5 years of AEW Dynamite - reflections, fave bits etc

[Chili]

The most infuriating thing about Chris Jericho now is he doesn't bugger off anymore because he doesn't want to be in the house with his mad wife. Because when he'd take a break and come back with something fresh or more importantly he hit rather than miss, he'd be a vital character to have around. He dragged AEW through about 3-4 weeks of TV in a warehouse in Georgia alone almost by him and Tony Schiavone just lighting up the commentary desk. The "RELEASE THE HOUNDS" segment might be his peak in that Le Champion character trait he had. Everything he says here is genuinely funny and he looks like a brilliant dickhead drinking his own branded champagne in a hot tub, still wearing his gear, great little touches. I hate Chris Jericho because he's capable of being this Chris Jericho, the prat.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Chili

[RedTwoster]

21 minutes ago, Supremo said:

We’ll tell our Grandchildren about the time when Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara were the best thing on pro-wrestling television. Finger on the pulse. Fresh. Exciting. Fantastic, dry, self-deprecating humour. Seems a lifetime ago now.

”Chris Jericho is in the prime of his life…he’s forty eight! Youngest AEW Champion in history!”

I’d completely forgotten about this, what a brilliant vignette! In some ways, it’s a bit of a shame that there’s limited scope for The Inner Circle to reform. In a different reality, there’s a fantastic moment in which the stable reforms to feud with Moxley’s lot, which had been targeting a rejuvenated Chris Jericho, back from an extended break.

21 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Best thing about the Eddie Kingston debut is that it completely disproved this idea that all debuts need to have the character and story fleshed out ahead of time with six weeks of vignettes.

A definite aside here - but when’s the last time a character debuted after a series of vignettes, and it actually worked? I’m genuinely struggling to think of anyone recent, in any company.

Edited 3 hours ago by RedTwoster

[Chili]

14 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

I’d completely forgotten about this, what a brilliant vignette! In some ways, it’s a bit of a shame that there’s limited scope for The Inner Circle to reform. In a different reality, there’s a fantastic moment in which the stable reforms to feud with Moxley’s lot, which had been targeting a rejuvenated Chris Jericho, back from an extended break.

A definite aside here - but when’s the last time a character debuted after a series of vignettes, and it actually worked? I’m genuinely struggling to think of anyone recent, in any company.

I know she was already on TV morphing into the beta version of the character prior, but Toni Storm's interviews with RJ City that lead to the Timeless nickname being added. I'd call them vignettes as such. Fully evolved the character into what Toni became and explained it more before they fully gave her the B&W entrance and old Hollywood entrance theme.

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Chili

[LaGoosh]

This thread is going exactly as I hoped - reminding me of brilliant stuff I had forgotten about.

Some more goodness:

Darby's TNT run was a brilliant run that really established him as a singles act. But eventually he came up to the inevitable - Miro. There's a beautiful moment in this between Sting and Darby where they acknowledge that Darby cannot win this match but he's going to go out fighting the best he can.

Hangman arrives, makes Matt Jackson hold his beer, kicks ass, leaves. Coolest motherfucker in town.

In one of the most bonkers and exciting show endings ever, you have The Elite and BCC brawling then Eddie Kingston returns completely unannounced to cause mayhem and fight everyone, then a Takeshita run in, then Omega turning up in top babyface mode and THEN a surprise Ospreay run in. I was literally shaking after all that.

An overlooked classic - RUSH vs Danielson is one of the best matches of the past 10 years. Unrelenting and brutal. RUSH looks like a mega star in this.

The Jericho/OC feud had some brilliant stuff in it. This debate was the highlight and really established Orange Cassidy as a top act in AEW.

I loved this. They should have done it at All Out instead of on Dynamite. A genuine shock and brilliantly and logically done. You can tell the fans were getting sick of Punk's shit at this point and the reaction here proves it.

One of my favourite match finishes ever. Jericho gets Mox in the Walls of Jericho and seemingly has the match won, except he has just been busted open on the turnbuckle and is bleeding buckets. Mox holds out as Jericho's strength pours out of the wound of his head, once Jericho starts to weaken Mox takes advantage and quickly brutalises Jericho to get the victory. A brilliant finish.

 

Edited 3 hours ago by LaGoosh

[RedTwoster]

12 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I loved this. They should have done it at All Out instead of on Dynamite. A genuine shock and brilliantly and logically done. You can tell the fans were getting sick of Punk's shit at this point and the reaction here proves it.

