AEW Dynamite - 5/6/2020

[hammerva]

 

19 minutes ago, Picklesnbeer said:

Hey so help me out. Why is Joey Janela so hated? He's a dime store 1996 Jericho.  He's fine if generally average.

To be fair most of the people that "hate" Janela is because guys like Cornette hate him and they think people will be impressed by that.   In their minds, Joey made a name for himself not by busting his ass on the indies for years but by falling 30 feet off a building doing the Zandig/Nick Mondo Tournament of Death spot.  

Plus Joey is just so unconventional .   The Spring Break concept he and GCW came up with was so different than the usual Wrestlemania weekend shows.    Hell he brought that Leroy guy to the shows which from what I can tell is basically a normal body version of BettleJuice character on Howard Stern

 

[AxB]

15 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I hope FUCKING NAILED IT becomes AEW's "SUCH GOOD SHIT PAL."  But in a good way.

That jobber in the Nyla Rose match sold like a motherfucker.

 

[kenyabaxterZXW]

[Peck]

If you follow Britt on Instagram, she went Live during the backstage brawl. It's worth a watch just for the different camera angles and behind-the-scenes stuff and you also got a different angle of the Sammy bump.

[Craig H]

To be clear, my dislike of Janela in AEW has nothing to do with Cornette. I just think in AEW he fucking sucks and is the least motivated guy in that company. He wrestles and looks like dogshit. I don't know what he was trying to do in his match with Cody, but Cody had to bail him out a couple times. He's doing a sawed off version of 1997 Jericho while having less than half of the athleticism of modern day Jericho.

The Best Friends on the other hand are awesome and I hope they're the next tag champs.

[AxB]

He can do a 450. He's not unathletic. He looks and wrestles like a dirt bag because he's doing a dirtbag character. 

He did say he'd been having depression issues for a lot of 2019 & 2020, and then got mad because dirt sites tried to spin it as he's not happy in AEW. But judging him just on AEW, BTE and Cornette, you're not getting close to the actual picture.

[EVA]

He said “dog shit” not “dirt bag.”

[Jiji]

I think optics in how Janela moves about make him come off poorly on a major national TV show. He runs like he has a stick up his butt or like Chico in Running Man. It is encouraging to see him training hard and hopefully he commits to it because adding in some athleticism could help a lot. 

[HarryArchieGus]

Pretty good outing this week.  

Janela seemed to be working pretty hard in there with Cody.  If Joey's look is going for 1980s job guy he's certainly hit the bullseye.  I'm not a hater, but he would greatly benefit from a classic hardcore wrestler look: t-shirt and cut offs.  It'd mask that frail pale jelly-like frame.  He's got charisma and is a pretty good talker.  I think he would also benefit greatly from being a heel, and as a wrestler-manager.  Give him some free birds, Tony.  

I agree with @Casey on QT being enjoyable as JTTS.  And especially as opposed to winning tag wrestler (Natural Nightmares need to be squashed dead).  Good bout with Archer.  Nice to see manical Jake Roberts.  Schiavone should be lightly reprimanded for making that stupid call - something to the effect of Jake losing interest in Archer for a moment.  Shut up.  Loved the post match DDT from Britt.  Liked the snake spot in theory, but executed was a bit rape-y for my tastes.  And incredibly stupid not to have Cody run out, even late.  He should also have cut a teary promo.  That's pretty brutal shit, no?  JR trying to cover where the dressing rooms were located is nothing more than a solid attempt.  So dumb.  Brandi's pre-match promo however was 'fire' as they say.  So to the Spears bit.  Like to see more of these.   
  
Nyla Rose has become, or is, very underrated on the stick.  I especially love her burying Skeevone at every opportunity.  Did anybody out there see her hilarious promo on QT and Tony from the Road To a few weeks back?  That cannonball dive looked vicious. This squash of Kenzie Paige was really good.  On par with the Archer/Brodie Lee squashes of late.  Curious now of this Kenzie Paige - job well done.

