AEW Dynamite Thread 2024

[RedRooster]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

I didn't care for the opening segment at all. A promo face off leading to an impromptu "can they coexist" tag match felt like the most WWE thing they've done for awhile and I could really do without that shit personally.

I would agree with you on the impromptu tag match - it was a bit mid-2000s Smackdown to do that - but I like starting with something other than a match; and both Swerve and Joe were really good (aside from Swerve's slightly confusing line about wanting to challenge Joe whether he's champion or not, before immediately vowing to take the title from him) 

I like that Swerve's story for now seems to be that he wants to be World Champion. Essentially placing Swerve into the Hangman Page role from a few years ago (with the added wrinkle of coming to terms with his dark past) is a great idea and I'm all for it. I can live with the impromptu tag match, if it's accompanied by a good direction, and this certainly was. Yes, the Undisputed Kingdom were there, yes Wardlow is the next challenger for the title - but all of this was directed towards suggesting that Swerve's story isn't over...and that he actually will become champion this year. 

I'd absolutely love to see Hangman win the belt as a heel, with Hangman/Swerve being the match in which Strickland finally wins the belt; concluding both their feud, and Swerve's journey to the top. 

EDIT: But I'd maybe add to that too - from my perspective, I don't think it matters if they do something WWE has done - what matters is that they did something that AEW didn't. WWE was stuck in a formula for the longest time that became tedious - but AEW had its own formula. Tonight was an obvious break from that, and for me it worked well. If they start doing it every week, I'll feel differently - but I like the idea of shows starting in different ways. Maybe sometimes it's a promo segment, perhaps sometimes it's a long match; and other times, a short match. I didn't like the tag match much, but that's mainly because The Kingdom are awful as characters. The idea behind it, I like. 

Edited March 7 by RedRooster

[DavidB6937]

Yeah for me most things aren't annoying until they become formulaic and expected and happen too regularly. All companies can afford to dip into the familiar once in a while as long as it's not every single time. So inevitably AEW will do things WWE have done and the other way round, but as long as it's entertaining and doesn't become a slog because you know exactly what's happening, I don't have a massive issue with it.

[Loki]

2 hours ago, thatvinylgeek said:

This might just be me...but also to the mainstream AEW fan, Okada might not BE that big of a deal. They are always told he is something special when he appears, but he hasn't really backed it up with any true Okada worthy performances in the promotion.

This is me exactly.  I've only ever seen Okada in TNA years ago and then in AEW, and he's been average at best.  Plus.. he's already BEEN on the show!  So it's not even a debut.  It's an underwhelming Japanese wrestler who I've already seen, appearing again on Dynamite.  The announcer's hype seemed well over the top as a result.  

[Supremo]

6 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

No. Both Hook and Brian Cage sold the tacks.

I’m fascinated by this new criticism that’s started cropping up about guys not selling enough. It seems to mostly be directed at AEW talent, so you assume it’s a tribal thing, but the whole idea that guys aren’t selling enough is stupid.

It seems to be fuelled by the idea that the only way you can sell is to stop everything that you’re doing, hold a limb or shout to the heavens about how hurt you are. It’s completely outdated. When guys get clipped hard in boxing or hurt in MMA they don’t do a big pantomime sell. They might let on that they’re hurt, wince or show subtle signs of being injured, but as a simulation of a fight the idea is to try and hide it and keep trying to win.

The best was people sharing clips of that mad sprint of crazy moves in the Takeshita/Ospreay match that led to Takeshita kicking out at one, with people asking why they weren’t selling more. Seemingly ignoring the fact that the clip featured a crowd going fucking bananas, jumping to their feet, losing their minds. That’s probably why they didn’t sell more. Because it was getting them one of the most natural standing ovations of the last few years. Nothing would have been improved by slowing down to do some daft sell job like it’s 1992. Bonus irony that Will Ospreay didn’t have to sell after that Top Rope Brainbuster because he was required to roll in pain and then check if his spine was still connected to his neck for a shoot.

