AEW Dynamite - 2/1/2023

[DreamBroken]

17 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

She would be incredible if she could have matches against the talented part of the Women’s division. Who has she wrested against that isn’t a few steps beyond recent wrestling schooo graduate? I know she wrestled Willow and Stat and Athena. Anyone else?

Thunder Rosa, Ruby to win the title, Nyla, Tay, Santana Garrett, Madison Rayne, Diamante, The Bunny, Kiera Hogan

[StuntmanCrowley]

I still am on the hill of "Anyone but Stat or Willow beating Jade will be a dissappointment"

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, StuntmanCrowley said:

I still am on the hill of "Anyone but Stat or Willow beating Jade will be a dissappointment"

Agreed. I'd still go with Kris Statlander. I think that was the plan till Kris did her ACL in again.

Speaking of knees, any updates on the woman's wrestler who had a Roman/Goddess like gimmick who comes down the ring with servants. Megan something?

Edited February 3, 2023 by The Natural

[Gorman]

1 hour ago, The Natural said:

Agreed. I'd still go with Kris Statlander. I think that was the plan till Kris did her ACL in again.

Speaking of knees, any updates on the woman's wrestler who had a Roman/Goddess like gimmick who comes down the ring with servants. Megan something?

Megan Bayne.

[Just Dave]

I’ll break it down further tonight, but damn was this just a great night of dudes kicking the shit out of each other. In wwe hangman page & Mox would’ve been forced to team up & win the tag titles while in a blood feud. These guys pull off animosity so well that now that’s kind of what I want. 

Also, I’m finding that my enjoyment level of AEW programming is inversely proportionate to the amount of elite/adam Cole on the show, so this shit was right up my alley. All the flippy self aggrandizing dorks with shitty hair can stay home. The grown men are fucking murdering each other tonight. Also I’ll never not be happy to see Jade and Red Velvet. For reasons.

[Brandon Bones]

I continue to turn around my opinion on Jade.  She was pretty great with Red and I can see these two having a long term series in the future.  Long gone is a lot of that bad foot work that made her seem clumsy.  Jade these days seems a lot more comfortable in the ring.

Another great episode of Dynamite.  Boom.  

[The Natural]

Meltzer:

Hangman Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley: ****1/2.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Brian Cage: ***3/4.

Bryan Danielson vs. Timothy Thatcher: ***3/4.

Darby Allin vs. Samoa Joe: ****1/4.

Meltzer has really overrated Takeshita/Cage and underrated Danielson/Thatcher:

Natural:

Hangman Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley: ****1/2.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Brian Cage: ***.

Bryan Danielson vs. Timothy Thatcher: ****1/2. MOTN.

Darby Allin vs. Samoa Joe: ****1/2.

Edited February 3, 2023 by The Natural

[The Natural]

3 hours ago, Gorman said:

Megan Bayne.

Thank you.

[Craig H]

For what it's worth, Darby has said repeatedly that he always feels great and he attributes that to a ton of stretching and massage therapy. I think he's just like some MMA fighters that have a concrete head. Eventually that wears off, but for now he's good.

[The Natural]

 

Moxley migraine. Nothing to see here...

Sweet counter.

Edited February 3, 2023 by The Natural

[JLowe]

3 hours ago, Craig H said:

For what it's worth, Darby has said repeatedly that he always feels great and he attributes that to a ton of stretching and massage therapy. I think he's just like some MMA fighters that have a concrete head. Eventually that wears off, but for now he's good.

Knowing he is straight-edge, I assume that by not using alcohol or heavy pain-killers to numb the pain helps him be more aware of what he can and can't do and when to take it easy.

[John E. Dynamite]

19 hours ago, L_W_P said:

Jeff Hardy is right there for him to see his future if he keeps doing this.

For all his influence and power I hope Sting isn't sitting by and letting this happen, or worse, ENCOURAGING it. He needs to be slowing Darby down or talking to Tony and getting Darby re-booked as a special attraction that only works a few matches a year.

Jeff Hardy's breakout year as a singles guy was 2001. During that year, he wrestled over 160 matches. In 2021, Darby Allin wrestled 36 matches. What's gonna keep these guys alive and well isn't just CBD, Tinder instead of the club + Xbox, it's the diminishing returns of the house show market / emergence of revenue streams that don't involve bumping.

[zendragon]

3 hours ago, Craig H said:

For what it's worth, Darby has said repeatedly that he always feels great and he attributes that to a ton of stretching and massage therapy. I think he's just like some MMA fighters that have a concrete head. Eventually that wears off, but for now he's good.

RVD said he would spend an hour stretching and warming up before a match. Seemed to work well for him

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

20 hours ago, The Natural said:

Meltzer:

Hangman Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley: ****1/2.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Brian Cage: ***3/4.

Bryan Danielson vs. Timothy Thatcher: ***3/4.

Darby Allin vs. Samoa Joe: ****1/4.

