AEW Dynamite - 4/12/2023

[Just Dave]

5 minutes ago, Log said:

It looked like Hook forgot to take his watch off and it slipped open when he hit Moriarty, so he stuffed it in his pocket real quick as he was rolling in the ring.

Ahh. That would make sense.

[Jenalysis]

1 hour ago, hammerva said:

Is this whole Bullet Club Gold thing by Jay White and maybe Tony Khan mocking the concept of Bullet Club knowing that it has jumped the shark and is barely relevant anymore.  I mean there are 3 version of the Bullet Club now (New Japan, IMPACT, and now AEW).   I am sure there is an indie that has a bunch of people claiming to be Bullet Club.  

 

That would be the dumbest waste of Jay White ever.  That said, Bullet Club Gold is not going to help Jay reach the top of AEW.  Jay needs to beat Ricky, then move up the card.

 

[Log]

Just now, Jenalysis said:

 

That would be the dumbest waste of Jay White ever.  That said, Bullet Club Gold is not going to help Jay reach the top of AEW.  Jay needs to beat Ricky, then move up the card.

 

If it was me, I'd have Jay in the Adam Cole spot on the card. I don't mean the literal spot he's in now vs. Jericho or whatever they're doing with him. I just mean he'd be my guy that I'm positioning to be a top guy.

[JLowe]

6 hours ago, The Green Meanie said:

I doubt that Wardlow is forklift certified.

Forgetting to put it in park/turn it off and then having it drive into the car again was funny but could've gone very wrong

[Craig H]

What I'd like if they're going to call themselves Bullet Club is to at the very least bring in the Underboss.

I was iffy on this show. Part of it was that for whatever reason, the normal sound setting for my speakers made the commentary drown out ring sounds, the crowd, and even entrance music. So it felt like I was listening to a podcast, but with some shit going on screen. I think after the OC match was when I changed the surround setting from movie to direct and all of a sudden the show sounded normal again. I was also tired and I myself am recovering from just getting out of the hospital with having pneumonia, bronchitis, and a cracked rib and strained muscle from coughing so hard. Nowhere near as serious as Dean's stuff (get well soon old man), but feeling like poop and being on percocet and muscle relaxers made watching feel like a chore. I should have just played a video game instead and just watched the show today.

I will say that I think Keith Lee is looking worse and worse. His cardio looks worse than ever and Jericho at times looked he was just doing what he could to get Lee to the finish line. I'm also not thrilled about the Jericho booking vortex now also sucking in Cole, Lee, and whatever Swerve has going on.

Jeff Hardy I couldn't care less about. It's shitty to say, but he's going to fuck up again. 

[Matt D]

Keith Lee's immobility is a feature and not a bug. I'm the guy who loves late-era Andre, though. Lee represents something completely different to everything else in the company, a unique problem that has to be solved. Jericho treated him with absolute respect in that match. He was treated like a force, like a center of gravity, like a powerhouse. Jericho only had an advantage when Keith Lee was half off his feet and it was his job to keep him that way all through the commercial break. Whenever Lee was fully on his feet, almost nothing Jericho could do would phase him. Conventional tactics don't work on him. If you had half the roster moving at his speed and wrestling like him, it'd be boring. But one guy who is treated like this? That's interesting! Wrestling doesn't need to be one thing, so long as everything is made to have a consistency of weight and meaning based on unique and differing qualities. I absolutely want to see one Keith Lee match where a wrestler has to deal with this slowly encroaching doom coming for them every 2-3 weeks. It's not every match but it stands out. 

As for the rest of the show, I'm looking forward to writing about Darby vs Swerve later, which I liked. While I liked Cassidy vs Matthews more (maybe as much as any AEW match this year?) I don't have as much to say about it as easily. I thought the Elite Goons got as much as they should have gotten but the best thing about that match was Ambrose's prancing around the apron while the Swing was happening (and then his casual walk towards Cutler as the "hot tag" was happening).

