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AEW Dynamite - 1/1/2020


Dolfan in NYC

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Cody and Darby have amazing chemistry together. I wouldn't mind them being AEW's Flair/Sting. 

Why set Wardlow up to lose in his debut match? He should have been destroying jobbers for weeks now so Cody beating him means something. 

They really need to get the technical stuff sorted out. They cut off Jurassic Express' promo with music before it was over. 

I liked Taz, JR and Excalibur. Maybe they can rotate Schiavone and Taz, since you know JR ain't going anywhere. 

Edited by BrianS81177
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21 minutes ago, BrianS81177 said:

Why set Wardlow up to lose in his debut match? He should have been destroying jobbers for weeks now so Cody beating him means something. 

Have him lose by DQ. Problem solved.

 

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15 minutes ago, MORELOCK said:

Fuck Canadian Destroyers and fuck the entire concept of Dustin doing one.

I agree with this. It's a classic case of "just because one can do something, should they?"

And when we're talking Dustin Rhodes, the answer is fuck no, Dustin should be doing some sweet punches or a diving lariat or something like that, not suspension-of-disbelief-breaking flippydoos.

 

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Watched about two thirds of the show before having to go to bed since I was up at 2:30 in the damn morning because having dogs is a terrible idea.

Cody v Darby was a really good piece of work. Darby has a gear that not everyone does that brings his matches up a notch and Cody did a great job of making it feel electric by giving Darby so much. Darby hit this suicide dive that looked like he was trying to knock Cody out with it and Lordy Jesus that's a dive. I liked the shoulder work selling from Cody although I think they placed the disaster kick too close to Darby working it on the floor. It also seemed like a shame to put the avalanche code red in the break. Arn was good in his role as coach giving Cody the knees up sign is a really good way to utilize a face manager and the bit with the paper was good as well. I'm not sure why they called him the coach of the Nightmare Family three times during commentary when a) it's just Cody and b) doesn't that muddy the waters with the Nightmare Collective?  Darby's prematch video was bordering on pretentious art house stuff but the part where he grabbed the burning picture of Cody was aces.  Not sure who the Leatherface dude (?) at the entrance was (I know they said it, but I didn't catch it and I'm not sure one sentence would explain it to me). 

4 Way Women's Match was better than I was expecting and I think was actually good. Shida was the star for me and I think she actually got the most crowd support of the bunch.  The crowd seemed actually mad when her Michinoku Driver on Rose didn't get the win. I wonder if having her show back up in the match after the table spot on the floor deflates the closing angle with Riho though? Nothing Riho does looks like it actually hurts, so roll ups being her finish for the most part is okay with me although I think her reign has been a bit of a bust what with the long layoff and lack of any decent feuds. The referee being the one Nyla powerbombed through the table seems like a missed opportunity for continuity for me and should have played some sort of role in the match somewhere.

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STUFF I LIKED:

  • Omega and Pac squaring off in a hate-filled exchange, each daring the other to exchange blows, while the Bucks stand on the floor and watch was one of the best things I've seen on the show.  I love the in-ring action week to week I can admit that sometimes it can feel like there are no stakes and it's more of an exhibition than two guys just trying to fuck each other up.  This felt like something real and was just great.
  • On a related topic, I really enjoyed them turning the Elite's over-willingness to job into a storyline of "we've all been losing more than we've been winning.  Are we still Elite?"  (apologies to Joe Flacco, who has decidedly never been elite)
  • Great storyline continuing Page's disillusionment with the group.
  • From a presentation standpoint, I liked the different look of the arena and enjoy AEW's willingness to let unique spaces stand out, as opposed to WWE's production mentality of making every building (except whatever stadium hosts Mania) look like the same sterilized, homogeneous set.
  • The women's 4 way was good.  Multi-person matches are perfect for disguising Britt Baker, limiting her to just key spots.  The talent difference was still glaring but much better.  Speaking of Baker, this possible heel turn is just what she needs.
  • In-ring, there wasn't a bad match on the show.
  • I've been critical of the overdone outside interference on the show and how bad it makes the refs look.  They did a lot better this week, with a short distraction and quick interference spot in the Guevara/Dustin match.  Nice.
  • Very little Dark Order balanced out the DO overkill last week.  Unless I missed something, no Nightmare Collective stuff this week.  I'm fine with that.
  • Jericho mentioning that the company has 3-4 groups trying to recruit members was hilarious, though it did expose the repetitive booking.

