AEW Dynamite Thread 2024

[DavidB6937]

25 minutes ago, Doog said:

Assuming they're doing this to attract more viewers, no ones tuning in seeing that, us lot who like AEW will, and this forum will be positive about what's going on, but nothings changing the dial with that card.

I don't think a card like this has to change anything. I mean they'd hope to get more viewers every week. It's a solid enough card and they need stability.

[Infinity Land]

1 hour ago, Doog said:

Assuming they're doing this to attract more viewers, no ones tuning in seeing that, us lot who like AEW will, and this forum will be positive about what's going on, but nothings changing the dial with that card.

Don't think viewership is the primary motive. Probably 3rd on the list. Dynamite/Collision are about to be simulcast on Max in the US in a couple of months. Everyone's going to get hit with endless unverifiable stats on viewership.

There had been growing complaints from "sources" about the lack of direction and nobody knowing what they are doing day of the show. A constant complaint levied against late Vince era WWE. Its a way of trying to keep talent onside. 

Ticket sales are cratering. Having a card and talents that are going to be on the show isn't going to hurt, Not when the alternative has been TK tweeting it out hours before the show.

 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

On 10/22/2024 at 10:29 PM, HarmonicGenerator said:

Moxley Combat Club

The MCC are not going to like those initials. None of those lads is getting membership any time soon as they don't let riff-raff in The Long Room. 

[JLM]

Dynamite 23/10

BCC left a cameraman to die in the desert. Nobody is safe. Loved the opening once again, excellent video package, more great content from Mox. Loved the big assembly of babyfaces waiting for BCC to arrive. Great way to set the tone for the episode. 

Camera angles made Colten Gunn look a bit foolish launching himself into the timekeeper's table. Other than that liked the opening segment, solid promos from both. Well up for more Hangman/White. 

The picture of young Sammy Guevera meeting a presumably-exactly-the-same-age Shelton Benjamin was cute. MVP/Benjamin promo was excellent. Really fun TV match, it is astonishing how much I'm enjoying 2024 Shelton Benjamin. I could watch him swatting cruiserweights every week. Looking and carrying himself like a stone cold killer, it's magnificent.

Anna/Mariah was the tamest pull apart brawl ever. 

Fletcher's promo was far too long with overly drawn out delivery. He had some decent bits of content in there but the "wrap it up" chant was appropriate. I get what they were going for with the unhinged ending to the promo but I thought him having some of the worst haircuts I've ever seen added to his heel factor. 

Ricochet sounded better than he did on Collision last week. Would definitely be up for Ricochet/Benjamin when he turns MVP down. Also I must watch Takeshita's Maple Leaf Pro matches, him vs Josh Alexander and vs Speedball Mike Bailey both sound like belters. 

Cool to see the Pillars of Destiny as Cage/Archer's squash victims. Take notes lads. Observe their matching gear, face paint and "The Something of Something" naming convention. This is how it's done. Coming out separately and being "Lance Archer and Brian Cage" does not work for me. 

Loved the Chuck Taylor OC pep talk. Did not love the team AEW having to break ranks because Mark Briscoe had to go and handle Jericho Vortex business. The ladder match was absolutely insane of course. Jericho's head hitting the ladder on the froggy 'bow looked particularly awful. Also the bit where Jericho blatantly had it won but had to just decide not to grab the belt because it wasn't the finish looked very rough. I'm glad the title's off Mark Briscoe at least, but Jericho rehashing the Ocho gimmick for the next few months sounds utterly miserable. 

The video package for Kamille/Statlander was good but that's not really the point god damn it. It's a matchup that obviously makes sense on paper, the vignettes for it are easy to do. There is still no excuse to get to this match in such a lazy manner, derail Statlander and completely waste her babyface turn in the process. I lied, I'm not going to stop bringing it up.

Complaining aside, I appreciate the increased use of of packages and vignettes to recap ongoing stories, and the broader effort to create continuity between Collision, Rampage and Dynamite. Makes the whole promotion and the various shows feel cohesive. There have often been times where stuff that happens on Collision doesn't feel like it's canon and I'm very happy to see that issue being addressed. Did not expect the Hayter/Ford business to get a mention, for example, but the video package there made Ford's promo seem better than it was and threw in the clips for added context. Good stuff. 

