AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[Pinc]

Nick Jackson's bald spot is becoming an issue.

[JLM]

Bonkers edition of Dynamite that. If they want to keep Collision as the more serious show and up the levels of batshit on Dynamite I am OK with this. 

Fun opener and brawl. Amazing heat for Eddie Kingston. You cannot beat his connection to the crowd. Realest voice in wrestling. None of this "in front of the biggest crowd ever/on the grandest stage" business. Just a simple "bring whoever you want to Wembley and let's have a fight." 

Omega and co. six man is definitely a bit thrown together but it'll still be a belter. Great promo from Hangman. 

Not thrilled about Jericho vs Osprey but I quite liked the segment. May just be because the searing hatred of Callis from all AEW crowds elevates his segments for me. 

MJF is revelling in being able to get anything he wants over. The pop for him going into kangaroo kick stance! Sensational promos from both here. This is by far the most I've ever enjoyed Adam Cole. Roderick Strong as one of the funniest acts in wrestling in 2023 is insanity to me. I can't quite wrap my head around it. Full on Basil Fawlty slapstick this week. I love that even Schiavone, the purest babyface commentator and known MJF-despiser, still called him a wet blanket. 

The Texas Jeffmatch hate has been a bit overblown for me. I'm quite a big horror movie fan so I enjoyed the nods to the movies,, but that aside I thought it was just a bit of goofy fun for a good cause. I don't know what else to say about Jeff Jarrett at this point. The man is an absolute delight to watch every time he's on my TV. Even if you hated this I hope you can appreciate how he threw his heart and soul into this even though it was the silliest bullshit imaginable. Perhaps because it was the silliest bullshit imaginable. I thought Karen was great too, she really understood the assignment. 

Darby/Gates of Agony tag and angle was fun. I wasn't excited about AR Fox signing as I've always found him pretty dull, but you have to be Parker Boudreaux levels of bad for the  association with Swerve not to get you over. I remember thinking Top Dolla was good for a bit back in NXT. That's how brilliant Swerve is. Fucking loved the mental Sting promo. That tag is going to be nuts and I'm scared to even imagine what madness Sting has planned for it. As a Toa Liona fan I was not happy with the director completely missing him splatting Nick Wayne on the apron with a big senton. What is even the point of crushing a puny twink like an ant if the cameras miss it? 

Women's match, in classic AEW fashion, was "there". I knew it wasn't on the cards but still sad that Athena won't be featured at All In. One of my favourite acts in wrestling this year and would have loved to see her live.  Two of my other favourites in Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander,, who have been featured on TV and  are both over are also not on the card.  Praying that Hayter somehow makes the Cena recovery and saves this because this four way match is sadly a lot of nothing. Shida wins the title as a thank you for being the pandemic champion but with no build or story other than that. Toni Storm has just started cooking up the best character work of her career but the direction is still unclear for her. Britt Baker also doesn't have any direction at the moment and Saraya is terrible. Blegh. 

Still holding onto a glimmer of hope that we get Acclaimed vs HOB at All In. The card is already full and it may well be at All Out, but man that would be so magical in front of a crowd that big. Please Uncle Tony. 

Main event was fine, barely even registered with the breakneck pace of the first hour though. That match doesn't need any more promotion anyway. 

Wild ride of a show. Even though not every All In match is what I would have chosen, I still ended the show being more pumped for All In than I was before it. Even the stuff that feels thrown together has acts who are over and who I'm excited to see.

Is it All In time yet? 

 

 

 

 

[JLM]

13 minutes ago, Pinc said:

Nick Jackson's bald spot is becoming an issue.

Yeah I feel bad for him. It's going badly at the front and the bald spot is getting bigger at the back, but he's somewhat trapped because it'd be so weird if he came out with a shaved head. The hair is part of the gimmick and makes a lot of his spectacular spots look even better.  I think he's stuck with it until he retires, at which point I hope he lets it go. 

[69MeDon]

Also just remembered: what the fuck was the doctor or whatever doing to Jericho in his bit with Renee? She's dabbing at his head, but not actually touching him. It was weird.

[LaGoosh]

As if I couldn't love him enough, Eddie Kingston wearing a tshirt supporting his local ironworkers union on national television makes him the biggest babyface in the business as far as I'm concerned. What a treasure this man is.

Edited August 18, 2023 by LaGoosh

[BomberPat]

10 hours ago, JLM said:

The Texas Jeffmatch hate has been a bit overblown for me. I'm quite a big horror movie fan so I enjoyed the nods to the movies,, but that aside I thought it was just a bit of goofy fun for a good cause. I don't know what else to say about Jeff Jarrett at this point. The man is an absolute delight to watch every time he's on my TV. Even if you hated this I hope you can appreciate how he threw his heart and soul into this even though it was the silliest bullshit imaginable. Perhaps because it was the silliest bullshit imaginable. I thought Karen was great too, she really understood the assignment. 

