AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[Hannibal Scorch]

17 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

A bunch of LED screens. But I was hoping for something a bit more exciting, unique and creative.

 

[LaGoosh]

28 minutes ago, Matthew said:

Such as? What would you recommend?

A big fist smashing through a giant glass wall. AEW in giant letters that the wrestlers can jump off. A fire breathing dragon. A decrepit gothic castle. Swinging metal hooks. A giant electric chair. A wrestling entrance way can be absolutely anything. It doesn't have to just be a bunch of LED screens. So fuck off with your snarky attitude.

[Supremo]

Who gives a fuck about the set. This is the best pro-wrestling television of all time. What a show. Another top tier, all-timer episode. Everything this company is built on. Banging action, fun moments, molten hot crowds, crazy match graphics that make you fall off the couch, and then feelgood moments that leave you grinning from ear to ear.

Tony Schiavone losing his mind in those final few moments when Sting hugged Darby? Inject it straight into my veins. Felt like I could run through walls by the time the credits rolled. Imagine what we all could achieve with our lives if we had Sting screaming promos down our faces every now and then.

Never ever forget that for decades the most powerful people in wrestling thought the best use of hometown crowds was to have hometown favourites lose and be humiliated for heat. Absolute insanity.

I saw it noted online that with Darby winning the TNT Title that completes the set and every champion in AEW is now a homegrown or original talent from when they first started. MJF, Darby, Orange, Jamie Hayter, Jade Cargill, The Acclaimed, Death Triangle. Brilliant. The age of the NXT-reject invasion is over! It’s a new day, yes it is! That’s an Infinity Gauntlet meme I want to see! The gang is back together! So long, Bobby Fish! Do not pass, “Go,” do not collect two hundred quid, do not get the phone call from Hunter.

Taz’s “WHO?” at the mention of Disco Inferno. Chef’s kiss.

Cracking Dusty Finish in the tag match. Jeff trying to stop Aubrey calling for the restart by simply getting in her way was genius. What a un-ironically great run for Double J this is.

Has there ever been a wrestler as cool as Swerve Strickland in 2023? Not even wrestler cool. Actually cool. He’s so great.

Not even broken microphones could stop Hangman and Mox. Great men in great jackets. Cannot wait for next week.

But yeah. Let this be the end of the Danielson slander. It doesn’t matter about his entrance music. He even made the Tony Nese match work! The Danielson Weekly Banger is back!

Edited January 5, 2023 by Supremo

[DavidB6937]

Firstly - the set and all that. Who cares? It shouldn't have been hyped up. No point.

ANYWAY.

Apart from that - we're back to prime Dynamite aren't we? Tony has finally remembered how to book great shows more consistently. I don't know what's changed - whether his personal life shit has eased or he's remembered that AEW is worth focusing on more than ROH or he's just had his supply increased recently.. but whatever it is, he needs to hold on to what he's doing right now.

I know we could say it's because the Punk stuff has calmed down or people are back etc etc but I do think he often had issues with consistency regardless of that.

It's as if he's sat down and watched some of the best AEW shows and made notes as to what worked with them because we're hitting all the sweet spots lately.

[RedRooster]

I think the last few weeks have shown the benefits of not trying to shoehorn ROH onto AEW Dynamite - the show has improved so fucking much since that brand faded away. I'm slightly worried that'll change when they start taping ROH television; with Khan spreading himself too thin, but let's hope that doesn't happen. 

Firstly, the set - I agree with @LaGoosh - it was a bit underwhelming. I think a bigger change would have been highly beneficial for AEW, as they move away from the duff year that was 2022. A new theme song would also have been nice. If you're going to hype a change, make it noticeable. 

It was another great show, in spite of the underwhelming announcement of Toni Storm as Saraya's partner. Britt Baker branding herself "The Boss" during their segment had me assuming is surely had to be Mercedes Mone. If she does still turn up, they're taking an odd approach to hyping her. I wonder if something fell through?

The Hangman/Moxley feud is red hot, who'd have thought that terrifying moment would turn into something so brilliant? 

