AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[The King of Old School]

12 hours ago, Duke said:

The positive news is hopefully that Ricky and Big bill can move on to feuding with someone else and we can get the AEW tag team and trios divisions moving again. In the start tag teams were the highlights of the whole company and they've been a total afterthought lately.

I bet Ibushi subs for Omega and teams with Jericho against Starks and Bill.

[WeeAl]

On 12/14/2023 at 8:14 AM, LaGoosh said:

That Golden Jets segment will go down as one of the worst in Dynamite history. Everyone was absolutely awful, they knew it was awful, the fans knew it was awful. Rotten in every way possible. It made me actively not want to see their World's End match.

A barrell of shite it was. Ten minutes that felt longer than that Revenant film that's still going on. 

[Matthew]

13 hours ago, The King of Old School said:

I bet Ibushi subs for Omega and teams with Jericho against Starks and Bill.

I’d say Sammy is a safer bet surely?

[Chris B]

13 hours ago, The King of Old School said:

I bet Ibushi subs for Omega

Pretty sure there's a bunch of fan-fiction about that.

[The King of Old School]

57 minutes ago, Matthew said:

I’d say Sammy is a safer bet surely?

Be a bit strange to bring him out as a face again but who knows

[Infinity Land]

Jericho needs a tag team partner. Probably someone to cancel out Big Bill. There's only one choice right 😉

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

1 hour ago, Infinity Land said:

Jericho needs a tag team partner. Probably someone to cancel out Big Bill. There's only one choice right 😉

[DavidB6937]

1 hour ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

Typical Jericho parasite behaviour again. Leeching off the next Rumble winner.

[LaGoosh]

Good week for AEW. Worth noting the sheer amount of brilliant matches they've put on in a single week:

Mark Briscoe vs Jay White

Jon Moxley vs Swerve

Top Flight vs Vikingo, Kommander and Penta

Tony Nese vs Ethan Page

BCC vs FTR and Mark Briscoe

Athena vs Starks

Claudio Castagnoli vs Andrade

Willow & Statlander vs Diamante & Martinez

Garcia vs Kingston

Danielson vs Brody King

Unbelievable. I've been buzzing all week.

[LaGoosh]

With the league matches sadly coming to a conclusion this week I thought it'd be fun to check in on where everyone is at the moment.

Jon Moxley - the ace of AEW and the only man not to lose so far in the entire thing. However two of his victories have been contentious, the ref mistakenly thinking RUSH tapped and pulling on Swerve's tights for the roll-up win, so he's not been entirely dominant. I think he's pretty much guaranteed a semi-final slot here.

Mark Briscoe - he's been a joy to watch and brought the big fight to all his matches but just hasn't been able to get a win. Mark has described this tournament as being his rookie year as a singles. The man is pure heart and soul and it's been great seeing the fans get behind him. His last chance to win a match this week and it's against his respected rival Jay Lethal. These two are bonded from their Jay Briscoe Memorial match so there's an added layer to this one.

Jay Lethal - the jobber of the tournament however is it because he can't get a win without Jarrett, Sonjay and Satnam by his side or has their malign influence actually held him back? I get a feeling we'll find out this week.

Jay White - Out of everyone I think he's probably had a slightly underwhelming showing even though the matches have been good. He's against Moxley this week who grinds his opponents to dust. White will have to use all his sneaky, wily tactics to withstand Mox's attack and win this one. If he wins and the right people lose he's still got a chance for a semi-final match.

RUSH - his first big singles push in AEW and he's been really great. Since losing to Mox he seems like even more a violent maniac than before as he now feels he has something to prove. He's close to being eliminated so will be especially determined and brutal on Wednesday. Still has a chance at reaching the semi-finals.

Swerve Strickland - a likely semi-finalist and my pick for winner. Before his loss to Mox looked fairly unstoppable. He's proven he can get violent against Hangman and he'll need to prove that again to survive RUSH this week.

Andrade - despite the loss to Claudio he still has a strong chance of reaching the semis. The only man in the tournament to get a win (and a very decisive one at that) over Bryan Danielson. Almost everyone else has been pure emotion and drive to prove themselves while Andrade has been winning matches with a quiet and confident determination. On Collision his final league match is against a man who has more emotion than anyone. Andrade has the upper hand in points and physically, but we'll see if he finally shows the heart of a Champion.

Brody King - a coming out party for King as a singles competitor with mixed results. Unlikely he'll reach the semi-finals but if he wins and the right people lose could still get there. He's been a monster in the tournament but I don't think he's shown the skill or heart to beat the absolute top guys.

Claudio Castagnoli - if Claudio wins he should have the chance for enough points to reach the semi finals. A mixed tournament but he's shown in his match against Andrade that he's now desperate enough to cheat to stay in it. Whether he'll need to cheat against his final boss Bryan Danielson we'll see. These two know everything about each other as competitors and each other's every move, will Claudio be willing to attack his stable-mates injured eye or cheat to win?

Eddie Kingston - he came into this tournament more confident that anyone by putting both his titles on the line but suffered an immediate set back when he lost his first match. He's been scrapping and clawing to keep in this thing ever since. More than almost everyone he looks absolutely exhausted and beaten down by the tournament but he's staying in it through sheer heart and toughness. He's beaten his hated rival Claudio and got an unexpectedly tough win over Daniel Garcia but he's hurting and has more to lose than anyone. In comparison Andrade is nowhere near as fatigued as Eddie and is physically superior in every way. It's going to be close but Kingston always has that spinning backfist in his pocket to keep him in the fight. I've got everything crossed for a Kingston win.