STUFF I DIDN'T LIKE:

  • I don't understand the ratings reset.  The announcers were still talking up rankings despite supposedly everyone being 0-0, unless I missed something.  Can someone explain it?  Along that vein, I know the women's 4 way was a last minute thing, but it makes no sense to have Nyla Rose come back from a suspension for beating up a ref and walk into a title match.
  • I don't need the announcers trying to explain/figure out the Nightmare Family Org Chart. Speaking of, I don't think it's a good look for the top babyface to have a manager, especially one who interferes in matches.
  • Booking needs to be a little more focused.  Are we supposed to be concerned with Statlander/Riho, Rose/Riho, or Baker/Riho?
  • Meltzer constantly puts over MJF as being good as Piper was in his prime.  I think he's good but has a ways to go.  I don't recall Piper stopping to troll the crowd with cheap-heat weaksauce whenever he was afraid he was losing them.  It felt like 2-3 times MJF stopped to insult the fans each time they got too quiet.  Dude, that's some amateur hour shit, one step away from insulting the local sports team.  Let your promo stand on its own.
  • Too many Canadian Destroyers, though the Bucks' rube goldberg double rolling cirque du soliel destroyer was a thing of beauty.
  • Gotta fix those audio issues with backstage promos.
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I really enjoyed this show, and, in the context of bouncing back from a critically panned episode, it was arguably a great one.  I think they addressed or outright course corrected on pretty much all the major booking criticisms from 2 weeks ago.

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Felt like a much more solid show, I had a blast and it flew by. 

Cody/Darby was dope. I love the way these guys work together and the Arn influence played into the finish to get over how he's stepping up Cody's game. I have the feeling these two will work together on and off for a while and when Darby finally gets that win it's going to be huge.

Women's 4-way wound up being better than I thought. Shida is a beast with some of those power spots and the crowd was noticeably bummed when Nyla kicked out of that driver. These matches are good for Britt since she can come in and hit her moves without needing to keep a match together. Riho looked alright in this but didn't stand out that much. I think the money is in a Statlander/Shida feud eventually, they both seem to connect with the audience really well. And I personally would enjoy the women's division more if it was about competition and not collecting hair samples. I want to feel the hate but that requires a multiple week 1 on 1 confrontations and so far they can't seem to put that together.

Dustin/Sammy was good too but I'm also in the camp that the apron Destroyers should be saved for another wrestler/time/place. That's not the AEW brand and I should get past it but it still irks me. Sammy's crowd work with Mox was good stuff too, if he's in a position to learn from Jericho every week he could be a top heel at some point.

The main was a great sprint and I dug the Kenny/PAC showdown section the most. Elite had to win, of course, and nobody suffered in that loss. The celebration at the end and Adam Page not joining in worked for me. I've been there, buddy, I've been there.

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9 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I don't think it's spammimg if it's relevant to the very show we're discussing. 

He made no comments, and just posted a gif of someone he wanks it to doing an awkward celebration after her match. It's not really relevant to anything, and he literally got told the other day to stop posting stuff like that in the photo threads. 

Back to AEW. I'm not sure they should take the belt off Jericho, but Moxley probably can't take a loss to him without it being seen as being jobbed. Fozzy has some concerts scheduled for April/May, but never on a Wednesday, so it looks like they are scheduling around Jericho's wrestling schedule, which blows up my theory of him dropping the belt, leaving for a tour, letting Mox beat some other guys, and then coming back later in 2020 for a rematch. 

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Dustin has now wrestled in five different decades as of last night (debuted in 1988). Props to the man, especially after those pretty rough years he was working through.

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4 hours ago, MORELOCK said:

Fuck Canadian Destroyers and fuck the entire concept of Dustin doing one.

Guevara posted a gif of it in slow-mo and it looked DANGEROUS.  Guevara’s head bounced right off the edge of the ring and his neck bends awkwardly.  

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3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I don't think it's a good look for the top babyface to have a manager, especially one who interferes in matches.

In spite of him cutting a quality babyface promo from time to time, I still don't buy Cody as a straight babyface. He's always one temper tantrum away from wailing on an underdog babyface with his weight belt. 

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Moxley vs Trent

Nice main eventer vs midcarder match here. Trent looked good and has done so previously in the singles match with Pac.  It might benefit him to concentrate on being a singles guy as Taylor hasn't really caught on with me yet. Moxley to me has to up the tempo a little bit as him throwing on side headlocks seems counter to his character. He's at his best when he feels out of control and barely keeping from bursting through his skin. He does do a good job of shifting between the two states but the lower gear is less interesting to me. Dat lariat dough. I'm glad he didn't do the kick spot with Cassidy as that really wouldn't have worked for Jon's character and the pockets deal was more in character. I'm more in love with Orange as a random appearance machine than coming in with the Best Friends, maybe having him in the crowd would have scratched that itch. 

I'm not in on the recruitment to the Innner Circle angle. I cannot imagine Mox actually joining Jericho so it is either a waste of time or Mox's character is destroyed.

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