AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[Guest]

42 minutes ago, Factotum said:

Darby loses...a lot

I don’t mind that too much, as he doesn’t lose his threat to a match that he might win it. He’s a risk taker and usually causes his own demise by trying to overcome odds in size. And when it comes off he wins 

[Daddymagic]

AEW feels a bit 'meh' again after a couple of good episodes at the start of the year when I thought they may be getting back on track. 
No feuds are really clicking and feels a bit by the numbers. 

[Matthew]

1 hour ago, RedRooster said:

Also, Max Caster using "I bet you have sex with each other" as an insult to two men in 2023? That's a bit disappointing to hear. If the joke was based around the fact they are brothers - and I don't know that it is, or that they are - this was never made clear, so it just came across as a really dated thing to say. 

I would think/hope that as Anthony Bowens is gay (sure I read that somewhere) it wouldn’t be used as an insult, as surely doing so would insult his tag partner/friend at the same time.

[FLips]

I think Mox and The Miz are both competing for the top spot in the thickest looking Dad award. Thought this was the worst of the three matches between him and Hangman and I'm not sure where the nuance is anymore as it did look for a while like Hangman was feeling guilt about going too far with Mox and now he's just over it and acting like a heel. Not sure what direction it's going.

Jade Cargill might not be the best wrestler but give me her bench pressing Red Velvet into the ring and transitioning from an armbar into her standing finisher over any of the other women on the roster right now. In a company full of people just being wrestlers it's the Cargills, Abadons and Emi Sakuras that stand out to me, they all look like characters you'd see in Street Fighter or Tekken. I'd rather they went out and did a shaky 5 minutes that leaves an impression than a 15 minute Toni Storm or Ruby Soho match.

I like Takeshita but as Rooster said, the show is just match after match and Takeshita vs Brian Cage is something I can see on Dark or Rampage. There's no reason for it to be here with barely any build. I skipped Danielson's match too because he's the most boring man on the planet and when I heard Thatcher was even more boring than him I didn't waste my time.

Also caught off guard with Caster's line about the guys having sex with each other. It was doubly offensive because it wasn't even creative. Real lazy and there's no room for it in today's product. The Gunns manipulating their Dad into giving away a title shot was smart and the smug look they had was great. It looks like a Billy Gunn turn or split from The Acclaimed could be on the cards but I'm not sure where The Acclaimed go from there. Without Daddy Ass and the Scissoring that's half their act gone and with the low quality of the raps these days they'll need something new to stay over.

Not interested in any of the Britt Baker/Saraya/Toni Storm/Ruby Soho stuff. It's wild to think how good Britt Baker was not even that long ago and how much she's regressed now. Having her with these three shite arses isn't helping either. I'd go out on a limb and say no women AEW have brought in from WWE have worked out and likely for the same reasons none of them worked out in WWE. They're just not good. Saraya, Storm, Soho, Athena, all of them just aren't interesting.
We should have a women's division built around fresh and exciting new stars now like Willow Nightingale, Shida, Baker, Bunny, Ford, Riho, Statlander and Nyla Rose but we've got WWE and NXT cast offs and the other women are left to flounder.

Joe vs Darby was unbelievable. Some of the spots were so creative and at times scary. That thumbtack jacket reveal made me gasp and I think it's lucky for both of them the big Coffin Drop spot never worked out because that would have knacked. I'm perfectly happy with the result even if I would have liked to see Darby stay as champ. He can't wrestle like he does on a regular basis. I've cooled right off on Wardlow though, another case of great build and rubbish payoff.

Heading into Revolution the build for everything still feels quite cold but the card I think it shaping up like this:

MJF vs Danielson
Mox vs Page
Starks vs Jericho
Joe vs Wardlow
The Elite vs Top Flight and AR Fox maybe?

Not sure what else really. Aside from MJF these are all matches we've seen before and most in the last few weeks. Hoping it's one of their trademark poor build/great quality PPVs.

[RedRooster]

The Jericho Appreciation Society also feels very, very stale. I'd like to see Jericho exist outside of a stable in AEW, to shake up his presentation somewhat. 

There does seem to be a bit of a problem in AEW in that a lot of the storylines seem to involve real-life friends in their own little Cody-verse style bubbles; for example, Cargill feuding with the Baddies, The Elite existing in their little universe, the Acclaimed and the Gunns...again, the JAS, the House of Black being a group of real-life friends. I think that contributes to that feeling of things being stale; there are so many exciting, fresh feuds that they could do, but they often don't take that approach. 

1 minute ago, Matthew said:

I would think/hope that as Anthony Bowens is gay (sure I read that somewhere) it wouldn’t be used as an insult, as surely doing so would insult his tag partner/friend at the same time.

