AEW Dynamite - 2/1/2023

[SirFozzie]

What was the total, 15 "Darby, you cray-cray?" spots?

[Cobra Commander]

3 minutes ago, HumanChessgame said:

 

I think if anyone turns it's going to be Billy, doing some kind of "I let my boys down when they were kids by being on the road all the time and need to make it up to them now" story.

yeah, I could have worded it better but I was hinting more at a Billy turn since it's been a week or two since the last surprise AEW heel turn.

3 minutes ago, SirFozzie said:

What was the total, 15 "Darby, you cray-cray?" spots?

Darby/Joe was worked like Darby wanted Joe to be his Jack Kevorkian.

[Octopus]

Somebody get that young man a Tylenol

[Dog]

14 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

It would be mean of Dave's AEW source(s) to lie to him about a Wardlow injury which Dave mentioned 5 days before Wardlow returned.

I hadn't heard him say that.

[Cobra Commander]

2 minutes ago, Dog said:

I hadn't heard him say that.

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/aew-wardlow-out-of-action-due-to-injury

Quote

Since losing his rematch to then-TNT Champion Samoa Joe in late-December and having his hair cut afterward, former TNT Champion Wardlow has been absent from AEW TV.

In this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer explained the reason: he's injured.

While not going into specifics about what the injury is or how it was suffered, Meltzer said it's "not believed to be one that will keep him out of action for a long time."

[Casey]

1 hour ago, Cobra Commander said:

to be fair to the AEW booking, the Danielson gauntlet and Starks gauntlet aren't gonna overlap for long but yeah.. they're doing two different 'heel makes the face run a gauntlet' angles on the same shows

At least Starks’ challenge isn’t “beat one member of the JAS every week”. It’s all happening in one match next Wednesday. I’d hesitate to even call Danielson’s thing a “gauntlet”, what Ricky Starks is doing is the classic gauntlet match. But I get what you’re saying, even if semantics make it a little different.

[Doc Townsend]

Mox looks a lot older since the least time I saw him (November or December, probably).  It was a bit disconcerting, 

I think I’m over Mox blading every match and wanting to do the garbage stuff.  It’s dumb, but at one point I was wondering if Moxley can walk to the mailbox without bleeding,  

Caught the last 5 min of the Darby match.  Was legit confused why he was spending an hour trying to cut something loose from under the ring,   Lol, I thought they hid a giant ladder down there.  I guess he was trying to take the padding off.  Nice of Joe to hang out while Darby worked very slowly.  Also took me a while to figure out what Darby was trying to put on for the coffin drop.  A piece of…. rubber?  Flak jacket?  Pinhead starter kit?  I guess that was a hoodie studded with thumbtacks?  Lol, watching Darby trying to get in on and only kinda succeeding reminded me of the infamous Lex Luger vs. his shirt video.

[The Natural]

AEW cuts (pun intended) to Jon Moxley blading. AEW's done that before like Chris Jericho in the first Blood and Guys match. There's other examples of it as well.

[The Green Meanie]

I called this a while ago when Wardlow had first lost, he had to recoup from the haircut and get his vengeance.

(Darby loses, cue Wardlow's music, Wardlow shows up with new haircut) "I TOLD YOU!"

[Phantom Lord]

That was a fun show as usual. Page and Mox brought it. I thought they would go to a draw (that is a booking option Tony never uses anymore), but Mox got the surprise win.

The Acclaimed are the hottest act in the company so it would be stupid to mess with them in anyway. Billy Gunn of all people is having a successful third act of his career. They would be stupid to do anything to ruin that.

Takeshita vs. Cage was a good match. I was surprised that Cage lost. I figured he would win in some devious way.

Bryan vs. Thatcher was a good match. I hope Thatcher sticks around. Perhaps for the new ROH. He and Claudio could have some good matches. But this one was good as I said. I liked the story that was told with Bryan's shoulder.

I love that it set up Takeshita coming out to save Bryan from MJF and it led to a fun pull apart brawl in the back. MJF vs. Takeshita should be a good one next week.

The Jade/Velvet match was meh to be honest.  I like Velvet, but no one believed she had a chance of beating Jade. They need to up the competition with Jade. Give her Yuka Sakazaki or Riho. It's getting old fast with Jade running through everyone. I wonder if this is the internet felt about Goldberg mid streak. I honestly can't remember.

