AEW Dynamite - 3/8/2023

[hobo joe]

That finish was shit. First off, they should be better at hiding crash pads after the first Blood and Guts debacle, and you don't need to protect Wardlow at the cost of making Hobbs look weak.

I don't want to say Wardlow's a lost cause, but TK's really dropped the ball. His TNT title run was completely lackluster because he just kept squashing dudes and beating up security guards and would disappear for weeks at a time. Outside of the Brian Cage match and Orange Cassidy match he didn't have any memorable title defenses. I don't think it's an issue of not trusting him to have longer matches because he usually delivers when given the opportunity, but TK being lazy and sticking with what's worked before.

I was at the Cleveland show in August, hoping we'd get some big Wardlow match for his hometown crowd, or at least a big moment (seemed for a minute that he was gonna powerbomb Satnam Singh) but instead he squashed Dolph Ziggler's brother. I hope they're still able to right the ship, but I don't know, would anyone buy Wardlow vs. MJF right now?

The All-Atlantic title should've been called the International Title from the beginning, the fuck it has to do with Shazaam 2 I have no idea?

 

[Curt McGirt]

19 minutes ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

Kinda strange if Danielson is taking six months or more off for it.

 

32 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

the most grueling wrestling tournament in history

 

[Zimbra]

I assumed that the Danielson "going home" stuff was about wrestling in ROH.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

1 hour ago, matt925 said:

When Cody left I said to my friend, well at least I don’t have to see qt on my tv any more. 
 

That’s not the ending I wanted to see. What a flat victory. 

Not proud of this, but there may or may not be an episode of Rampage from last February where you can hear me drunkenly slur "OH MY GOD, CODY'S GONE, WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?!" preeeeetty audibly during a QT promo. 

 

58 minutes ago, Casey said:

I'm still of the opinion that the women's stuff is leading towards a Blood & Guts match.

Hard agree, and I'll take it a step further: I'm strongly thinking Willow (or another babyface) gets taken out early or prior to the match and we get either Jade Cargill or Mercedes Monet in the Hogan role for a BATB '96 redux

[Go2Sleep]

1 hour ago, Craig H said:

Only thing I'm not crazy about is the continuation of this shit between Moxley and Hangman. That should have just ended on Sunday and now it feels like we're going to get a Blood and Guts match.

I don't think a reincarnated Brodie Lee would even get the bad taste out of my mouth of this feud stealing the Blood and Guts spot from the women.

[Matt D]

On the one hand, I really liked the idea of Ruby as Crow Sting. I think it would have been good for her and good for the program (with Athena as crazy Macho Man). 

On the other hand, she did a better job of explaining the story up until now than I think Toni or Saraya possibly could (it's been brutal so far), so the turn probably overall helped everything.

[Pete]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

BCC can definitely beat someone into that role. 

As far as Danielson in the G1 it amuses me greatly that he's talking about losing feeling in his arm and whatever else, meanwhile deciding to then sign up for the most grueling wrestling tournament in history. 

He'll be in the same block as Yano. People will talk about their match for years. "I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats." Calling it now.

[TheVileOne]

I think that Blackpool Combat Club vs. Dark Order match went on too long and it was mostly just an extended squash.

I don't see why every match on Dynamite needs to go through a commercial break. Some can be shorter sprints. They should time their breaks a little bit better.

Edited March 9, 2023 by TheVileOne

[John from Cincinnati]

While Ruby being solidly on one side makes the issue a little less wishy-washy, the outsiders vs homegrown stars stuff is still doing nothing for me. Maybe because caring who is or isn't "homegrown" in a midcard division is only a concern to the perpetually online. But the booker is one of us, for better and worse, so this is what we get. 

Speaking of perpetually online, there's a whole bunch of people out there who would convince you that FTR have go-away heat because Dax has a newsworthy podcast that people make headlines of. How about that, they're as over as ever. 

