Paid Members Kamran Posted October 28 Paid Members Posted October 28 (edited) One week before Blood and Guts and just over 2 weeks to go until Full Gear, AEW presents Fright Night Dynamite tonight. PREVIEW: MATCHES: Edited October 28 by Kamran Quote
The King of Old School Posted October 29 Posted October 29 Kyle Fletcher is the "Kane" role now it seems, such a shame as he's miles better than that. Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted October 29 Paid Members Posted October 29 36 minutes ago, The King of Old School said: Kyle Fletcher is the "Kane" role now it seems, such a shame as he's miles better than that. That's a bit unfair. I'm not a huge Fletcher fan, still but, I think it's clear that he's an AEW World Champion in waiting (as long as he doesn't go to the Dark Side). He makes sense as a challenger for Ospreay and although he won't win, I definitely think his time comes in the next year or so. Enjoyable Dynamite. Seemed very likely that Queen would go over and the main event slot absolutely nailed it on but, it was still a great moment. Loved the babyface locker room all coming out, they do this stuff so well. Anarchy In The Arena following close behind B&G will probably annoy people after the last day or so's chat but I think it's the right way around. The random collection of faces taking on the generally nuisance heel faction in a TV special fits, while the most popular act in the company taking on the new heel act with loads of heavy heat angles to build it to PPV makes sense too. Dunno how planned Jack Perry hugging Taz was but it was a funny moment. I love when they play with stuff like this. Ciampa and Dragunov were great. What a prospect that is. Full Gear card to date looks ace. Two thumbs up to any "Bring back Dark" chat. Highly unlikely while ROH exists but I'd chuck it over to someone like Skiavone to produce with some of the sharper members of the locker room chipping in and block tape at Daily's Place. Fuck it, have Jericho on commentary and we're ticking all the nostalgia boxes. Could have an AEW Dark Title, Tony. You love a belt and this could be a black one. First champion John Silver. Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted October 29 Paid Members Posted October 29 The bin bouncing back and Claudio catching it. Magical spot. Quote
The King of Old School Posted October 29 Posted October 29 2 hours ago, tiger_rick said: That's a bit unfair. I'm not a huge Fletcher fan, still but, I think it's clear that he's an AEW World Champion in waiting (as long as he doesn't go to the Dark Side). He makes sense as a challenger for Ospreay and although he won't win, I definitely think his time comes in the next year or so. I dunno, they did it with him early on in Hangmans reign last year too. Feed him to the champ for a routine title defence. Agree that he will probably get a run at some point, I think he's really come on since that preshow tag match on the first Wembley show, like a completely different person. Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted October 29 Paid Members Posted October 29 16 minutes ago, The King of Old School said: I dunno, they did it with him early on in Hangmans reign last year too. Feed him to the champ for a routine title defence. I think the difference is Kane was an established guy who had had some credibility with fans and could always eat a loss. The AEW equivalent at this point would be someone like Samoa Joe, although Kane lost a million more matches than he ever has. Fletcher is clearly a guy on the ascent whose failed title challenges are bruises his character carries that will pay off when he finally wins the big one. In short, I think Fletcher is losing because he's on the way up the hill. Kane was well over it. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted October 29 Author Paid Members Posted October 29 Just now, tiger_rick said: In short, I think Fletcher is losing because he's on the way up the hill. Kane was well over it. I totally agree with this. Fletcher doesn't feel like a Kane-type challenger, he feels like a star on the rise, much as MJF did when he wrestled Moxley for the belt for the first time, or Hangman when he wrestled Jericho. I wouldn't rule out them doing something shocking and putting the title on Fletcher, although I think it's more likely that a loss will lead to whatever his next steps are with the Callis Family, given his growing detachment from them. 3 hours ago, tiger_rick said: Anarchy In The Arena following close behind B&G will probably annoy people after the last day or so's chat but I think it's the right way around. The random collection of faces taking on the generally nuisance heel faction in a TV special fits, while the most popular act in the company taking on the new heel act with loads of heavy heat angles to build it to PPV makes sense too. I'm already struggling with The Cut, and I'm sure there will have been quite a few people who tuned in this week