Joe vs. Darby was a car wreck in every sense I thought it would be. It sucks they put a stip saying neither man could challenge for the title if they lost, because I could see Joe and Darby continuing this war. The first table spot where Darby hit it like a pinball and busted Joe open the hardway was sick. Joe had a bunch of nope moments in the match where Darby paid a price. Overall a fun match and good to see Wardlow back. I guess they're gonna build up to the PPV with them so Wardlow gets his revenge. 

[DreamBroken]

Darby/Joe was wild. The dive in to the table busting Joe open looked brutal. Could've gone either way since Darby was having an awesome reign but Joe reclaiming his King of Television spot is also welcome. 

Moxley/Hangman III also an epic battle. Loved Moxley's father just being a badass and doing the entrance with him. nice small package driver by Hangman, dug the finish. 

Takeshita/Cage was fun, plus a nice setup for Takeshita/MJF. Next weeks super stacked with lots of stuff announced. 

Jade's recent crazy strength spots leading into the finish have been great.  Good show.

[Go2Sleep]

If I had a wrestling time machine, I would book Darby Allin vs. 2003 Brock Lesnar so fast.

Great show all around. I think Mox brings the best out of Hangman who is better as a gritty fighter than epic match guy. Danielson/Thatcher was great, hopefully they can go again without having to work around storyline injuries. Jade had her best match. Red Velvet is a great opponent for Jade to make her offense look devastating, and Jade seems to be getting a lot better at all the in between stuff too. I can't wait for full on babyface Britt and Jamie. Also I'll probably tune into to Rampage just to watch heel Saraya and Toni kill some jobbers. Ruby being in the "Christian during the Main Event Mafia vs. Frontline feud" role is interesting. What else can be said about Joe/Darby? Other than Mick Foley, who has ever been better at making everyone they step in the ring with look more violent through complete disregard for their own body? I mean Joe has an impressive body of violent work, but Darby has him looking like he hasn't lost a step since 2005.

[zendragon]

wow a little bit of everything!

Mox v Hangman was some hardnosed stuff! I guess Hangman isn't being heated for a feud with MJF?

My Four Sons, Starring Daddy Ass! Ass Boys do have a win over former champs FTR...

Dragon v Thatcher was exactly the type of wrestling I want to watch on my TV (I feel like I say that every

week)

I really hope they don't turn Ruby, good eye for spoting that The Bunny may have been paid off to distract The Hoss. I still think eliminator matches are a stupid gimmick

Main got uncomfortable at times, Darby is an absolute madman for taking the move that ended Tyson Kidd's career one the exposed ring boards

 

[Matt D]

I've still got the last two matches for my commute home but...

• Hangman vs Mox was probably the second best Hangman match I've ever seen (after the Punk one). Mox as Hansen just pressing and pressing and Hangman leaning heel, which is really what he should, somehow, be at some point this year. My head cannon for the avalanche DVD kickout was that Mox's blood had gotten into Hangman's mouth and freaked him out. I didn't mind the tombstone reaction because Mox sold it by being up and stumbling right into the Buckshot in a way that showed he was out on his feet but still incalculably tough. I sort of wish that he had an "out" on the kickout after the Buckshot though, but it's mitigated a little that he got a banana peel win, which is not the sort of thing you expect on a third match in a series. The post-match made me want to see Claudio vs Page. I wish the production team realized NOT to cut to Moxley as he was blading. They cut to him, thought he was going to blade, and freaked out and cut away about three times, before catching it anyway. At some point, it's almost high comedy. Just stay on Page for a minute there. My favorite bit out of all of this was probably when the table was in play on the outside and they were just slamming into each other with clotheslines. 
• Takeshita vs Cage needed to be even stupider. I loved the first few seconds when they're just hitting start-of-the-match big boots but I wish they had spent another five minutes doing that. Just a hundred big boots in a row. Make it art, fellas. 
• Danielson vs Thatcher was lovely. Beautiful stuff. Great struggle on each exchange. It wasn't shootstyle, not really, but it was great theatrical pro wrestling with a pair of guys who portray technical wrestlers, with a body part focus which created a bevy of narrative opportunities for each exchange. Human game of chess stuff. It didn't get a chance to wear out its welcome. I would have liked another couple of minutes. We're seeing Danielson more and more banged up each week (with the example of Darby in a similar but more generalized boat). The contrast between Hangman/Mox where they fought for each move and Danielson/Thatcher where they fought for each opening, when the fights were entirely different, was just wonderful. Bring on RUSH.
• Acclaimed had fun but that would have been a better Dark match. For all of their success, I kind of miss them on Dark. I would be very surprised if they're turning Billy since he's part of the merch sales and it's still pretty early in the game.
• Rest later.