Mox-Kaz was a tight peice of business.  LIked that big slap Kazarian issued there, but should have led to Mox firing back at him hard.  Also, Kazarian had a mid-match tumble to the outside that looked absolutely brutal.  Post match...?  I love Uno and Grayson as a team, but these job guys under masks look so bad.  Especially this '10' they're starting to push a little.  He looked like he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing.  It went too long before Brodie Lee came out and saved the segment.  Love his growly voice.  Excellent promo and attack.  Mox smiling and accepting was a bit goofy, but kinda neat.  Moxley-Lee has little to no intrigue as to the winner.  As much as I'd like to see these two battle, it needs some intrigue to sell as a main event for a $50 viewing.  And in an empty arena.  I'm leaning pass after buying each of the PPVs thus far.

MJF promo was good, but enough of these stupid green screens.  Also, programming the promo followed by another MJF promo seems like somebody didn't review the rundown. 

Main Event was fun.  But... First, I get that a 'Street Fight' makes Enough sense, but I wish they'd do more traditional builds to these gimmicks.  Why not a regular tag match?  Is this feud so heated up that they need a No DQ blow off?  Two, am I the only one that thinks Matt Hardy doing a costume change mid-match is incredibly lame and stupid?  Starting to loathe the goofiness Broken Matt Hardy brings to the promotion.  Having said that, he looked pretty good work wise.  They all looked good.  Those golf cart hits looked dangerous.  Not just Sammy, but Jericho too.  So to Kenny's moonsault (yeah Schiavone you have seen a guy do a higher elevated moonsault before).  I also question the logic of the Inner Circle ganging up on the 'Elite' without anybody stepping in.  I mean there are babyfaces all over during that shit.  Couldn't they have had Santana-Ortiz fuck up the nosy Gunn Club for example?  Still, a fun main event.  I guess in some respects they did kinda 'fucking nail it'.

Bring on Jericho v Pineapple Pete!

[matt925]

Those scissor lifts are obviously very bottom heavy but when you go all the way up on one it feels unstable as shit. I totally cringed on that moonsault. 
 

That screenshot of Kenny and Matt chasing Sammy is so freakin hilarious. Love it. 

[John from Cincinnati]

I love all the people who like Janela explaining why people such as myself dislike Janela and completely missing the mark. 

Edited May 7, 2020 by West Newbury Bad Boy

[Craig H]

56 minutes ago, AxB said:

He can do a 450. He's not unathletic. He looks and wrestles like a dirt bag because he's doing a dirtbag character. 

He did say he'd been having depression issues for a lot of 2019 & 2020, and then got mad because dirt sites tried to spin it as he's not happy in AEW. But judging him just on AEW, BTE and Cornette, you're not getting close to the actual picture.

Why do some of you keep bringing up Cornette with regards to my criticism of Janela? I don't even listen to anything Cornette says anymore because he's a piece of shit. I couldn't care less what Cornette says. And my criticism is of Janela in AEW. I couldn't care less about his JJSB matches or any of his hardcore/death match stuff. It sucks that he had issues with depression, but none of my criticism has to do with how happy he looks in AEW. Also, is a 450 really a barometer of someone's athleticism? Does that make a bunch of shitty backyarders with zero stamina athletic because they can do a 450 too?

40 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

I think optics in how Janela moves about make him come off poorly on a major national TV show. He runs like he has a stick up his butt or like Chico in Running Man. It is encouraging to see him training hard and hopefully he commits to it because adding in some athleticism could help a lot. 

Pretty much this. It's good to see him in the gym, but the dude moves around in the ring and runs like Titus O'Neil. He just looks...clumsy. There's something about his posture when he's moving around that, like you said, makes him look like he has a stick up his butt. His ring attire doesn't help either. Who cares if his gimmick is that he's a beach bum or a dirt bag? Sandman was a dirt bag too, but at least his attire enhanced that appearance. Janela's attire makes him look like trailer trash stumbling over to the gas station for a pack of Marlboro Reds.

[Godfrey]

I don't have a problem with Janella but he definitely needs a hook since he visually doesn't match up to most guys and he can't use bananas hardcore spots to get over every week. He needs a Paul Heyman polish, something to maximize his pros and minimize his cons. Losing straight wrestling matches isn't doing him many favors imo.

