AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[FLips]

2 hours ago, RedRooster said:

That was a strange show. I'd love for someone to go back and total up the number of minutes given to Excalibur telling people what was "coming up" (either on the night, future Dynamites or Rampage) compared to the amount of time given to talking segments on that show, as it felt pretty even, which isn't a good thing. 

There was far too much wrestling on that show, and very little in the way of storyline progression. It was disappointing to not even have one in-ring promo segment. 

I'm also extremely curious as to how many fans have a clue about what's happening with Ethan Page and Matt Hardy, as I certainly don't. I don't know when it started, what their relationship is, what Private Party's role in the whole thing is...if a story hasn't developed on Dynamite, it shouldn't get air time on Dynamite. 

Almost everything about this show felt flat. And I'll say it now, because I think - if things don't change drastically - this will be said a lot in the coming year: MJF isn't doing a particularly good job as champion. He feels like he's regressed as a character, and he just doesn't "feel" like a champion. 

Once again, they were picking up a lot of individual heckles from the fans - they need to do something about that, it's bloody annoying. 

The tribute video to Jay Briscoe was nicely done. It was also nice to see Mark Briscoe get the opportunity to pay tribute to his brother in this way. 

I don't have much to add to this as it's almost my sentiments exactly, especially on the Ethan Page and MJF points.
I think the thing about MJF is the danger was always his threats about becoming champion but now that he finally is absolutely nothing has changed. Same promos, same playground insults, except now he has to do it with one of the most boring men in the world. For as rough as MJF is as champ, god forbid Danielson ever wins it because in this company he isn't the pro-wrestling underdog in a world of sports entertainers, he's just a pro-wrestler in a world where they're a dime a dozen but he has no charisma to back him up.
Meanwhile you have the likes of Mox vs Page and Joe vs Allin showing how a feud should be done.

Happy to see Emi Sakura get a match against the champion and a package to build her up. I've said it before but the company needs to promote their originals more. It's a shame the ones who helped build the company are relegated to Dark for the likes of Buddy Matthews and Action Andretti.

[LaGoosh]

14 minutes ago, FelatioLips said:

It's a shame the ones who helped build the company are relegated to Dark for the likes of Buddy Matthews and Action Andretti.

Couldn't agree more with this. There's a lot of great work taking place on the YouTube shows being overlooked. Butcher & Blade and Private Party have both developed into genuinely great teams over the past few months. And John Silver is a potential gold mine just sitting there doing nothing. We've got Saraya and Britt Baker shitting it up on live TV while Athena is absolutely killing it as a heel, murdering the fuck out of jobbers every week. Every time someone new turns up or an outsider gets a match on Dynamite and these guys are stuck on Dark it can't help but annoy me. Such a waste.

Edited January 26, 2023 by LaGoosh

[Supremo]

Matt Hardy is the worst thing in wrestling right now. These contract storylines have been going on for years at this point and they’ve never been anything other than exhaustingly shit. Worst of all though is that the only logical conclusion is Jeff Hardy returning, which I want to see even less.

Jericho remains an incredibly frustrating character to watch. In the moment he’s still great, shows flashes of brilliance, and it’s ridiculous how he can keep up with these kids at his age, but I just can’t stomach anymore of these overlong, drawn out feuds. Le Sex Gods is arguably the best use of both he and Sammy, so call it a day with this Ricky Starks feud and have them go for the Tag Titles or something. He’s in desperate need of a couple of quick TV feuds or a long break off TV.

I don’t feel the disappointment with MJF that most are talking about. I think he’s doing just fine, balancing the comedy heel who runs away and the violent bastard when he turns up in the black tank top. Enjoyed Danielson’s promo, too. Unfortunately though, I think Timothy Thatcher is boring and rubbish, so next week’s match doesn’t excite me at all.

Start the clock. Guaranteed it’s only a matter of time before they have to turn Action Andretti heel. It’s their only chance of salvaging him. Would be genuinely shocked if he’s not a member of the JAS by the Summer.

Excalibur had one of his worst nights in ages. Kept screwing up everywhere. I assume it was the emotion of everything going on. Still infinitely better than Jim Ross, mind.

Even if you remove all the circumstance and emotion, Mark Briscoe felt like someone you’d sign to a full-time contract before he left the arena. They need to bring him back weekly. He’s great. Exactly what this company needs. A great worker, that goes without saying, but ridiculously unique in everything he does. Whether it was running the ropes, climbing the turnbuckle, the funny kung fu spots, the mad sound effects or just the general weird rhythm to everything he did. I couldn’t take my eyes off him and would love to see him mix it up with this roster. Guy’s genuinely fascinating to watch. The antithesis of Buddy Mathews just spamming everyone else’s spots in the most boring manner possible.

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Supremo

[Hannibal Scorch]

Action Andretti, cool entrance into the ring aside, very much feels like a bet Jericho had with the EVP's. 

I'll explain. How I envision it going down was Jericho running his mouth saying he could get anyone over and someone showed him a match of Andretti and said, what even him. And Jericho said challenge accepted. He does feel very much like someone TNA would have bought in for the X Division World Cup. The fact he is dressing like a knock off Ricky Starks also doesn't help. Relegate him to Elevation asap. 

Ethan Page seems a great guy outside the ring, but his run with the firm just feels awkward, though he's tagging with Matt Hardy last night was the best it has been.

