AEW Dynasty - April 21st

[Duke]

Man, imagine if Osprey was willing to graft. Sky would be the limit.

Like everyone else, I loved the match, especially the quick draw duel at the end. Remarkable. Unlike everyone else I still loved the finish, because I'm interested to see where it goes. Surely, surely this means Osprey Vs Moxley is in the near future.

 

 

[JimmyAnderson]

Was a great show, providing you didn't watch Zero Hour which was a waste of time other than unifying the AEW & ROH Trios Titles. Hopefully a few more unifications to come moving forward.

Trent Beretta beat Matt Sydal, then after the match was stood in the middle of the aisle and had a stare down with Chuck Taylor in the ring and Orange Cassidy at the top of the entrance. Not sure why he wasn't fighting Cassidy. He escaped when Shibata came out for the tag match with Cassidy against Shane Taylor Promotions. The victory STP got the other week obviously wasn't the start of things to come because here they were losing a pretty pointless match.

The unification match should have felt bigger than it did. Unfortunately we've seen the Gunns and Acclaimed fight so many times down the years that this felt like a chore. Bullet Club winning is the right call in my eyes and now the Acclaimed can either disband or go back after the tag titles, leaving Billy to go back to just being used as an on-screen personality and the odd battle royal entrant. Plenty of options for Bullet Club moving forward in either AEW or ROH.

The proper stuff got going with a great opener. Okada has been such a joy since his arrival in AEW and PAC will always deliver great matches. Not convinved the Continental Classic should be a title that's defended though, it should be like the King of the Ring. Once a year tournament to make it special rather than just another title to clog up the screens with. This match would be have been just as good whether the title was on the line or not.

Wasn't entirely sure what the backstory was for Briscoe/Kingston/Copeland teaming up against House of Black was but it resulted in a fun match, which showcased how much fun Copeland is having in AEW. A feud with any of the other men involved in that match for the TNT could be great. He's showing the good side of getting some ex-WWE wrestlers on the roster and the benefit they can give AEW if used correctly.

The following match, Julia Hart v Willow Nightingale was followed by an angle tht showed the bad side of getting some ex-WWE wrestlers on the roster. Mercedes can fuck off already, she's providing nothing. And it's a shame that Willow is being lumbered with her because Willow has become one of the best, genuine, feel good stories in AEW and instead of her having the division built around her, she's probably on her way to losing to the dross that is Mercedes Mone. Julia will probably become like most former champions in AEW history and struggle to recapture the momentum she had going into this match. 

Strong and O'Reilly was a really good wrestling match but the whole Undisputed Kingdom mob are dull as dishwater so there was no excitement from me for the match or for the reveal of Adam Cole being able to walk again. It is a shame that people so talented between the ropes can't get you interested in what they're doing.

Understandably the Jericho/Hook match is getting pelted more because of Jericho's involvement rather than the match itself. And the fact that they've now tied the series one all means there's probably a third match between the two to come yet. The third match might be the one where Taz finally gets involved and hopefully the result is the FTW title is retired again. I don't think Jericho is fucking off anytime soon but what he does next is up in the air. Watch out Will Ospreay, Jericho is coming for you.

Toni Storm as the Women's champ continues to be a hoot. History would suggest that she's gonna lose it at Double or Nothing though, with three of the four events boasting a new womens champ by the end of it. It just doesn't feel like right now they have anybody worthy of dethroning her. And let's give Chris Jericho some credit, Luther only has a job in AEW because of his friendship with "The Learning Tree."

Ospreay and Danielson was better than you can imagine it to be. And words won't do it justice so just go and watch it. 

Enjoyed the the tag title match. Was a ladder match in name but more of a TLC in reality. Not too many jaw dropping moments but enough to make it entertaining. The 450 through the table was perfect though. Bucks winning is the right choice and hopefully the tag titles can become important again with some real attention given to them. Wondering if FTR recruit Kenny and Hangman, both suspended by EVP Bucks, to even the odds against Bucks, Okada and Perry. Maybe somehow tie in Swerve, Joe and the World title as well. Swerve and Hangman on the same team, Swerve stealing the win after a Hangman hits the Buckshot may just send Page over the edge.

