a doormat for his friends and MJF who needs an “Angel” to stop him going back to his old ways. I’m surprised we didn’t see the devil attack The Acclaimed. Might happen next week?

Passive aggressive Orange Cassidy is exciting, maybe leading to a rematch with Moxley at Full Gear?

Timeless Toni Storm is great. Adam Copeland and Christian was really good and excited for the inevitable trios match. 

 

[Infinity Land]

18 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

I assume Dynamite was up against something sport related?

Still a real shame they couldn't capitalise on coming out of such an incredible PPV.

MLB Playoffs have started. Before the show people were reporting that some cable systems had moved Dynamite in the schedules and feared it might impact DVR recordings and viewership.

https://www.sportstvratings.com/p/top-cable-sports-originals-for-wednesday-40a

.28 is what the show did in the 18-49 demo last week and 55k drop in viewers is hardly horrific.

The only reason why people are in a tizzy is because NXT did better.