[BomberPat]

I hope Emi Sakura vs. Jamie Hayter gets time. They had a fantastic match in EVE a few years back, and Emi's one of the most underrated talents in AEW, if not the world - she's never really been given a fair shake in AEW, and hasn't even been on TV in years, but when she's got a fire lit up under her she can be incredible. 

I'm not a big fan of MJF, and I find him really frustrating - there are these moments of brilliance, but they're few and far between, and they're completely dependent on who he's working with. A champion shouldn't have to be elevated up to the level of his opponent, he should be the one to uplift his challenger. Without the right person and an in-built story to work with, MJF just falls back on the laziest, cheapest lines, and a lot of repetition - against Danielson he doesn't have the personal history to pull from that he had with Punk or Regal, so there's no depth. The "not the first Jew to have to hide from a man with blue eyes" line was appalling, forced, edgelord shit.

I can't see him losing the belt any time soon, either, and certainly not to Danielson - it'll be a waste if Danielson never gets a run with the AEW Title, but it'll feel like an admission of failure to take the belt off MJF now. I assume he'll eventually drop it to Hangman, given they have history going back to the start of the company, and it's a pretty by-the-numbers entitled rich heel vs. working man babyface set-up, though as much as I love Hangman I'd prefer they run that story with Eddie Kingston as the working class hero, but he's nowhere near the World Title right now.

[mim731]

On the main event, I can't add much that hasn't already been said but I thought Ian Riccaboni was tremendous, and added a nice extra bit of emotional weight to the match given his strong connection with The Briscoes. It really felt like that added an extra layer. 

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

One bit I read was that Excalibur mentioned a spanner in the works is that Brian Cage is 1 win away from being number 1 contender based on the current rankings...be interesting if that is brought into the MJF/Danielson storyline a bit or its overlooked as the rankings don't seem to matter these days 

[Nick James]

If they're going down the 'Dr Shelby' Hell No route, Scorpio might finally have something to do when he reprises his role as Harold. 

[RedRooster]

19 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

And John Silver is a potential gold mine just sitting there doing nothing.

You know, swap Action Andretti for John Silver (or Sonny Kiss), and this whole angle might actually work. Jericho goes into a match with Silver looking to beat the shit out of him and loses cleanly. Yes, you lose the Razor Ramon/123 Kid aspect of it; but it would still be a massive upset and the beneficiary, as least, has already shown that he has genuine potential. The kindest thing I can say about Andretti is "perhaps he'd be better off as a heel". As it stands, he's on track to be considered the biggest misjudgment Chris Jericho has ever made inside a wrestling ring. QT Marshall must be have been fucking incredible in their match together, to make this guy look worth the push he's been given. 

[Loki]

I'm quite bemused by the Andretti hate - he seems pretty spectacular in the ring to me and I didn't notice any huge botches.  He reminds me of the cruisers that WWE would bring in for the Cruiserweight challenge: very gifted and athletic but with no personality.  That and promo skills are something surely that can be honed and taught.

Fair enough he's probably higher up the card than he should be right now but he's hardly stinking the place out? And at least it's something different.  It's like when Evan Bourne was suddenly quite hot in WWE for a few months.

You're all just racist because of his nappy hair.

[Guest]

I relay wish the MJF feud was the other way around, have him wrestling each week and getting cheap wins over lower card guys to pad his record then getting cocky and challenging Bryan for the hour. He has nothing to go against verbally here with Danielson as it’s a feud over a guy who’s been off tv nearly two months now. I can see this being a match I skip to last ten mins of when I watch it as  MJF wrestling 60 mins is gonna be dull as it’s not his strength and this match has no heat 

[DavidB6937]

Didn't care about anything this week other than the end and quite frankly I bawled like a baby so there you go.

[BomberPat]

the thing with Andretti is that, yeah, he's a really capable wrestler in the way that a lot of modern wrestlers are, but what else? He's got some impressive flips and acrobatics, but he's on the same roster as the Young Bucks and Rey Fenix. He's young and potentially has some promise, but he's not a teenage prodigy, he's only a year younger than the World Champion. He's actually older than Daniel Garcia, Hook, both of Top Flight, and the same age as Jungle Boy. What's his USP? Because at the moment he just seems to get in the way of a Ricky Starks singles push.

That, and he did the Ospreay/Ricochet daft superhero pose after a flip, and I'd gladly never see that again in my life.

[Infinity Land]

I thought Darby v. Buddy might lead to some interaction between the ongoing Eddie/HoB nonsense. Instead it was just there. I'm sure Buddy was happy to get some TV for a change, but it could have been literally anyone else.

With Joe popping back up it feels like this Darby TNT run might have been a slight detour for the hometown pop and taking the title to Japan. I'm okay with that as Joe as the King of Television was only hitting it's stride. Problem is they might try and reheat the ice cold Wardlow feud heading into Revolution.

[gmoney]

2 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

- Action Andretti is not going to work as they are currently presenting him. He feels like a guy who would turn up for a few weeks in the early days of the X-Division then you'd never hear of him ever again. He's very unlikeable and on a roster this stacked with so many guys not getting TV time it definitely shouldn't be wasted on him. Him being associated with Ricky Starks is damaging Starks.

He reminds me of Lash LaRoux. That's not a good thing.