AEW Dynamite Thread 2023

[Angle_fan]

Sorry yes. My mistake. Realistically they should have done this already then 😔

[Arch Stanton]

19 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

Is there anyone in wrestling left on twitter who hasn't dunked on Disco? 

Callis and Disco are good friends, the constant digs Callis makes online are never malicious. They've had this ongoing banter between them for years.

[TobyK]

Looking forward to Max Caster punchlines tonight!

[Supremo]

Another week, another belter of an episode. What a run they’re on. Night and day from where they were a year ago, when the wheels started falling off.

It’s as if momentum and buzz in the pro-wrestling industry is a finite thing that the two biggest companies have to share. Whenever one is doing good, the other one goes down the toilet. Last Summer when WWE improved, AEW was a complete shambles. And now AEW has turned a corner, WWE has become a dumpster fire. Such a mad business to follow.

Great opener. I can’t decide if it’s a master stroke they planned ahead of time, or just sheer luck, but either way it’s amazing that the two guys they pushed to the moon and consciously kept apart for nearly three years eventually proved to have such phenomenal chemistry together. Hangman and Mox were born to knock shite out each other. I punched the air when Hangman won. Get in! Extra points for Mox seemingly wrestling the referee to the ground just out of shot of the camera, to sell how out of it he was. I adore that man always trying new things, taking the best stuff from MMA. Logic would suggest a Last Man Standing match at Revolution, but would that be overkill when they’ve already got the Iron Man match booked?

Good for Adam Cole. I don’t think I’ll ever be a huge fan, and his skinny arms resembled wet spaghetti more than ever, but I’m happy he’s healthy. Plus, all reports suggest he’s just a decent, normal guy backstage, so after last Summer I’ve got a new appreciation for guys like him ahead of your toxic knobheads like CM Punk and Andrade. I dunno though. It’s never a good sign when someone comes back and I can’t think of a single match I want to see them in.

Loved Jungle Hook, loved Big Bill taking the suplex, but it has to be said. Pairing the Gorgeous Bastards together really highlighted how Jungle Boy is leagues ahead of Hook. Particularly in that final stretch before the finish, you could sense that Hook wasn’t really sure what to do and was out of position, whereas Jungle Jack looks like the finished article. I saw Tony Khan mention the possibility of House Shows in the upcoming future. Hook seems the type who’ll really benefit from those reps. There’s magic there, but you can tell he’s still got a long way to go. Similar to Jade Cargill.

What’s ironic is the exact same sense of looking lost and being out of position that Hook displayed? So did Saraya, despite wrestling her entire fucking life. She’s rubbish.

Danielson vs. Takeshita delivered like a motherfucker. That spot with the Reverse Crunchie into the German Suplex was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. Takeshita is the best.

I literally laughed out loud with joy at the graphic for Danielson vs. Bandido. This is exactly how you use Bryan Danielson. Keep the dream matches coming. Fuck it, fly in Okada. Let’s fucking go!

The duality of Jericho will never end. Has he improved massively? Yes. But fucking hell if he isn’t the biggest leech in all of pro-wrestling. Are you a hot wrestler? Jericho will feud with you for ten months. Hot independent promotion? Jericho’s flying in. Big card in a hot market? Here’s Chris and his dickhead mates burning precious TV time to build up a match they’ve already fucking announced. Jesus Christ. Ive never felt so stressed as I did watching them all ramble on, watching the clock, seeing the main event lose minutes and minutes of time as they failed to get to the point. I did laugh at Hager’s kick your leg outta your leg tribute, but this whole thing could have been a twenty second backstage skit.

Thankfully I had nothing to worry about in regards to time because that main event was fucking phenomenal and it’s absolutely insane that they flawlessly delivered that standard of a match with what little time they had left. Stonking ladder match. My head could burst trying to comprehend how they manage to even think of these spots, never mind execute them so perfectly.

Trios titles back on The Elite. Balance has returned to the Force. Now let’s all grow up, make friends, and do what’s best for business.

[RedRooster]

It was a good episode, but there was, it has to be said, a lot of lowest common denominator stuff. 

Ricky Starks mocking Jake Hager's lisp, Action Andretti saying Sammy "couldn't control" his wife and there were a few lines in MJF's promo that tread that line also. 

Andretti is god-awful, though. I've absolutely no idea what Jericho saw on him. He comes across as an absolute twat on the mic and his ring-work is fine, but nothing to write home about. I'd be amazed if he's still a regular fixture on Dynamite by next month, let alone next year.