You know, if I'm honest with myself, I don't think I'm ready for story time with Adam Cole bay bay. Good grief I do not care about any of this. Trying to retcon/tie up the loose ends of this disastrous faction, Kyle back in the will he/won't he vortex with this disastrous faction, MJF at his absolute worst again. The greatest twist of all is that dumb dumb Wardlow has ended up winning by disappearing and not being present for this. 

Not sure what's going on with HOB at the moment. Back to back trios jobber squashes and then Matthews challenges Adam Cole to a singles match. Maybe because if they say they want a trios title shot it forces them to engage with Mox and Co. and they don't want to do that yet? Be interesting to see how wide the scope of this angle goes for acts like HOB who have been leaning babyface lately but are not currently drafted to team AEW. 

Aminata/Kamille was rough. Kamille's selling looks terrible and she generally looked clumsy and awkward throughout. Aminata was able to salvage it a bit with her fiery comeback and awesome looking offense, but yeah, Statlander has her work cut out for her next week based on this display. 

Christian acting like team AEW was assembled to try and steal his contract was funny. Kip Sabian joining the Patriarchy is not interesting. Also this was back to back segments of babyfaces running into the middle of the ring against multiple heels and very predictably losing to the numbers disadvantage. Hook's made a bit more sense than Statlander's at least, he's always been an impulsive lad and he had good motivation. He needs Joe back more than ever. Also I want Joe back. 

Main event was fine. No heat for Private Party threatening to split up at all though. They've put a ton of work into rehabbing/refreshing Private Party of late but they do still have 5 years of previous jobberdom to overcome.

Again, loved the use of Chuck Taylor for the closing angle. Yuta trying to be somewhat merciful going after the already knackered limb only to be overridden by Claudio was a wonderful touch. There is still light in the heart of Yuta. He can be redeemed and I will be thrilled when it happens. OC sold the whole thing beautifully too. 

Very patchy episode there.

 

I am fully invested in Mox vs AEW, and all associated threads, particularly OC of course. I am into Hangman/White and loving MVP/Benjamin as well. Also as fan of this Archer/Cage team. More broadly I feel like there is a more consistent throughline between the various shows than we've seen before. I do not care  about Cole/MJF/Undisputed Kingdom at all, I am praying that Mark Briscoe forgets about the ROH title and is vortex-free now but I fear the worst. I hate the handling of Statlander. I don't care about Kip Sabian joining the Patriarchy. Fletcher vs Ospreay stuff is OK I guess. 

I dunno, some good, some bad and some stuff that doesn't register with me at all. 

 

Edited October 24, 2024 by JLM

[The King of Old School]

Shelton Benjamin is looking superb, I'd have him destroy Swerve next week too.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

4 hours ago, JLM said:

appreciate the increased use of of packages and vignettes to recap ongoing stories, and the broader effort to create continuity between Collision, Rampage and Dynamite.

O'Shea Jackson approves this message. 

AEW seems to reinvigorate wrestlers who should in theory be a long time past their sell by date. Shelty B looks pretty much the same age as he did 20 years ago and looks to have a new spark about his work. Him as a cruiserweight crusher could be fun. While JLM would like to see Pinochet turn down The Hurt Business I think he might benefit from joint them. His promo hasn't improved at all over his time as a wrestler. A mouthpiece is definitely what he needs. 

[DavidB6937]

9 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

AEW seems to reinvigorate wrestlers who should in theory be a long time past their sell by date.

While they undoubtedly do a great job, it's the sheer existence of AEW and the opportunities it creates for talent jumps etc that is the best thing about it all. Just the chance to go back and forth between two big companies was something that was missed for too many years.

[BomberPat]

WWE never really allows its wrestlers to age any more; they want everyone to be timeless and always be the same wrestler they always were. Shelton Benjamin having the opportunity to grow into a completely different performer to who he was in WWE, rather than still trying to be the guy he was in 2003, is great. That he's gone from being an average-to-smaller sized wrestler to a powerhouse lobbing the smaller guys around helps too, though I'm worried that he'll be overshadowed in that role when Bobby Lashley inevitably shows up.

A weird Dynamite, this one. There was some changes of direction I really liked, just little production and presentation choices that were all about making things make sense and just flow a little more organically, but then there was so much else that fell flat and didn't work for me at all.

