AEW Dynamite - 5/13/2020

[Casey]

It's a good idea to move away from Blood & Guts, since that's definitely a match that needs to be in a packed arena and who knows when that'll be. I'm curious as to what happened to the Elite Deletion that Matt Hardy challenged Jericho to during the Georiga tapings. I'm still definitely here for the Stadium Stampede, though. That sounds amazing.

3 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

She's been DZ this whole time. 

Wait, does that mean Jake Hager is actually Southside Jim???

[EVA]

4 minutes ago, Casey said:

 

Wait, does that mean Jake Hager is actually Southside Jim???

No, that’s Hoardak.

Edited May 14, 2020 by EVA

[Dewar]

I would love to know the thought process behind Cody with the truck, because it was lame as fuck, and extremely sports entertainy. Good brawl, but would have accomplished just as much by having him come out on the stage.

Solid show outside of the lame truck. I'm guessing the Elite for this Stadium Stampede will be the Bucks, Omega, Page and Hardy.

[The Green Meanie]

Poor Lee Johnson, what did he do to deserve this treatment?

Loved the episode, solid matches all around (minus the Pineapple Pete match) and I'm definitely all in for the Stadium Stampede.

[Curt McGirt]

1 hour ago, Peck said:

The uproar on this board when Tyson knocks out Archer with an uppercut will be fabulous.

Or (and I don't remember this at all)...

As for the show I tried to pay attention to the whole thing this time and just couldn't. Two cool things were looking up to see Jungle Boy eating a back suplex off an attempted dive and a punch that Sugar D gave Jericho that was nice and stiff looking. Women's match was okay I guess. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

LOL @ Jericho ripping off Lando Calrissian when Vanguard 1 showed up.

[Jenalysis]

7 hours ago, Casey said:

God help us if Maki Itoh ever wrestles for AEW.

Didn't Kenny try to bring her over?

Then again, she'd use up Jericho's swear allowance and that can't happen.

[Fighting a man with a perm]

Agree with @Casey and @LoneWolf&Subs on the truck being silly. Same could be said for Mox storming into the arena about an hour before he actually attacked anyone. What was he doing for that hour??

My boy Orteeeeeez brought some next level stooging in the tag. The wrestler most likely to make me laugh out loud at the moment. 

Did JR say, "we all know women hate every other woman" or something to that effect at the end if the 4-way? Jeezus! Thought the 4-way was good, Britt really bringing the character and some impressive spots in the match like Statlander catching Penelop after initially losing her grip. 

Considering the limitations they've done a good job building up the PPV. It's only €22 on Fite in Ireland rather than $50 so think I'll buy it. Stadium stampede looks fun, interested to see how the ladderatch goes, nyla-shida should be fun, plus Cody always brings it at PPV. 

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by Fighting a man with a perm
Stupid typo on Mox

[LoneWolf&Subs]

6 hours ago, Casey said:

I'm curious as to what happened to the Elite Deletion that Matt Hardy challenged Jericho to during the Georiga tapings. I'm still definitely here for the Stadium Stampede, though. That sounds amazing.

It looks like they just stumbled onto a better format for empty arena gimmick matches, and are running with it. We’ll just probably never see the compound like we speculated.

RIP Vanguard One

Edited May 14, 2020 by LoneWolf&Subs

[Coletti]

JR did indeed say that line about women hating each other

Britt Baker is just bad in the ring, which is a bummer. 

Rey Fenix flying into the frame like Liu Kang was the fucking best. 

[J.T.]

Solid card for the most part, but wasn't particularly crazy about the clowning of Pineapple Pete.

I agree with the criticisms of the women's match.  Shida is on a helluva roll, so it might not have been a terrible idea to elevate Kris with a solid win.  Britt Baker is a great talker but she may have the single worst superkick in the history or wrestling.

[Rev Ray]

Suge saying he's been wrestling 16 years made me feel ancient. 

[The Man Known as Dan]

Maybe I’m just an asshole, but between Omega 50/50 stuff and Jericho just dismantling Suge, but I think Segunda Caida got it right when they said AEW needs to watch some WCW to find the formula for one sided 5 minute matches. How hard is it to run “superior heel has a few minutes of control, slips on a banana peel or underestimates his opponent, face gets a brief run with a couple big moves, then heel cuts him off and finished him quickly”? Cause it feels like nobody remembers that match.

[Godfrey]

Ortiz is the best comedy wrestler going today. That one bump he took to the floor and flopped was absurd.

Baker and Shida were both good tonight. Looking forward to their PPV matches too. Baker especially is coming into her own. Shida is still weirdly strong and having her get one last win on her way to challenge for the title makes sense to me, especially since Kris didn't exactly nail that match. 

