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AEW DYNAMITE- 1/18/2023!


DEAN

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1 hour ago, Raziel said:

Part of me flippantly wants to just answer "Tony got new toys/bigger stars so creative now has nothing for her", but she's agenting now, I think.

Not saying anything bad about the person I'm going to use for this example, but I find it sort of interesting that they have Serena (IMO a top 3 on this roster, of any gender) and Madison Rayne (probably not!) functioning in essentially the same role. Though, Madison does have years of cable TV experience, so I'm sure she's valuable for things like blocking/positioning/posing for entrances/'look for the hard cam' etc. - just kind of a weird juxtaposition in terms of the in-ring (and again, I'm not trying to be cruel to Madison, I'm just a massive Serena guy)

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Think I've said it before, but I'd love to see a Deeb/Jade series. With Danielson training Jade, I'm betting they could put on a surprisingly great technical match and it's something we haven't seen Jade need to do in her matches yet. 

And Deeb / Toni, Deeb / Hayter, Deeb / Saraya, Deeb / Athena. Basically more Deeb. She is one of the best wrestlers in AEW and should be in the title mix at the very least as a sort of female version of Bryan. 

Edited by Leonidas
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I really, really dug this show. I don't have tons of time so I'll hit the highlights;

Starting the show with "Jane" is always a good idea. Just the right amount of nonsense in this, and anytime Danhausen is nonsensing on my screen is a good time. Jay Lethal is just solid. Solid in every aspect of the game. Who'd have thought in 2023 Jeff Jarrett would be such a valuable asset to that company? Jesus.

Something seemed off with Starks/Hager, but I'm enjoying Starks continuing to get the better of the JAS. That tag next week oughta be fun, depending on the Rampage result. Part of me thinks there's gonna be an Andretti heel turn. Part of me doesn't.

Top Flight vs. the Jacksons was fine. Kind of a study in "how much of a match can someone take and still lose?" I'm still irked about the Jacksons not doing right by FTR that second time and going over Kingston and Mox. That was horrid. 

Ruby's gonna turn on WIllow, isn't she? Sad. They have good chemistry. I love Willow Nightingale. Girl is a STAR.

Bryan/Bandido wasn't the main event. That's how loaded this card was. What an outstanding bit of business that match was. 

I'm calling it now: MJF already paid Cage, so Cage isn't gonna follow through. That's what you get for slapping a guy you still need something from. Dummy.

I'm a big KUSHIDA fan, so Darby's being extremely "not for me" was cancelled out. I know the roster is already too big, but KUSHIDA should get "the graphic." Why not? 

Rampage looks good as hell. Pretty good show.

Edited by just drew
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2 hours ago, Doc Townsend said:

I’d be surprised if most of the audience knew who Jay Briscoe was.  Unless casual fans really don’t exist and the AEW audience is almost entirely hardcore internet fans.  Which wouldn’t surprise me.

I’m a little skeptical of the “AEW wouldn’t allow it” thing until I see it backed up somewhere legitimate.  To be honest, I don’t think a tribute show is called for here. 

Unless it was the same Warner exec who said no then who the hell knows.  And I'm not getting into the "Is he worth a tribute show or not?" deal since that might be missing the point.  I would at least have liked a video on him if they weren't planning the post-Rampage deal.  But since they were then I could have gone for Excalibur saying "We're doing this and we'll let us know when and where to watch it."  Simple and effective IMO.

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Moving quick.

