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AEW Dynamite - 1/11/2023


The Natural

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Even if they couldn't deliver Mercedes, I thought they were gonna properly read the room and have Britt do some FIP with Jamie getting a hot tag, but "grassroots" popularity aside, they still can't bring themselves to do the right match structure with Jamie Hayter. They also badly need to re-think this Shida thing, because absolutely nobody wants to see this angle play out straight. Britt and Jamie are natural faces, Toni and Saraya are natural heels. The sooner that is figured out, the better off everyone will be.

Mox/Hangman was a fun lariat fest. Don't know if the concussion angle is necessary, but I'll take more from these two.

JungleHook vs. The Firm was the kind of tv match AEW could use a lot more of.

I'm glad Adam Cole is looking like he's ready for a babyface run. I know he has the sleazebag look, but his in-ring strengths and his mega-over catchphrases always screamed face to me and it's too bad it's taken so long.

Both advertised promo segments really sucked, and after the conversation last week, AEW could really use a proof-reader to cut out sexist and otherwise derogatory promo material. Everything else about the company is so modern, but we're still getting early 2000s WWE babyface insults. "Can't control your wife" and "you have a lisp," god damn. Good thing Starks and Andretti don't have a third partner, or else they'd have been making gay jokes about Menard and Parker.

Ladder match had some killer spots, not much in the way of selling. The Elite were a million times better as heels, hopefully HOB will kill them soon. I actually think Omega should be MJF's next major program after Danielson. Let him bag a couple top names that can easily afford the L before you get to him feuding with his contemporaries (one of whom should be the one to beat him).

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I can't say I'm sad that Mercedes didn't show up, but I'm just baffled by this entire angle and how bad they seemingly dropped the bag. Hindsight being what it is, they probably thought they had her, teased it, then realized they didn't and had to correct course pretty late and they're doing that with the Shida "heel turn" - even if it won't be a heel turn, because it's pretty clear they're framing this as a Originals vs Outsiders type thing, and nobody wants to boo Shida ever. It's still kind of weird they let Britt Baker slide in the "I'm the Boss" line last week, but alright, whatever. I'm down for heel Toni Storm and Saraya if it goes that way, though. I hope Britt & Jamie don't break up ever, because the supportive best friend Britt Baker to AEW Women's World Champion Jamie Hayter is some good shit, you love to see it.

I'll be shocked if Mercedes never makes an appearance in AEW, even just a match (Forbidden Door?) but, again, not really sad if it doesn't happen. This women's division is doing just fine, now if we could just get TK's head out of his ass when it comes to the booking of the women. Rampage is going to have another women's tag team war, but if it goes the same way the Bunny/Penelope vs TayJay match went, it won't really matter because they'll be shuffled into the background.

Rampage spoilers:

Spoiler

Ruby Soho bleeds. A LOT.

I guess there was other stuff on this show, too. Was that Gina Darling with Freddie Prinze Jr? That's weird. Danielson/Takeshita was great. Some of those chops were real nasty. I looked at my phone during The Firm vs JungleHOOK, because I don't care. Moxley/Hangman was... alright, I guess. Feels like they have a better match in them, probably saving it for a PPV. For some reason, I get huuuuge Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vibes off Jon Moxley these days when he's in-ring. And it feels really weird seeing him do Danielson style kicks to the chest.

Being real honest here... I didn't pay attention to the six man ladder match. It had like 15 minutes, the result was predictable... and after seeing Omega back in form at WrestleKingdom, this just feels like such a waste. The only spots I remember are PAC's Falcon Arrow on the floor, and Omega giving Fenix the One Winged Angel off the ladder. That's it.

The sooner we get to CMFTR vs The Elite, the better. Shut your mouth, you can't convince me it's not happening until it's official Punk is gone. SHUT UP! 😛

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Hey, I also thought if was a sure bet that Mercedes would be there, so don't listen to me. Just seems like what they're doing with that sit-down interview from last week. And multiple programs over the years have had vague references to the "I'm an original, you're an outsider" idea. On the women's side, the last one I can remember is Britt & Ruby. Punk/Hangman had it, but that entire thing was rushed and blew up in their face, so.

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6 minutes ago, John from Cincinnati said:

Outsiders vs Originals is a stupid idea, right? Why malign people with the "outsider" label or be quick to attribute virtue to the concept of an "original"? Turn Saraya if that's the way the wind is blowing, but Outsiders vs Originals is weak 2nd tier stuff. 

If WWE really does have mass resignations as a result of the Saudi buyout, it would be a hell of a time for an nWo redux

Steen and Generico challenge The Elite for their Trios titles, Cena shows up as their mystery partner

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4 minutes ago, Casey said:

Hey, I also thought if was a sure bet that Mercedes would be there, so don't listen to me. Just seems like what they're doing with that sit-down interview from last week. And multiple programs over the years have had vague references to the "I'm an original, you're an outsider" idea. On the women's side, the last one I can remember is Britt & Ruby. Punk/Hangman had it, but that entire thing was rushed and blew up in their face, so.

