AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[Cousin Jim Bob]

11 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Fuck me, what a show. If you replaced the Wardlow stuff with something better it'd be one of the best episodes of wrestling telly ever. That ending stretch was simply brilliant moment after brilliant moment. Who could possibly give a toss about CM Punk after all that great, exciting, layered action. 

And it's almost a shame Adam Cole and MJF will inevitably face off again because there's no way they'll top that match.

 

I didn't mind the Wardlow/Swagger match either it was perfectly fine for what it was. This show was absolute fire though. Opening match was worthy of a PPV main event and the crowd were going mental through out. The multi man and women's match were very good. Then BCC vs Hangman and Bucks was another PPV main event quality match which then set up loads of fun storylines of its mad finish.

 

If this was a fuck you to the likes of CM Punk and the Andrades and Miro's on Collision who claim they deserve better it was one hell of a statement. 

[Supremo]

All-timer, top-tier episode. Quite fitting considering how much CM Punk wishes he was Bret Hart, because I haven’t seen a bigger, more obvious hit job since Montreal.

The only difference was in Montreal it was only a handful of people conspiring to ruin Bret. Here, it felt like half the fucking roster had brainstormed on how to best undermine and overshadow Punk’s return. What’s that saying? “Success is the best revenge”? That’s exactly what this was. 4D chess. Punk’s out there doing shitty interviews and posting crappy Instagram stories, whilst these lads are just being absolutely incredible at their craft.

I can genuinely imagine a WhatsApp group filled with guys suggesting how to best humiliate Punk. MJF offering to give Adam Cole his best match in years. Chris Jericho deciding to finally play the Sting card. Eddie Kingston offering to come back as the crazed, drunk uncle, looking to fight everyone. The Elite and The Combat Club putting together a pay per view quality Trios match. The Bucks posting photos of their amazing cowboy hats. Everyone plotting that wild, Attitude-Era-style ending. Layers on layers. Pops on pops. We even got a classic Schiavone call, where he gets completely lost in it and just shouts, “God, I love pro-wrestling!” Just brilliant, brilliant stuff. I’m buzzing.

In an ideal world they somehow manage to counter all this on Saturday, deliver another phenomenal show, and we finally have a Brand Split that’s fit for purpose, but fucking hell. A show full of sulky moaners is going to struggle to compete with this. These lads are on a whole different level. Wouldn’t be surprised if Punk doesn’t even show up.

Punk screwed Punk.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Supremo

[Fatty Facesitter]

Overall - Fuck me. As Supremo said, this civil war might be over before it's even begun. Follow that! 

 👍 BCC/Elite business - Up there with some of the best Dynamite main events ever when looking at the overall presentation including the post-match mayhem. Just insane fun with a great pace kept up throughout with delightful smatterings of violence. The post-match stuff had the crowd in absolute raptures. 

👍 MJF vs Adam Cole - A PPV quality main event to start the show. Shit the bed. Terrific stuff from beginning to end. Every time MJF laces them up he's producing the goods - an absolute cunt and glorious at being so. Adam Cole will never be this forum's favourite, but he's ok by my book and this was fantastic return to top form for him after the long layoff and the stinker with Jericho a few weeks prior. Normally a screwy finish like that would make ones blood boil, but it was the perfect conclusion in this instance and marvellously executed. Loved this. The rematch might be a tough act to follow at this rate. 

👍 Sammy/JAS/Sting business - All good patter ahead of the inevitable turn and feud between Sammy/Jericho...and could we be looking at Jericho vs Sting at All In London? Blow me down!

👍 Wardlow vs Jake Hager - Good. Wardlow on a roll at the moment. Rough night for the JAS! 

👍 Toni Storm vs Skye Blue - Good standard. Skye Blue's best outing by a mile thus far. Storm is really slick - she's really grown in confidence over time and looks completely comfortable out there as a ring general-type. Great build and conclusion and you did wonder if Skye might pull off the upset, so mission accomplished. 

👍 Jungle Hook - Jungleboy is blatantly going to turn on Hook and fuck him over isn't he. You can smell it from a mile away. 

👍 8-man tag - Tons of fun to watch. However...

👎 8-man tag - Now hear me out....I have to give this a thumbs down too even though I'm a huge fan of many of the performers involved. Keith Lee looked absolutely blown up almost immediately after his hot tag. I love the bloke and he's such a unique talent, but he's now losing a bit of his USP and he isn't the same performer during his NXT peak, and I'm afraid it showed here. There were some other bits of miscommunication in the match from other performers too. Also, and I love Stinger, but Brian Cage paying homage to him with the getup while also laying down for him is all a bit Gratitude Era for me. That fall could have gone to Darby or Orange Cassidy. Still a fun watch, but not without some issues.

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Fatty Facesitter

[Loki]

1 hour ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

Keith Lee looked absolutely blown up almost immediately after his hot tag.