[Zimbra]

16 minutes ago, JLowe said:

Forgetting to put it in park/turn it off and then having it drive into the car again was funny but could've gone very wrong

Wardlow never had to watch that fucked up German forklift safety video for a job and it shows.

[Craig H]

Yeah, but late era Andre was literally dying out there and was a broken person. Keith Lee should be more like Mark Henry or something, but regardless, his conditioning needs some work.

BTW, can we just fucking kill this QTV shit already? It doesn't help Hobbs, QT sucks (as an on air personality, as a trainer he's fine), Wardlow is just going to get dragged down further with this. Like, if you want to kill two birds with one stone, just next week have Wardlow destroy all of QTV so they're never seen again, Wardlow gets his heat back by getting rid of a dead weight/2000s WWE Attitude Era faction, and then we can just focus on Hobbs and Wardlow.

[NikoBaltimore]

3 hours ago, AxB said:

I was convinced it was freezing cold in the building, because Swerve was wearing a Balaclava, and Darby put his coat back on as soon as his match was over. And then Sting came out, wearing a coat over his shirt, while MJF's scarf was actually wrapped around his neck, not loose like usually.

I know it's a Balaclava but me being Greek I'll always see it as Baklava.  I don't think delicious phillo-wrapped pastries with nuts and honey would keep anybody's head warm though.

The first half of the show worked a ton for me.  Darby/Swerve was great and OC/Buddy would be my match of the week.  I was remembering Dax's podcast this week where he said the match should make you care about the person and not as much for flashy moves or wrestling match tropes.  And while they could have done tons of video game type stuff the focus on the hand made me care that much more about OC's fate.  Will he finish the match?  Will the Orange Punch towards the end be his undoing?  Or will he semi-miraculously find some way to pull off the win.  I was so certain he was going to lose but given how great the run's been I was very happy to see him win.  I still maintain that when people look back at OC's AEW run alone there's going to be a ton of stuff that will continue to be looked at with fondness.  The guy just gets it and I hope he trains people later on in life.

[Log]

Overall, I didn't care for the Hobbs/Wardlow segment, but there was one little thing that I liked. After the car stuff, when Wardlow's music hit, Hobbs squared up and Wardlow came out to take him on head-on. Nothing cutesy, just two big, tough dudes ready to fight.

If they'd cut out the car stuff, and just had Hobbs about to powerbomb Silas, and then Wardlow's music hit and he came out, I'd have personally liked it better.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good pro wrestling beloved-car-gets-destroyed angle as much as the next guy! I just don't think they needed it here.

[Matt D]

Everything Saraya touches sort of lacks logic. Why wouldn't Hayter and Britt come out together? The actual reason is because they wanted Britt coming out to seem like a big moment leading to Britt being back in the scene wrestling wise, but it made no sense in practice.

[Zimbra]

I think the car thing would have been fine if they had introduced the car more than five minutes before it got destroyed.  At least show him driving up in it at the beginning of the show or something.

Also my favorite part of the show was MJF selling his increased frustration with every pompom Sting threw at him.

Edited April 13, 2023 by Zimbra

[JLowe]

40 minutes ago, Craig H said:

BTW, can we just fucking kill this QTV shit already? It doesn't help Hobbs, QT sucks (as an on air personality, as a trainer he's fine), Wardlow is just going to get dragged down further with this. Like, if you want to kill two birds with one stone, just next week have Wardlow destroy all of QTV so they're never seen again, Wardlow gets his heat back by getting rid of a dead weight/2000s WWE Attitude Era faction, and then we can just focus on Hobbs and Wardlow.

I am doing everything I can to manifest this into being.

[Craig H]

Just now, JLowe said:

I am doing everything I can to manifest this into being.

MANIFEST IT HARDER. AND FASTER.

[Log]

17 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

I think the car thing would have been fine if they had introduced the car more than five minutes before it got destroyed.  At least show him driving up in it at the beginning of the show or something.

Also my favorite part of the show was MJF selling his increased frustration with every pompom Sting threw at him.

I happened to catch a thing with the car on Instagram a little before I started watching. Now I can't remember if they showed that clip on the show.

