AEW Dynamite Thread 2024

[RedRooster]

6 hours ago, Duke said:

The poster literally says "Bo$$ton". I'm pretty sure people will get it.

Also, don't forget that Mercedes has a...devoted...fanbase who will talk this up as the most important wrestling event in the history of our great sport 

Have to admit I missed the poster, but yeah…I don’t like taking the same approach either way. The Punk return and approach taken was unique and interesting, I’m just not a fan of them attempting to replicate that. Maybe it’s partly the fact there aren’t many exciting opponents for her, whereas with Punk the options seemed endless. I just feel a bit…underwhelmed by it all. 

18 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Hangman Adam Page is wildly underrated. He’s absolutely fucking incredible and not enough people talk about it.

Totally agree with this, he’s the best character and wrestler the company has produced. I can’t recall him ever having a bad singles match, or even a bad promo. He’s going to be a tremendous heel.

[BomberPat]

I expect they'll do a double whammy on that show - drop all the hints for Mercedes coming in, but then have Okada make his debut on the same show as more of a surprise

[JLM]

Dynamite 07/02/23 

Fantastic opener, obviously. Hagman vs Swerve is the best feud. Immediately pumped when I saw they were opening the show and the crowd was just as excited. An actual crowd, too! The hot Collision crowds for the past two weeks have been small crowds compensating with big time enthusiasm and I heartily commend them for it, but this one was both hot and substantial.

The gradual double turn in this rivalry has been masterfully executed. Mentioned the other week that Swerve brings out the burning hatred in Hangman but also makes him act like a petulant child because he wants to spite him so badly. Hangman's "New year, new me DUMB ASS!" the other week was such a childish, desperate retort because he couldn't let Swerve have the last word. He's gone over the line from needing to prove to himself and to Swerve that he can beat him, to the much more petty "I don't care any more as long as you don't get to win". It makes total sense. He has been pushed here, Swerve is a devious sonofabitch who has also been poking the bear repeatedly, but it's still making Hangman do decidedly non-Cowboy-shit things and the people cannot condone it. 

Swerve on the other hand, holds his hands up to the worst shit he's done, has never claimed any sort of moral highground and has been perfectly transparent and straightforward in his intentions. He needs to be the guy and he will take every step he feels is necessary to get there. Not justifying his actions but not regretting them either if they're in service of the goal. Hangman has betrayed his own values and let himself down, Swerve is just being Swerve, and although his actions are often reprehensible you do have to respect that about him. 

I was wondering how they'd go about cementing the turn during the match. Hangman feeding off the crowd and leaning into it was brilliant, the unprovoked attack on Nana was also a great choice, but maaan the decision to not give Swerve five more minutes was PERFECT. Deliciously petty, I loved it so much. Invoking Homer Simpson's "The father of the boy WHO DOESN'T WIN" logic. He hates Swerve for lots of entirely legitimiate reasons, but he also hates Swerve like Homer hates Flanders, and that is more Homer's problem than Ned's. 

Ahh this was so good.

Utterly ferocious promo from Joe afterwards. Acknowledging the stacked deck against him as the champion has to in a triple threat, but immediately turning it around to it being "a shame" he's going to have destroy both Hangman and Swerve. "Celebrating mediocrity" was a fantastic line. Everything he said was correct. I'm glad they've gone down this route and not straight to Hangman or Swerve vs Joe in singles, presumably as a way to keep the belt on Joe for a bit. I want a proper reign for King Joe before we get to Swerve, Joe is in the form of his career right now and is a brilliant champion. No need to rush this. 

Toni Storm and Red Velvet was fine. Was hoping for a bit more from Purazzo on commentary. Obviously hard to live up to Toni's performances on the desk, but still, I forgot Deonna was there at times. 

OC vs Ishii will be hilarious I'm sure. Best Friends vs Undisputed Kingdom might just make me sit through a Kingdom match. Where is this Grumpy Trent Baretta thing going? Also put Danhausen on TV what is going on. Dalton Castle relegated to ROH and Danhausen relegated to Youtube. Sort it out. 