Don't take it as me taking issue with you coming up with the idea. I've seen people proposing the same thing all over the place, and people have also been pitching it specifically with regards to the current women's situation based on the specific subject matter of some of the promos. I just think it's a dumb-as-dirt small-time idea. I don't want to see an extended exhibition of such clear #2 promotion mentality. 

As to the idea in the directly above post, if there isn't a Hogan/Nash/Hall-level unit coming together, don't bother with an nWo-redux. And even if there was one available (there isn't), still don't bother. Don't invite the comparisons or accusations it'd bring about.

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2 minutes ago, John from Cincinnati said:

As to the idea in the directly above post, if there isn't a Hogan/Nash/Hall-level unit coming together, don't bother with an nWo-redux. And even if there was one available (there isn't), still don't bother. Don't invite the comparisons or accusations it'd bring about.

Cena's said he's never been opposed to a heel run, but he told WWE's writers that if they booked him as a heel, he'd go all in and they'd need to consider the ramifications of that

Now that he's older and probably not anywhere near the top of Make a Wish requests, it would absolutely be the time

He can even hide the bald spot with a bandanna!

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7 minutes ago, Dolphman 3000 said:

Cena's said he's never been opposed to a heel run, but he told WWE's writers that if they booked him as a heel, he'd go all in and they'd need to consider the ramifications of that

Now that he's older and probably not anywhere near the top of Make a Wish requests, it would absolutely be the time

He can even hide the bald spot with a bandanna!

I want to make it clear that I'm joking when I suggest WBD should have Cena show up as Peacemaker on Dynamite to promote season two, because I know it's outlandish. Him popping up in a TV wrestling context outside of WWE is fantasy land stuff. He's not available. 

Edited by John from Cincinnati
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So, after Death Triangle now lost their titles, can we do a stipulation rematch against the Elite now, please? Or multiple ones, like a beat of series. If the Elite can get that after losing their first shot and 3 more matches, I don't know why Death Triangle can't. 30min Taunt off between them to start. 

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I liked the new guardrails, the whole overall presentation looked a bit improved today from last week which is always nice to see. Pretty awesome crowd tonight too.

 

Loved Hangman/Mox and Takeshita/Bryan, the classic "bangers" that didn't overstay their welcome. Nice to see Hangman getting a huge reaction and a decisive no BS win.

 

Main event was excellent but nothing we haven't seen from the Bucks/Lucha Bros a million times before. Still good stuff though and that bump from Nick Jackson from the Super Rana on the ladder was disgusting, I was sure his hamstrings or calves had exploded. Keep these teams apart for at least 2 years now please.

 

I'm OK with Adam Cole, don't love him or hate him, but I liked the whole "call an ambulance, BUT NOT FOR ME!" promo.

 

Toni Storm looked an unhealthy shade of orange tonight standing next to Saraya.

 

Hager's "I'm gonna slap your face outta your face" line and Jericho's "OH SHIET" reaction to it were the best part of that whole segment.

 

I'm over MJF , the guy just goes for the lowest, most obvious and uncreative insults every single time, It's gotten very old and I hope his reign is not too long. It's not even shocking what he says anymore if he says exactly the first thing you thought he would say every time.

 

 

 

Edited by eikerir
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I love that my Detroit Pistons got mentioned on this episode, but Bill Laimbeer DID NOT foul Kareem. 
 

41 minutes ago, eikerir said:

I'm over MJF , the guys just goes for the lowest, most obvious and uncreative insults every single time, It's gotten very old and I hope his reign is not too long. It's not even shocking what he says anymore if he says exactly the first thing you thought he would say every time.

Take-a-shit-ah was so goddamn dumb. 

 

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Lots of solid wrestling last night.  It was good to see the 50/50 booking favor Adam Page.  Take-soup should not have beaten Danielson in a million years, but I am still saddened by the fact that he is only getting gateway wins and always loses the big matches.  Action Andretti and Daniel Garcia have gotten their high profile victories.  I think its time for Konosuke to pull a win out of his ass over someone important.

Women's tag was decent.  I guess the book is going to drag out this Shida heel turn.  Jamie Hayter is way the fuck over.  I don't think she could draw boos if she punched a rabbi.  I think it is time for her to just turn face and be done with it.  Have Britt stab her in the back during a non-title match or something.

Speaking of Britt, Adam Cole could also not draw boos if his life depended on it, but he made for an abysmally bland baby when he was in RoH.  A face turn is a bad idea.  I think that AEW just needs to accept the fact that his intro is a ritual that everyone loves and they are better off keeping him heel.