So, there was some reference to the car before the destruction of it. I just can't remember if it was an online-only thing.

[EVA]

I am being completely sincere with the idea that I’m about to throw out, and I’m really hoping to avoid touching the third rail of AEW/WWE tribalism, but I think it’s time we have this discussion:

Orange Cassidy throws a better Superman punch, and finds more interesting ways to work it into his matches, than Roman Reigns ever has.

I know, I know. This is a shocking realization to me, as well. I remember think it was really dumb and never gonna get over when OC first started using it. But, my friends, I am here to say he is now the best at it, and it is very over.

[elizium]

I'm sure this is the time things go differently for Jeff Hardy

[Matt D]

3 minutes ago, elizium said:

I'm sure this is the time things go differently for Jeff Hardy

The sad part is that the least interesting outcome to all of the Ethan Page/Matt Hardy stuff is "Jeff Hardy."

[Go2Sleep]

Only things I didn't like on the show were the women's segment and Silas Young in the jobber spot. Skye Blue vs. The Outcasts is reaching 96 Macho Man vs. NWO levels of not being able to get any kind of win for the babyface whatsoever. Then Jamie and Britt having separate entrances to run in when they're always side by side made no sense. Silas as a jobber makes no sense when he's already been introduced as a credible guy in ROH. Find another local for that spot.

Everything else though was good to great. Swerve and Darby always have great chemistry and was a great way to get Darby a win without Swerve looking bad. While he isn't Darby level, Swerve is also a pretty insane bumper, although it's not the first thing you think about him. The promo afterwards was way better than MJF's other segments with the pillars. Darby's promo felt way more real than the others and got under MJF's skin, plus Sting's still got it. The series of interactions has just confirmed my initial assessment that JB should be the first real challenger that comes up short, Darby should actually win, and Sammy has no business in the main event picture.

Buddy/OC was a MOTYC for sure. I actually thought Buddy was gonna pull it out for second. Malakai picking the bones of OC would make sense, but Buddy has a lot to offer in singles down the road.

Seems like no matter how bad they book Wardlow, he always gets monster pops. Casually letting the forklift run into the car one last time was a nice touch.

Jericho/Lee was a lot better than I expected. Both guys are talented, but this definitely seemed like a match where the chemistry could either be really good or really bad. Glad they landed on the good end of the spectrum. Swerve/Lee feud has gone ice cold now, but at least they remembered it existed. Long-term, I think a Lee/Cole face team could be pretty fun.

 

[porksweats]

42 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

I think the car thing would have been fine if they had introduced the car more than five minutes before it got destroyed.  At least show him driving up in it at the beginning of the show or something.

Also my favorite part of the show was MJF selling his increased frustration with every pompom Sting threw at him.

They showed the car was bought last week during the QTV segment, but it should've had a little more build I agree

[The Natural]

When a vehicle gets destroyed in wrestling, I first think of this:

 

[Matt D]

Re: my last comment;

As the Firm only has three guys in it at this point, if the match for Matt's freedom ends up being an AWA Heenan Family style match with Matt/Jeff/Hook/Kassidy vs Bill/Moriarty/Page/Stokely, I'd kind of be up for that.

Something like this:

Spoiler

 

[JLowe]

7 minutes ago, porksweats said:

They showed the car was bought last week during the QTV segment, but it should've had a little more build I agree

Ah, it was on QTV, that explains why I wasn't aware of it.

[The Natural]

 

[Craig H]

45 minutes ago, EVA said:

I am being completely sincere with the idea that I’m about to throw out, and I’m really hoping to avoid touching the third rail of AEW/WWE tribalism, but I think it’s time we have this discussion:

Orange Cassidy throws a better Superman punch, and finds more interesting ways to work it into his matches, than Roman Reigns ever has.

I know, I know. This is a shocking realization to me, as well. I remember think it was really dumb and never gonna get over when OC first started using it. But, my friends, I am here to say he is now the best at it, and it is very over.

No, you're right. OC hits his out of nowhere. It's like the Diamond Cutter for him. Roman just always telegraphs his.