I loved the CMLL match to bits. To continue my gushing from Collision, Hechicero is the fucking man. The mask/paint comnbo, the fiery entrance, the way he moves and poses all wonky and weirdo-like, the fact that he could be literally any age and it wouldn't surprise me, and of course the glorious llave box of tricks.

I also like that he has some really violent looking knees and flying elbows to go with it. It's all well and good being able to pretzel a man, but you gotta smack'em in the face sometimes too. Oh also I've seen it three times now, but the move where he goes for the tijeras/headscissors but then guillotines them straight down gets me every time. According to Cagematch, Hechicero has wrestled Zack Sabre Jnr one time in PWG. I reeeeaaallly wanna see that.

Volador Jr looks like a time traveling male stripper. To use LaGoosh's frame of reference re: luchador unmaskings, he's not Psicosis-tier but he's certainly no Santos Escobar. Mascara Dorada is a bit Vikingo-y. Has a higher than average ceiling of incredibly dazzling shit he can do, but it might just go a bit wrong. In this match he recovered well from the botch by making sure the next two things he did were mind-blowing, and it worked. 

I am definitely a masked wrestler/lucha geek so I am fully on board with the CMLL invasion so far. I also like that they're being presented as hostile invaders and have an instant feud with the BCC rather than purely having exhibition matches. There was really good heat for this match as a result.

Takeshita vs Jericho was very good, but I can't get past hating this Callis Family/Jericho feud so much. If I went down the list of Takeshita vs The AEW Roster there are probably 10 dream matches we haven't had yet and he's doing this instead. Hobbs is doing nothing. I don't want to see Jericho, Sammy Guevara is dead to me. I hate it all. On the plus side, I do like "made Jericho tap to his own hold" as an addition to Takeshita's list of braggable achievements. 

Main event was joyous stuff. Fair play to Bill and Darby Allin, I have to take away Dutch's title of "best Bossman slammer" after that one. Good heavens. Gonna say this every week until the end, but I am really really going to miss Sting. But yeah, all the bells and whistles, great heat, Sting's a nutter, Darby's a bigger nutter, Bill looked fantastic and Starks played his part perfectly.

Closing angle was tremendous also. I haven't been enjoying the Bucks' skits and interviews as these characters, but this has fixed everything for me. Interrupting a particularly sincere and heartfelt feelgood moment. The blood all over the white suits was a wonderful visual. The Revolution match is going to be sensational isn't it? I foresee myself shedding a tear or two during that one. 

Fantastic episode, the mini-streak of Collision being my favourite AEW show of the week might be over.

Edited February 9 by JLM

[Dai]

Considering his age, Jericho took some insane bumps in that match. He got dropped on his head with a brainbuster on the concrete. The scary thing about AEW is that this was a throwaway move in the middle of the match, and he was up and running again a few seconds later. Those Blue Thunder Bombs, especially the top rope one, were nasty as hell too. Surely a concussion from that top rope one.

[LaGoosh]

Jericho is definitely showing his age these days. He needs to transition his ring style to "old Mexican brawler" rather than try and keep up with the young guys. Especially when it's Takeshita who is an absolute physical marvel and total beast. Jericho can still do an entertaining brawl though and needs to lean into that. Powerhouse Hobbs no selling the chairshot to the back was my favourite part of the match, wish he killed that waste of space Sammy Guevara though.

I like the CMLL stuff. It'll only be a short term thing and it's fun to have a bit of variety every now and then. Don't agree with the criticisms that they were just thrown out there - they had an announcement, a video package and an angle to start them off.  They haven't all been clearly defined but it's fun to learn as you go rather than the WWE style of overexplanation that so many fans can't seem able to function without. I enjoyed the 6 man but it would have worked better on Rampage so they could have edited out the gaps and fuck ups.

Excalibur is really great at calling matches but shite at calling angles. I wish JR would have been there to sell that brilliant show ending angle - it would have been the icing on the cake. Excalibur just rambled a load of bollocks. 

Big Bill is the best. Him vs Darby is my new dream match. I thought he killed Sting with that clothesline on the floor. I'm really going to miss Sting. His whole final run and weird Hulk Hogan meets New Jack matches have been brilliant. 

Samoa Joe being the first wrestler I can think of to actually properly sell that he can lose his title without being pinned. Him being so pissed off really highlighted the danger he is in. Great stuff!

