AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[Guest]

I’ve been trying to remember who’s podcast he did while he was between companies, might have been Jericho. Just came across as being really sound and dedicated to being happy and from then on wanted him to do well. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Let me join in the love for Big Bill. I always thought that Big Bill/Cass was unteachable. It seems not as he has improved no end. 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Lion_of_the_Midlands
Fat thumbed idiot

[FLips]

Big Bill is ace. I think for a long while Test was so underappreciated so to have a modern version of him is much needed. Tall and fast, solid big boot.

[SuperBacon]

I don't watch much any more, are you all talking about the former Big Cass? Well I never.

[LaGoosh]

Yeah, he's great. Wrestles like a proper big man, barely bumps (his opponents have to really earn it), cocky as hell but also, brilliantly, will absolutely stooge/show arse when needed. The skies the limit.

[westlondonmist]

He appears on most of their house shows which for me makes sense. Big monster bullying a smaller guy is perfect for house shows. When matches are irrelevant it can be tough to get the crowd invested.

[textonly]

I enjoyed Taz on commentary, deadpanning "some people will wonder why he's called Big Bill".

[LaGoosh]

11 hours ago, textonly said:

I enjoyed Taz on commentary, deadpanning "some people will wonder why he's called Big Bill".

My favourite AEW commentary deadpan call is when Daddy Magic said "You think this guy likes doing cartwheels?" about the jobber Jack Cartwheel.

[CavemanLynn]

12 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Yeah, he's great. Wrestles like a proper big man, barely bumps (his opponents have to really earn it), cocky as hell but also, brilliantly, will absolutely stooge/show arse when needed. The skies the limit.

Chalk up another win for DDP. By all accounts, Big Bill's another guy who was in a real bad place, but Dallas stepped in, got him clean and healthy, and apparently released a ton of potential we hadn't seen before. I've even turned around on his jeans and boots look (it helps that he's got the body of Michelangelo's Levi's model), but I just wish he could find a decent name.

[LaGoosh]

A middling episode this week. Full of good wrestling and full of shallow, empty heatless storylines and angles that are going absolutely fucking nowhere.

The Tornado tag was a good nasty little brawl but there is absolutely no real story behind it to justify it. Preston Vance bleeding buckets for nothing. Same with Starks vs White, two great performers who deserve something real to be feuding over but I couldn't tell you why they actually hate each other. Feel like it's been the same thing for months now. Ah well. Just a shame seeing them squander possibly the best roster of all time with rudderless booking.

Tony Khan should never make an announcement ever again. Absolutely shocking. And starting off with a pointless 6 man is hardly the explosive start to Collision we were all hoping for. Just book CM Punk vs Samoa Joe you fucking pussies!

I'd really like a Chuck Taylor vs Wheeler Yuta grudge match. I'm no big Chuckie T fan or anything but a teacher vs student blowoff match would be good. I love the hate-filled bitter exchanges the two of them always have in multi-man tags, the type of ongoing stuff I really love.

I pray to all the Gods that MJF vs Adam Cole is a short mini-feud. Cole is just so rubbish and MJF pointing out all his flaws and being absolutely correct with all of them was painful to watch. Cole's comeback being that MJF isn't respected was pathetic, why would MJF as a character care about respect? Cancel Eddie Kingston's flight to the G1 and get him on this show feuding with Max for the next three months please.

But yes, at least all the wrestling itself was good. Really enjoyed the BCC/Best Friends six man especially.

Also worth pointing out the crowd was pretty small(2,000ish) and AEW are getting a lot of flack for it. Which is undeserved as they were in Colorado and the Denver Nuggets were in the NBA finals that very night. 

Edited June 8, 2023 by LaGoosh

[Infinity Land]

11 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Full of good wrestling and full of shallow, empty heatless storylines and angles that are going absolutely fucking nowhere.

Also worth pointing out the crowd was pretty small(2,000ish) and AEW are getting a lot of flack for it. Which is undeserved as they were in Colorado and the Denver Nuggets were in the NBA finals that very night. 

I would say both points are related. Outside of Forbidden Door and All In ticket sales have generally been poor. Nuggets in the finals doesn't paper over all the cracks since tickets have been on sale for months.

[METAL ON METAL]

6 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Cole's comeback being that MJF isn't respected was pathetic, why would MJF as a character care about respect? Cancel Eddie Kingston's flight to the G1

Plus accusing the champion of the whole fucking company as being on steroids, who fucking signed off on that shit? So tired of all these feuds based on having to have prior knowledge of dirtsheet rumours, it’s just incredibly lazy and not ‘edgy’ like they think they’re being when it’s done every fucking week.

Agree about Kingston, at least he’d have some believability and intensity in his words.

 

This week was just entirely plodding with no real advancement anywhere, it just felt like all the star power in the company took the week off.

[LaGoosh]

5 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

I would say both points are related. Outside of Forbidden Door and All In ticket sales have generally been poor. Nuggets in the finals doesn't paper over all the cracks since tickets have been on sale for months.

Yeah, that's fair.

[Infinity Land]

I don't think anyone knows the answer as to what will fix things and the obvious worry is that Collision will make it worse.

Personally, i'm finding the MJF reign to be a disappointment. One of the strengths that AEW has had with a face champion is throwing the roster at them. It's why Hangman's was rather disappointing as the only random challenger he clocked up in a 6 month reign was Dante Martin.

The heel reigns by Jericho & Omega had the Inner Circle and the Elite/Good Bros as bodies that kept challengers active in the ring or at least some physicality with brawls. The Firm was by no means perfect but would have worked the same. Danielson having to get past them. Even the 4 Pillars doing JB/Darby v. The Gunns, Big Bill against any of them. MJF on his own cutting the same cheap heat promos against people that often don't match up is Mid.

 

[FLips]

I don't want to be doom and gloom about it but as we approach Collision it feels more and more like it's going to be the straw that breaks the camels back.
The product has been floundering for a little while now despite having so many positives, the crowds and tv audiences are dropping, and the roster is becoming more bloated.
In the run up to this so many people have outright said it's a bad idea, it's historically a weak night to run, and yet they've done it seemingly just to please CM Punk who could work the first week and spit his dummy out again. I saw a Reddit post the other day saying they still haven't even confirmed if Canada will air it despite shows running there.

They've announced one match and no details about the rumoured "hard roster split".

If and likely when this show fails, where does the company go from there? You'll be in a Thunder situation where nobody wants to work a dead show, but they'll be hard split onto that roster so won't appear on Dynamite. What about Rampage? That's three shows and the main one isn't doing as well as it used to.

I really want this all to succeed but lately they've made it so difficult to follow and get behind. Like we're always left guessing and hoping they know what they're doing.