Edit to add: I did enjoy his post-match promo on Twitter, even if he didn't say much.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Godfrey

[Craig H]

Also, I think Janela is a prime example of someone hurt by Larry Sweeney's passing. As it is, he also looks like he's doing a tribute to Larry, but man, if Larry were still around, I could see him in AEW managing someone like Janela.

[DJ Hero Morganti]

Man I miss Larry Sweeney.

[Hagan]

Really fun, interesting show. 

- JR was terrible on commentary and just desperately needs to go. What the heck was that "D-Von get the tables" reference the main event? You got the four of the biggest stars in your company and you're making twenty year old Attitude Era references. 

- I thought Janela looked good in that Cody match. He clearly has underwhelmed while in AEW and a lot of posts above are spot on. He clearly has charisma and a unique crowd connection, especially in the Northeast. AEW hasn't cracked the code on him yet and he should be given a shot at some kind of angle to see if he can make it work. AEW has a lot of deathmatch wrestlers with no real avenue to show them. Should they make Dark the "hardcore show?" 

- Brodie vs Mox should be fun and in a way it feels like the blowoff of all the early Dark Order overpushed stuff. Brodie can lose and then they can shift into whatever the act is gonna be (probably more comedy-based). 

- Brandi is a good promo but, man, nothing they've tried with her works. I mean, the best role for her is WCW-era Teddy Long where she just manages a coterie of well-meaning, nice jobbers.

- Britt Baker remains a delight.  

- I think we're on a trajectory where we can build to a big Archer vs Mox match later this year. Good heat angle with Jake and Brandi but really needed a crowd. 

- Main event was fun but I tend to glaze over at these long main event tags. Definitely picked up once it to got to the back and Sami took an ALL TIME bump there. He made it look like he got absolutely murdered. Fantastic. 

- No Bucks and Hangman is hurting the show but it is what it is. 

- Really great, lively overall atmosphere. I have no real comment about the social distancing stuff because so much of this is filtered from where we live, and our social circle and our responsibilities and personal situation and health. I do hate the "but the optics" arguments. Optics are how something looks to an outsider. Basically, it's where people decide that something that doesn't concern them or has no real bearing to them bothers them or offends them in some way. Now, it many cases it is perfectly reasonable to evoke this. In other cases, though, it's just a way for people to make moral judgments. It's wishy-washy. If you think Tony Khan needed to make sure those kids in masks weren't there that's fine and reasonable but i don't think its particularly a big deal. And I mean the "it's bad Jake took his mask off " argument is dumb too. Dr. Fauci is at press conferences on TV not wearing a  mask. The reporters at the the White House press conferences aren't wearing masks. I would suggest focusing less on optics because that's all about just making you feel better or for people to Covid-shame people for not being as monastic as them. 

   

[The Great ML]

1 hour ago, Craig H said:

To be clear, my dislike of Janela in AEW has nothing to do with Cornette. I just think in AEW he fucking sucks and is the least motivated guy in that company. He wrestles and looks like dogshit. I don't know what he was trying to do in his match with Cody, but Cody had to bail him out a couple times. He's doing a sawed off version of 1997 Jericho while having less than half of the athleticism of modern day Jericho.

The Best Friends on the other hand are awesome and I hope they're the next tag champs.

Co-sign all of this. He’s unathletic. Look at his footwork in the ring. He wrestles like he received sixth place ribbons on Field Day in school.

[AxB]

25 minutes ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

I love all the people who like Janela explaining why people such as myself dislike Janela and completely missing the mark. 

Nothing better than telling someone they've misunderstood your perspective, and then failing to state what your perspective actually is, is there?

[HarryArchieGus]

2 minutes ago, The Great ML said:

Co-sign all of this. He’s unathletic. Look at his footwork in the ring. He wrestles like he received sixth place ribbons on Field Day in school.

This is pretty much the same comment that summed Janela up for me months ago.  Is this kind of a reposting here, or did you sneak that one away from another poster?  Or is it all a coincidence?  