I dunno, I think it’s more illustrative of the genuine connection Moxley had with the fans. At that point, with the exception of Hangman, he was Mr AEW, and you were unlikely to find anyone who they’d pick over him. Plus, it seemed like Punk was heading towards a heel turn based on what wrestlers were saying on-screen. As it turned out, they were all legitimately pissed off at him; but we didn’t know that just yet!

But talking of shocking squash victories, I don’t think you can have a thread on Dynamite best bits, without this:

Everything about it was fantastic - the dominance of Brodie Lee, his promo as medics attended to Cody, the look on Arn Anderson’s face, the announcing - I loved it at the time, and I love it now.

And yes, I’m mentioning Brodie Lee A LOT in this thread, but it just so happens that he was involved in a lot of brilliant moments during his time in AEW. It’s such a shame it was cut short in the way that it was. It may not have happened on Dynamite, but I’ll finish off gushing about Brodie Lee with the following:

 

[Chili]

Few more

The first Kenny/Hangman face-off eight months after they last interacted at Full Gear 2020. The crowd when they see Page in the set-up position for the buckshot is incredible. The man was him!

Brodie Lee giving one of the finest final promos you'll see hyping the Dog Collar Match with Cody. Just terrifying and brilliant, one of the most heartbreaking tragedies losing Brodie. He's so unhinged and menacing here. A brilliant job taking that character from a weird amalgamation of Vince McMahon references to monstrous cult leader.

Like Darby/Miro. Brodie Lee absolutely demolishing Cody Rhodes and the subsequent post-match angle. Wild scenes and a brilliant squash match performance from both. Didn't see @RedTwoster just posted this.

Hangman's hold my beer @LaGoosh referenced reminded of the moment on the Dynamite after Revolution 2020, big brawl, Hangman comes down, places drink on ring post, buckshot lariats Jake Hagar, necks his pint then flips off Matt Jackson for being a gaslighting little turd before leaving again. Impossible to not side with him after stuff like this.

As amazing as The Parking Lot Fight payoff was, I always get a kick out of the Best Friends/P&P feud being over Trent's mom's van being vandalized. It's nearly silly but they actually play it so straight with slight humour that it becomes a genuine angle you want to see payoff because it's just such a unique yet logical reason for a feud. Ortiz wanging that sledgehammer into the windshield is perfect, as is Trent's signoff that after they beat each other senseless, Santana & Ortiz will apologise to Sue "...on speakerphone".

 

 

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Chili

[LaGoosh]

4 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

Everything about it was fantastic - the dominance of Brodie Lee, his promo as medics attended to Cody, the look on Arn Anderson’s face, the announcing - I loved it at the time, and I love it now.

So fantastic Cody did the exact same thing with Malakai Black about six months later. But yeah this one was brilliant telly. So tragic, Brodie would have been one of their biggest ever stars.

John Silver proposes to Hangman, the celebrations go off too early, Hangman sadly says no. Heartbreaking and hilarious. What a brilliant character Hangman is. Even though they haven't really touched on the story for awhile it had such a long term effect on the fans, even last week when Hangman punched one of the Dark Order the fans audibly gasped at it. How could he?!

 

[tiger_rick]

4 hours ago, Supremo said:

This video broke me. The moment it turns to Brodie Lee's tribute, I'm gone. Honestly, just the most horrible tragedy since Owen. It's so, so sad.

2 hours ago, Chili said:

This is the best promo in the company's history and the best promo in the business in the last two decades. The competition is fierce but this is utterly outstanding. He's the best.

This thread is wonderful. Looking back, it's hard to believe that the pandemic came within their first year. Also, how short the time was between Brodie Lee's debut and tribute show. 

Some further takeaways:

I still want to see Moxley & Eddie win those tag titles.

I still love Jungle Boy.

I want to see the Dark Order get the Cowboy back on top.

I still want to see Jon Silver win a major title.

Negatives:

I won't ever forgive TK for hiring Helicopter Dick Flair.

There isn't a moment in the company's history that wouldn't be better without Jim Ross's commentary.

[Chili]

'MEMBER WHEN WARDLOW WAS THE ABSOLUTE DON?

These were superb segments, Wardlow disguised as crowd security, smashing through the security force one in an assembly line, blocking MJF from getting back into the ring. Trying to bribe the referee to not count him out, ending with Wardlow screaming into the camera cutting back to MJF & Shawn Spears (terrific in this role) pulling some of the best 'OH CRIPES! WHAT ARE WE ACTUALLY GOING TO DO?!?' expressions. 

