AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[Lorne Malvo]

The best (only good) part of this entire Matt Hardy contracts storyline was that few weeks on Dark when Ethan Page was slowly being won over by Matt and was joining in with the Hardy dance and warming up to the crowds. So if they must continue this storyline I'm happy they seem to be revisiting that. I actually think Ethan Page could be a really strong face character if they pull it off right.

I thought this was another cracking Dynamite, but I've been mostly enjoying their output for a while now. The greatest title run in wrestling today continues! Blackpool Combat Club had another belter and Wheeler Yuta continues to excel as the little shit trying to impress his older mates. JungleHook looked like proper hardcases in that wild tag match, and Preston Vance getting cut open lead to him actually showing some personality and fire (Dralistico is still crap). The heat for Callis and Takeshita was insane yet again, a Kris Statlander match is always welcome and the main event was a good scrap. I'm not sure if it's where they're going, but The Gunns joining Bullet Club is the kind of thing that makes perfect sense in the daft world of pro-wrestling.

I really liked the Cole/MJF promo but I will say that it's ironic that Adam Cole has been doing the 'you know what makes me special? When they ring the freaking bell' thing for a few years now, because it's when they ring the bell that I lose all interest in him. He's a great promo, massively over, cracking theme and catchphrase, but I don't think there's been a match in the past 5 years of his which I've been invested in.

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 hour ago, Lorne Malvo said:

The best (only good) part of this entire Matt Hardy contracts storyline was that few weeks on Dark when Ethan Page was slowly being won over by Matt and was joining in with the Hardy dance and warming up to the crowds. So if they must continue this storyline I'm happy they seem to be revisiting that. I actually think Ethan Page could be a really strong face character if they pull it off right.

I saw a video from one of the house shows last week and Ethan was being made to do the Hardy dance

[Vegeta]

36 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I saw a video from one of the house shows last week and Ethan was being made to do the Hardy dance

The bully's what they are

[JimmyAnderson]

Another great opener for the International Title. And the end of this amazing run is getting nearer. It started with Cassidy not having the same effect with the Orange Punch due to his hand killing him but now they've got to his right hand being in agony no matter what, to the point he couldn't grip Swerve with it towards the closing stages of their match. I liked the fact that he "cheated" to win, it shows how much the championship means to him. Same as him being indirectly responsible for Trent and Chuck's eliminations at Double or Nothing. It's not a heel turn by any stretch but it's evidence that Cassidy will do anything to remain champ.

And I'm still going for Yuta to be the one to finally dethrone Cassidy. They could even have Best Friends refuse to help because of Cassidy's actions leading up to eventual loss. Pulling the top rope down at Double or Nothing so Chuck got elimiated. Allowed Trent to take the boot so he got elimiated and not actually thanking him for it later on. The pulling of the tights this week on Swerve. Maybe a couple of other heelish victories over the next few weeks and some goings on at Forbidden Door finally stops Best Friends being friends with Cassidy, so when the BCC attack him before his match with Yuta Best Friends just allow it. Cassidy can still valiantly make his way to the ring even though his body is practically a write off and then Yuta can be a cunt about his victory. 

Interestingly they haven't tried to keep the other pillars at the top of the card post Double or Nothing. Darby is back with Sting saving Orange Cassidy, Jack Perry is back with Hook and Sammy hasn't been on screen but with his wife up the duff it's understandable. Even if it was agreed that they're not ready for the main event yet, it does seem like a real drop back down the card. 

BCC v Chaos was a fun brutal match. In the same was as Orange Cassidy's matches, it's what we've come to expect from BCC matches now. I think this as a four man match at Forbidden Door with Danielson and Cassidy added to their respective sides could have worked well - especially for the storyline I'm booking for Yuta & Cassidy. But they didn't go down that route.

Another trios match next week against Hangman and the Bucks, guaranteed belter. 

MJF & Cole exchanging words in the ring will be one of those that splits people down the middle. Some will love it others will hate it. Unfortunately I'm in the hated side of the fence. Not even because it was bad but because it was what we've seen before. It seems like every feud MJF has, his opponent says the same thing as much as he does. But we all know MJF's retorts now, the personal stuff (Britt Baker) the oooh stuff (Vince McMahon) and the dated stuff (I've got more money than you). And we now get a match between the pair of them next week to decide if Cole is worthy of a title match, so we could end up with two matches between them! 

Hardys & Page is still going. There's long-term storytelling and there's flogging a dead horse. But I think we can expect somewhere along the line another contract on the line match so don't worry folks, this story is going on for a good time yet.

JungleHook v Vance & Dralistico would probably have been better had Jungle Boy not fucked off from Hook a few months ago. Didn't he say something about not wanting to be in a tag team as well? The cut to Vance looked nasty. I always get the feeling as well that Taz doesn't really like being on commentary for Hook's matches. I don't know why, it's just something I sense. 

