AEW Dynamite Thread 2024

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

I'm still not convinced he'll beat Swerve, but it's testament to how AEW books things that the main event of their biggest show of the year and it's really unclear where they'll go with the main event. 

 

I'd kind of like it if they did a 'feel good' moment at the end with him raising the belt and perhaps his friends come out to celebrate with him (BCC, Regal?, etc) but if he loses it'll be a locker room emptying moment and we get the 'Thank you Bryan' moment. I reckon if they do have him lose then we'll see many of them drop character and we get the likes of Swerve raising Bryan's hand and Young Bucks out too. 

[mrtrickio]

18 hours ago, AndyUK said:

Might be worth giving it a go today as I think they've lowered the price of more tickets.

I've tried again this morning after they wouldn't let me do it yesterday, and they've refunded my original booking.

Thanks @AndyUK Gonna try again... The seats I was after the other day are still available 

 

[Supremo]

Swerve and Tony Khan motioning to each other before Swerve taps out to the most innocuous headlock, Tony rings the bell, and The Reverse Screwjob is complete.

Danielson stands alone in the ring, furious that he’s been made to become World Champion against his will, drawing the word, “GARDENING,” in the air with his finger.

[JLM]

On 7/27/2024 at 11:39 AM, TildeGuy~! said:

Anna Jay is off to Stardom for their G1

 

So I watched some of this. It's pretty easy as the block matches have short time limits and they're keeping Anna's matches shorter than most. They seem to know what they're working with and you can see the Stardom wrestlers going a bit slower than usual and guiding her through some of the more complicated bits. Overall though she's keeping up with them admirably given how much of a step up in difficulty this must be. She's also showing more fire and emotion in the ring after only a handful of matches. I suppose if you're working in a Japanese women's promotion as a foreigner, it probably feels more awkward if you *don't* shriek and yell and get a bit melodramatic with the selling. 

It's also funny how gigantic she looks compared to her opponents in this block. 

vs. Saori Anou

Anou an established veteran, multiple title holder and grappling/submission wizard. Fun sprint match. Despite being 5 minutes long, they packed so much into the short run time that it was still a much better workout/showcase for Anna Jay than any of her Dark/Elevation matches. Strike exchanges, trading big moves and suplexes, some grappling/reversal exchanges, Anna repeatedly going for the Queen Slayer but Anou having multiple escapes for it because she's a bit of a Zack Sabre Jr. type. It was the highlights of a 20 minute match done in 5. Anna got a big upset win with a flash pin, using her size advantage to flatten Anou so she couldn't world of sport her way out of it. Anna looked stunned that she won and ran out of the ring because she wasn't sure if she was getting a handshake or a post-match attack. Definitely portraying her as an underdog babyface and this was an endearing way to introduce her to this audience. 

vs. Starlight Kid

This was a fairly ambitious 10 minutes long, which for an Anna Jay singles match is an epic, and I'd say it was the best singles match of her career up to this point. SLK trying to take out Anna's legs to counter the size difference and set up the Black Tiger Leg Destroyer submission finish. Anna hobbled about and drew sympathy, SLK led her through some tricky grappling/hold exchange spots. Not at the blistering speed she usually does this stuff with AZM etc. but still, it all looked smooth and Anna kept up with her well. Anna also hit all of her stuff cleanly whenever she had flurries of offense. This is the sort of thing I was hoping for when I saw she'd gone on this excursion. Mad that SLK is the 9 year veteran leading her through the match when SLK is only 23 herself. 

vs Syuri

Syuri is one of the very best in the world, so was hoping this would be a bit better than this. It was another 5 minute one but didn't have the energy of the Anou match. The point was that Anna was outclassed and beaten easily though, so it did the job in that regard. The classic Japanese wrestling sports-like post-match interviews are excellent practise for her too, she was so sympathetic in this one: 

 

vs Xena

Xena is an Australian wrestler on her second tour of Stardom and has improved massively over the two runs with the promotion. She is also known for having the most devastating chops. This match was good! Not "good by Anna Jay standards" either, just a little 10 minute belter of a match. This was BY FAR the best singles match of Anna Jay's career. I've never seen her have such good in-ring chemistry with anyone. Xena was goading Anna right from the start with both trash talk and a high aggression, high intensity approach to the match, and it brought out the best performance I've ever seen from her.  A hard fought 50/50 match for the duration, constantly trying to one up each other, slowly escalating the aggression and intensity as it went, highlighted by a flipping brutal overhand chop exchange towards the end. The crowd got steadily hotter and more evenly split as it went on too. 

Couple more matches to go in the block and I don’t think she’ll go any further, but will watch them to see if she can build on this performance. Even in this handful of tournament matches I've seen more from her in-ring than in any of her AEW outings. AEW is barely using her as it stands, if it can be arranged she should stay for six more months.