Danielson/MJF has also been fun, I hope they give the mic to Danielson more often, as they build up future feuds. As great a wrestler as he is, it's his personality that makes you gravitate towards him. 

Credit to The Acclaimed and Jeff Jarrett for making me care about a match I hadn't been massively invested in, through their promo work leading into tonight. I just wish Jarrett's partner was someone other than Jay Lethal. 

I was a bit surprised to see Darby defeat Joe. I really enjoyed the King of Television gimmick, and it feels like it's been cut short before it's really had a chance to flourish. I hope they have a direction in mind from here; the TNT title needs to regain a bit of momentum. 

All in all though, an excellent show - roll on next week!

[Factotum]

Jeff Jarrett being hugely entertaining in AEW was not what I expected when he came in.

DYNAMITE was banging. Keep this up!

[Fanny Pack]

Just watched the MJF/Bryan promo. Biggest compliment I can give MJF is he reminds me of 80s/early 90s Flair without looking like hes ripping him off. The small nuances he uses in his promo are superb. There is no way he can beat Bryan in an Iron Man match (of course he will) and thats why they will get my money.

[FLips]

Was very excited for the re-branding and going into it spoiler-free maybe built my expectations up too much. When the show opened and it was the same theme song over the same package they were showing a couple of weeks ago I had my doubts, but then when there a million crowd cuts in Jericho and Stark's entrances my gut sank. Thankfully I think the new lad's trigger finger calmed down a bit during the show and some of his WWE habits died off.
Personally I like the new actual stage set and the lit crowds being back made the whole thing look way more big time.

Glad to see Starks win but I don't think him and Jericho have much in-ring chemistry and the Action Andretti stuff should be entirely seperate to this because Starks doesn't need to team with a lucky jobber, it drags him down more than it elevates Andretti. Shame to see Jericho still refusing to just eat and loss and move on. I've no interest in Starks and Andretti vs the JAS. Or anyone vs the JAS for that matter.

I skipped Bryan vs Nese. I'm sure it was sound but they're two of the most boring men on the roster and I had no interest in it. The post-match promo with MJF was decent, with Bryan using MJFs demands to make his own demands rather than jumping through hoops for no reason. As soon as he asked to make his own stipulation though I said to my wife please don't be an iron man match, and here we are. There has been two 60 minute Iron Man matches in the entire history of them that I've seen and enjoyed. Rock vs HHH at Judgement Day and Brock vs Angle on Smackdown.

The dusty finish on the tag match got me good and I was glad to see it. I genuinely thought they took the belts off The Acclaimed for a minute. Great booking.

Mox and Hangman just isn't working for me. Actually, and I really hate to say this, but sad act Hangman isn't working for me anymore. He really needs to find his confidence and keep it because I'm not sure how many times they can knock him into a depression and not make him look pathetic. They're already walking that very thin line.

Some nice progression with Cargill's baddies. It's starting to feel like it's building to a climax of her losing the belt but now we just need someone to step up and take it. Sadly I still can't think of anyone I'd want to as the division is build like dogshit.

Speaking of the women's division, I was all ready to slate Saraya for seemingly forgetting Shida's name and calling her "you" but when seconds later it turned into an actual story I was all for it. Shida is probably my favourite wrestler in that division and if this is a heel turn then count me in.

Darby vs Joe was ace and a great feel-good finish. Darby is one of the best talents they have and he always puts on a top match against bigger lads. The TNT championship feels big time on him.

As has been said, it finally feels like AEW again rather than AEW X ROH. There's still a lot of chaff on the roster needs cutting, but in terms of who they're showcasing it doesn't get much more homegrown.
Would really love to see some more AEW Dark regulars get the odd Dynamite match though. I'd much rather watch people like Abadon, Ryan Nemeth, JD Drake, Peter Avalon, Brock Anderson, Brian Pillman Jr, Luther and Serpentico, Sonny Kiss, etc. than them keeping bringing in indy names like AR Fox, Tony Nese and Jay Lethal and having main eventers go 15 minutes with them.

[Nick James]

Ricky Starks is it, isn't he? Shimmying his way across the top rope, just pissing charisma. What a showman. I REALLY hope that Jericho doesn't decide he wants a 10 month long feud with him.