 

The prior weeks angle where Wardlow costs Spears his match again against Shawn Dean is worth it too for Wardlow's march through backstage and absolutely killing a security guard by running with him and smashing him through the guardrail. It didn't last and there's plenty of discussion why, but good grief Wardlow was HOT here. A very well booked bit of business.

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Chili

[Chili]

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but I've just got loads popping into my head.

Jake Roberts AEW debut. It ended up being a washout eventually, but Jake turning up out of nowhere, looking and sounding healthier than he had in years and cutting that brilliant 'Hail Caesar' promo, complete with a killer line at the end. Lovely stuff and just great to see Jake still had that aura and promo in him.

Dan Lambert doing his Cornette cosplay thing only for Lance Archer to come out and just punch him square in the face and destroy him is mostly forgotten but was very entertaining, unlike a lot of Dan Lambert's run. Archer in full ECW 911 mode as he should be.

The first Blackpool Combat Club vignette. Regal's entire speech is just a brilliant bit of work and the final shot where they all look like legit psycho murderers with the high pitch music sting in the background is chilling. 

The MJF/Regal showdown was a killer promo too. MJF doing his schtick only for Regal to break him down and tell him what he has to do if he really wants to put some oomph behind his claim of being a proper villain. 

Pretty much anything from Britt Baker's interactions with Tony Schiavone. There was something proper delightful about early heel Britt where she played the horrible mean girl who thinks she's the business but secretly has no actual friends (something later done much more openly with MJF). I always interpreted that she as a character picked on Tony Schiavone and bullied him into being her friend because it was the only way she knew how to enlist people as her 'friends', until she actually enjoyed his platonic company. In other hands this subtle background angle could have been absolutely terrible (JR always seemed a sentence away from ruining it loads), but it played out as genuinely charming. The bit here where she tells him off-mic "stand up straight" is hilarious.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Chili

[SuperBacon]

Just took 5 minutes for this page to load ffs.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

I wonder if AEW would have been as big had it not been for Covid? I mean that in the sense that their empty arena stuff was so much more compelling viewing than WWE stuff, as I understand it, and fans had time to take a serious interest in 'the opposition'. If Covid hadn't hit and AEW was touring and suchlike and not based in Jacksonville and building a following online, would they have produced the TV they have done?

 

Don't get me wrong I love AEW, but do wonder whether they were built upon the luck of being 'right place right time' when people had not a lot else to do other than relax and watch TV and they genuinely had a product that got better and better as everyone was in one place. As we've seen subsequently, some of the TV stuff since has dropped off somewhat and is that related to poor crowds and lacklustre venue support? 

[Chili]

5 minutes ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

I wonder if AEW would have been as big had it not been for Covid? I mean that in the sense that their empty arena stuff was so much more compelling viewing than WWE stuff, as I understand it, and fans had time to take a serious interest in 'the opposition'. If Covid hadn't hit and AEW was touring and suchlike and not based in Jacksonville and building a following online, would they have produced the TV they have done?

 

Don't get me wrong I love AEW, but do wonder whether they were built upon the luck of being 'right place right time' when people had not a lot else to do other than relax and watch TV and they genuinely had a product that got better and better as everyone was in one place. As we've seen subsequently, some of the TV stuff since has dropped off somewhat and is that related to poor crowds and lacklustre venue support? 

In a way it's a genuinely impossible question to answer as the pandemic was an incredibly unique situation that we hopefully never experience again. It helped in that AEW were far better in creating a 'live' experience that veered into a ensemble production with everyone at ringside to provide some noise and ambience. But I can't really give a clear answer, some of the angles might not have ran as long as they did with travel not able to travel. But right before the pandemic happened that January-March 2020 run was absolutely shit hot. No idea where it would have gone or how sooner the bloom would be off the rose.

[abucalves]

The Hangman Dark Order entrance is one of my favourite moments in wrestling, and one I regularly go back to watch. I know Will O'Spreay winning the big one over here is going to happen at some point, but I really want to see a face Hangman main event a Wembley show

Edited 39 minutes ago by abucalves

[Carbomb]

Speaking as a complete neutral, on the face of it it doesn't seem like Covid should've made a difference, as it was, in production terms, a level playing field.