Why was the challenge of "if Private Party lose they break up" treated as a surprise when they'd already done that angle last week? Why is Daniel Garcia teaming with Private Party, and forgetting that he was in an angle with MJF and Adam Cole? Wasn't Komander Private Party's trios partner? What was the point of months of intrigue about Kip Sabian if the pay-off was just him joining The Patriarchy, was it really worth all that to get there? Why did Buddy Matthews vs. Adam Cole warrant a two-segment build, rather than just a match announcement? Why is Chris Jericho?

I've realised that I don't think there's anything I dislike more in wrestling more than a pre-taped video "interrupting" a live promo, and the wrestlers in the ring being forced to react and sell as if the pre-recorded video is actually live, and that somehow MJF on a massage table has a live video link to AEW's production truck, and was able to cut in exactly when it was most appropriate in Adam Cole's promo. People have rightly shat on Rick Steiner selling for a video of Chucky for years, but Chucky being a puppet is only half of the reason that was embarrassing, it's just as bad that he was having to sell for a video as if it was happening live in front of him. Yet that's just part of wrestling and everyone accepts it. It's stupid, get rid.

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 hour ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

O'Shea Jackson approves this message. 

AEW seems to reinvigorate wrestlers who should in theory be a long time past their sell by date. Shelty B looks pretty much the same age as he did 20 years ago and looks to have a new spark about his work. Him as a cruiserweight crusher could be fun. While JLM would like to see Pinochet turn down The Hurt Business I think he might benefit from joint them. His promo hasn't improved at all over his time as a wrestler. A mouthpiece is definitely what he needs. 

O'Shea Jackson also stands up in his living room and puts his arm up in the air to acknowledge Roman Reigns. A red flag sign that you are 

Spoiler

a cunt

 However, I think you are right with Pinochet. Everyone wants to see him and Ospreay team up. No thanks, him with the Hurt Association/Society/Organisation/Business/Happy Meal (delete as appropriate) is much more appealing, especially with how exciting Shelton is right now.

People have been shitting on this episode on-line. I thought it was perfectly fine. Poor Dustin Converse, I should have sussed him meeting up backstage with OC after all this time away was setting him up as the fall guy, but it led to a great end of the show. Also, all these people pissed off that Jericho won the ROH title, but it means one of two things. 

1 - ROH have a TV Deal

2- Jericho is pissing off TV to go to Honor Club. 

Either is a win in my book. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

3 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

O'Shea Jackson also stands up in his living room and puts his arm up in the air to acknowledge Roman Reigns. A red flag sign that you are 

Spoiler

What does a WWE storyline have to do with Dynamite? No need to bring Roman into the conversation at all. 

 

[BomberPat]

I could not stop laughing at Lance Archer's cheery emo pop-punk entrance music. Massively inappropriate.

[Hannibal Scorch]

13 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

  Reveal hidden contents

What does a WWE storyline have to do with Dynamite? No need to bring Roman into the conversation at all. 

 

Spoiler

It was just an excuse to point out he’s a total knobhead whose opinion should largely be ignored. Not to be confused with people who do that at a live event where of course it should be done. But he’s been a fairly frequent commentator on AEW for years but doesn’t watch it, although now he’s got a podcast I believe he’s started to.

 

[Hannibal Scorch]

Just now, Hannibal Scorch said:

  Reveal hidden contents

It was just an excuse to point out he’s a total knobhead whose opinion should largely be ignored. Not to be confused with people who do that at a live event where of course it should be done. But he’s been a fairly frequent commentator on AEW for years but doesn’t watch it, although now he’s got a podcast I believe he’s started to.

 

@BomberPatim pretty sure it’s been his music for awhile. That’s not to invalidate your comment because I’ve thought exactly the same. I do hope it leads to a bit of a run for them though. I like both but they have never found a good spot.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

3 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

It was just an excuse to point out he’s a total knobhead whose opinion should largely be ignored.

Spoiler

You mean he's the same as the rest of us who post here, not including JLM obviously. 

 

[Hannibal Scorch]

40 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

  Hide contents

You mean he's the same as the rest of us who post here, not including JLM obviously. 

 

Spoiler

None of us are seen as credible sources of opinion with a large following on social media. But you’re right on JLM