wondering what happened to The Last Outfit. But fuck, they already reek of that short-lived stable MJF had with Stokely. They give themselves a name so bad, it's dropped just hours later. They add an ice cold tag team to the act and head into a feud with what is now probably the biggest babyface stable in the company without really being established as a dangerous entity themselves. Heck, they're a collection of losers. While The Gunns are a great heel act, the rest of them really struggle with it. I'm trying to cut them some slack given that the rushed nature of this almost certainly stems from the tragic passing of PAC, but I'm not convinced this is going to work. I also hope it doesn't lead to a highly predictable CC in which it's obvious they're leading up to a Moxley vs. Jay White final. On the whole, I really enjoyed Dynamite - and once again, the Mercedes/Marina confrontation was electric. I genuinely don't know what you do with Marina here - as far as presentation and general presence goes she probably is someone you'd want to put the World Title on, but taking the title off Mercedes right now seems like a really bad idea. Whatever the case, I'm really excited about this match. 3 hours ago, tiger_rick said: Enjoyable Dynamite. Seemed very likely that Queen would go over and the main event slot absolutely nailed it on but, it was still a great moment. Loved the babyface locker room all coming out, they do this stuff so well. Yeah, as soon as Excalibur said it was main eventing, it felt pretty clear who was winning. I'm glad to see Aminata win, but I still think they have some way to go to establish her at the level she can get to. She's very good on mic, tremendous in ring and has an unmistakable star quality to her, but given how she's been treated up until now, I think they have work to do to build her into the main event wrestler she can absolutely be. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted October 29 Paid Members Posted October 29 (edited) Agreed re Kyle Fletcher. They booked Swerve the same way. He essentially jobbed his way up the card as a heel act until finally getting big wins over Hangman. Once he got that big singles win he's rarely lost a match since. I imagine they'll do the same with Fletcher. Edited October 29 by LaGoosh Quote
Doog Posted October 29 Posted October 29 Where was Ospreay this week? Something going on in Japan? Felt weird not seeing him at all Quote
digforvictory Posted October 29 Posted October 29 (edited) 33 minutes ago, Doog said: Where was Ospreay this week? Something going on in Japan? Felt weird not seeing him at all I think next week he's wrestling in Japan on the Tuesday and then Blood and Guts on the Wednesday so maybe he was just being given a week off before all that? I also enjoyed Dynamite. I'm really enjoying the storyline of the New Levels growing dismay as they realise what a psycho Swerve is. Edited October 29 by digforvictory Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted October 29 Paid Members Posted October 29 I think Kyle Fletcher facing Hangman was seen as making Kyle more credible by showing that he could come this close to being World Champion, that he wasn't there yet, but definitely will be one day. This is Kyle as an actual credible threat to the champion, and while I don't see him winning, he's not there as quite as much of a foregone conclusion. It's different to the Kane role not only because, as others have said, his direction of travel is different, but because one of the things about AEW (usually) making wins and losses matter more than WWE have in years is that it's not just wins that have to matter to make that work, it's losses too, and some of AEW's best character development has come out of how people grow and learn from their defeats. I was surprised to see Kyle Fletcher and Will Ospreay on opposite sides of a tag match last week, before they used it to start setting up to the Full Gear match, because they've been kept apart since the cage match. The reaction when they got in the ring together in that tag showed that there's a real appetite to revisit that feud and see them wrestle again, and I still think it was a mistake to give that away in a fairly throwaway tag rather than tease it a little longer. Whenever Kyle eventually turns face (I don't think he should any time soon), I imagine it will be in reuniting with Ospreay, so it never hurts to remind people of that history. I love The New Level not gelling with Swerve Strickland's way of getting things done, and they're charming and funny enough that I will let them off for what would annoy me from anyone else - them acting like they don't even know what a Texas Deathmatch is makes it sound like they've not watched any of the previous shows they happened on, which I would normally hate, but they pull it off. I love the dynamic of Brody getting angry and Hangman trying to play voice of reason, after a couple of weeks of things usually being