  • I struggled watching the first match last night and actually tapped after a few minutes. I get why they couldn't have done a ten bell salute and everything else, but starting with Sonjay/Danhausen comedy, something I am usually fine with, just felt tonally wrong. I can even see on paper why making people happy seemed a good way to stop but I just wasn't feeling it. I came back this morning and this was good and used the gaga well. Jarrett is so over the topic and ridiculous that it's almost unsettling. He's MMA Jarrett. But you can't say it's not entertaining. At some point a year or two down the line, Trent is going to turn heel on Cassidy and it'll be great, but they reset things for now. Bring on Jarrett vs Cassidy already.
  • I thought about keeping the gag going and doing Bockwinkel/Lanza vs Baba/Jumbo as a bonus match, but nope.
  • I'll be honest, the only thing I remember about Starks vs Hager is the rope walk with the hat on. Can you imagine Brian Cage if he had the hat gimmick too? It still would have been better to have Starks go through the JAS BEFORE Jericho but what are you going to do? Oh wait, I really like Starks' big hammers in the corner.
  • Danielson vs Bandido was very complete, a great tease of what Danielson would have looked like against llave maestros and something that let him stretch from what he'd been doing lately. There was a minute stretch in here where he helped Bandido (who has the raw talent) look like the most impressive guy in the world. More on Monday night.
  • Women's match hit really hard. It's amazing how good Willow's stuff (missile dropkick off the second rope, the pounce) looked, which was part her and part Toni throwing herself around for her. Toni can absolutely feed even if some of her mean mugging is something to get used to.
  • Main event was excellent. KUSHIDA had a lot of interesting, compelling wears to tear at the arm and they had some clever set pieces when it came to positioning and counters. I'll have to write this up for Monday too.
  • Reading the ROH results, it feels more like a shadow pilot than a tribute show but if this is Khan saying "Ok, if we can't do it on TV, I'm just going to honor Jay and his love for ROH, change my plans, and jump in and film my first episode of the ROH TV show earlier than I planned to," I mean, that's kind of a perfect passive aggressive message board decision and I support it.
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Jay died on the other side of the country just a day beforehand and those close to him are no doubt shaken and rallying around his wife and kids. Any proper tribute show for him should involve as many of his family and friends plus other guys in the business that knew him as want to be involved and in front of an audience that was as familiar with him as possible. Even though it's not till the end of March, I'd use the buy in hour of the next ROH PPV to pay tribute to him.

I hope this isn't the last time we see Danielson and Bandido hook it up, or more matches featuring Danielson against some of the other Lucha guys. Even though he's been relegated to Dark forever, I'd love to see Angelico come up and watch he and Danielson just do wacky lucha submissions on eachother for 20 minutes.

 

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4 hours ago, Matt D said:

Moving quick.

  • I struggled watching the first match last night and actually tapped after a few minutes. I get why they couldn't have done a ten bell salute and everything else, but starting with Sonjay/Danhausen comedy, something I am usually fine with, just felt tonally wrong. I can even see on paper why making people happy seemed a good way to stop but I just wasn't feeling it. I came back this morning and this was good and used the gaga well. Jarrett is so over the topic and ridiculous that it's almost unsettling. He's MMA Jarrett. But you can't say it's not entertaining. At some point a year or two down the line, Trent is going to turn heel on Cassidy and it'll be great, but they reset things for now. Bring on Jarrett vs Cassidy already.

I felt the same watching in my regular viewing time early this morning. I came around tho, I suspect many felt the same. Imagine how these wrestlers must have felt.  

Quote
  • Reading the ROH results, it feels more like a shadow pilot than a tribute show but if this is Khan saying "Ok, if we can't do it on TV, I'm just going to honor Jay and his love for ROH, change my plans, and jump in and film my first episode of the ROH TV show earlier than I planned to," I mean, that's kind of a perfect passive aggressive message board decision and I support it.

'This!' (as they say)

Top Flight-Bucks was terrific. Grab AR Fox and let's have another incredible Elite trios bout (and how bout an Omega-Fox singles bout). I'm not so into this one note Gunns-Acclaimed Sports Entertainment, but they're hitting their marks. Is the youth vote interested? I really liked the Renee-Hangman promo. They didn't shy from the reality, but kept it nicely professional. Renee has been quietly one of the company's best signings. The tired old Jake Hager sucks rep needs to be updated. He has fun (unselfish) matches every time out with a variety of opponents. No different here with Ricky. I wonder why no Andretti to equalize Menard/Parker? Bryan Danielson and goddamn Bandido...