Edited March 9, 2023 by John from Cincinnati

[HarryArchieGus]

And to someone’s surprise OC bangs out another golden opener. Jay Lethal - most underrated. Jarrett-Orange in the Prairies, fuck yeah! What’s Ricky Starks up to? Is he flirting with a leave to Titan Sports? Ha, hook-line-n-sinker on the Jay White tease, but fine with the alternate Juice flavour. A mini feud or bout here with Juice, to continue Starks’ momentum, is warmly welcomed. I suspect a Switchblade in this program. Ruby Soho’s heel promo was fairly on point. ‘The fans are to blame’ WWE cliché works fine when you have Ruby’s solid logic. Skye Blue is getting better every week, but that sticking her head thru the ropes spot was a touch embarrassing. She was good elsewhere tho. I think we all might want to band together to try and WILL a move away from the silliness of this ex-WWE v homegrown nonsense. I mean keep the teams, but let’s just hate each other, yeah? Hangmin was spot on with the stick! FTR promo was good clean pro wrestling fun. Jade opens the door for a wack ass Canadian. Jody Threat’s the most deserving, no? I walked into the Toronto show during that infamous battle with Athena. It was thrilling! Top Fox and the JAS gave us a nice bout. AR Fox is an outstanding performer. Not generally speaking a fan of three ways, especially with 9 guys, but it’s hard to imagine next week’s Main Event not being absolutely incredible! TK promos are awesome in a Jim Crockett or Linda McMahon kinda way. BCC v DO was so fun. Hungee and Mox need a solo venture. Uno could use some encouragement to zip it up. It’s just a better look. Loved that post match attack. I’ll take a trios feud here, gladly. Dug the Acclaimed-Cool Hand/Daddy Magic promo. Can we get a Daddy Magic-Daddy Ass Rampage singles out this? I loved the hoss-tastic battle of the bow-he-muths - Wardy and the Puh-Puh-Puh-Powerhouse! I’m thinking I might be the first person to post how much I loved seeing the return of QT! Powerhouse and QT are an exciting new Bockwinkel and Heenan! But let’s throw Commoroto a heater bone, yeah? I thoroughly loved this show.

[Log]

Somewhere, right now, there's a wrestling fan convincing themselves that Trish Stratus is going to be Jade's opponent next week and they are going to be irrationally mad when it's not.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

2 minutes ago, Log said:

Somewhere, right now, there's a wrestling fan convincing themselves that Trish Stratus is going to be Jade's opponent next week and they are going to be irrationally mad when it's not.

Lol I googled for the hell of it to see if she's under contract and she's got a tag match at WM apparently

[peterien]

They won’t take the belts off HoB next week right? RIGHT?!?

[John from Cincinnati]

We just got a demonstration in Tony's willingness to switch belts quickly, so... 

Saw someone on Twitter suggest Hobbs should have beaten Darby for the TNT and they should've done the Joe-Wardlow wrap up without the belt. Hindsight is 20/20, but I sense there would be less division if that'd been how things played out. 

Is the All-Atlantic levelling up because it's the clear #2 singles belt and the workhorse title now? There's a case. 

[porksweats]

9 minutes ago, John from Cincinnati said:

We just got a demonstration in Tony's willingness to switch belts quickly, so... 

Saw someone on Twitter suggest Hobbs should have beaten Darby for the TNT and they should've done the Joe-Wardlow wrap up without the belt. Hindsight is 20/20, but I sense there would be less division if that'd been how things played out. 

Is the All-Atlantic levelling up because it's the clear #2 singles belt and the workhorse title now? There's a case. 

Yeah the International title definitely has supplanted the TNT title with Orange's reign. Which is totally fine that the TNT title becomes your (Crash) TV Title and more likely to go for explosive quick reigns.