Jake knows how to get heat, I'll give him that. I'm into Cody/Archer, they've built it well although a blood feud AND a tournament final in one match is a hat on a hat.

Jericho/Pete was a little underwhelming, I was wondering how much Chris would give him but 'almost nothing' wasn't my first pick.

[HarryArchieGus]

7 hours ago, christopher.annino said:

Britt Baker is just bad in the ring, which is a bummer. 

I'm with you.  The heel turn has certainly helped her become an entertaining character, but her in ring work continues to be so weak.  That springboard stunner spot with Ford was embarrassing.  Nothing says 'cosplay' more than the ill-prepared for the national stage AEW women's division.  Especially the multi-woman matches.  Not to say that match didn't have moments, but I cringed throughout.  I also cringe when they do these live interviews with Shida.  Why?  Loved, however, Nyla saving the segment.  Nyla Rose has sorta kinda become an underrated performer.  Her character work and promos have been really strong.   

The Cody truck bit was really bad.  What happened I wonder?  Cody's attack however was good.  Dug those firey punches.  Maybe it's just the empty arena times, but something feels slightly off about this Archer-Cody build.  Also, incredibly underwhelming Mike Tyson add-in.    

Alex Marvez says 'I've never seen Moxley like this'.  What the fuck was any different about his demeanor in that moment?  Why even have Marvez back there?  Just show Mox arriving.  And yeah, time it out.  As somebody already mentioned - is he just back there stewing for an hour?  The details are being too overlooked during these pandemic shows.  Timing issues especially - remember last week when Cody was nowhere to be found as his wife was basically sexually assaulted by Jake Roberts. 

Best Friends-Jurassix was alright.  The extra booking weight on the finish worked out really well.  That Chuck Taylor scoop piledriver spot is fantastic.  Rey Fenix - glad to have you back!  

Hardy/Omega-Santana/Ortiz was alright.  Kinda neat how everybody seems to be taking the 'Twist of Fate' like a brainbuster.  I find Ortiz's comedy hit and miss. I dig the tiger-style back rake, goofy headbutt, etc.  I don't dig his obvious clear positioning for moves - which happens in every match and makes me cringe.  Some of the goofy selling is too showy in a takes away from the intensity of the battle kinda way.  Edit: Almost forgot how awesome Sammy was hobbling to the ring with the neckbrace.  One of the highlights of the night for me.

MJF  squash and segment was really strong.  I don't think Mjeff has ever looked so ferocious.   

The Jericho-Pete squash was excellent.  Loved every one minute of it.  Perfect booking.  Didn't love Pete, all smiles, accepting heel Jericho's insulting joke name.  It felt too close to bad stereotypes for my taste.  Jericho's post match promo was solid, but I hope stomping out the drone helps bring an end to the Hardy era goofiness.  Doubt it.  

And why does the entire Inner Circle scram when broken down Matt Hardy, by himself, hobbles to the ring in near tears?  

Lee-Daniels was really good.  Lee continues to impress.  That's the best Daniels has looked in awhile.  I'm convinced that Lee is really something special.  He's definitely the best big man in the company by a longshot.  I really liked the post match brawl and powder as well.  Good heel stuff there.  Moxley's promos always end up fine after some inevitable awkwardness.  Maybe Jon oughtta sacrifice some of the fun of shooting from the hip by better developing what he's going to actually say. 

I'm very interested to see what Moxley and Lee can do at the PPV.  Still leaning 'not buying in'.  Stadium Stampede sounds like a good idea, but do I need to see more of last week's main event style?  Not really clamouring for Archer-Cody or Shida-Nyla or Mjeff-Jungle Jack.  Strangely, sorta interested to see how this ladder cluster works out.  Not sure any of these matches make me wanna drop $50 during frugal covid times for goofy pandemic era AEW.  I suppose there's another week to add some fuel to it. 

p.s. was Tony Schiavone confusing Brodie Lee for Lance Archer with his comment 'he beats ppl up on the way to the ring'?

Edited May 14, 2020 by HarryArchieGus

[odessasteps]

Maybe they also changed the Blood n Guts name partially after the whole SAC fine. 

[AxB]

If nothing else, this episode really let you know how much of Santana & Ortiz' presentation comes courtesy of their Barbers. Santana with his thug buzz cut grown out into a GQ office worker look was a lot less intimidating. Ortiz with the Brody/ Snuka wildfro was good though.

If you think back to the first DoN, a year ago, coming out of that show MJF looked like a star and Sammy looked like a flippy indie guy. But now, MJG has been stop start all year, while Sammy is looking like the MVP of recent American Wrestling all of a sudden.

