AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[Loki]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

A heel turn for BCC is just what this company needs. Arrogant Danielson, psycho Mox, nasty little cunt hiding behind his tough mates Yuta and miserable, super strong big brother Claudio to protect them all. It'd be so brilliant.

Christ, at least it'd get their top stars back on tv properly if it meant them feuding with the Elite.   The company needs to pull the trigger on some version of that storyline before any of them bugger off to WWE.

To be honest I think the BCC have been coming off as heels for ages anyway, they're an immensely unlikeable group of arrogant pricks as it is.

Re: the announcement. I think we can all agree that what AEW really needed was another hour of telly a week to further dilute Tony Khan's attention.

[BomberPat]

the BCC have always been positioned as neither quite heel or quite face, able to slot in wherever they're needed. Moxley is the heel in his feud with Hangman, but if you slotted him in against Jericho next week, he'd be a babyface there with no substantial change. Same for Danielson, really - he's a bully when he wrestles babyfaces, but an underdog against heels, without any real sense of inconsistency.

For a BCC/Elite feud, though, the Elite are basically in the same boat of being neither quite one or the other. Which could work, or could quickly become mired in nonsense. Though if it's The Elite with Hangman back on side, that should do most of the work for them.

[Nick James]

Claudio is perfectly cast at the moment as the protective, motivating older brother figure to Wheeler Yuta. Just a really good pairing and cannot echo the comments enough about Yuta and the entire BCC just going full blown nasty bastard heels. I completely forgot that Yuta used to be with the Best Friends. Good match between Yuta and Cassidy as well. Claudio strutting back out at the end was a good touch.

Was it just me or did the camera cuts in the closing segment of this match feel very.....Kevin Dunn, like? It was definitely more noticeable than normal, going from ringside, to the sweeping cam, to the up-close cam, back to the ringside all in quick succession. 

Jericho needs some time away, desperately. ''You're not over and done with Chris Jericho until I say so''...…or until your stock is significantly lower than it was when we started this feud 65 years ago. Poor Pretty Peter taking the elbow with the jacket. 

Now, this one is going to get me some stick and I know I really am in the minority with this one, but I'm bored of the Acclaimed. They're still over like nothing else, they still get the reactions and I honestly can't put my finger on what it is, but they're just not doing it for me any more. 

Jungle Boy looked cool as fuck attacking Christian straight off the bat with the fire of 1000 suns, then looked an absolute berk with fannying about with the chair until he was low blow'd after taking so long. I presume there hasn't been sight of Luchasaurus in a while due to the trademark issues with his mask? Or have I missed something.  

The tag team battle royal was bags of fun, chaotic, but fun. Seemed a weird thing to include Aussie Open without much fanfare. Every time i see Penta, it makes me sad how much of a wasted opportunity its been with him in AEW. 

Tony Khan's announcements are the law of diminishing returns at this point. No comment on the show that was announced, I doubt I will watch it, but how many more announcements can Tony make to use as hype for shows? 

AEW took the piss out of WWE for so long about how they have people stand watching TV, with the Bucks doing the ridiculous over the shoulder stuff etc, to now have their stars watching TV at awkward angles just like WWE, but without doing it ironically. AEW's production slowly getting like WWE's has been one of their main problems, almost as much as the booking for me. Pandemic era AEW was like a breath of fresh air, different camera angles, bright and airy lighting over the crowds and a stage different to anything else. Now its darker crowds, camera cuts and a massive stage the looks not too dissimilar to Raw or Smackdown. It'll not be long before the LED boards are around the ring. 

The blood dripping from Uno's head was gross, really disgusting and would have really put Mox over as a nasty fucker, if we didn't see blood multiple times a show. Blood again, is something that is hugely overdone that it barely means anything anymore, Jungle Boy, Uno and Mox all got colour on this show.

Really, really good pull apart brawl to end the show, much better than the one earlier in the night, but once again, two pull apart brawls in one show.

Expecting nothing from this show going in, but as usual, AEW's better shows seem to be the ones you have no expectations for. 

[Accident Prone]

AEW turned chicken shit into chicken salad thanks to a res hot crowd and fire up their arse to prove the doubters (like me) wrong. It had its ups (Orange/Yuta) & downs (Starks/Jericho) but AEW took a subpar card & overdelivered with the three pro wrestling essentials ; blood, guts & hatred. You are definitely not getting those qualities with WWE, which still makes AEW the perfect alternative and the choice of a new generation.

[Supremo]

I can't knock them for trying to find a new demographic with a reality TV show. There's definitely a completely different audience out there who will watch that stuff. My wife thinks pro-wrestling is the dumbest thing in the world, but she's still asking when we can sit down to watch Nikki Bella's new show.

The tragedy is that this won't be the reality TV  I want, just seeing what absolute weirdoes like Danhausen and Mark Briscoe do on a day-to-day basis, or following Eddie Kingston and Tony Schiavone going to the cinema together.

[Infinity Land]

14 minutes ago, Loki said:

Re: the announcement. I think we can all agree that what AEW really needed was another hour of telly a week to further dilute Tony Khan's attention.

Good thing they didn't get that then.

[TobyK]

I haven't watched Dynamite properly in this lead up to Revolution. I'm agreeing with most of what people are saying in the thread. 

