5 years of AEW Dynamite - reflections, fave bits etc

[Chris B]

One of my favourite moments is a fairly subtle one, from very early on.

The Dynamite following the Unsanctioned Match between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega. It had been a pretty brutal match (although not my favourite from either of them), and early in the episode, they show Omega being checked out by the Doctor. Omega looks bashed up with a black eye - and the Doctor tells him to take the week off to be safe.

Omega is disappointed, but makes the point that after that match, neither of them was going to be cleared that quickly.

DOCTOR: "No, Mox is wrestling tonight. He's cleared."

And Omega just goes silent.

It was a great, subtle moment, and the first time it seemed like longer-term and slightly unusual storytelling was something we could expect. They weren't going to smash us over the head with everything, because they trusted that we knew how much that would sting. It was almost throwaway, but it really made me excited for an alternative approach than we'd been used to.

Oh, and Kenny losing had consequences. It wasn't shrugged off. It tied into his obsession with Mox and desperation to prove himself in more extreme matches, before becoming the Belt Collector eventually. 

And while they're not always subtle, those small, genuine character moments are still there at times - and we wouldn't have got the Hangman story without it. I still remember someone scoffing at the idea that they might do a 'Hangman overcoming his insecurities and his own self-sabotaging' kind of storyline. And we got it. We actually got it. 

That's what was the real alternative to me. Actually treating the characters and stories like they matter. 

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

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.

There was a point when I would have disagreed with this and suggested he’d have settled at a similar level to Lance Archer, but watching all of this back, and taking into account his popularity, I feel differently. When he died, he seemed to be heading into a storyline with Hangman Page, and the thought of a match between the two is very exciting indeed. He’d absolutely nailed his character at that point, and it’s both interesting and sad to consider what might have come next for him.

This guy began to grate on me towards the end of his run, but he deserves a mention here…

On the whole, his work was very good - and although I think he left at the right time, I’d have no objection at all to seeing him return at some point.

And although it’s not exactly one of the greatest Dynamite moments in the sense of it actually being good, but no Dynamite anniversary thread is complete without the inclusion of this clanger…

 

[tiger_rick]

23 minutes ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

'right place right time'

I'm not sure I'd ever call losing 100% of your attendance, losing a massive chunk of your revenue, losing all of your overseas roster, having to adhere to severely mandated workplace restrictions and having to present pro-wrestling in a way no-one has ever done before in your first year as a business "right place, right time".

[Supremo]

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

51 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I'm not sure I'd ever call losing 100% of your attendance, losing a massive chunk of your revenue, losing all of your overseas roster, having to adhere to severely mandated workplace restrictions and having to present pro-wrestling in a way no-one has ever done before in your first year as a business "right place, right time".

I mean more in the sense of they had all they needed in one place to make it work right there and that having your much bigger and more powerful rival doing stupid shit with CGI birds during entrances and that. I think it also helped they had people who knew how to put on a story rather than just a wrestling show. 

 

It's possibly not worded right but I know in my head how I'm trying to say it but it may not be coming out right. Maybe having a group of seasoned wrestlers rather than 'sports entertainers' helped them to get their product established in very difficult times rather than say having a WCW type roster going up against WWE.

[Supremo]

I think Dynamite’s greatest legacy will be the return of the warm, fuzzy, feel-good ending. Those punch-the-air, “fucking-get-in!” moments. Hometown heroes winning big in front of their friends and family. Fireworks. Confetti. The lot.

Darby and Sting winning the Tag Titles. Orange Cassidy winning the International Title. The Elite doing Avengers Assemble. Best Friends winning Arcade Anarchy and giving Sue the big thumbs up. There’ll be dozens more.

It sounds like promoting pro-wrestling on Easy Mode. Give the fans a big, happy ending. But it was lacking for so, so long. WWE made it their mission for decades to do anything but. Somehow, doing the basics completely revolutionised the entire industry and re-taught everyone that not everything needs to be endless, relentless HEAT.

That thing last week where Jey Uso won the Intercontinental Title? Yeah, that doesn’t happen if AEW Dynamite never existed. Let’s not forget, before AEW Hunter was this guy.

 

[Doog]

AEW has definitely made wrestling better. I know Vince has gone now so you could argue WWE would have improved anyway, but I genuinely don't think WWE would be as good as it is now without AEW.

When it launched I wasn't watching current day wrestling, was watching WWE Network pretty much every day still but just going back through the attitude era and ruthless aggression etc. AEW changed that, I watched it and kept uo to date, it was exciting, it was new, fresh. It had those call backs and felt like attitude era WWF. Not necessarily in the content  but that excitement, the can't miss element,everyone being over.

It took a while, first couple of months were just match after match after match and it was hard for someone as a follower of thr WWE format, they've improved massively now.

It's everything I wanted TNA to be and more, I was desperate for TNA to be an alternative 15 years ago and it just never could, didn't have the budget. AEW do.

It's not as good now as it was, but it's still brilliant, outside of WrestleMania I much prefer AEW PPVs to WWE. I'm more excited by what could happen in AEW still. I only watch Dynamite and PPVs now so Collision needs some work, but it's still enjoyable massively. It's weird because it makes me watch WWE as well, ehen I enjoy AEW I'm more likely to keep up with WWE too.

Couldn't really define a greatest moment, but I've really enjoyed Moxley, guy was dead in 2019 WWE, he's a revelation now. I'd never heard of MJF, Hangman Page, Young Bucks and more recently Will Ospreay before AEW, they're amongst my favourites of all time now.