Meltzer has really overrated Takeshita/Cage and underrated Danielson/Thatcher:

Natural:

Hangman Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley: ****1/2.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Brian Cage: ***.

Bryan Danielson vs. Timothy Thatcher: ****1/2. MOTN.

Darby Allin vs. Samoa Joe: ****1/2.

Based on how close your other two ratings are to his do you think it could simply be a case of his liking Takeshita as much as you do Danielson? Because to me he got the ratings spot on. I didn’t think Danielson/Thatcher was the best of the night, and even with giving it the same rating as Takeshita/Cage I’d say it was the worst match of the big four. 

I get your praising Bryan when’s he’s great, but sometimes it feels like you’re trying to overvalue all of his performances, and no matter what else happens on the show you’ll make it out that he was the highlight.

Don’t get it wrong I’m a fan of his too, but not every week is a home run. 

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, LF2 said:

Based on how close your other two ratings are to his do you think it could simply be a case of his liking Takeshita as much as you do Danielson? Because to me he got the ratings spot on. I didn’t think Danielson/Thatcher was the best of the night, and even with giving it the same rating as Takeshita/Cage I’d say it was the worst match of the big four. 

I get your praising Bryan when’s he’s great, but sometimes it feels like you’re trying to overvalue all of his performances, and no matter what else happens on the show you’ll make it out that he was the highlight.

Don’t get it wrong I’m a fan of his too, but not every week is a home run. 

Hard disagree with you saying Bryan/Thatcher was the worst of the four. More often than not Bryan is the best thing on the shows. The GOAT's not perfect. It was only last week I said Danielson/Cage was one of Bryan's worst matches. Page and Allin had better bouts with Cage.

Edited February 4, 2023 by The Natural

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

1 hour ago, The Natural said:

Hard disagree with you saying Bryan/Thatcher was the worst of the four. More often than not Bryan is the best thing on the shows. The GOAT's not perfect. It was only last week I said Danielson/Cage was one of Bryan's worst matches. Page and Allin had better bouts with Cage.

I did say I’d rank it evenly with Cage/Takeshita, but I did get more enjoyment out of Cage/Takeshita. I didn’t mean to downplay Bryan as my bigger issue with the Thatcher match was Thatcher. I’m personally not a fan, and I didn’t care for him in NXT either. To me he’s someone that badly needs a manager in order to be over, and even then I wouldn’t buy him as a main event guy. 

I agree on who’s had better matches with Cage too, but I felt that was more the story they told him and Bryan to work than it was a bad outing from either guy. 

Honestly I’m just over this angle already, and feeling extremely confident that MJF wins at Revolution isn’t helping either. Especially when the angle first started it was “Bryan must beat the AEW top 5”, and now it’s like okay he’s beaten Cage, a guy that’s never worked for AEW, and Rush (assuming he will this week). How’s that remotely top 5? I expected at least two out of the following 5: Jericho, Garcia, Starks, Hangman, and Mox. I’m pretty sure you’ll be in agreement that even if they only subbed Mox for Rush that this would be a more sensible angle, and give Bryan a huge win at the end.

[Shartnado]

2 hours ago, LF2 said:

Honestly I’m just over this angle already, and feeling extremely confident that MJF wins at Revolution isn’t helping either. Especially when the angle first started it was “Bryan must beat the AEW top 5”, and now it’s like okay he’s beaten Cage, a guy that’s never worked for AEW, and Rush (assuming he will this week). How’s that remotely top 5? I expected at least two out of the following 5: Jericho, Garcia, Starks, Hangman, and Mox. I’m pretty sure you’ll be in agreement that even if they only subbed Mox for Rush that this would be a more sensible angle, and give Bryan a huge win at the end.

I'm not quite sure, but I think they said Bryan needs to wrestle every week and win until February 8, in order to become the No. 1 contender. They didn't specify he needs to beat the Top 5 (which WOULD of course make sense), but I guess winning that many matches would make his 2023 win-loss record better than anyone else's at the moment. It is possible that the way AEW rotates the wrestlers, nobody else has had the chance to win 5 matches yet this year, much less in a row.

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

59 minutes ago, Shartnado said:

I'm not quite sure, but I think they said Bryan needs to wrestle every week and win until February 8, in order to become the No. 1 contender. They didn't specify he needs to beat the Top 5 (which WOULD of course make sense), but I guess winning that many matches would make his 2023 win-loss record better than anyone else's at the moment. It is possible that the way AEW rotates the wrestlers, nobody else has had the chance to win 5 matches yet this year, much less in a row.

I want to say the week he beat Takeshita that MJF claimed he had to defeat the top 5. Which I had no issue with Takeshita (and I really like Bandido too) being in the top 5, but once it got to Cage and more so Thatcher this week it’s like these guys wouldn’t be in the top 5. As you stated his win loss record would be better than most anyone (I’m not sure if he had more wins or Darby did), but it still feels like somebody goofed when they said top 5. If it wasn’t MJF then it was Excalibur on commentary. Which the way he’s forced into telling us ten matches in thirty seconds I see how he could goof. 