20 hours ago, DEAN said:

DANIELSON! Motherfucking BANDIDO! They start all Lucha Libre!  ROMERO SPECIAL after going all Negro Navarro!  Danielson escapes and applies the Romero Special!  Or tries to!  OH MAN!  This match is fucking awesome.  This REALLY makes me want to see AmDrag vs Zack Sabre Jr.  GREAT Stalling Hiptoss by Bandido!  Bandido makes with the Blue Panther submission!  DOUBLE TOPES!  PICTURE IN PICTURE!  I await the International Feed tomorrow!  TREE OF WOE!  AmDrag crushes Bandido's skull!  Another Romero Special!  Bandido goes on offense as we RETURN TO THE BIG SCREEN!  TORNILLO! GREAT DELAYED VERTICAL SUPLEX!  Love Machine Splash to AmDrag's knees!  LaBelle Lock!  into Rings of Saturn!  Bandido makes the ropes!  Jesus Christ,  I want MJF to force AmDrag to win a best of fifty against Konosuke Takeshita and El Bandido!  Jesus, this is fucking awesome.  21 PLEX!  FOR TWO!  KEY LOCK LIFT!  Bandido leans WAY into the High Knee by Danielson!  What a fucking match.  AWESOME! 

Week in and week out, the most accurate reporting on the internet. 

Toni Storm is so fucking awesome. I love this heel turn to properly direct the heat for she and Saraya. Toni's been treated like a heel for weeks by these 'fickle' fans. My hope is Shida can gain Toni and Saraya's trust. A heel run could freshen things up for Hikaru. Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby Soho's gotten some new life these past few weeks. The Willow-Toni match was fine and the segment was good and entertaining. The Takeshita promo was excellent! Always happy to see Nana, and ppl are sleeping on this terrific Brian Cage run. He's improved. Nice to see them run back the Willie Mack match - the first on Dark was quality TV stuff. I suspect this rematch will be more of the same, and possibly even better. Happy for the criminally underrated Willie Mack! Danielson-Cage will no doubt surprise a few (*just stop comparing like you need to choose a Takeshita or Bandido match over it). Kushida-Darby was really solid. I need to see this again. I wasn't feeling the finish after what they were working towards, but maybe an encore viewing will work it out for me. I liked that Sting-Dojo guys towel bit (and wish it had gotten a stronger reaction). Kushida is really solid, but I think he should drop the Marty McFly gimmick (as already seen pretty regularly on the Wednesday Night losers division) and freshen things up. He's a student of Tajiri you say!? Steal Kushida steal! AEDub is awesome television every week. 

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Echoing the love for the hard hitting stylings of Danielson, Bandito, Takeshita and Hangman. Those guys have heavy physics.

Like to use a Smash Bros analogy, those dudes have Captain Falcon physics. It just feels about perfect. I’ve admitted having trouble getting into Riho and, historically, guys like Christopher Daniels because to me, they have Jigglypuff physics, and I don’t really want that in my wrestling. It’s too loose and floaty.

I realize this is a “me” problem and Riho is awesome. 

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21 hours ago, Dog said:

Imagine if Bryan had stayed in WWE.

He'd probably be in the IC title mix so we'd get bangers with Sheamus, Nak, Richochet and Guenther. And maybe getting another run at Roman. Not saying one way or the other is better, but it's nice seeing him in this role too.

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5 hours ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

I still say that if you can’t do Danielson Vs. Blue Panther, then convince CMLL that Danielson Vs. Atlantis Jr. would be the right match to make.

Oh, I have zero problem with this, but Danielson vs. Hechicero would be even better, but that's just me.  

And hey, Danielson vs. Angelico is actually feasible!  It's a broken record to say it at this point, and you could insert various names here, but Angelico deserves to be on the main shows with top-tier opponents.  