I think a lot of it is people telling on themselves the same way the people who complain about bad psychology are just displaying how little they understand about psychology themselves. Not everything has to be SELLING THE LEG or LYING DOWN FOR AGES. If something works then it works, whether it’s to your tastes or not.

My favourite thing about it is that people have started complaining about people not selling now, when we’ve just had Sting no-selling the shit out of everything, resulting in one of the most awesome, memorable matches in decades. Funny that I didn’t see anyone complaining when a sixty five year old man immediately jumped back up from a table bump, refused to go down after the Double Superkick and then kicked out at one after being thrown through glass and kneed in the head about six times. Probably because the whole criticism is complete bollocks and no-selling fucking rules.

The whole business is built on the idea of no-selling, babyfaces running on adrenaline and making huge comebacks when all seems lost. Hulk Hogan hulking up. Shawn Michaels kipping up. That’s the entire medium. Imagine any top babyface or classic match if these tropes were ignored in favour of, “proper selling.” No shine. No heat. No swings of momentum. No comeback. Just two guys hitting moves on each other, getting progressively weaker and slower, every match eventually ending via double count out when neither guy can stand up. Good selling, lads. Five stars.

Edited March 7 by Supremo

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I've enjoyed a lot of the Young Bucks stuff recently. And I feel fucking ill.

[Supremo]

The Triple H finger point photo! It’s no wonder these guys wind so many people up. Fantastic pair of dickheads.

[LaGoosh]

33 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I’m fascinated by this new criticism that’s started cropping up about guys not selling enough.

I think a lot of it is WWE brain rot. To a certain section of fans if anything is done outside WWE in a different way than the WWE house style that automatically makes it wrong and bad.

As for the HOOK spot, why would he immediately let go when slammed into the tacks? Far smarter to endure the pain and keep your submission locked in. And note that the first thing HOOK did after Cage tapped and he released the hold was to sell his back.

And the Takeshita one count wasn't no selling at all. He kicked out at one yes but if you watch him he looks like he's in horrendous pain immediately after. A kick out at 1 doesn't necessarily mean it's no selling.

Years of WWE has dulled some people to the endless, creative possibilities of wrestling.

[gmoney]

Slightly different point, but the one count thing is great when it's used very sparingly. It was brilliant in the Omega/Takeshita match last year. It was done at least twice on the last PPV, which is unacceptable really. 

[Loki]

20 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I think a lot of it is WWE brain rot.

Why does it have to be tribal?  Why can't it just be a bad take on the AEW product?  Why is everything bad related back to WWE, and everything good related to AEW in this thread?

I suspect the same people who complain about this stuff are those who've complained for decades about the WWE product, even though they've watched religiously every week.  You know, us lot basically. 🤣

AEW's been around long enough to have its own smarks, tropes, and bad takes.  

Edit: that sounded aggressive to @LaGoosh, it's not directed specifically at you, more echoing what @DavidB6937 said earlier.

Edited March 7 by Loki

[LaGoosh]

4 minutes ago, Loki said:

Why does it have to be tribal?  Why can't it just be a bad take on the AEW product?

Because 99 times out of 100 the people with those bad takes also seem to be WWE super fans.

5 minutes ago, Loki said:

everything good related to AEW in this thread?

Incorrect. There's been plenty of criticism and moaning about AEW in this thread. 

[Loki]

11 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

WWE super fans.

Are there ANY of those on this forum, honestly?  Genuine question, it seems most people who still watch wrestling here, watch AEW as their first option and then some WWE when it sounds interesting.  

If you're moaning about hot takes on Twitter fair enough but 1) stop reading Twitter and 2) can we just all agree that all wrestling conversation outside of UKFF is uniformly shit and not bring it up here. 😛

 

[DCW]

6 hours ago, Supremo said:

You wonder at what point the TKO executives are going to start asking questions though. The optics are starting to look terrible for Hunter and Shawn. Tony Khan’s bringing in Ospreay, Okada and Mercedes, compared to Triple H bringing in Shawn Spears, Brian Pillman Junior and Tama Tonga. Fucking hell, Paul. Cheapskate. You’re happy to talk about the Netflix money when you need to distract from all the Sex Trafficking. How about you actually spend some of that money and sign some big stars.