I actually thought he did better than he usually does, to be honest.  At least he didn't collapse completely like he's done in the past.  The guy is in his Big Daddy V era now, a 1 minute hot tag is all you can expect from him.

Good Dynamite, although as a casual watcher there are just TOO MANY faces on the program at the moment, probably due to Forbidden Door.  I liked the Ospreay arrival at the end though.

It's funny watching these names I've read about but never seen arriving on US tv, and how often the reality is very different from the internet opinion, for me anyway.  Like Ospreay, of whom I'd seen a lot of shitty flippy floppy clips and nonsense stuff, and yet when he turned up in AEW I thought he was a tremendous heel, great look and he wrestled a much more sensible, effective style.  Similarly Juice Robinson I'd not heard good things about but he's tremendously entertaining, at least in promos, and has a unique look.

Great to see Eddie Kingston back, although, and I know it's not the POINT of Eddie, but he looked even more out of shape than last time I saw him.  Does AEW not have anything similar to the Performance Center?  Similar complaint, as ever, with Adam Cole, who is doing great as a face but... well, he basically has MY physique which is ok for a guy in his mid-40s who hits the weights once a week, but I'd look like a noodle armed wimp in a wrestling ring especially up against MJF who looks GREAT at the moment.

1 hour ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

Jungleboy is blatantly going to turn on Hook and fuck him over isn't he. You can smell it from a mile away. 

Oh yeah.  

Can one of the wrestling historians here confirm... is that REALLY the first time Sting and Jericho have ever been in a ring together?  If so, fucking hell - they need to make a BIG deal out of this one.

[Infinity Land]

7 minutes ago, Loki said:

Great to see Eddie Kingston back, although, and I know it's not the POINT of Eddie, but he looked even more out of shape than last time I saw him.

He's only just back from a hernia surgery.

[Loki]

3 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

He's only just back from a hernia surgery.

In which case, perhaps he's back too soon?

[gmoney]

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

All-timer, top-tier episode. Quite fitting considering how much CM Punk wishes he was Bret Hart, because I haven’t seen a bigger, more obvious hit job since Montreal.

The only difference was in Montreal it was only a handful of people conspiring to ruin Bret. Here, it felt like half the fucking roster had brainstormed on how to best undermine and overshadow Punk’s return. What’s that saying? “Success is the best revenge”? That’s exactly what this was. 4D chess. Punk’s out there doing shitty interviews and posting crappy Instagram stories, whilst these lads are just being absolutely incredible at their craft.

I can genuinely imagine a WhatsApp group filled with guys suggesting how to best humiliate Punk. MJF offering to give Adam Cole his best match in years. Chris Jericho deciding to finally play the Sting card. Eddie Kingston offering to come back as the crazed, drunk uncle, looking to fight everyone. The Elite and The Combat Club putting together a pay per view quality Trios match. The Bucks posting photos of their amazing cowboy hats. Everyone plotting that wild, Attitude-Era-style ending. Layers on layers. Pops on pops. We even got a classic Schiavone call, where he gets completely lost in it and just shouts, “God, I love pro-wrestling!” Just brilliant, brilliant stuff. I’m buzzing.

In an ideal world they somehow manage to counter all this on Saturday, deliver another phenomenal show, and we finally have a Brand Split that’s fit for purpose, but fucking hell. A show full of sulky moaners is going to struggle to compete with this. These lads are on a whole different level. Wouldn’t be surprised if Punk doesn’t even show up.

Punk screwed Punk.

This is such a bizarre mentality to me. First of all the idea that a show being good/performers trying is somehow a fuck you to another performer in the same company - it's not a logic I can understand. Why if that were actually the case you'd be impressed by it, to the point of fantasising about grown men sending each other whatsapp messages... unhinged. 

Great show, as everyone's said. I thought they were going to pull the trigger on Sky Blue, which in hindsight seems a bit mad, but I got super invested. 

 

 

[organizedkaos]

32 minutes ago, Loki said:

In which case, perhaps he's back too soon?

To be fair we don't know if he's back full time right now.

He did a run in, which as others have pointed out definitely added to that brilliant end to the episode. So right now his comeback has been excellent. If he's in a match next week struggling to keep it together then we can argue he might have come back too soon. Right now this could well be a stone cold at backlash kind of moment.

[Supremo]

Let me have my parasocial fun!

Other quick thoughts…

I didn’t realise Forbidden Door was so soon, which is a huge testament to the booking. Last year, I remember counting the days until the show just so we could get back to business as usual. The build up to that first PPV felt like everything I loved about AEW was frozen in favour of endless cameos and run ins from the New Japan lot. It’s been a million times better this year, getting me hyped without taking away from the ongoing storylines.

Jungle Jack is gonna turn heel and go for the FTW Title and I cannot wait.

It speaks to the character of Orange Cassidy and the goodwill he’s developed that he can do that have-your-cake-and-eat-it thing of mocking interview interruptions and then doing an interview interruption. I laughed.