Best of Seven trios match was what it was.  I did not expect Death Triangle to win, so it was a bit anti-climactic.   Kenny Omega sure went whole ham with the arm selling and dramatic pauses before grabbing the strap for the win, didn't he?  It was almost eyerollingly bad.

Edited by J.T.
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Just now, dokdoyle said:

That's what Cornette calls him, every time he uses his name. 

That’s even worse then. MJF should be a better heel than one that tries to get heat off of Cornette’s schtick. 

I don’t see how anyone can claim he’s a great promo, or that he’s more than average at best in ring. I thought his PPV match with Darby was a chore to get through, and that the Punk match at Revolution was widely overrated with a predictable finish, and beyond stupid blade job by Punk.

Personally if I was Khan I’d be begging WWE to take him as he’s not worth the amount of $$$ he’s going to demand. 

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I haven't gotten to the women's tag yet, but I hit everything else between last night and this morning, albeit a little choppy at times due to shall we say connection issues. 

  • There were specific moments I liked a lot in Page vs Moxley but I'm not sure how much it held together overall. I liked how hard they hit. I liked Moxley going for the clothesline almost immediately. I give Page a ton of credit for getting back on the bike and taking it with the flip bump later; maybe that's not the worst attitude to have but there's nothing uniquely dangerous about that bump relative to other bumps. He's putting himself at risk with everything he does, so good on him for finding a way to keep doing what he wants to do with his life despite what anxiety had to be there. Moxley targeting the head in general was just sound pro wrestling and had just a hint of visceral realism that made it work. While I think they went to some of the bombs too early when they still should have been punching each other in the face, Moxley not just scratching the back but biting the back too is the sort of thing that made that superplex matter more. They did a very good job of physically working each other into the right positions and the counters all looked good. Match was helped by the commercial break sort of regulating the pacing and allowing Mox to lean into the heeling a bit more. If he ever goes full heel, the cutter will be an awesome cut of move for him. Finishing stretch of Page surviving stuff was good. I wish Mox didn't use the STF considering Jungle Boy had to win with it later in the night but that's an agenting thing. The headbutt up by Page was the spot of the match. Page's post match reactions here play into his very unique strength as a wrestler. I'm not sure this match knew exactly what it wanted to be, or it wanted to be too many things when it would have been better as a simpler thing (and I blame Page for that but Mox has a tendency to go with dumb ideas depending on who he's paired with), but you can't fault how hard they went and the overall effect.
  • I haven't seen the women's tag but it seems to me that you shatter format given the night and put Cole on immediately after them so that the crowd forgets Mercedes isn't there, right? Pretty big own goal by Khan. I'm glad Cole's back because Cole's a good guy. I seriously hope that they realize the groundswell of support he has and the fact that fans want to cheer him anyway and they keep him as a babyface. He hasn't had a prolonged babyface run in years and everything about him is so much better suited for that. Plus he has to fight the tide in literally every match its in and it makes every match worse. Better to go with it. He can work from underneath and draw sympathy. Then it's just his contrived, collaborative signature move and his facial expressions you have to worry about. I'm honestly glad he's back though. There are things more important than my wrestling preferences. 
  • Tag was good. They teased us with some Moriarty/Hook mat stuff that we didn't really get. Very clearly structured and a very fun shine with some tandem stuff by Junglehook. Jungle Boy knows how to take a beating by now. As badly as I wanted to see the suplex on Bill and as impressive as it looked, it felt a little like a John Studd situation where they should have teased it again and not paid it off yet and built it to a $50K challenge or something. When the fans want something that much, you figure out how to milk it a bit more maybe?
  • Less said about the MJF speech the better. I'm annoyed he didn't give Prinze crap for wanting to start a wrestling company. I know they want footage of him hobnobbing with stars but the segment would have worked just as well if it ended with Takeshita telling him to go to hell and starting the match then.
  • I generally liked the match. Takeshita has so much physical ability and brings so much to the table with size and speed and explosiveness. So much of this was Danielson moving him around. He got to do some mat stuff. He got to do some strike exchanges. Again, some of the best stuff here was in the commercial break where it was less back and forth. Obviously whatever Danielson went for on the outside didn't work and he tried to recover by selling the knee. If he had been playing possum with that to set up the LeBell Lock after the knees-up counter on the dive in, it would have worked, but instead he decided to HEAVILY sell the knee again for about a minute and then just dropped it as it didn't fit the rest of their match. Bad narrative choice there from Danielson. It was a very BCC night between this and the opener (plus Hook's shoot-i-ness and while I haven't seen it yet, I assume Storm and Hayter had some exchanges that'd fit into that as well). I'll have to rewatch this for Monday but I'm not dreading it. I wanted Danielson to use Nese to push him hard and he didn't. I measure my expectations and primarily I wanted him to have Takeshita push him hard and it seems like that's exactly what happened here.
  • I'm probably going to skip the JAS thing.
  • Match 9 of 9: Jumbo Tsuruta (c) vs Nick Bockwinkel 9/12/87 AJPW
    This was for Jumbo's International Title and it only went around ten minutes. It was worked very differently from all the previous matches. I'd call it an AJPW heavyweight sprint. There were holds but they weren't worked for long. They were worked hard, of course, but without overt consequence and escapes or reversals were relatively quick. There was no moment of posturing, no empty space within the match. They were right back up throwing knees or forearms or going for the next hold or spot. That doesn't doesn't mean there wasn't implied consequence. I've never seen a Bockwinkel match end with him sucking air like this. Yes, he was at the absolute tail end of his career, but it was a testament to how hard they were going. I'd prefer a match where things built and resonated more but there was nothing unbelievable in this. It was both men jockeying for opportunity at any moment and going as hard against each other as they absolutely could. Jumbo won off of a flying body press, which is nice as it's an unusual way for him to win and the fans would remember next time he'd hit one, but I'd rather him have used the Thesz Press as that was one of his more regular moves, if they were going to go with a finish like this. Both men, the worse for wear, shook hands after the match. If nothing else, this shows another hat Bockwinkel could wear and that he could hang even in the wilds of hard-hitting 1987 AJPW. Overall, it's not my favorite of the series, but it's an interesting and different look at things and shows how the company and Jumbo were progressing. I'm not going to rank the nine but I'd say the best matches overall would be the middle defenses for Bockwinkel and the two defenses for Jumbo with the lesser matches being the title switch and this last one. It's all good in its own way though.
     