Daniel Garcia - the youngest most inexperienced man in the tournament but has had an incredible showing and got all the fans behind him. He's technically eliminated but this is his last chance to get a win in this tournament and the roof will explode if he gets it. The problem is he's against the biggest and scariest man in the tournament. Garcia will have to dig deeper than ever to get the win here.

Bryan Danielson - finally, we have the Best Wrestler Of All Time. This tournament feels like his baby, his vision and an encapsulation of everything he wants from pro wrestling. He's been a mostly unstoppable force of violence in this. Absolutely demolishing opponents, cruelly mocking and disrespecting those who failed to reach his level and then totally at peace afterwards. I don't think he's ever been better. His single loss to Andrade proves his one weakspot is his injured eye. However Brody King targeted it in their match and Danielson managed to battle through it for the win so all signs point that he has now mastered that injury too. As others have struggled with their emotions Danielson has been the most confident - even his loss to Andrade didn't phased him. Likely winner of the Blue League but he still has Claudio to get through which will likely be his toughest test yet.

Edited December 20, 2023 by LaGoosh

[Supremo]

I love this. Fantastic that it comes down to the wire and there are still so many directions it can go in. What an absolute triumph this tournament has been. A brilliant idea in concept that’s actually gotten better, more interesting and exciting as it’s gone on. I’ll miss it when we have to go back to random matches that don’t mean anything.

Kingston’s winning it though. I’ll accept nothing less. Pin Moxley clean and take that Triple Crowd home, Eddie!

“Ma, the reason why you don't have a grandchild, is because of THIS! The reason why I didn't give you a daughter-in-law is because of THIS!' Because this is all that matters in our sport!”

Edited December 21, 2023 by Supremo

[air_raid]

3 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Jon Moxley - pretty much guaranteed a semi-final slot here.

Jay White - If he wins and the right people lose he's still got a chance for a semi-final match.

RUSH - Still has a chance at reaching the semi-finals.

Swerve Strickland - a likely semi-finalist 

Andrade - strong chance of reaching the semis. 

Brody King - Unlikely he'll reach the semi-finals 

Claudio Castagnoli - the chance for enough points to reach the semi finals. 

Bryan Danielson - Likely winner of the Blue League 

If San Antonio sweep Sacramento....

[andrew "the ref" coyne]

I hope next year they expand this out with a few more competitors and have it run a little longer time wise. It's been fantastic fun.

Very intrigued for dynamite and who makes those finals.

I reckon it'll be Moxley, Swerve and White for a three way final on gold.

Finally think it's a shame they didn't run a mini league for the women's division over on Rampage.

[The Gaffer]

"And Taz you're my favourite landlord ever! They call you the human duplex machine." 

Toni Storm's tied with Punk for the best frequent-guest commentator ever. Have her do this every week, please!

Decent episode. This tournament's been great at moving AEW into a post-Punk, post-injury crisis run of respectability and logic.

Probably shows what a sports entertainment fan I am that I want to be way more into the devil thing than I do the tournament but it just feels so out of place, doesn't it! The crowd always seem to lull when it plays out, or in the case of this week someone audibly shouting out "IT'S BULLY RAY!" The reveal could be a bit of a dud. The army of Putty Patrollers around the ring and the devil's messages coming via a power point presentation on the screen felt proper TNA-does-Undertaker Vs. Kane. 

But yeah, good episode on the whole. 

[BomberPat]

there's a lot of stuff in wrestling that I'm a bit of a stick in the mud about, and AEW are hitting all of them with the Devil storyline. Nobody knows who he is, yet he has merchandise available on the website, he (or his equally anonymous masked henchmen) are apparently able to compete in AEW-sanctioned matches, and he's able to gain control of their production equipment to issue messages over the big screen - so how does nobody who works there know who he is? Is he signing merchandise deals and match contracts "sight unseen" like when Stephanie McMahon signed Mr. America to Smackdown? 

And why do so few people in the company seem to care that he's going around disrupting the show and assaulting people? I'm not arguing for Tony Khan being more of an on-screen character, but there's been no suggestion that anyone at a management level cares that he's doing all this. The Acclaimed seem more annoyed at MJF about it than at the people who actually beat them up and took them out of action for weeks. Jay White and Bullet Club Gold don't seem to care or remember that they were assaulted first. 

Now we're heading towards a ROH Tag Team Title match - again, somehow sanctioned, despite not knowing who two of the wrestlers involved are, and one of the defending team not actually being one of the ROH Tag Champions - and nobody in ROH's management structure, whether that's Tony Khan, Stokely Hathaway, Jerry Lynn, or whoever, has demanded that The Devil or whoever is representing him in this match reveal their identity to be granted the match, they're just happy to give a title match and TV time to unknown thugs. Oh, and we've already done a bait and switch of this exact match a couple of weeks ago, so either the fans or the babyfaces risk being made to look like idiots for falling for it again.

Bringing the ROH Tag Titles back into the equation makes me think it's time for Adam Cole to be revealed - I expect a bit of a double-bluff in the match itself, of Cole showing up in MJF's corner while the Devil appears on the big screen; nobody seems to bring up that every time we see the Devil's face on the Tron, there's absolutely nothing to indicate that it's supposed to be live footage and not the same pre-recorded clip, so I expect that will be the twist, that Cole and the Devil will appear on-screen at the same time to throw you off the scent, then Cole will unmask at World's End.

 

It's just a shame that all this convoluted nonsense is happening at a time that Swerve Strickland is becoming one of the hottest acts in wrestling, the Continental Classic is guaranteeing brilliant matches and great stories, and generally everything else feels like the ship is being righted, it just has this daft Black Scorpion albatross around its neck. The sooner it's all over, the better, and I'm hoping and expecting World's End to finally put this bollocks to bed.