Let this also be the end of any MJF slander. The lad is mint. Arguably one of the most underrated wrestlers in the world. That play on the Eddie Guerrero belt spot was inspired. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it done that way before. I’ve also got no sympathy for anyone who still only reads his character as an edge-lord. The subtext isn’t even subtle any more. He spends all his time slagging everything off (him acting like New Japan is a small Indy fed is hilarious), yet he always throws just enough mad spots into his matches to make it clear he’s the biggest wrestle-dork tape trader of them all. He’s such a brilliant, tragic, horrible prick. Probably gonna have another match of the year candidate at the pay per view, too. Inspired match making.

[BomberPat]

my favourite thing about that chaotic end sequence is that it never fell into WWE Survivor Series territory where a bunch of heels or faces are all suddenly mates because they're on the same brand, or because they're teaming against each other at the PPV. It still felt like everyone had their own motivations, and that there was still a lot of intrigue.

Don Callis has been working against Kenny Omega, but it's still not clear if he has any kind of an in with the Blackpool Combat Club, or if they're working independently. Ospreay adds another layer to that - both Bryan Danielson and Don Callis stood applauding him at the end of the show, but did either of them even know he was going to be there, are they working together, or is it just three groups of people independently targeting The Elite and happy to see someone else getting the job done? At no point have any of them been shown to be working together.

Same goes for Kingston stepping up - he doesn't give a shit about The Elite vs. Blackpool Combat Club, he's just going to throw backfists at Claudio Castagnoli on sight, even if it risks ending his friendship with Jon Moxley.

[Infinity Land]

46 minutes ago, Loki said:

In which case, perhaps he's back too soon?

early 40s, always had belly with no arms. Stuck in a brawl it's really hard to tell.

He'll be gone from mid July - mid August as he's got another bucket list item to tick off with the G1.

[Lorne Malvo]

Absolute top tier Dynamite. They are on a cracking run of form at the moment.

MJF is just fantastic. I thought for the first few years of Dynamite that he was a Miz-level baddie but he's so much more than that. One of the most fascinating characters in all of AEW for me. Deep down he's a scared little boy and the edge-lord stuff (which he doesnt go to as often as people make out - I don't recall Ric Flair insulting the cowd ever being called edge-lord) only comes out when his back is up against the wall and he feels he has to lash out. And on top of all his good character work, he gives Adam Cole his best match since Cole's ROH run. Absolutely belting opener and the finish was perfect. More of this Adam Cole please!

I wasn't sure on them turning Guevara face at first but it'd be a nice bit of symmetry if he's turning face while Jack Perry turns elsewhere on the card. The Allin-Guevara respect feels earned more than forced and Jericho/Sting is mouthwatering. Le Sex Gods imploding should be a decent storyline to keep Jericho busy for a few months, although it is weird that the Guevara turn seems to be coming before the Daniel Garcia turn they hinted at ages back.

The 8-man was good fun and I'll never get tired of Orange Cassidy, Darby and Sting interacting. Wardlow/Hager was fine enough although it's quite sad seeing the lack of reponse for the Powerbomb Symphony compared to a year ago. Toni vs Skye was better than I expected, between this and her match against Athena on ROH Skye is developing really well, and after a rough start the Outsiders have turned into a strong unit.

The main event was everything I loved about AEW. The escalation as each new person ran in, building up to Ospreay looking like a killer at the end. Just a mad joyous interweaving of stories. Kingston being torn between his friendship with Mox and his desire for battering Claudio is a great angle for them to explore, and hopefully is leading to Kingston vs Claudio 2 at Death Before Dishonor. Love it.

I'm in complete agreement with @gmoney above though. How you can watch a show this good then turn that into some slight against CM Punk is beyond me. Just be happy we've had a fantastic Dynamite and this Saturday we've got one of the all-time greats returning. I know Punk is a miserable cynical bastard but there's no need to let that turn us into miserable cynical bastards too.

[Statto]

11 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

Also, and I love Stinger, but Brian Cage paying homage to him with the getup while also laying down for him is all a bit Gratitude Era for me.

I agree with this - for all you try to explain it away as head games, the heel turning up in cosplay of the face is kind of odd.

However... long tights and facepaint could be the way to go for Cage, in general. Best he's ever looked IMO.

[The King Of Swing]

10 hours ago, Loki said:

Like Ospreay, of whom I'd seen a lot of shitty flippy floppy clips and nonsense stuff, and yet when he turned up in AEW I thought he was a tremendous heel, great look and he wrestled a much more sensible, effective style. 

Barely watch New Japan anymore but from what I know he changed his ring style a lot to better fit the New Japan heavyweight/main event style.

Edited June 16, 2023 by The King Of Swing

[Merzbow]

Look who's front and center of the weekend before All In Dynamite & Rampage poster..

Spoilered incase it's slightly giving something away?

Spoiler