[Craig H]

I loved the main and it was nearly perfect for me. I laughed my ass off at so much absurd shit that went down during that match. The one thing I wanted though, the only thing I didn't get and I understand why it didn't happen, but I fucking wish Hangman would have rolled up in his truck to try to even the odds against the Inner Circle. That would have been awesome.

[Craig H]

2 minutes ago, AxB said:

Nothing better than telling someone they've misunderstood your perspective, and then failing to state what your perspective actually is, is there?

Maybe their perspective isn't anything that you mentioned or that anyone else mentioned, ie Cornette, things Janela does outside of AEW, etc.

[Rocco]

Why are people so hung up on Joey Janela?  His role in AEW has generally been to lose to others and occasionally wrestle a hardcore match.    

[LoneWolf&Subs]

I think Janela can add more to the promotion as a character, but he needs a reason to exist in this world. I actually thought what they had in mind was somebody who nobody believed in, and trying to prove themselves in a major promotion. They have done something like that with him at the beginning, and somewhat in the middle. But they need him to express that character more on TV. If not that then he’d be better off as a heel right now, and fleshing out the Bad Boy character to a new audience, because they are totally relying on whether you knew who he was before AEW.

Edited May 7, 2020 by LoneWolf&Subs

[HarryArchieGus]

@Rocco Why Janella talk?  Because he's on TV giving his opponents hard battles whilst looking like he has no business being even remotely competitive.  It makes his opponents look weak to sell anything for him.  And because his best attribute (his mic skills) are not being utilizied.  
 

48 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Pretty much this. It's good to see him in the gym, but the dude moves around in the ring and runs like Titus O'Neil. He just looks...clumsy. There's something about his posture when he's moving around that, like you said, makes him look like he has a stick up his butt. His ring attire doesn't help either. Who cares if his gimmick is that he's a beach bum or a dirt bag? Sandman was a dirt bag too, but at least his attire enhanced that appearance. Janela's attire makes him look like trailer trash stumbling over to the gas station for a pack of Marlboro Reds.

46 minutes ago, Godfrey said:

I don't have a problem with Janella but he definitely needs a hook since he visually doesn't match up to most guys and he can't use bananas hardcore spots to get over every week. He needs a Paul Heyman polish, something to maximize his pros and minimize his cons. Losing straight wrestling matches isn't doing him many favors imo.

Edit to add: I did enjoy his post-match promo on Twitter, even if he didn't say much.

Great example with the Sandman.  Heyman, even as bad and unhealthy as he looked during the ECW days, understood good apparel style for characters.  They need to get the Badboy the proper apparel asap.  Apparel style ,or presentation of characters in general, is vastly overlooked in AEW.  They need to hire a 'stylist' already.  Has Matt Hardy wore tights before?  That was an odd and terrible look.  Worse than his dated cargos tho? 

I think Joey's a quick fix.  New apparel.  Heel turn.  Wrestler-Manager role.  Utilize his mic skills.  Team him with a big man like Gordy and a technician like Buddy.    

Edited May 7, 2020 by HarryArchieGus

[Craig H]

Just now, HarryArchieGus said:

Why Janella talk?  Because he's on TV giving his opponents hard battles whilst looking like he has no business being even remotely competitive.  It makes his opponents look weak to sell anything for him.  And because his best attribute (his mic skills) are not being utilizied.  
 

Great example with the Sandman.  Heyman, even as bad and unhealthy as he looked during the ECW days, understood good apparell style for characters.  They need to get him the proper apparell asap.    

I think he's a quick fix.  New apparell.  Heel turn.  Wrestler-Manager role.  Utilize his mic skills.  Team him with a big man like Gordy and a technician like Buddy.    

All of this. Someone get Janela an entire drawer full of Zubaz pants and have him wear sleeveless t-shirts. And not baggy t-shirts either because it's not like Janela is fat. Have him wear some Under Armor bullshit or something. I mean, that's my vision for dudes like Janela living in NJ anyway - Zubaz and Under Armor.