Swerve/Hangman was obviously tremendous. Could have done without the table spot that they didn't sell for a single second, felt like they realised they were running out of time and quickly moved on. Brilliant spot in this where Swerve ducked Hangmans jumping apron clothesline so Hangman just blasted him in the back of the head with an even more brutal clothesline. I'm not ready to boo Hangman and cheer Swerve yet though - this is top notch shades of grey stuff.

A great show, feels like things are back on track. In December I would have said that I couldn't imagine AEW without MJF...now I reckon I'd be ok with it. The shows haven't missed his schtick just yet.

Edited February 10 by LaGoosh

[The King Of Swing]

Cracking episode of TV. 

#Bringbackdownvotes me, but I'm actually enjoying Luther in his current role.

Tremendous closing angle. Bucks back in their natural habitat, as complete and utter pricks.

Really enjoying the BCC Vs. CMLL feud. Not for everyone I understand, but one of the things I've always enjoyed about AEW is matches and feuds, I never even considered. 

As for the world title picture, I'd have Joe retain, Hangman eventually goes full heel with The Bucks before winning the title, leading to Swerve chasing him for it.

[TildeGuy~!]

Whilst watching New Japan’s show on Sunday, Chris Charlton mentioned that Bryan Danielson is ranked 3rd in ring time for AEW since it’s began only behind Darby Allin and Jon Moxley.

Thats mental for someone who has had various injuries and only joining recently compared to others in the company. 

[Loki]

Where is Jamie Hayter?  She's been out for ages, much longer than it was suggested she would be.  Hope she's ok.

[Infinity Land]

13 minutes ago, Loki said:

Where is Jamie Hayter?  She's been out for ages, much longer than it was suggested she would be.  Hope she's ok.

She wasn't expected back until the new year. Nothing to suggest anythings gone awry. 

Possibly being held back as there’s bound to be a reshuffle in the Women's division after Revolution. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

They must have big plans in the pipeline for her when she’s back. I wouldn’t mind Mercedes Mone coming in and taking the title off Timeless Toni in order to make a big time Mone vs Jamie Hayter match at Wembley.

Hell, with the right build they could main event Wembley with that.

[air_raid]

4 hours ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Whilst watching New Japan’s show on Sunday, Chris Charlton mentioned that Bryan Danielson is ranked 3rd in ring time for AEW since it’s began only behind Darby Allin and Jon Moxley.

On a similar note, I’ve been told today it’s been more than 600 days since Malakai Black had a singles match in AEW. That’s crazy, I always considered Tommy/Aly/Mally to be pretty good.

[The King Of Swing]

Hasn't Black had back problems? If so they might be putting him tags/trios, so others can cover for him.

[Infinity Land]

47 minutes ago, air_raid said:

On a similar note, I’ve been told today it’s been more than 600 days since Malakai Black had a singles match in AEW. That’s crazy, I always considered Tommy/Aly/Mally to be pretty good.

 

33 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

Hasn't Black had back problems? If so they might be putting him tags/trios, so others can cover for him.

If there's a new milestone being shared on social media, it won't be long until he's doing another IG live or picking fights with someone over it.

[no user name]

4 hours ago, Loki said:

Where is Jamie Hayter?  She's been out for ages, much longer than it was suggested she would be.  Hope she's ok.

Hopefully she is at all in 

[WeeAl]

A fantastic episode of Dynamite that was. I'm late to the party here and Supremo and JLM have said about everything that I'd have said only better. I'm not booing Hangman though - like Bret in '97, Hangman's in the right and god dammit I'm going to be by his side. Unless The Bucks are nearby, then I'll have to look on, disapprovingly, at his choice of little prick friends. Marvellous pieces of business to open and close this show. Cheering and punching the air for The Stinger, then those two wee delinquents turn up and ruined the party. Hope they get pasted all over the walls of the Coliseum. 

Hechicero (sp?) Love that crazy bastard already and he's only been around about a week. More of him please. 

Couldn't give a fiddlers about Sasha/Mercedes turning up though. She's no Charlotte Flair. 

Edited February 13 by WeeAl