Edited August 19 by JLM

[RedTwoster]

According to Fightful, WWE is interested in signing Ricky Starks for NXT. Frankly, I’m a bit taken aback by that. I assumed Starks would debut on the main roster, given the significant role he’s played in AEW; even with his recent absence, you’d have to consider his signing a bit of a ‘get’ for them. If I was Starks, I’d feel a bit insulted if this is indeed true. Plus, the Smackdown roster is so thin right now, if you’re WWE and you actually do nab Starks, why wouldn’t you want to use him to strengthen that brand? Utterly baffling.

[Version1.0]

Very few have been able to leap nXt, mainly for storyline reasons. AJ, The Club, New Bloodline.

[Chris B]

42 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

According to Fightful, WWE is interested in signing Ricky Starks for NXT. Frankly, I’m a bit taken aback by that. I assumed Starks would debut on the main roster, given the significant role he’s played in AEW; even with his recent absence, you’d have to consider his signing a bit of a ‘get’ for them. If I was Starks, I’d feel a bit insulted if this is indeed true. Plus, the Smackdown roster is so thin right now, if you’re WWE and you actually do nab Starks, why wouldn’t you want to use him to strengthen that brand? Utterly baffling.

Ricky Starks is someone who hasn't exactly proved his loyalty to the company he's with. He's clearly had the absolute hump, while allowing himself to turn up at the competition to cheer on their main guy, to the point where it's massively affected his run and led to the owner taking him off TV.

I'd have thought there are two ways of seeing that. One is 'Great, he really wants to be with us'. But the other is that, if he isn't happy, he'll be a pain in the arse and won't do business.

I'm surprised it isn't the former, but at the same time, he's not proving himself to be a model employee. They may want to test the waters with him for a bit and check this isn't just how he is.

[RedTwoster]

2 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I'm surprised it isn't the former, but at the same time, he's not proving himself to be a model employee. They may want to test the waters with him for a bit and check this isn't just how he is.

All good points, but I’d still say debut him on the main roster and get what you can out of him. Starks making his debut will cause a buzz, why waste that on NXT? I’m very surprised by this.

[LaGoosh]

5 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

Starks making his debut will cause a buzz, why waste that on NXT? I’m very surprised by this.

Maybe they don't think he's quite good enough yet? Starks work has always been pretty inconsistent. They might think he needs some polishing up.

[2Xtreme_lives]

34 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Maybe they don't think he's quite good enough yet? Starks work has always been pretty inconsistent. They might think he needs some polishing up.

Jade Cargill went to main roster though.

[LaGoosh]

16 minutes ago, 2Xtreme_lives said:

Jade Cargill went to main roster though.

Does WWE treat every wrestler exactly the same?

[2Xtreme_lives]

I get that but just because he needs polishing doesn't mean he has to go to nxt.

Use him the same way as jade get him on TV doing promo work for a bit and polish behind the scenes.

As someone said above if you get ricky starks then make the most of it 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Jade Cargill went straight to the main roster because of the buzz there was about her and because of her look. Starks may have a lot of talent but he doesn't stand out physically, sure he is in good shape but he doesn't stand out like Jade does. 

You talk about his promo work 2xtreme_livesmatter but will that stand out? Starks promos always struck me as a bit attitude era knockoff and WWE already have L A Knight doing that gimmick. 

A trip to NXT would help him polish his act up and shouldn't be seen as a negative. Thrown onto the main roster straight away he's more likely to be chewed up and spat out in short order than he is if they've already invested some time in him. 

[LaGoosh]

I don't really know how much buzz there would be around a Ricky Starks debut anyway. The current average WWE fan barely seem to know who CM Punk is let alone Ricky Starks. 

[RedTwoster]

2 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Maybe they don't think he's quite good enough yet? Starks work has always been pretty inconsistent. They might think he needs some polishing up.

His weaknesses are no more significant than the weaknesses of very many people across the WWE roster. Is he any more limited than LA Knight, Miz, Dominik Mysterio, Tama Tonga, Dexter Lumis or Karrion Kross, for example? 

34 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I don't really know how much buzz there would be around a Ricky Starks debut anyway. The current average WWE fan barely seem to know who CM Punk is let alone Ricky Starks

Is that really true? Punk gets some of the biggest reactions almost every week. There probably are younger fans who weren't aware of him, but it's hardly an arena full of people scratching their heads every time he comes out. I'd also point to the reaction Jade Cargill got when she debuted - there's no way this was based solely on the hype WWE had done alone. It's not the equivalent of signing MJF, Omega or Hangman, but it would still be a nice get. 

48 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

A trip to NXT would help him polish his act up and shouldn't be seen as a negative. Thrown onto the main roster straight away he's more likely to be chewed up and spat out in short order than he is if they've already invested some time in him. 

Triple H has shown a willingness to stick with people, sometimes to his detriment (see: Karrion Kross) - so I don't think that attitude exists any more. I think it's as simple as Triple H having a soft spot towards NXT; viewing keeping it strong as important. They probably also see him debuting in NXT then moving up on to the main roster after a year or so as getting two bites of the apple - you get the buzz of Starks in NXT, then the buzz of him on Raw or Smackdown.