Collision announcement! Yippee CM Punk! Talk about flogging the dead horse. If anything, that has made me less interested in watching Collision now. And I think the only reason I'll watch the debut show is to see if Brawl Out is addressed in any shape or form. But by the second episode I can see me being turned off. 

Don essisentially said this week what he's been saying for the last few that everything Kenny has achieved is because of Don Callis. I'm not really interested in seeing Takeshita squash people. Put him and Callis in something more meaninful for a couple of weeks while Kenny is away. An Owen Hart qualifying match or something. But just beating some no mark doesn't further anything.

We're back to flogging dead horses with the Christian Cage/Wardlow feud. Him and Luchasaurus taking out Brock Anderson is one of those moments where you think just let it go. Wardlow won at Double or Nothing, let's just move both he and Christian onto the next storyline. Or is Christian's entire AEW gimmick "I hate anyone with a famous dad"?

I'm all for getting Anna Jay on telly so no complaints there but I do have a complaint regarding the TBS Title and that is Statlander is just doing the same run Jade did but without the fanfare. There's no development to the title. I do like the open challenge theme in a lot of cases but I think now they need to put some effort into a genuine feud for the TBS Title.

Fatal-4-way to determine the women's number one contender. At least it gives the match some reason to happen. Bit odd to throw Nyla Rose into the match when she's just lost a TBS Title match, her reward is to go for the division's top title. 

And then the main event. Was a decent enough match that they'd built up to throughout the show. Nothing special but nothing drastically bad either. Get Starks & Hobbs back together so they can kill the Gunns and Bullet Club. And it's only writing that, that I've put gun and bullet together. 

Easy enough watch but nothing happened that if you missed you'll regret. 

[Michael_3165]

What is the general consensus on MJFs title reign? I haven't seen much tbh but I'm going to start watching as going to Wembley. 

[WyattSheepMask]

25 minutes ago, Michael_3165 said:

What is the general consensus on MJFs title reign? I haven't seen much tbh but I'm going to start watching as going to Wembley. 

200 Days on and he’s made 3 defences and had 6 matches in total, 1 of which was a Tag Team match and 1 that didn’t even happen in AEW. For all the shit that people (not on here) throw Roman’s way about hardly wrestling they seem to turn a blind eye to MJF doing the same.

The defences themselves have been pretty good, but they’ve lacked the stakes as the result was never doubt. As much as a lot of us like Bryan Danielson, I doubt that anyone genuinely thought he’d win the Iron Man match.
Same with the Four Way at Double or Nothing. As soon as they started that angle, which was clearly going to lead to a Four Way right from the off, it was blindingly obvious that they were never going to put the belt on any of the other three. And that’s not a knock on anyone involved, you sometimes need matches like that to get the Champion through to something bigger.

As for his mic work, it’s the same Shooty McShootison routine every time now, and it’s getting a little tiring.

That being said I still think his reign has plenty left in the tank, he just needs something to really get his teeth into. Is having a go at Adam Cole being a weedy nerd going to do it? Probably not, but it buys them some time to figure what they’re going to do with him for Wembley 

Edited June 9, 2023 by WyattSheepMask

[Version1.0]

AEW would never go for it, but imagine how awesome MJF vs Britt Baker would be for the AEW Title.

[Merzbow]

I think I'd give up wrestling for good after all the "sick burns".

[Jazzy G]

Is Serena Deeb still out injured? I think she'd be great as TBS Champ. She's a good hand so would be able to make her opponents look good in the ring, but still beat them in ways that play into her character. 

[Infinity Land]

1 hour ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Is Serena Deeb still out injured? I think she'd be great as TBS Champ. She's a good hand so would be able to make her opponents look good in the ring, but still beat them in ways that play into her character. 

Serena's been gone and off social media since October. She's basically the one person posted missing with the Collision promo returns. Santana might not have done anything with AEW, he is back on social media with teasers of what's to come next.

There was never a known injury. One of the initial rumours was that she asked to be taken off the road after ending up on the Dark cycle again. Since then plenty of people have asked where she is, and the response has been silence.

[RedRooster]

Talking of disappearing wrestlers, what the hell happened to Leyla Hirsch?

[Infinity Land]

4 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Talking of disappearing wrestlers, what the hell happened to Leyla Hirsch?

She tore her ACL, lost some potential recovery time having to wait on the surgery. In the post-Collision announcement roundup by Fightful and others were saying she should be nearing a come back.

[Merzbow]

I thought she would have made a great Team Taz member back when they were around, suplexing women all over the place.

[The King Of Swing]

MJF's promos are getting worse by the week. Just tiresome bollocks that feel an hour long.

Ooooh he said Vince McMahon. 

Fuck off and put the belt back on Omega or Mox. 

[JimmyAnderson]

23 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

MJF's promos are getting worse by the week. Just tiresome bollocks that feel an hour long.

Ooooh he said Vince McMahon. 

Fuck off and put the belt back on Omega or Mox. 

I think we've got at least another six months of MJF as champ to make all this "bidding war of 2024" thing have some suspense to it. Will the AEW champ actually leave for WWE with the World Title?