This is where I land on it. It was daft fun, and relied too much on an extended backstage bit that you could barely see, but silly comedy from Jeff Jarrett and his Superfriends, Jarrett playing it completely straight, Karen screaming "WE'RE GOING TO DIE" and the Hardys being protected by not having to do any actual wrestling, it's all fine, and people are massively overreacting about how bad it was. 

That said, imagine it with anyone but Jarrett and company, and it probably would have been abysmal. I've been beating this drum a lot lately, but too many people who do comedy in wrestling think they have to be goofy and slapstick all the time, while JJ realises that the humour in his matches just comes from him being Jeff Jarrett in increasingly absurd situations. There's almost no match you could put him in right now that I wouldn't be excited for. I want to see him against Komander and Vikingo. 

 

They did an online exclusive post-match promo where Jarrett made a point of Satnam Singh being the difference maker, and challenged the Hardys to find someone to even the odds against him, so I could see us getting Jarrett/Lethal/Singh vs. Hardys & Paul Wight at All In. The pace of the Acclaimed/HOB story feels like it's heading for All Out, but I hope that happens at Wembley too - with so many lapsed fans buying tickets just because it's a massive wrestling show, they can do a lot worse than throwing all their Attitude Era lads on the card. Amazed we haven't had a Casino Battle Royal announced yet that they can throw Dustin into, and nothing for Christian Cage either. 

[Loki]

There was a lot of talk about Sting retiring this year.  But he looks like he's having so much fun, I wonder if he's reconsidered it?  He's in crazy shape for a guy of his years.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Loki

[Merzbow]

Sting and Darby turning up at AR Fox's school.

 

 

[Infinity Land]

1 minute ago, Loki said:

There was a lot of talk about Sting retiring this year.  But he looks like he's having so much fun, I wonder if he's reconsidered it?  He's in crazy shape for a guy of his years.

He's booked for a show in Israel next month. He and Darby just turned up to an indie show that's linked to AR Fox's school.

The talk came from doing promotion for one of Mutoh's retirement shows and the his contract being up this year. He mentioned he could see the end. More recently he's said he's taking it day by day with nothing planned.

[JLM]

Think some of the mystery men could be Dark Order members? They wouldn’t be especially exciting mystery men but they do have the beef with Hangman. 

Edited August 18, 2023 by JLM

[LaGoosh]

6 minutes ago, JLM said:

Think some of the mystery men could be Dark Order members? They wouldn’t be especially exciting mystery men but they do have the beef with Hangman. 

Could be, but Hangman isn't in the match so not sure why that'd be relevant? Unless I'm missing something. 

I'm genuinely clueless as to who it could be. I'm not even excited to find out in the good way I'm supposed to be, I'm just really intrigued because there is genuinely no one I can think of that makes sense at all. I also don't know how you can make a hardcore match with 12 men in be anything other than a massive clusterfuck. Hopefully it'll be an entertaining clusterfuck at the least.

[TildeGuy~!]

I’d think Zack Sabre Jr would be a definite choice.

In regards to the other 2 I’d assume they’d be New Japan roster members too.

Working the Rev Pro show the day before are Shingo Takagi, Tomohiro Ishii, Shibata, ELP, David Finlay, and Gabe Kidd.

Eddie Kingston said he wanted to wrestle Shingo at Wembley during his stay in New Japan recently too, regardless some or all of those names could end up on the card in some shape.

Also Mickie James is booked for Rev Pro that weekend too!

[JLM]

8 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Could be, but Hangman isn't in the match so not sure why that'd be relevant? Unless I'm missing something. 

I'm genuinely clueless as to who it could be. I'm not even excited to find out in the good way I'm supposed to be, I'm just really intrigued because there is genuinely no one I can think of that makes sense at all. I also don't know how you can make a hardcore match with 12 men in be anything other than a massive clusterfuck. Hopefully it'll be an entertaining clusterfuck at the least.

Haha whoops I am  getting the multi man matches conflated in my head and talking shit. No it would not make sense and I also have no clue who it’s going to be. 

As a former Dragongate fanboy I would love it if Shingo is one of them. 

Edited August 18, 2023 by JLM

[Infinity Land]

7 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Could be, but Hangman isn't in the match so not sure why that'd be relevant? Unless I'm missing something. 

I'm genuinely clueless as to who it could be. I'm not even excited to find out in the good way I'm supposed to be, I'm just really intrigued because there is genuinely no one I can think of that makes sense at all. I also don't know how you can make a hardcore match with 12 men in be anything other than a massive clusterfuck. Hopefully it'll be an entertaining clusterfuck at the least.

I do think PnP make a lot of sense. Been in both Stadium Stampedes. Teamed with the BCC in the first Anarchy in the Arena and Blood & Guts. So have gone to war with the BCC and never betrayed them. Last we really saw Ortiz he'd fallen out with Eddie. Have history with Best Friends & Lucha Bros.

You then have Danielson entering to Final Countdown as the last surprise on the night 🤌

[Tsurutagun]

4 hours ago, Merzbow said:

Sting and Darby turning up at AR Fox's school.

 

 

I'm guessing that those who booed Sting were touched by an uncle when they were kids.