The Hangman/Moxley match was outstanding, I've really enjoyed their feud; and I hope it continues. I'm really excited by the prospect of Moxley as a heel, so I hope we get that. 

Fair play to Big Bill for taking the suplex from Hook. I genuinely didn't want them to go with that spot, as I legitimately feared a neck break given the height difference, but in the end, it seemed pretty well executed. 

I thought Adam Cole's promo was excellent, and I hope they keep him babyface. He's shown that he can be very effective on the mic as a face, and if he shows similar passion while standing toe-to-toe with the likes of Moxley and MJF, I could see myself getting into his feuds. 

That said, talking about MJF, it feels a little like his character has gone backwards. In 2021 he was one of the most nuanced characters in wrestling, with compelling storylines backing up his excellent ring and mic work. He seems to be leaning a bit too much into gaining heat by saying something shocking, which I'm not massively into in a wrestling character. 

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by RedRooster

[LaGoosh]

This was 75% excellent and 25% absolute shite.

I'll start with what I didn't like:

- the small production fuck ups they seemed to iron out last week were back with a vengeance this week.

- that womens tag was a colossal fuck up. I'm guessing whatever/whoever they had planned weeks ago went tits up and they scrambled to save it and failed. The heel face divide was a mess. Hayter/Baker are heels who get huge babyface reactions. Storm is a babyface but the fans aren't hugely invested at this point. And after the initial return pop no one gives a fuck about Saraya. Saraya and Baker are terrible wrestlers. Storm was bright orange and came out looking miserable. Terrible ending. Everyone expecting Sasha Banks. An epic mess.

- a middling and truly confusing Kingston/Ortiz segment. 

- the Jericho segment was everything that is bad about Jericho all at once. Garcia, Hager and Daddy Magic were all great though. Starks had an off night. Barrel scraping Attitude era rubbish. Painful to watch.

- that weird Renee bit where she stood outside The Elite's dressing room and nothing happened. 

- Juice Robinson is awful. Pure 80s wrestling cringe. I hope they haven't signed this twat.

The REALLY GREAT:

- new ringside barriers! They look good. Fantastic job by the announcers putting over that they are for the fans safety but more dangerous for the wrestlers. The ringside area should feel like a danger zone, not a fucking soft play like in WWE.

- Hangman/Mox was excellent. Every lariat had such story impact. And Hangman needed that big win, what a hero. The headbutt section was brutal. Happily watch a third blow off match with these two greats.

- Oof, HOOK needs some work. Clearly not ready yet for the big time matches. Fun match though. Big Bill's selling of the suplex was EXCELLENT. He ingeniously sold it as him being surprised he was thrown but that it didn't actually hurt him, that got him over as a monster but also put HOOK over too. I'd like to see more of him.

- Genuine feel good Adam Cole promo. Happy for the man but alas in the long run...ugh, Cole is shit.

- the interaction between MJF/Takeshita was great. They've obviously got big plans for Takeshita. The middle section was the usual shite but it got good when he started insulting the local celebrities before hilariously running away.

- first half of Danielson/Takeshita bored me. Usual dull chop/strikefest pattern Danielson has settled into, similar to Mox/Hangman but without any of the drama and heat. But the second half of pure Takeshita fire was gold. Wasn't a fan of Danielson no selling a motherfucking Brainbuster on the floor though!

- I wish the main event had had a hype video beforehand to set the mood. Predictability excellent ofcourse, though perhaps not enough drama til the finishing stretch. The right finish even if part of me would prefer a big singles run for Omega now he's back at full power. I've enjoyed all 7 matches a lot. Now let's never see any of these men in the ring together again please. 

 

[Hannibal Scorch]

Hour 1, Banger. Hour 2, mix of clanger and banger.

The woman’s tag was awful. Add to that all the little teases and lines referring to Mercedes Mone coming in, you know the things Tony Khan drip feeds in for those paying attention, didn’t happen but wouldn’t have saved this match. Just awful. Storm and Saraya being massively over pushed. 
 

An overlong Jericho segment for a match they’d already announced early in the show? What was the point? Also the Kingston/Ortiz promo made zero sense. Should have left it out the final show. Everything else though was stonking.

[Nick James]

58 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I literally laughed out loud with joy at the graphic for Danielson vs. Bandido. This is exactly how you use Bryan Danielson. Keep the dream matches coming. Fuck it, fly in Okada. Let’s fucking go!

