AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[Tsurutagun]

Annnnnnnnd there it is

Ukff members saying a Dynamite was rubbish when everyone else says it was good. Just like a period it happens once a month lol

[Merzbow]

Who said it was rubbish, Matthew? Oh wait...

People are critical of individual parts while praising what they do like, like normal human beings rather than mutants and tribalists who go "show good, show bad". Can this place be harsher? Sure but at least there's conversation.

 

[NavigatorFan]

Yeah, UKFF was a tough crowd this week. It's a TV show but yet complaints that some matches should have been on Rampage, another TV show? 

An unexpected title switch seen as a negative. I did not expect Darby to lose but found the ending exciting rather than predictable. So many times I hear that the winner was never in question, but when they throw a curveball you wanted the predictable winner.

Acclaimed have a bad week on the rap front.....

I could go on but I think the point is clear, Keith has sucked the joy out of you all to the point that wrestling cannot be enjoyable 🤣

[Supremo]

Great opener, incredible main event, but everything in between mostly dragged and felt lifeless.

I blame Timothy Thatcher. This is the effect he has on a show. The guy's rubbish. Boring work rate wanker doing HOLDS and pulling ANGRY faces. Get in the bin. He also stinks of NXT Skulls & Chains. This was easily the least interesting Bryan Danielson match in months. Don't come back, Tim.

By contrast, Swerve Strickland had about twenty seconds of TV time and was fantastic. He's a superstar. Can't wait to see him vs. Dustin. What a mad clash of styles.

They're ruining Renee Young's credibility with these crappy WWE sketches. Just have her interview people and prompt promos. All this, "getting word in her earpiece," shit makes her look like a phony idiot.

I really enjoyed Hangman vs. Moxley. They haven't missed yet. Two men born to knock shite out of each other. I really liked the finish, too. You can completely believe that Moxley and the Combat Club have drilled every counter to the Bulldog Choke over and over again, whereas Hangman - as the lone wolf - doesn't have that privilege. It's almost as if he's coming to the realisation that he needs some friends to take him to the next level. Perhaps...some...old...friends? If not The Elite, I reckon some Dark Order vs. Combat Club six-man tags could be fun. Or maybe Mox and Hangman's combined attempt to salvage Rampage can continue with them doing a Texas Death Match one Friday evening?

This is the second time they've done cheap. homophobic jokes in a segment involving Anthony Bowens, isn't it? Feels so jarring and outdated. Everyone involved is better than this. Can't say I care much about the Gunns getting another title shot, either. The amount of tag teams that could be getting a shot. it's criminal they went back to the Gunns so quickly.

I skipped the Jade Cargill match. I don't a flying fuck about the Baddies Saga.

Darby Allin and Samoa Joe have the most magical chemistry of any pairing in forever. What a career turnaround for Samoa Joe. I thought he was completely washed a few months ago. Now he feels like a main event star. I bet Regal and Hunter have sent out feelers. However, I do worry it's all an illusion created by Darby Allin being equally ridiculously talented and ridiculously fucking stupid in the bumps and damage he's willing to take. Will Joe still look this good wrestling people who actually want to walk in their fifties? Time will tell.

I expected Allin to lose and am happy with the result. His crazy sprint of a title reign has elevated that belt massively, it's now back on Joe to further his feud with Wardlow and hopefully get Wardlow back where he once was, and most importantly it frees Darby up to be the logical next opponent for MJF after Revolution. Remember that insanely good match they had opening a pay per view last year? More of that, please!

So yeah. AEW's a frustrating watch right now. I recognise that a lot of the problems have been ironed out. There's loads more focus on the homegrown talent. Their weird rule about rarely doing rematches appears to have been abandoned, which has resulted in some great repeat fixtures. They're doing less of that thing where people get hot, you feel invested, but then they vanish for weeks on end and the momentum is completely lost. They're nowhere near as stingy with their TV matches and we thankfully hardly ever see big stars fighting absolute chumps like Brock Anderson anymore. This problem of being unable to naturally peak as a pay per view draws near remains a huge issue though. We're only four weeks away. We should be able to see the card forming. And yet almost everyone feels like they're in flux and they're going to rush to get a card together in the last fortnight or so. The only thing other than Danielson vs. MJF that feels nailed on for the pay per view is Ricky Starks vs. Jericho, and that''s only because it's Jericho doing Jericho feuds that go on forever. Starks vs. Jericho is probably nailed on for the following pay per view as well. And the one after that.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Supremo

[The King Of Swing]

5 hours ago, NavigatorFan said:

An unexpected title switch 

I both expected and welcomed the TNT Title change. 

Almost verything else was decent at best which is good enough for me when it comes to weekly TV.

[LaGoosh]

5 hours ago, Supremo said:

This problem of being unable to naturally peak as a pay per view draws near remains a huge issue though. We're only four weeks away. We should be able to see the card forming.

Completely agree with this. It's a pattern they seem stuck in and it's mind boggling that they keep doing it. The AEW booking pattern after each PPV seems to be:

- a few weeks of confused TV

- 4-6 weeks of bangers

- a few weeks of confused TV

- several weeks of rushing a PPV card together. 

- PPV, then repeat the above.

It's immensely frustrating to watch. 

[Infinity Land]

Danielson v. MJF, Mox v. Hangman, Starks v. Jericho probably should have been PPV matches by now and either moved on from or progressed (Danielson v. MJF 1 leading to an Iron Man Match for 2). Instead most of them are dragging as they look to stretch out filler to Revolution.