The reality is none of them are big stars & WWE already had the best of Mercedes before she got a strop on.  Osperay/Okada/Mercedes aren't going to jump-start AEW ratings/attendances if bringing in the likes of Bryan & Edge didn't in the past, but Tony is presumably still throwing his Da's big money at them anyway. Fair play to him I suppose.

The lads WWE have brought in aren't going to do much for business either, but I'd wager they aren't on huge money anyway & its not if WWE is struggling business wise at the moment.

[coolhandpuke]

Kingston is the drizzling shits.. his horrible slow kicks and shit slow chops and his constant hard done by attitude.. made okada look like garbage holding him in a cuddle for ten minutes before the rainmaker. 

Aew have a knack of taking talent that people talk about bidding wars with and making them look like garbage. 

Tony just ruined jay white.. even the likes of copeland etc are about as red hot as an ice pop..

All of these people that come in to little fanfare maybe a small push then cast aside for Tony's next play thing could be presented as huge with a machine like the wwe.

 

Fact of the matter though is this..wwe doesn't need any of them.. the stars they have now are doing the business.. let Tony pay shit loads of money for okada as they don't need him etc.. where stupid he even fit in. 

Mercedes clearly taking advantage of Tony being a money Mark.. if she really wanted aew so much then she would have been there long ago instead of hanging on as long as she could for wwe.. fact is they may have wanted her but are strong enough women wise with the current roster that they didn't "need" her so would not pay her silly money like cocaine tone. 

I know so many people who have stopped watching Aew as it is a Mark billionaires son who people just take advantage of as he wants to play a real life ewr or tew. Case in point the likes of rusev just take the piss and he rolls over and still pays them.. nobody they sign ever makes a difference as all he is bothered about is cagematch ratings and meltzer stars rather than putting something together to build a fan base.

 

Finally to the person joking about the hard cam and finding it.. just tell them to look directly at the empty side although the way attendances are dwindling granted it might get harder with all the empty seats all around. 

 

Tony had momentum and now they are stagnant and will never grow unless he let's someone properly take over the book to book wrestling not just make matches

[The Gaffer]

3 hours ago, Loki said:

can we just all agree that all wrestling conversation outside of UKFF is uniformly shit and not bring it up here. 😛

I fear this has proved to be some sort of mad summoning ritual.

[Devon Malcolm]

22 minutes ago, coolhandpuke said:

Kingston is the drizzling shits.. his horrible slow kicks and shit slow chops and his constant hard done by attitude.. made okada look like garbage holding him in a cuddle for ten minutes before the rainmaker. 

Aew have a knack of taking talent that people talk about bidding wars with and making them look like garbage. 

Tony just ruined jay white.. even the likes of copeland etc are about as red hot as an ice pop..

All of these people that come in to little fanfare maybe a small push then cast aside for Tony's next play thing could be presented as huge with a machine like the wwe.

 

Fact of the matter though is this..wwe doesn't need any of them.. the stars they have now are doing the business.. let Tony pay shit loads of money for okada as they don't need him etc.. where stupid he even fit in. 

Mercedes clearly taking advantage of Tony being a money Mark.. if she really wanted aew so much then she would have been there long ago instead of hanging on as long as she could for wwe.. fact is they may have wanted her but are strong enough women wise with the current roster that they didn't "need" her so would not pay her silly money like cocaine tone. 

I know so many people who have stopped watching Aew as it is a Mark billionaires son who people just take advantage of as he wants to play a real life ewr or tew. Case in point the likes of rusev just take the piss and he rolls over and still pays them.. nobody they sign ever makes a difference as all he is bothered about is cagematch ratings and meltzer stars rather than putting something together to build a fan base.

 

Finally to the person joking about the hard cam and finding it.. just tell them to look directly at the empty side although the way attendances are dwindling granted it might get harder with all the empty seats all around. 

 

Tony had momentum and now they are stagnant and will never grow unless he let's someone properly take over the book to book wrestling not just make matches

Hi Corny.