This 1000x. THIS is how you book Danielson, not sticking him in matches with the likes of Tony fucking Nese. Get the best out of him while hes still around and guarantee at least one banger per show at least. 

Takeshita is something special, like you can see how talented the guy is and hes still relatively new. Sky is the limit for him, it really is.

Onto Jericho, for all his benefits he gives when he shows arse for the smaller lads, he definitely hinders talent more than he makes them shine for me. Got a hot young talent on the rise? Still a cold bucket of Jericho over them, that'll put the fire out for sure.  

33 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Ricky Starks mocking Jake Hager's lisp, Action Andretti saying Sammy "couldn't control" his wife and there were a few lines in MJF's promo that tread that line also. 

Andretti is god-awful, though. I've absolutely no idea what Jericho saw on him. He comes across as an absolute twat on the mic and his ring-work is fine, but nothing to write home about. I'd be amazed if he's still a regular fixture on Dynamite by next month, let alone next year.

Unfortunately, this as well. Its the shit from the Attitude Era that should have stayed in the Attitude Era and it seems to happen all too often in AEW. As for Action Andretti, he shouldn't have been given the 'All Elite' banner so quickly, he's not great, or not good enough to be taking up roster space on an already bloated roster. 

[Guest]

If I get 100 good minutes outta 120 in anything I watch I’ll take it. That was a great show. Looked and felt like an early aew ppv, was wrestlers I was invested in and titles are all on people that can have proper stories built around them. was only during Cole’s promo I had a Proper think about who has been out hurt since last June and how distributive that must have been, add in the ROH tv attempt and no wonder we got a poor H2 of 2022

hangman and mox was great. If Mox is 1a in aew, hangman is 1b as he matched against him in all ways in this feud. From the joy of his win to The look of concern and forlorn walk up the ramp when he realises he might have actually hurt Mox, such a great character touch. 
 

cole promo was great for him, best part was Tony S intro saying he took no pleasure in introducing him. Consistency in small things like that add up 

junglehook tag was fine. Two handsome lads won a tv tag match. Nitpicking over a bit of positioning isn’t needed it was fun and we got the big pop moment of ten throw 

Give takeshita the title match, no one thinks Danielson is gonna win anyway. 

Woman’s tag that was built for a month over the tease of someone who didn’t even make an appearance after it finished. This is how you lose fans trust when you hype things if you don’t deliver an obvious tease. They can say they never promoted it, but they knew what everyone would think

there was no need other than jerichos ego for that segment, and Ricky went full Dwayne with the lisp promo. Not big or clever 

Main event was a lotta spots and thank fuck it’s now over. That’s a 5 match series and we all think better of it. 7 was a set up for the location and I don’t care to see either trio wrestle for a few weeks 

 

[Fatty Facesitter]

Good for Adam Cole - I think he could have a great run as a babyface. He's practically been a babyface in disguise for a long time as it is - the pops for his entrances and the 'Babay!' business, plus the majority of fans knowing he's a good egg backstage anyway. This was the perfect time to make that switch. I've no problem with his greasy hair and wet spaghetti arms - I'd take his long locks over my balding bonce any day. 

[The Gaffer]

Yeah I'm no great fan of him, but the reactions he gets in the buildings every single time show he's a babyface champion who'll do the merch and tickets to your core audience. Maybe during the quieter months or in lieu of any massive, massive angles. 

Hopefully this is the start of them keeping him on his own as well. I can get behind him having a wee boyhood dream storyline. It's just the self indulgent mucking about with his mates in all their made up gangs that eats into TVs a bit. 

[LaGoosh]

I'm willing to give him a chance as a babyface. Given his size hopefully he wrestles like an underdog babyface befitting his physical stature and not like the EPIC! 5 Stars! HBK wanker he usually does.

Edited January 12, 2023 by LaGoosh

[RedRooster]

Was I imagining it, or was there an absolute prat trying to start a "shut the fuck up!" chant during Cole's bit? There were a few heckles regardless, and it sounded like it was coming from the same arsehole. 

[Kamaras-Tash]

Just now, RedRooster said:

Was I imagining it, or was there an absolute prat trying to start a "shut the fuck up!" chant during Cole's bit? There were a few heckles regardless, and it sounded like it was coming from the same arsehole. 

 

Probably be the same gimp I heard shouting Triple H during the segment too

[LaGoosh]

Yeah there seemed to be one particular bloke who kept getting picked up yelling stupid stuff.