[Pete]

7 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

If I had a wrestling time machine, I would book Darby Allin vs. 2003 Brock Lesnar so fast.

Brian Cage was a really great Brock analog when he worked Darby at the Evolve show I saw with Ray in 2016. 90% of the match was Cage nuking the little feller, including the finish where he just yeeted Darby 10 feet from the ring to the stage for a countout. Awe-inspiring, especially in a little room like La Boom.

[Log]

25 minutes ago, Pete said:

Brian Cage was a really great Brock analog when he worked Darby at the Evolve show I saw with Ray in 2016. 90% of the match was Cage nuking the little feller, including the finish where he just yeeted Darby 10 feet from the ring to the stage for a countout. Awe-inspiring, especially in a little room like La Boom.

I seem to remember a Darby/Walter match that was along those lines, too. Was that Evolve?

[The Natural]

12 minutes ago, Log said:

I seem to remember a Darby/Walter match that was along those lines, too. Was that Evolve?

Rings a bell with me, bud.

[Belgian_Waffle]

I'm surprised to be in the minority of people who don't really get putting the belt back on Joe just to lose it to Wardlow. Wasn't the whole point of having Joe pin Hobbes to win the belt so that they could get the belt off Wardlow without having to beat him since there's not a lot you can do with him as champ? And hotshotting the belt to Darby in Seattle seemed to really reinforce just how over and underutilized Darby is, usually TK picks up on these things and rolls with them like he did when the Acclaimed and Hayter were both way more over than their push. Unless the plan is for Darby to go after MJF after the Danielson program is over, which I would love to see. If he goes back to midcard treadmill feuds I could see the fans resenting Wardlow as the handpicked guy who supplanted the people's champ Darby. 

 

[The Natural]

I'm looking forward to Bryan Danielson vs. Rush but have to admit it feels a tad anticlimactic for Danielson's final opponent to beat to get MJF for the AEW World Championship at AEW Revolution 2023.

[The Natural]

2 minutes ago, Belgian_Waffle said:

I'm surprised to be in the minority of people who don't really get putting the belt back on Joe just to lose it to Wardlow. Wasn't the whole point of having Joe pin Hobbes to win the belt so that they could get the belt off Wardlow without having to beat him since there's not a lot you can do with him as champ? And hotshotting the belt to Darby in Seattle seemed to really reinforce just how over and underutilized Darby is, usually TK picks up on these things and rolls with them like he did when the Acclaimed and Hayter were both way more over than their push. Unless the plan is for Darby to go after MJF after the Danielson program is over, which I would love to see. If he goes back to midcard treadmill feuds I could see the fans resenting Wardlow as the handpicked guy who supplanted the people's champ Darby. 

 

Hopefully Darby jobs less in singles this year, did a number of them in 2021.

[The Natural]

Matt, did you ever see the two Page/Danielson matches? The first may be a chore for you knowing Page isn't a favourite and it going 60 minutes but the rematch might be preferable.

[Craig H]

Nearly a quadruple post.

[StuntmanCrowley]

I sort of take Darby losing the belt the same way I took the last time he had it. 

He pretty much defended the belt on every single show since he won it and at some point, it catches up.  I like that it's Darby's story....as someone said "he's here for a good time, not a long time".  Him running roughshod over his body with title defenses totally fits with his character.  I actually think it would be out of character for Darby to have long reigns with any singles title considering how he defends them more frequently than anyone else.

[chriskbrown50]

I have no clue what Darby Allin's body will look like down the road but these bumps are really cringe worthy. I think there is a rational fear of his health overall. Mikey Whipwreck anyone?? His shelf life just seems so limited. Watching the action sports guys from my era like Tony Hawk walking around now with a cane or Matt Hoffman is his future or worse. 

[Belgian_Waffle]

58 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Matt, did you ever see the two Page/Danielson matches? The first may be a chore for you knowing Page isn't a favourite and it going 60 minutes but the rematch might be preferable.

Fwiw I actively disliked Page for the longest time and didn't like their second match at all but the 60 min draw was the match that really opened my eyes to Page's good qualities, especially when he has the right opponent to direct some of the traffic. His Takeshita match was also excellent from a Hangman-skeptical perspective.