Speaking of the World title, the main event was all it needed to be. Swerve became a real star and Joe lost, still looking like a star. A nice lengthy reign is deserved for Swerve now. I know people are expecting him to lost the title to Ospreay as early as August but I think he should be holding onto the championship for some time yet. And hopefully for a change, AEW know how to book the man as well as a champion as they did when he was chasing the gold.

Overall a belting wrestling show.

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, JimmyAnderson said:

Was a ladder match in name but more of a TLC in reality.

"TLC" only really exists as a name which WWE use. It's a ladder match. The rules are exactly the same. Do whatever the fuck you want, use any weapon you want, win by climbing a ladder and retrieving what's hanging.

[The King Of Swing]

9 hours ago, no user name said:

Out of interest did people on the forum hate jericho before the allegations were made? I wasn't on it then. 

Nah. People were definitely growing tired of Jeticho, well before then.

Anyway great show. Okada teasing the Rainmaker pose, only to flip off the crowd. 

[Devon Malcolm]

I watched this! And I nearly regretted it!

Pac vs Okada

Not a bad start but I would have liked more pace to this, which I thought I was going to get from these two. I hate that 'go on, hit me then!' shit, especially from a heel, but Okada did some good heel work later in the match and his near fall kickouts are brilliantly timed. I like that most of his stuff is just older school wrestling stuff executed really well. Far longer than it needed to be but loads of fun in its final stretch.

House of Black vs Copeland, Briscoe and Kingston

Eddie Kingston's usual boring strong style shit and this was just too long as well. Just needed to be a mad sprint, went on forever. Nah.

Julia Hart vs Willow Nightingale

I think this was my first Willow Nightingale match. Julia Hart has got better every time I've seen her. So I was looking forward to this one, and then it was over as soon as it got started. Fucking hell. Knock 6 hours off the stupid trios match and give them some time ffs.

Roderick Strong vs Kyle O'Reilly

Good match, this, even if I didn't really care about it that much. Strong's heel run here is easily the most interested I've ever been in him, he's always been a total dullard to me. What the fuck was the point of Wardlow's run in? He gets caught by the ref before he does anything, does a "Oops, you caught me, mister!" and then Strong won clean. So they even found a way to balls this one up to a degree.

Hook vs Jericho

Hook is an absolutely brilliant talent who they've done fuck all with so far. I don't know about Learning Tree, but Jericho looks like a gnarled yew. There's no point wishing he would fuck off at this point because it's obviously not going to happen. It's amazing how uncomfortable the atmosphere is when Jericho's in the ring, I've never seen anything like it. This was crap.

Toni Storm vs Thunder Rosa

Now we're talking. Started fast, settled down with nice heavy shots and work from both of them. Easily the best match of the card so far, brilliant near fall on the Storm Zero near the end. Loved this.

Will Ospreay vs Bryan Danielson

Nigel McGuinness an absolute hoot on commentary again, having the time of his life. Obviously an absolutely fantastic match on almost every level, practically faultless and the only match of the night that needed to go this long. Brilliant.

FTR vs Young Bucks

A ladder match, so the usual thing, really. Didn't outstay its welcome and I quite enjoyed it but I never want to see the Young Bucks again in my whole life. Same goes for Jungle Boy as well.

Swerve Strickland vs Samoa Joe

Fantastic match between two of the best around right now. The right time for Swerve after Joe's excellent reign, he's a massive star and they need someone new at the top. Whether his reign will be booked well is probably in huge doubt but a cracking moment.

Fair to say this was a show of two halves, the first half was not good at all but the second half far better.

Edited April 23 by Devon Malcolm

[Hannibal Scorch]

It’s a shame you didn’t enjoy the EVP Bucks @Devon Malcolm, I think this has been one of the better runs tbh. I also understand that Julia/Willow was so short because Julia’s been injured for a while now so it wasn’t what it was supposed to be.

