Dynamite - 10/12/2022

[Sammo~!]

12 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Oh yeah, Hangman's promo was the promo of a lifetime. Another one that gave me goosebumps. A younger me would say that guy is my hero. Instead I'll just say that so much of what he spoke of is what I feel. I'm depressed, I'm anxious, the meds aren't working, but I go on to another day. I want Hangman to win so bad now and if he does, I'm guessing MJF "cashes in" and wins the title himself.

For real, I'm someone who's struggled their entire life with anxiety and depression and Hanger's promo got me to tear up a bit. I felt seen. What a guy.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

9 minutes ago, evidence said:

I hope that Wardlow won't actually trust Spears so when the turn happens he doesn't look like an idiot. 

I actually hope Spears doesn't turn on FTR. I like the idea of the Pinnacle being able to co-exist without MJF. 

[DEAN]

Oh Nyla!

 

[Matt D]

16 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I actually hope Spears doesn't turn on FTR. I like the idea of the Pinnacle being able to co-exist without MJF. 

I demand Joe as an official member though. I’d deeply enjoy Pinnacle vs JAS right now. 

2.0 vs FTR

Sammy getting tossed around by Wardlow

Menard vs Spears

Joe vs Jericho

Sammy getting tossed around by Joe

Garcia vs Joe! Garcia chipping away at Wardlow

Bring in Cassie to wrestle Anna. Or do the mixed tag and... wait, she's expecting? Nevermind. Congrats to them.

Hell even Joe vs Hager or FTR vs Sammy/Garcia (Raging and Ravishing 2022).

Edited October 13, 2022 by Matt D

[Phantom Lord]

I thought it was a pretty good show tonight. As usual some matches over delivered.  Jungle Boy/Luchasarus went on way too long. I want to see the Jungle Boy/Christian feud, but unless this is a masterful work by Christian, we're not gonna get that match until what Double Or Nothing in May? Since he lost maybe he should take some time to readjust or something. He's one of those guys treading water now.

Swerve vs. Billy was all right. But man I hope we don't see many Daddy Ass matches in the future. Can't believe he was teasing a moon in 2022.

The post match thing with Smart Mark Sterling was dumb. I understand the scissor thing might be way more over then they intended. But him doing the trademark thing was just stupid. Plus we're getting almost the same angle with The Firm now having Private Party after buying their contracts. Legal gimmicks can be over done.

WARJoe continue to dominate which is good for them. I like the ROH angles on the show, but it would be nice if they had their own show for it. Rebrand one of the Dark shows for ROH if it comes to it.

Great promo by Moxley and Hangman. Hangman needs a win, but we all know he's not getting it. 

Speaking of ROH, I was surprised the Jericho/Bryan match kicked off the 9pm hour. I thought they were going to go an hour before I forgot there were still other matches to go. It was a good match, but not as good as the first two. Garcia's turn on Bryan should have happened last week. But what's done is done. Bryan vs. Garcia with this personal touch should be good though.

The women's tag was good. I missed Shida on my television. Why they don't use her more I don't know. Build up to Shida vs. Hayter over the Women's title in 2023 please.

Pac vs. Orange was probably their best match yet. Pac really is a bastard and I liked how he kept going for the hammer. Cassidy needed this win desperately and I'm glad he got it.

[J.T.]

I'd rather have seen Death Triangle drop the Trios belts to Best Friends, but Pac handing the All Atlantic title over to Orange Cassidy wasn't a bad main event, especially since Cassidy is like 0-10000000 against Pac.  We finally got the feel good moment we've been waiting for since last fucking summer.

That said, Orange really doesn't need a belt to get over.  I'd like to see Orange drop the title to Kip Sabian in 60 days.

Edited October 13, 2022 by J.T.

[DreamBroken]

1 hour ago, tbarrie said:

Oh good. Is that for Rampage?

More generally, where would those of us who were at the show turn for a recap of everything that was announced backstage and by the announcers?

As far as what was announced for Rampage:

Claudio & Moxley vs. Butcher & Blade (butcher & blade had a brief backstage promo)
Nyla Rose vs. Anna J A S (set up via backstage confrontation)
The Pinnacle (FTR & Shawn Spears) vs. The Embassy (Brian Cage & The Gates of Agony) (announced on commentary)
Ethan Page vs. Isiah Kassidy for control of Private Party & Matt Hardy's contracts (set up via backstage confrontation)

while next week's Tuesday Night Dynamite has Hangman/Moxley for the title and Storm/Shida for the interim women's.