The lulls between PPVs have become more frustrating as the years have gone by and the roster depth increased. The tropes in padding out feuds have become so blatant and tired. MJF picking a list of challengers, Jericho hiding behind his group. When the Garcia-Guevara gauntlet was announced i'm hoping it's an actual gauntlet match because it was sounding like individual matches to pace it to Revolution.

[DavidB6937]

10 hours ago, Tsurutagun said:

Annnnnnnnd there it is

Ukff members saying a Dynamite was rubbish when everyone else says it was good. Just like a period it happens once a month lol

Who is "everyone else" exactly? Tony posting "justified This IsAwesome! chants" on Twitter every week like clockwork?

I generally read stuff on here - which includes a lot more in depth analysis and debate - and then stuff on Twitter which is quite often a bunch of AEW marks that would give it 11 stars if Tony came out and just did a shit for 2 hours. Although to be fair that one would probably get rated the same by UKFF.

Because this is a message board, it actually allows for more detailed discussion than just a few lines on social media of OMG THAT WAS AMAZING or whatever. So yeah, you're far more likely to see people going into the "bad" stuff on here because the format allows us to.

And yet there's a hell of a lot of excitement and positives discussed too so I'm not seeing the problem.

[Supremo]

The day this place aligns with and reflects the wider Internet Wrestling Community is the day I pack it in.

Have you seen the bollocks people post on Twitter? The very reason this place is so great is because it's (mostly) frequented by normal, mature fans who can chat shit about this daft sport without any of the performative, tribal, binary nonsense.

People talking about, "good psychology," when they haven't got a fucking clue what that means. Morons with stopwatches, only allowing something to be considered above average if it goes past twenty five minutes. Everything descending into tiresome WWE vs. AEW discourse. Every show either being THE BEST EVER or a PILE OF SHIT, with no in between. Sometimes a great show can have bad points and vice versa. Sometimes you get Bray Wyatt in an 80s bowling alley and Sami Zayn freeing himself from the Bloodline on the one show.

In fact, for that matter, type the words, "Bray Wyatt," into Twitter! Look at all those idiots calling him a creative genius! And you want this place to echo those melts? Fuck off.

[CavemanLynn]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Completely agree with this. It's a pattern they seem stuck in and it's mind boggling that they keep doing it. The AEW booking pattern after each PPV seems to be:

- a few weeks of confused TV

- 4-6 weeks of bangers

- a few weeks of confused TV

- several weeks of rushing a PPV card together. 

- PPV, then repeat the above.

It's immensely frustrating to watch. 

They need to start treating more of their gimmick Dynamites (Road Rager, Grand Slam, etc.) as mini PPVs that feuds build to. They could easily throw one or two of these in between the actual paying shows. It feels like they could get a lot more out of what is still a decent idea, without bunging on more Sunday shows that might be bring in a bit more cash, but we all know are going to be pirated for free by a lot of those asking for more PPVs.

[Loki]

7 hours ago, Supremo said:

What a career turnaround for Samoa Joe. I thought he was completely washed a few months ago. Now he feels like a main event star. I bet Regal and Hunter have sent out feelers. However, I do worry it's all an illusion created by Darby Allin being equally ridiculously talented and ridiculously fucking stupid in the bumps and damage he's willing to take. Will Joe still look this good wrestling people who actually want to walk in their fifties? Time will tell.

It's almost certainly that, but let's just enjoy the best Samoa Joe we've seen since he left TNA.  If he's got a bit left in the tank I think AEW is the place to use it, guys will bump crazy for him and it's a big roster with a ton of titles.

I'm far too jaded on Joe's susceptibility to injury to think anyone's going to put their big title on him, but if he's in or around the main event as he is now, that's great and a Joe v Mox match at some point would be fun.

 

[Chris B]

Decent but unmemorable show. The Darby/Joe match was the most I've enjoyed a Darby match in a long, long time. Joe just looked like a monster and like he *meant* everything he did. The opener was solid as well.

I love Jade Cargill, but the baddies shit has been awful. Red Velvet's game for bumping like a good'un though, so it was a decent match, but I just didn't care. If the formation of the Baddies had felt like more of a big deal, this might have felt like more of one. As it is, it feels like they're just killing time until Statlander returns.

Some slightly jarring pre-tapes in the middle of things, with MJF going from a backstage brawl to calm and carrying around a briefcase of money.

Eh, it was fine. Hoping they rediscover the gear they're missing at the moment. Looking forward to Omega being back.

[Infinity Land]

I would like Jade to interrupt an in-ring mean girls segment between Storm/Saraya and Hayter/Britt. Spin it off to Jade +1 v. Storm & Saraya where Storm or Saraya can cheat to win the TBS title. Leave Jamie to have matches with randoms, a returning Thunder Rosa/Kris Statlander while the split with Britt comes to a boil.

I'm not a fan of the originals v. ex-WWE storyline brewing that's soaking up Shida, Soho and who knows how many more to come. I've seen some speculate it could build to a Blood & Guts match, but nah i'm good. Had my fill of faction warfare.

[Factotum]

I must say I thought it was a far better show than some on here are saying. Not as good as they can do, but some really good stuff on there.

[Guest]

Dynamite sets itself such a high standard that even shows that are just watchable and not offensive get tarred as terrible. I doubt those who believed it wasn’t great, of which I am one, don’t grudge the 100 mins spent watching it