You're right about Bowens, but it's really difficult to look at that line through any other lens - what else could he have meant? The only alternate explanation is that the opponents are real life brothers and that was the joke, but as I've mentioned, I've no idea whether or not that is true; and this wasn't explained at any point. 

[Supremo]

Jon Moxley’s character has a whole new context now it’s been revealed that his Dad is Jigsaw from the Saw movies.

[Merzbow]

I'm expecting a last man standing match or similar between Page & Mix now, a match where you can't get the surprise pin like that.

Or just go full deathmatch and don't fuck it up this time, no hands buckshot over the barbed wire would look so sick.

Edit: AEW will now be doing proper house shows called "House Rules", a series of non televised events helped by Jeff Jarrett.

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Merzbow

[Infinity Land]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

Edit: AEW will now be doing proper house shows called "House Rules", a series of non televised events helped by Jeff Jarrett.

Seemed a bit out of the blue. March 18th and only just put the info out. So much so Moxley was announced for OTT's weekender a couple of weeks ago.

[WyattSheepMask]

Preferred the second hour to the first.

I’m probably in the minority, and it depends on whether this was a one & done with him of if they bring him back in the future, but I can’t help but feel a DQ would’ve worked in the Danielson/Thatcher match. 
If MJF is picking opponents, or at the very least giving them a financial incentive, then have Thatcher hold onto the Fujiwawa Armbar. Danielson still wins but it gets Thatcher over as a vicious bastard and he doesn’t get beaten.

Like I say, probably on my own with that

[The King Of Swing]

LONG LIVE THE KING. 

Oh and some other stuff happened. 

[Merzbow]

I hope Ruby is continuously told to fuck off by Britt and Queen Jamie.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Does anyone else feel there's a massive divide in the women's division?

 

It's just weird that none of the 'others' seem to go for Cargill and it just seems squash after squash after squash with a bit of baddy infighting nowadays. Why isn't someone like Britt Baker going for that title rather than messing around with Soho and Saraya etc? Hope Statlander comes back and makes a beeline for Cargill

[The King Of Swing]

Now she has finally reached 50-0 hopefully Jade will move onto something more substantial.

[Merzbow]

Initially it felt like she was meant to be the main woman of the other show, but now they're all sharing the space while keeping that distance. It is noticeable.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Merzbow

[LaGoosh]

It's a funny thing, because I didn't hugely like the show and think Dynamite has settled into a bad pattern the past few weeks but at the same time it's hard to criticize any wrestling show that has an absolute stormer like Darby/Joe 3.

My thoughts:

- enjoyed Hangman/Mox but definitely the wrong finish. Hangman getting a quick win over Mox in his hometown is way more interesting. I've liked this story but it's got to a point where the drama, emotion and stakes need to go way, way up.

- a rare bad night for The Acclaimed, that rap was awful. This story with the Gunns might be good if they hadn't already feuded with them already in the past year. Gunns aren't ready for the titles (yet) and The Acclaimed definitely aren't ready to lose them either. The Acclaimed need to be fed another heel team like bring back the Men of The Year or put Luchasaurus with another monster (Lance Archer perhaps) for a solid little feud similar to Jarrett/Lethal. That's what they need.

- Takeshita/Cage was exactly the type of Dynamite match I HATE. Exhibition feel, obvious winner and wrestled like a 5 star main event for no real reason. Waste of time. AEW has Goldust, Christian and Matt Hardy on payroll - all 3 at points in their careers have been masters of the lost art if the good TV match. Someone tell them to teach these marks how to work a proper TV match.

- Danielson/Thatcher was good but I have never seen Thatcher before and it was obvious Danielson was winning so didn't give a fuck. This MJF/Danielson feud is the laziest booking imaginable. Feels as far away from a main event angle as possible. 

- Jade Cargill...again, who cares? She's amazing but this baddies story has never made any sense whatsoever. Jade is great but putting her in with wrestlers as green or greener than her each week is a bad idea. She's trying and she has all the potential but good lord, put her in there with women who a) are established and b) know what they're doing.

- main event...yeah, incredible trilogy of matches here. These two are perfect opponents. Miserable old man Joe is spectacular to watch. I wasn't happy Darby lost the title but then again I wasn't happy when Joe lost it either. Choosing between two amazing Champions is a good problem to have.

- Darby, next time have someone under the ring cutting the straps during the match before the spot rather than spending 10 minutes of TV time cutting them yourself.

- wasn't a fan of the presentation of the backstage stuff, starting to feel very WWE. I wish producers would go back and watch the Attitude era and copy that. Not the stories/acts/angles mind you, just how the shows and segments were produced. Wrestling never looked better and more exciting.