    Spoiler

     

     

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Agree about keeping Cole a proper face for a while and not in the "cool heel who gets cheered" kind of way.

It's interesting that he's been a cocky heel most of his career  when he seems to be the sweetest and nicest guy ever outside of it. I have a hard time taking him seriously as a bad guy when he comes across as such a good person in most interviews, vlogs, etc.

Edited by eikerir
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4 hours ago, John from Cincinnati said:

Outsiders vs Originals is a stupid idea, right? Why malign people with the "outsider" label or be quick to attribute virtue to the concept of an "original"? Turn Saraya if that's the way the wind is blowing, but Outsiders vs Originals is weak 2nd tier stuff. 

It makes even less when its clear the fans want to cheer the orginals

 

1 hour ago, The Natural said:

Lame as fuck.

that may be the whole point

 

59 minutes ago, LF2 said:

That’s even worse then. MJF should be a better heel than one that tries to get heat off of Cornette’s schtick. 

I don’t see how anyone can claim he’s a great promo, or that he’s more than average at best in ring. I thought his PPV match with Darby was a chore to get through, and that the Punk match at Revolution was widely overrated with a predictable finish, and beyond stupid blade job by Punk.

Personally if I was Khan I’d be begging WWE to take him as he’s not worth the amount of $$$ he’s going to demand. 

I find him to be extremely hit and miss

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As someone mentioned on Twitter, if your promo is basically a longer version of what Disco Inferno said then your promo sucked.   Unfortunately MJF goes back to his indie promo days on occasion  where it was almost a test to see how offensive he can get.  Thought he got rid of that with seasoning but nope

 

Edited by hammerva
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5 minutes ago, hammerva said:

As someone mentioned on Twitter, if your promo is basically a longer version of what Disco Inferno said then your promo sucked.   Unfortunately MJF goes back to his indie promo days on occasion  where it was almost a test to see how offensive he can get.  Thought he got rid of that with seasoning but nope

 

I dont mind the offensive part, but everyhting he says lately comes off as a 12 year old thinking he's edgy:

Oh look a Japanese wrestler "konichiwa, dooooo youuuu speeeeak eeeenglish?"

People say I can't last an hour? "haha I had sex with your mum"

 

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I was perfectly fine with the jerk face MJF promo. The man knows how to consistently push buttons well, and the fact that people not only buy into his fake face turns, but get completely behind him when he gives you the impression he’s “changing” means the act always works, no matter how much it offends. 

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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The path with MJF is to use truths. I'd be much more interested in hearing something like:

"Takeshita, huh? Everyone's real excited about you. They were excited about Muta too. Excited about Kabuki. Excited about Liger. Excited about Nakamura. Guess what none of them ever did? They never won the big one. Never won the championship here in a major US wrestling promotion like I did. And you'll never do it." Then knock the fans for blindly liking Japanese wrestling and put over the fact he's the champ and that means him and his style of wrestling is the best and they're all sheep, etc. etc.. 

There are ways to be edgy, to play to history and insider-ness, and still make it work kayfabe. 

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