A hot crowd can make any show seem good, but when it parallels a fantastic show, its just pure gold. Never run Chicago again. 

EDIT: Whilst in the grand scheme the rebranding means very little, its another one of the occasions where something was hyped that really didn't need to be and the entrance is very WWE like. I liked that AEW had a different looking entrance and the tunnels were a welcome change to the norm. Always liked that part of the Impact Zone. Just stay the fuck away from LED boards around the ring and it'll be fine. 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Nick James

[DavidB6937]

1 hour ago, RedRooster said:

It was another great show, in spite of the underwhelming announcement of Toni Storm as Saraya's partner. Britt Baker branding herself "The Boss" during their segment had me assuming is surely had to be Mercedes Mone. If she does still turn up, they're taking an odd approach to hyping her. I wonder if something fell through?

This would be my only issue. Are they heading for a swerve for the sake of it? Even though I thought it'd be a pretty underwhelming way to debut her, it'd be even worse to lead people into thinking she's not coming only for her to come out. Like why? Haven't they now given people a reason to NOT tune in? I can't wrap my head around the benefit of booking it like this if she was actually coming. You'd either leave it as a surprise partner or advertise the fuck out of it wouldn't you?

[Infinity Land]

Best compliment I can give the show is that when it started up it felt like a PPV. Jericho v. Starks, hot crowd, looked good. They managed to keep that feeling through most of the matches and there were plenty of good TV segments with the Mox/Hangman, MJF/Danielson, and the setting up the Women's Tag for LA.

When I saw Saraya sitting with Toni Storm & Hikaru Shida I knew something was up. Not sure where Mercedes Moné fits into this storyline now. Jade Cargill has been quietly racking up to the 50-0 mark. Maybe that's where it goes. Her act at Wrestle Kingdom and the way Toni & Saraya were behaving. I could see them be a heelish ex-WWE unit.

[mim731]

8 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

This would be my only issue. Are they heading for a swerve for the sake of it? Even though I thought it'd be a pretty underwhelming way to debut her, it'd be even worse to lead people into thinking she's not coming only for her to come out. Like why? Haven't they now given people a reason to NOT tune in? I can't wrap my head around the benefit of booking it like this if she was actually coming. You'd either leave it as a surprise partner or advertise the fuck out of it wouldn't you?

I'm assuming Shida turns heel on Storm out of jealousy for not being picked, leaving Saraya short a partner, and Sasha comes out as a big surprise. Honestly, if that's what they go with, I have no idea why they've gone this route unless they were hedging their bets on whether she actually comes in or not. 

AEW does so many things right, but in recent times Tony Khan can't seem to book a debut without tying himself in knots to get there in the most convoluted fashion available. The exception being Punk, and honestly dropping hints and just delivering here in a similar fashion would have been the best bet. Predictable isn't always a bad thing, especially when it's giving the fans what they want. 

[DavidB6937]

1 minute ago, mim731 said:

I'm assuming Shida turns heel on Storm out of jealousy for not being picked, leaving Saraya short a partner, and Sasha comes out as a big surprise. Honestly, if that's what they go with, I have no idea why they've gone this route unless they were hedging their bets on whether she actually comes in or not. 

AEW does so many things right, but in recent times Tony Khan can't seem to book a debut without tying himself in knots to get there in the most convoluted fashion available. The exception being Punk, and honestly dropping hints and just delivering here in a similar fashion would have been the best bet. Predictable isn't always a bad thing, especially when it's giving the fans what they want. 

I'm really hoping it isn't that because that's definitely overcomplicating stuff for the sake of it. Plus what's Sasha doing there if she's not the partner? Just happened to be there and chilling in the back? I know it's wrestling but still.. AEW manage to avoid stupid things quite well most of the time.

[Nick James]

6 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

Toni & Saraya were behaving. I could see them be a heelish ex-WWE unit.

Please for the love of god, no. 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Nick James

[Infinity Land]

By the way. TK's trolling by booking an iron man match on PPV. Just imagine the typical 15 matches knowing one is going an hour+ with entrances.