[AaronMLuke]

3 hours ago, Craig H said:

No he shouldn't have.

Actually,  yes he should have. Better in-ring and the mic then Mox,Punk,Jericho  and Page, better on the mic and equal in-ring to Omega. Just saying.

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Fucking loved the Hangman promo. Definite highlight of the night.

I'd rather not see Billy Gunn in the ring anymore. Every time they've had him on Dynamite, he's consistently selfish - he takes most of the match, never sells, makes the other guy look below his ability having to slow down to accommodate him. The Darby match was bad in this regard. Swerve didn't need to cheat to beat a 59-year old guy who still occasionally competes. This should have been an out and out squash. 

 

[Unnatural]

Yet to see the show but this has me dying  

Please tell me that's real

 

 

[tbarrie]

5 hours ago, AaronMLuke said:

Actually,  yes he should have. Better in-ring and the mic then Mox,Punk,Jericho  and Page, better on the mic and equal in-ring to Omega. Just saying.

I'm unconvinced Danielson is better on the mike than Punk or Jericho.

More fundamentally, I don't buy the argument that the best performer should be world champ.

[StuntmanCrowley]

Say what you will about Hangman, his in-ring, his booking, his title reign, but when you need him to hit a promo, he hits an homerun.  The only other person I can say that about right now is Moxley

[DEAN]

This was beautiful.

 

 

[zendragon]

So was the Renee hire a thank you for Jon being so dependable? They seem like an opposites attract type couple. Thought She'd do all the backstage bits but Tony still did the jericho interview

Shawn Spears didn't have a rainbow cape

Women's tag was aces!

Mr. regal and Mr. Maniac are now on first name basis!

Pac really sold the hell out of those Orange Punches! Now we just need some gold for the meatman!

 

[For Great Justice]

I don’t think wrestling characters need to be relatable in order to be successful (nothing is more pro wrestling than larger than live cartoon characters) but Hangman might have the most relatable and well-developed character for his time, in a long time. 

Anxious millennial that holds his standard of manliness to the John Wayne movies that he grew up watching with his dad. And he’s not there (because none of us are ever there) but dammit, he’s gonna keep trying.

He just fits right in there. Like The Dude, in the early 90’s.

[madl]

Glad the Garcia babyface turn was just a fakeout, but I dunno why you would go to that much trouble.  This whole angle is the equivalent of a James Bond deathtrap.  If you’re close enough to Bond to chloroform him snd suspend him in a cage that is slowly being lowered into a pool of sharks, you’re close enough to shoot him from three feet away, 

JAS plan seems needlessly complicated.

[Matt D]

2 hours ago, zendragon said:

So was the Renee hire a thank you for Jon being so dependable? They seem like an opposites attract type couple. Thought She'd do all the backstage bits but Tony still did the jericho interview

I think Tony made a mistake in 1.) revealing her signing even if it was rumored and 2.) not giving her a tron/moment at the beginning though I get you don't want the announcers to seem bigger than the wrestlers. You had Christian coming out in Toronto so that wouldn't have been too big a deal.

That said, I had the sense she was still figuring it out. What made her so great in NXT was how she reacted to all of the insanity around her. You had the Wyatts or Bayley or Tyler Breeze or Adam Rose and she just had to power through it and do her job but she was never robotic about it. She was the viewer's point of view character.

Here she was in and out, asking the questions but not reacting to anything. But she'll get there. She wasn't there yet though so being there for some of the bigger lifts wasn't the move yet.

I'm hesitant to engage too much with the Page promo since it meant a lot to you guys. Let me put it this way. It's very interesting the characters they have on the table right now.