Of course, I'm still holding out hope for ZSJ vs. Bryan sometime this year or the next.  Start getting chatty and brazen about dream opponents in interviews again, Zack!  Make it happen!

I'm not expecting all three matches to ever come to pass, but if even one of them does, I will be extremely thrilled.  

 

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15 hours ago, For Great Justice said:

Echoing the love for the hard hitting stylings of Danielson, Bandito, Takeshita and Hangman. Those guys have heavy physics.

Like to use a Smash Bros analogy, those dudes have Captain Falcon physics. It just feels about perfect. I’ve admitted having trouble getting into Riho and, historically, guys like Christopher Daniels because to me, they have Jigglypuff physics, and I don’t really want that in my wrestling. It’s too loose and floaty.

I realize this is a “me” problem and Riho is awesome. 

Jigglypuff main in Melee back in the day. Riho has the smallest hitbox.

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10 hours ago, The Green Meanie said:

One of my friends had said "Why not (Cage) just beat up MJF and take his money?"

What I didn't understand was MJF just giving Nana the money before Cage even came through on his end. MJF is the dumbest movie villain.

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15 hours ago, For Great Justice said:

Echoing the love for the hard hitting stylings of Danielson, Bandito, Takeshita and Hangman. Those guys have heavy physics.

Like to use a Smash Bros analogy, those dudes have Captain Falcon physics. It just feels about perfect. I’ve admitted having trouble getting into Riho and, historically, guys like Christopher Daniels because to me, they have Jigglypuff physics, and I don’t really want that in my wrestling. It’s too loose and floaty.

I realize this is a “me” problem and Riho is awesome. 

Man, I not only understand everything about this but now can't un-see this comparison going forward.  Great call!

9 minutes ago, John E. Dynamite said:

Jigglypuff main in Melee back in the day. Riho has the smallest hitbox.

Given the Smash roster size I would love to attempt an AEW x Smash Bros comparison to see who lines up with who.

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What's bad is I'm having a hard time figuring out who best matches up with R.O.B the Robot.  They kind of nerfed it on Switch but previously you could fly around and avoid everything as long as you wanted with the Up+Special.  Which is why it's hard to pinpoint as focusing on that aspect of R.O.B. that could be many a sneaky heel who doesn't want to get into it.  Maybe The Gunns?

Damn, now I want to get my wife into this as I'm sure she'll have lots to say about it all.  Too bad despite past invites she hasn't gotten around to joining.  I blame all the Discord servers she's joined the past year or so.

Edited by NikoBaltimore
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Very happy to see Top Flight get a big win this week. They've been featured heavily, but wins on tv are pretty much all that matters for perception. Notice how Ricky Starks is looking a lot more like a superstar instead of a guy who could be a superstar over the last couple of months.

Definitely the right move to turn Toni and Saraya now instead of drawing it out. Ruby and Willow got a big boost from the street fight, the crowds have been dying to cheer Britt and Jamie, and the women's division could use a fresh heel act, even if there's "I'm better than you because I was in WWE" undertones.

Bryan/Bandido was an excellent technical match, but I wasn't digging it due to the booking. Bryan has completely impenetrable plot armor right now, to the point it's nearly making him a heel against these fighting spirit babyfaces. It's way too much suspension of disbelief that Bryan/MJF won't happen, and I don't see a lot of value in someone like Bandido getting all their finishing moves kicked out of along the way. I think Cage is a much better type of opponent for this angle, where Bryan should still be a strong face out for revenge on MJF. I like the idea of Takeshita as a heater for MJF on the road to Full Gear in a vacuum, but he's another guy who needs a TV win against a lower-ranked guy way more than another competitive (but obvious) loss to a higher-ranked guy.

Darby/Kushida was a lot of fun, and I really hope this TNT title run primes Darby to take the belt off MJF later in the year. He's the babyface that represents everything MJF isn't, and from a practical standpoint, AEW really needs to get mileage out of Darby while he's still young.

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