Long live AEW, not all of it is for me, but being a wrestling fan is all the better for it being around.

[RedTwoster]

51 minutes ago, Supremo said:

That thing last week where Jey Uso won the Intercontinental Title? Yeah, that doesn’t happen if AEW Dynamite never existed. Let’s not forget, before AEW Hunter was this guy.

Not to make this AEW vs WWE, but I suspect that’s more down to the demise of Vince McMahon, Triple H had reinvented himself as the father of NXT and he’d shown his style of booking was different.

That said, WWE has clearly been impacted by AEW in a positive way, and it’s fascinating to consider what wrestling - and WWE - would look like if AEW didn’t exist.

I don’t think you get Cody Rhodes main eventing Wrestlemania, for example - he might have won a World title, but I suspect he’d have done so on whatever brand was considered secondary at that time. MJF would have ended up in WWE, but I reckon his trajectory would be more similar to that of Grayson Waller - and that’s if he’s lucky and debuted before Vince was canned. Otherwise you might be looking at a Heath Slater or Santino style run. God knows where Darby Allin would be, same goes for Jack Perry. Tony Schiavone might have ended up in WWE thanks to Prichard, but I can’t imagine he’d have been anything more than a Vince McMahon punchline. If AEW doesn’t exist, does Hook? Does Jade Cargill? Does Eddie Kingston end up in a major promotion? I doubt the answer to all three of these is ‘yes’. It’s shaken up the industry for the better.

[DavidB6937]

AEW showed that wrestlers can be happy, enjoy their jobs and deliver a massively positive product that put smiles on people's faces and didn't try to book against them.

Dynamite was the weekly show that wrestling fans needed as an antidote to WWE and to the pandemic. It was an opportunity to start fresh and learn from the mistakes of elsewhere and just create a fun environment where you looked forward to each show.

I won't go into specifics as so many of them have been mentioned here. But Dynamite created a positive weekly show that people would actually anticipate with genuine enthusiasm and showed WWE what the world needed now. They've absolutely followed AEW's lead.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

That middle paragraph was kind of the point I was trying to make further up, albeit badly.

[LaGoosh]

Joe starting a whole feud just because he saw the chance to be a massive prick. The huge smug grin on his face after pushing MJF is absolute gold.

"This time...he's gonna' try!" AEW really handled Orange Cassidy perfectly the first few months. Slowly building up to his first singles and he blew everyone away. 

Everyone wanted to see The Elite back together. But the way they finally did it was so natural and felt so spontaneous. Kenny and the Bucks saw their old pal in big trouble and in the moment decided to do the right thing. Electric. 

Probably my favourite moment of the Bromance of the Summer. MJF comes out but Cole has a gift...entrance theme remix! MJF's pure joy absolutely sells this one. Grinning from ear to ear watching it back.

The MJF villain origin story promo. This got a lot of talk at the time. MJF breaks down and reveals why he is the way he is and that it's all CM Punk's fault. Probably the only time a heel has deconstructed their character like this.

I could go on forever (I have barely touched best matches). One more...

They do the old "wrestlers aren't allowed to touch" gimmick but Hangman uses it to not let Swerve get a word in while he brutally verbally dismantles every part of his life, threatens to steal Prince Nana's weed then beats his ass down while Swerve helplessly watches. Hangman is tremendous but Swerve's facial expressions are brilliant throughout - frustration, fear, anger...he sells everything perfectly.

 

 

[Supremo]

Hangman returning in the Casino Ladder match to become Number One Contender for Kenny’s title.

Listen to the pop. Listen to how perfectly Jim Ross calls it. Spot the brilliant joke on the graphic; “Finally showed up to work.” They could do no wrong in 2021. The roll of all rolls. Momentum on momentum. A pro-wrestling fans dream come true. Crowds back. CM Punk in. Bryan Danielson in. Hangman turning his life around and going for that belt. The sky was the limit and nothing was going to stop them.

Shame.

But watching that back, now? Whew. I don’t know how Hangman turns this around. I don’t know how he atones for his sins. But if they somehow manage it, that top babyface run for Hangman Adam Page is going hit like crack.

[Jesse]

Love this thread. AEW ultimately failed to hold me regularly post-pandemic with too many disappointing decisions, but their high points still draw me in and Hangman's AEW run so far is probably my favourite wrestler of all time.

I couldn't see it shared yet, but Mox & Kingston's Double or Nothing entrance the first time they had the fans back in always brings me joy. Moxley getting so caught up in it he gets lost in the crowd and Eddie has to bring him back makes me laugh every single time.
 

 

[Chili]

3 minutes ago, Jesse said:

Love this thread. AEW ultimately failed to hold me regularly post-pandemic with too many disappointing decisions, but their high points still draw me in and Hangman's AEW run so far is probably my favourite wrestler of all time.

I couldn't see it shared yet, but Mox & Kingston's Double or Nothing entrance the first time they had the fans back in always brings me joy. Moxley getting so caught up in it he gets lost in the crowd and Eddie has to bring him back makes me laugh every single time.
 

 

To be a real nitpicker, it's not been posted because it wasn't on Dynamite, however it's bloody brilliant and should always be posted.

[Jesse]

Just now, Chili said:

To be a real nitpicker, it's not been posted because it wasn't on Dynamite, however it's bloody brilliant and should always be posted.

ffs, checked back the whole thread to see if it was there and not once clocked the thread topic or title.