• Jon Moxley: a guy with demons who got clean, who's found his identity and his path forward through the traditional role of the ace, the man, the guy, the person to carry the load and the responsibility. He put the work in. He puts the work in every day. He doesn't question what he's doing. He doesn't question the importance. He wants to be given the ball. If he fails, that's on him. He'll get up and try harder and if it makes him into a monster? If people start to think that? Well, he's just doing what he has to do for everyone. He's carrying that load. He said it right out. "You can't have anxiety and be champion." If you do, the best you can be is a good kid who tries hard, not champion, not the guy. Moxley didn't make the world but he's lives in it and is confined by it and has decided what it takes to succeed and is willing to do it with open eyes, being honest to himself, his family, everyone else. If you like him, great. If you hate him, great. He's made peace with it.
• Adam Page: Just getting out of bed is hard work. Getting to the arena is hard work. Putting one foot after the other is hard work. He's Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill, having to fight himself as much as his opponents. And there's a path. There was a path in the old AEW, the one that existed with Mox but not Punk or Danielson or a resurgent Jericho (not that the old Jericho didn't give him problems). There was a path through Omega and he put all the pieces together and took it, but the struggle doesn't end with one victory. It never ends. And when it came down to it, he refused to be the guy who Mox claims he has to be, ruthless and lacking self doubt. He refused to be brutal and cheat to beat Punk, but he thought about it for just long enough to lose. But he's still putting one foot in front of the other, still trying, still working out what it takes to have that next hybrid victory, over himself, over a man like Jon Moxley, over a world that he didn't make and he has to struggle against every day. He doesn't accept the world and all of its fickleness and contradictions, but he's trapped in it just like everyone else is, and he's damn well doing his best.
• MJF: He looks in the mirror and punches himself in the face. Except for he doesn't. Page does. Literally. But MJF claims to. He made his decision years ago and does he feel bad about it? Sure, the way he feels bad about turning his head when he walks past a homeless guy on the street. It's a damn shame, right? Someone should do something about that. Not MJF. He's got to scrap for whatever he can, because the world's hard so he has to be harder. And if it comes down to shaking Yuta's hand, he doesn't know what he'd do, but he kind of does know what he'd do. He just doesn't want to admit it to himself for all that talk about looking in the mirror. And he's got an excuse ready. He'll put in work, but there's not the same heart in it. For him, the struggle isn't getting past the finish line. It's just getting to the line. Because he'll cheat the rest of the way. He's got that luxury that Page doesn't have and Moxley doesn't need. The only thing he struggles with is the fact that you're not acknowledging him and making excuses for him, that you hold him up to the standard he claims to have, when frankly, he can't be bothered with any of that. If you'd just shut up about it, things would be great. Then at least he could pretend he was the man he said he was.

Except for at the end of the promo the fans were chanting for MJF. So... who knows?

They raised all of these things throughout the night though. MJF's promo. Mox's promo. Hangman's promo.

You do the math on the above, and Hangman is protected next week in loss. He's sort of bulletproof. It's enough that he shows up and gives it his all because that's such a monumental lift and ask for him.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Matt D

[Just Dave]

8 hours ago, AaronMLuke said:

Actually,  yes he should have. Better in-ring and the mic then Mox,Punk,Jericho  and Page, better on the mic and equal in-ring to Omega. Just saying.

Imagine thinking Danielson is a better promo than Mox. I love Dragon, but this is an objectively horrible take. Just an absolute garbage can fire of an opinion.

Edited October 13, 2022 by just drew

[tbarrie]

6 hours ago, GuerrillaMonsoon said:

I'd rather not see Billy Gunn in the ring anymore. Every time they've had him on Dynamite, he's consistently selfish - he takes most of the match, never sells, makes the other guy look below his ability having to slow down to accommodate him. The Darby match was bad in this regard. Swerve didn't need to cheat to beat a 59-year old guy who still occasionally competes. This should have been an out and out squash. 

Gunn has definitely been the least giving old guy/legend on the AEW roster, but I didn't see this particular match as being that bad. Swerve was never made to look like a joke or anything.

[Pete]

Apropos of nothing, the Acclaimed have gotten over to the point where that siren in their music hits people like Austin's glass shattering. Absolutely ridiculous, in the best possible way. I just wish they weren't stuck in this dog's dick of a feud with Sterling of all people. The golden goose has barely started laying eggs and here you are looking for a hatchet?