the other way around, but there will also come a point where the New Level can't just keep saying, "it's Swerve, it's not us", because they're culpable for remaining friends and Trios partners with him. There was a guy I used to be friends with, who turned out to be a real piece of shit, and I always talk about the moment of realisation that comes of finding yourself telling someone, "it's okay, he's not normally like this" every weekend, and realising that you've said it so often that, no, actually he is normally like this. So there's three brilliant strands going on to this story - Hangman trying to play fair and put the worst of the Swerve feud behind him, and to not drag his friends down to the depths he's been to in the past, Swerve trying to goad Hangman and Brodido into accepting his challenge, and the New Level trying to just remain outside all of it, and there's a breaking point to every single one of those threads, all of which could be fascinating to see how they play out. I was trying to figure out what the outcome would be, and while we're nowhere near it yet, I can honestly see it one day leading to New Level vs. Swerve and Hangman. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted October 29 Author Paid Members Posted October 29 12 minutes ago, BomberPat said: So there's three brilliant strands going on to this story - Hangman trying to play fair and put the worst of the Swerve feud behind him, and to not drag his friends down to the depths he's been to in the past, Swerve trying to goad Hangman and Brodido into accepting his challenge, and the New Level trying to just remain outside all of it, and there's a breaking point to every single one of those threads, all of which could be fascinating to see how they play out. I was trying to figure out what the outcome would be, and while we're nowhere near it yet, I can honestly see it one day leading to New Level vs. Swerve and Hangman. It's funny that this is where your mind went, because I had been wondering if Brodido vs. Swerve and Hangman might end up being what happens, with King blaming Hangman for what happened to his partner being the start of longer-term animosity. New Level vs. Swerve and Hangman could absolutely happen - the one thing I don't see happening any time soon, weirdly, is another Swerve/Hangman singles match. It'll happen one day no doubt, but for whatever reason I don't get the impression that's where the story is heading. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I can't see the other four men washing their hands of the pair of them and leaving them to it. Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted October 29 Paid Members Posted October 29 it is interesting given how much they're (understandably) mining Swerve and Hangman's history, that nobody is bringing up that they did team together - and more recently than they have wrestled one-on-one. It does feel like a part of their story that AEW, for whatever reason, never followed through to fruition, so that's part of why I'm wondering if we end up back there, with both of them alienating their more reasonable friends, ostensibly out of hatred for each other, but ultimately with the realisation that they're more alike than they would care to admit. There would be some big storytelling hurdles to jump over to make it work, but both of them only having each other to turn to shouldn't take that much work, and could lead to Swerve & Hangman vs. both other teams, and I agree that I just don't see the ultimate direction of this being going back to "just" Swerve vs. Hangman again. With Hangman having already given up his future shots at the World Title, and presumably losing the Trios Titles at some point in this story (that's one bit I can't make fit yet - what happens to the Trios belts if this turns into a tag feud?), I can see desperation leading him to try and get the Tag Titles, then it's just a question of getting Swerve to the same realisation. Generally the difference between them is that Swerve is more calculating and Hangman more impulsive, but if there was a way to get to Swerve also offering up the stipulation of never being able to challenge for the World Title again, and maybe Hangman being the one to talk him out of it, that could get us somewhere. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted October 29 Paid Members Posted October 29 I know that booking two Blood and Guts matches, an Anarchy in the Arena match and a Texas Death match to all take place in basically the same week is fucking bonkers and pretty dumb but 11 year old LaGoosh would think it was the greatest thing ever. So I'm going to listen to my inner 11 year old. Can't bloody wait! Quote
SoloJones Posted October 29 Posted October 29 The best equivalent to a Kane challenger would be if they spent a couple of weeks heating up (let's face it, practically unthawing) Lance Archer for a PPV title shot. Quote
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