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[Fighting a man with a perm]

Lethal really committed to the failed handspring, kudos to him! Really can't understand the people doing "let's go lethal" "lethal sucks" chants. Do they just love duelling chants and want any opportunity to do them? It's not like Jay lethal is some cool heel up against a stale or force-fed Babyface. Is it just contrarianism?

Daddy magic was so good during the HOB/Elite segment, screaming "I don't like the dark" when the lights went out, "I'll take callis! I want a piece of Callis". 

Dante martin moving into chubby luchador territory is it? Could be a great way to differentiate from his brother. 

[Phantom Lord]

Last night was a good show. Nothing amazing, but it was good none the less. Lethal vs. Cassidy was probably the best match of the night. I don't get the rebranding of the title to International either especially with the tie in to Shazam 2. Orange Cassidy has had a good run so I hope it continues next week.

I don't mind Hobbs winning the title. What I did mind was this nonsense with QT being the one to help him do it. Hopefully it will make some sense next week, but they really dropped the ball on Wardlow.

[Zimbra]

22 minutes ago, Fighting a man with a perm said:

Lethal really committed to the failed handspring, kudos to him! Really can't understand the people doing "let's go lethal" "lethal sucks" chants. Do they just love duelling chants and want any opportunity to do them? It's not like Jay lethal is some cool heel up against a stale or force-fed Babyface. Is it just contrarianism?

Most every "oh no their limb gave out" spot looks bad, but that man just threw himself headfirst at the canvas to make it work.  I'm not a Lethal fan but rats off to him for that.

[TheVileOne]

1 hour ago, John from Cincinnati said:

We just got a demonstration in Tony's willingness to switch belts quickly, so... 

Saw someone on Twitter suggest Hobbs should have beaten Darby for the TNT and they should've done the Joe-Wardlow wrap up without the belt. Hindsight is 20/20, but I sense there would be less division if that'd been how things played out. 

Is the All-Atlantic levelling up because it's the clear #2 singles belt and the workhorse title now? There's a case. 

They need to start doing some of these title changes on Rampage and Battle for the Belts. 

[S.K.o.S.]

4 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

I think that Blackpool Combat Club vs. Dark Order match went on too long and it was mostly just an extended squash.

I don't see why every match on Dynamite needs to go through a commercial break. Some can be shorter sprints. They should time their breaks a little bit better.

I think they were like "It can't be time for the match to end, Mox hasn't bladed yet!"

[porksweats]

1 hour ago, TheVileOne said:

They need to start doing some of these title changes on Rampage and Battle for the Belts. 

To be fair the TNT title has changed hands at a Battle of the Belts and Rampage before, but you are 100% correct. BOTB needs titles to change hands more, and Rampage should get some prestige too.

[Johnny Sorrow]

19 hours ago, DreamBroken said:

I'd mark out for either of them, big fan of both. KC did work Dark last time they were in Canada

Nicole was on the BOOM Pro Wrestling show I ring announced in October. She's great, and is super cool.

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

Can we please just get rid of crash pads period?  First Hobbs has the broken ladder (I don't get why he didn't just get another one, there were a half dozen ladders at ringside), now this shitty finish?  Plus somehow they break him off from Taz (like over a year ago seemingly at this point) just to saddle him with a kayfabe GEEK.  I don't get it.  He'll probably stay over in spite of it, but jeez

Between Jarrett standing tall at the end of the opening segment (nothing says cool, hip alternative promotion like JEFF F'N JARRETT IN 2023) and another bullshit sports entertainment finish in the main event of this show, this show left a bad taste in my mouth

On the brightside I'm looking forward to that trios triple threat in Winnipeg and I'll be happy if it spins off into the JAS and Elite feuding for a bit while the HOB just kill the rest of the roster for a while.  I'm also down with Ricky and Juice feuding, I can see them having good matches and both benefiting from it

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm fine with the crash pads or something other than just a table over concrete. I'd like instances like what happened with Matt Hardy or Anna Jay to be avoided if at all possible.