I feel it's all a bit repetitive at the moment and I'm just not that fussed about a number of the performers that they are trying very hard to make us care about. Even if Wheeler Yuta is a decent technical wrestler, I am not paying or spending my spare time watching or investing in a very average performer to me. Where are the show stoppers, with charisma, get The Elite in main storylines, Jericho time off & come back later in the year, Saraya (and a number of the women performers) are currently not at national tv level, Action Andretti...looks like a British chav from the gym...just pay Will Osprey loads to come in instead and show the talent how its done, Miro had an exciting and original thing going on with his God storyline why put him on the sidelines for too long, MJF is loosing his edge, Jungle Boy still is a bit of a bore....but, I am still a fan and rooting for the company, it's just hasn't been at the levels or originality we grew accustomed too 2020-2021

[RedRooster]

3 minutes ago, TobyK said:

Miro had an exciting and original thing going on with his God storyline why put him on the sidelines for too long

I find this absolutely bizarre, particularly if the story about him turning down creative is true. Given that he apparently has a long term contract, the fact he seems to be perfectly healthy, yet has vanished is so weird. It wasn't that long ago where people were arguing for him to win the World Title, because he was that hot a character. 

Scorpio Sky is another weird one. I'm not his biggest fan, but if you like him enough to put the TNT title on him, how can you end up in a situation where he's just...gone? 

Then there's Shaun Spears. He was part of a major stable in The Pinnacle, and became a very enjoyable mid-level heel. You could also point to a number of female wrestlers (eg. Nyla Rose, Riho) - although I appreciate that some of them still appear on Dark. 

[BomberPat]

1 minute ago, RedRooster said:

I find this absolutely bizarre, particularly if the story about him turning down creative is true. Given that he apparently has a long term contract, the fact he seems to be perfectly healthy, yet has vanished is so weird. It wasn't that long ago where people were arguing for him to win the World Title, because he was that hot a character. 

Scorpio Sky is another weird one. I'm not his biggest fan, but if you like him enough to put the TNT title on him, how can you end up in a situation where he's just...gone? 

Then there's Shaun Spears. He was part of a major stable in The Pinnacle, and became a very enjoyable mid-level heel. You could also point to a number of female wrestlers (eg. Nyla Rose, Riho) - although I appreciate that some of them still appear on Dark. 

Shawn Spears and Scorpio Sky feel like victims of Cody Rhodes' departure, in that they seemed to be his boys, and once Cody was out the door and there was nobody speaking up for them in creative meetings or pitching ideas for them, they dropped off the radar. But then early on, Scorpio Sky was quite often highlighted as one of Tony Khan's favourites - first tag champ, TNT champ, groomed for greatness...then disappeared. Is he hurt? He's not been around since July.

I didn't use to buy into the talk of AEW's roster being too big - because "we have too many popular and talented wrestlers" is the kind of "problem" most promoters would very much like to have - but it gets harder to deny when people just disappear. I like the idea of wrestlers being cycled on and off TV so as not to wear out their welcome, but it would help if there was more of an explanation, and if certain other wrestlers were more subject to it too.

[Keith Houchen]

22 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

Good thing they didn't get that then.

Do you think he will have zero input or editorial control or anything? It’s another plate for him to spin. 

[Infinity Land]

2 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Do you think he will have zero input or editorial control or anything? It’s another plate for him to spin. 

It's already happened. Just like with Rhodes to the Top and most reality shows. It's months old.

[Keith Houchen]

4 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

It's already happened. Just like with Rhodes to the Top and most reality shows. It's months old.

Aah nice one, thanks. Do you think it may have impacted his focus while shooting was taking place? With it all in the can now that’s a good thing, surely?

[RedRooster]

5 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Shawn Spears and Scorpio Sky feel like victims of Cody Rhodes' departure, in that they seemed to be his boys, and once Cody was out the door and there was nobody speaking up for them in creative meetings or pitching ideas for them, they dropped off the radar. But then early on, Scorpio Sky was quite often highlighted as one of Tony Khan's favourites - first tag champ, TNT champ, groomed for greatness...then disappeared. Is he hurt? He's not been around since July.

 

The strangest thing for me, in the case of Sky, is that they stumbled upon gold with him in Men of the Year. That tag team was red hot - with or without Dan Lambert. Given that The Firm has failed; perhaps because CM Punk's departure changed plans, or perhaps it was always destined to - and that the tag division is lighter than it once was, there's a golden opportunity to bring that team back. I hope they do. 

One issue AEW has that I don't think gets talked about enough is how frequently they stumble upon a hot act or great idea, and either fail to run with it, or fail to see it through to its full potential. You could point to Men of the Year and Miro; but you could also point to things like Penta's VERY short-lived run as a heel, John Silver, The Young Bucks' tag title run, FTR as a top babyface act or Daniel Garcia as a babyface. There are clearly situations where the wrestler in question is to blame for missing an opportunity - Cody as a heel, Malaki Black as an ass-kicking babyface and the apparent self-destruction of Eddie Kingston. But it's fast become the company of missed opportunities for me. 

[BomberPat]

I think something that will, unfortunately, come to define AEW is how many big matches they are consistently leaving on the table.

Cody Rhodes left without ever wrestling Kenny Omega, Jon Moxley, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson or Hangman Page. CM Punk never faced or teamed with Bryan Danielson, never wrestled Kenny Omega or the Young Bucks. If The Elite end up WWE-bound, do they go there before we get a match between them and BCC? If WWE come sniffing around Jade Cargill, does she sign without ever having meaningfully interacted with Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter, and so on? 

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Punk and Danielson not interacting or sharing the screen even once is madness.