[Devon Malcolm]

8 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I also understand that Julia/Willow was so short because Julia’s been injured for a while now so it wasn’t what it was supposed to be.

That makes sense then, I suppose. Hopefully they'll get a fuller length rematch one day.

[Hannibal Scorch]

4 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

That makes sense then, I suppose. Hopefully they'll get a fuller length rematch one day.

They have had TV matches before which were pretty good actually. I definitely think having Julia wrestle people like Statlander and Nightingale are why she’s improved 

[LaGoosh]

14 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

House of Black vs Copeland, Briscoe and Kingston

Eddie Kingston's usual boring strong style shit and this was just too long as well. Just needed to be a mad sprint, went on forever. Nah.

Not discounting or arguing your perfectly reasponable opinion but it's interesting how different people can view the same match. I absolutely loved this match, and my only criticism would be there wasn't enough Eddie Kingston. Though Mark Briscoe did an excellent job carrying the majority of the match - he's just so fucking great.

What I really loved about this match is that the key part of the story they told was actually about holding back on the thing the fans wanted the most - Adam Copeland vs Malakai Black. They spent the whole match teasing it then backing away from it and withholding it from the audience then at the matches conclusion they finally face off Black immediately cheats to cut it short and get the victory. Proper good old school stuff. You put on an exciting match while simultaneously building up the next big match.

[Devon Malcolm]

23 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Not discounting or arguing your perfectly reasponable opinion but it's interesting how different people can view the same match. I absolutely loved this match, and my only criticism would be there wasn't enough Eddie Kingston. Though Mark Briscoe did an excellent job carrying the majority of the match - he's just so fucking great.

What I really loved about this match is that the key part of the story they told was actually about holding back on the thing the fans wanted the most - Adam Copeland vs Malakai Black. They spent the whole match teasing it then backing away from it and withholding it from the audience then at the matches conclusion they finally face off Black immediately cheats to cut it short and get the victory. Proper good old school stuff. You put on an exciting match while simultaneously building up the next big match.

And I think this is where my only watching the PPVs falls down a bit, because I do miss the context and connections of other things that may be happening.

I've never been a Kingston fan but I absolutely do see the appeal with him so that's a personal thing really. But I actually did enjoy Mark Briscoe in this and I think overall his recent story has been a real feelgood one that has been born out of tragedy. What I've seen of him and heard of him in the last year suggests that the booking and use of him has been largely excellent. I could see some of that here, for sure 

[69MeDon]

I can't really say much more than anyone else has said about Danielson vs Ospreay. Just phenomenal.

On Jericho, I'm sure I saw somewhere before that one of the reasons he hasn't fucked off for a bit is because the company kind of feels like they have to use him, because they are paying him so much (not sure if he still is, but he was the highest paid guy there at one point, right?) But, yeah, I wish he would fuck off. As for HOOK, I will always have time for him, but it might be better for him to go elsewhere as I don't think he's improved all that much from when he debuted. His selling is always weird to me. If he goes to NXT or whatever, then he will be getting a lot more reps, you'd think, and will hopefully improve. Although maybe they could send him off to Japan like Perry?

Edited April 24 by 69MeDon

[Supremo]

Big fan of Swerve going full Father-Ted-wins-the-golden-cleric.

And now, onto the liars…

[no user name]

Dave meltzer awarded the Danielson v osprey match 6 1/2 stars which is his second highest ever rating. I'm sure there are a few trolls saying it's only because osprey was in it but I think most would agree it was a fantastic match 

[air_raid]

37 minutes ago, no user name said:

Dave meltzer awarded the Danielson v osprey match 6 1/2 stars which is his second highest ever rating. I'm sure there are a few trolls saying it's only because osprey was in it but I think most would agree it was a fantastic match 

I'm sure there are some snide types preparing a joke about "if it had been in the Tokyo Dome".... well, joke's on them, because Okada vs Omega (*******) was in Osaka.

[LaGoosh]

If 5 stars is perfect then I'm not really sure what any rating above that means. Especially when you're getting into 6 1/2 territory. What makes something 6 and a half in comparison to 5?

Not that it matters at all really.