[Octopus]

I’m a fan of the angle. It gives Danielson a weekly opponent, MJF can have segments continuing the story without it being the standard long in ring promos we’ve seen, and with the hurt arm/shoulder it allows reasonable competitive matches to parallel when he was a dominant heel mowing through the Dark Order. It also makes sense that Danielson’s has to build up his wins for a title shot, I recall him losing a bit. Bryan is a solid name to lose to MJF for his first big defense.

Danielson vs Thatcher was right up my alley. The style is very much in what I would point to where I nerd out the most.  I’m mesmerized by the Masochist vs Sadist that was Joe vs Darby, Mox vs Hangman’s tough guy story is a great feud, and Muscle Mohawk vs Innocent Cinnabon was an exciting treat. I don’t agree with @LF2 that Dragon-Thatcher was the fourth best of that lineup, but very much respect his opinion. If it gets posted online or there’s a way I can rewatch, I’d love to ramble on these matches in more detail.
I want to take a moment to say the @The Natural is often pretty fair in his appreciation of the American Dragon. Because he is very expressive of his love and can be excited to share as much as he can, I feel he can get dismissed as being a fanboy. He has been critical when he felt Danielson’s matches or segments fell short which I respect. Something we don’t see too often online (mostly elsewhere) where people flip out when their favorites are not loved to the same degree. 
——

On @Greggulator’s Jade thoughts:

I was honestly hoping we were going to see an evolution of character after the Nyla feud. A talented, vulnerable, yet still charmingly confident champion. Someone doesn’t need to be a smiling babyface to take on the bad guys. I think a tweener can tween but how this tweening has twun, the tweener tweened wasn’t twed well. Not to fantasy book, but I had a brief moment of excitement for character growth and not sure I’m seeing it. I’m all in favor of the daughter hug, but play with that. I’m even all in favor of Red Velvet going full circle to facing Jade again as a story. But something is off. Maybe ass Greg put it, Jade needs more experienced workers to work with. 

——

Samoa Joe is so cool.

[zendragon]

@Octopus All the matches end up on AEW's youtubr channel in abriged form

[The Natural]

8 hours ago, Octopus said:

Danielson vs Thatcher was right up my alley. The style is very much in what I would point to where I nerd out the most.  I’m mesmerized by the Masochist vs Sadist that was Joe vs Darby, Mox vs Hangman’s tough guy story is a great feud, and Muscle Mohawk vs Innocent Cinnabon was an exciting treat. I don’t agree with @LF2 that Dragon-Thatcher was the fourth best of that lineup, but very much respect his opinion. If it gets posted online or there’s a way I can rewatch, I’d love to ramble on these matches in more detail.

I want to take a moment to say the @The Natural is often pretty fair in his appreciation of the American Dragon. Because he is very expressive of his love and can be excited to share as much as he can, I feel he can get dismissed as being a fanboy. He has been critical when he felt Danielson’s matches or segments fell short which I respect. Something we don’t see too often online (mostly elsewhere) where people flip out when their favorites are not loved to the same degree. 
——

Thanks, @Octopus xxx.

Edited February 5, 2023 by The Natural

[Firebreaker Chip]

On 2/3/2023 at 7:50 PM, John E. Dynamite said:

Jeff Hardy's breakout year as a singles guy was 2001. During that year, he wrestled over 160 matches. In 2021, Darby Allin wrestled 36 matches. What's gonna keep these guys alive and well isn't just CBD, Tinder instead of the club + Xbox, it's the diminishing returns of the house show market / emergence of revenue streams that don't involve bumping.

That's better from the point of view of gradual wear and tear from repeat bumps and the associated fatigue of a gruelling touring schedule etc, but with the stuff Darby does he could easily kill or paralyse himself off a single bump

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

watched the show a couple days ago.  3 really strong matches, the opener and the main the strongest IMO.  I'm absolutely loving the Hangman-Mox feud.  It started organically, they have great chemistry and it reminds me of 97 WWF in the best possible ways.  Shades of grey done right

  a couple thoughts I scribbled down that I don't think have been covered

- wtf was up with Bowen's hair?  Heavy black spray-on all on the back of his head that didn't match his actual hair.  Fucked up LBJ tribute in Ohio?

- bad layout having the pull-apart with MJF followed by the Rush pre-tape with a cool, calm collected MJF in a different shirt.  This used to happen more often but it's still inexcusable

- Nick hitting an 18 footer isn't impressive.

- when Joe and Darby were going up the stairs I was TERRIFIED that one of them was going to replicate Joe's insanity from TNA

Taz had a couple choice lines during the breaks as per usual

"Takeshita definitely 6-2 and a half thereabouts.  Looks about an inch or two taller than me."

(going back and forth with the other announcers about what Nana's deal is)  "Hey, trust me on this...I have a feel for people who wear headdresses" *I pointed to the sky when he said this*