[The Natural]

Edited October 13, 2022 by The Natural

[chriskbrown50]

47 minutes ago, Pete said:

Apropos of nothing, the Acclaimed have gotten over to the point where that siren in their music hits people like Austin's glass shattering. Absolutely ridiculous, in the best possible way. I just wish they weren't stuck in this dog's dick of a feud with Sterling of all people. The golden goose has barely started laying eggs and here you are looking for a hatchet?

And like Austin it was rather organic in nature - talent got themselves over. Fun to watch and see in 2022 after well years of being told who to watch

[Zakk_Sabbath]

GREAT summarization, @Matt D . I think you nailed exactly why Hangman's verbiage meant so much to so many. The interplay between the three was great (and shout to Hangman for handling the MJF chants like a pro).

If MJF's "I punch the mirror" line and Hangman literally punching himself in the face was unplanned and somehow just a serendipitous, happy accident, they've really stumbled onto a brilliant bit of storytelling in visually illustrating their similarities despite the fact that both characters to this point could not have been more different over the last three years. Unironically such good shit, pal.

 

[Log]

19 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

GREAT summarization, @Matt D . I think you nailed exactly why Hangman's verbiage meant so much to so many. The interplay between the three was great (and shout to Hangman for handling the MJF chants like a pro).

If MJF's "I punch the mirror" line and Hangman literally punching himself in the face was unplanned and somehow just a serendipitous, happy accident, they've really stumbled onto a brilliant bit of storytelling in visually illustrating their similarities despite the fact that both characters to this point could not have been more different over the last three years. Unironically such good shit, pal.

 

I'm over the "pillars" talk in AEW, but your post and Matt's made me think that Hangman and MJF should really be the the guys they build around for the future. They're sort of a yin and yang to each other. Both are young guys who have insecurities but go about dealing with them in very different ways. I could see them orbiting each other for years. I wouldn't want to see a Cena/Orton thing where they feud off and on for what feels like forever, but they'd always sort of be there as the top guys and occasionally they'd clash.

[Greggulator]

I didn't watch all of the show because I was letting the Phillies torment me last night. 

As far as from what I watched, because there's so much I like and dislike at once:

1) The Mox/Page exchange was awesome. Like Matt D said - the promo set up their differences so incredibly well. I missed Hangman's Rise since I wasn't watching AEW yet. But I really understood it last night. Mox will be ruthless and doesn't have time for the anxiety that comes from being the champ. Page still has that anxiety and depression and his meds aren't working. But, damn it, he's going to fight and fight hard. I also loved how he complimented Mox on being a family man and how he was in many ways the person he wanted to be - someone who, despite his own demons, doesn't carry the weight of the world on his shoulders but instead has the title. 

Page really came across as so relatable. AEW is a promotion that caters to wrestling nerds -- those of us who post like dorks here, or go to comic conventions, and collect figurines. AEW also has really made it a point to talk about mental health, especially through Kingston. I have no idea if Page really has those issues or not. But I do know that I have those issues, and I know what it's like to battle through them when I'm struggling. And while I don't have a Southern twang or wear THOSE pants... I really appreciate seeing a dude who is a lot like me pushing that boulder up the hill just like I do. 

2) But man, having MJF watch these banger promos is such a distraction. The whole live crowd was focused on MJF, not on Mox/Page. And a live crowd looking at someone else takes away from watching it on TV. I get that MJF is looming over all of this. But we all know that. It's easy enough to fix -- don't do his reveal until after the promo ends. 

3) The MJF promo about his darkside was decent. But it was so muddled because of the plot points. I don't think he and Yuta should have hand a handshake tease to start with. It's not their characters. Then when you reference it and MJF doesn't know how he would respond - why the f are you bringing it up? And then why are you teasing dissension with Stokely already? He just started having these goons when the storyline began. He needs to actually use them effectively for a little while before a breakup should happen. 

All of 2 and 3 is just making everything so ridiculously complicated. Just have Mox and Page fight for the belt. Have MJF looming without being a distraction. Have MJF focused on doing anything and everything to win by whatever sleazy means necessary. It's like last week - why is Private Party's drama anywhere near a World Title segment? 

4) I didn't watch OC/Pac in its full yet. I just wanted to see the end. The best ends to AEW shows are ones where the Best Friends crew end triumphantly. The orange confetti and the hug at the end was awesome. Only way it could have been better is if Sue showed up and picked them all up in the minivan, but guessing she doesn't have a passport.