[LoneWolf&Subs]

Actually you can tell of all the AEW wrestlers, the New York crew of Santana & Ortiz, and MJF don’t have home gyms. There were times I was watching that tag, and thought Proud & Powerful looked like Eddie Kingston. On the other hand, even if MJF looked deflated, this was probably the best match he’s had at looking like a serious performer. That double arm into the reverse shoulder breaker looked super nasty.

Edited May 14, 2020 by LoneWolf&Subs

[Web Conn]

For how much they hyped it up I'm disappointed Pineapple Pete didn't get any offense, It could have still been a sort match but I would have liked to see a tie up wip leap from arm drag with Jericho taking a powder collecting himself maybe underestimating Pete but no we got the Judas Effect right away. 

[Curt McGirt]

9 hours ago, Fighting a man with a perm said:

My boy Orteeeeeez brought some next level stooging in the tag.

The delayed faceplant for the Dragon facing the hard cam was inspired. That looked like something Wile E. Coyote would do in a Roadrunner cartoon.

9 hours ago, Fighting a man with a perm said:

Did JR say, "we all know women hate every other woman" or something to that effect at the end if the 4-way? Jeezus!

It also felt like he was trying to hold his tongue instead of sleazing over Penelope at points. Maybe that's just me, but anyway. 

1 hour ago, HarryArchieGus said:

MJF  squash and segment was really strong.  I don't think Mjeff has ever looked so ferocious.   

Forgot all about this and yeah it was really good. MJF is the last guy I can see doing a squash because he is the quintessential chickenshit heel, but he killed it here.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Curt McGirt

[NikoBaltimore]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

It also felt like he was trying to hold his tongue instead of sleazing over Penelope at points. Maybe that's just me, but anyway. 

If he was trying to hold his tongue it wasn't successful that's for sure.  I picked up on it right away and while I do agree with those sentiments I don't need to hear him or anybody else go on about it on commentary.  Maybe he should ask Jericho how he was able to effectively point out one's looks without sounding like a perv.  Because he managed to talk about her pants and it somehow fit into Jericho's wacky-ass character.

[caley]

15 hours ago, Dewar said:

I would love to know the thought process behind Cody with the truck, because it was lame as fuck, and extremely sports entertainy. Good brawl, but would have accomplished just as much by having him come out on the stage.

Solid show outside of the lame truck. I'm guessing the Elite for this Stadium Stampede will be the Bucks, Omega, Page and Hardy.

The thought process of the truck was that Cody wanted to show off his truck with his stupid logo on it; just like the Jericho-Mox thing was for Tony K to show off his car.  That’s it. 

It was the lamest thing in wrestling this week.  If he had driven it through a bunch of barricades etc. But he drove it like ten feet and gingerly knocked over one barricade in order to protect his truck from getting dented. That whole angle with Jake Roberts going from guy who has a grudge against Cody and his family to old-timey chauvinist who gets sexually aroused watching Archer matches went all kinds of sideways over the last week.  

10 hours ago, Fighting a man with a perm said:

Agree with @Casey and @LoneWolf&Subs on the truck being silly. Same could be said for Mox storming into the arena about an hour before he actually attacked anyone. What was he doing for that hour??

My boy Orteeeeeez brought some next level stooging in the tag. The wrestler most likely to make me laugh out loud at the moment. 

Did JR say, "we all know women hate every other woman" or something to that effect at the end if the 4-way? Jeezus! Thought the 4-way was good, Britt really bringing the character and some impressive spots in the match like Statlander catching Penelop after initially losing her grip. 

Considering the limitations they've done a good job building up the PPV. It's only €22 on Fite in Ireland rather than $50 so think I'll buy it. Stadium stampede looks fun, interested to see how the ladderatch goes, nyla-shida should be fun, plus Cody always brings it at PPV. 

 

I think people, in general, are a little too hard/picky on JR’s commentary.  But he was DREADFUL last night:

-the quoted comment about all women hating each other which seemed like a leftover line from Jake’s promo

-Comparing Statlander to a linebacker 

-drooling over Ford and talking about Sabian being a lucky man

-complaining about Tiger Style because it’s never won a match, then praising a move in a later match and Tony throwing it right back at him

-his bizarre non-sequitur about men and their relationships with inanimate objects in light of Vanguard being destroyed 

-He also seemed to be in full-on WWE nostalgia mode, referring to the Hardyz WWE days, quoting his own “hellfire and brimstone” line that he used to use for Kane and there was another that I forgot

A couple other things;

-I think the Darby-Tazz stuff is wrong-headed.  Part of Darby’s appeal is his mystery; I don’t wanna know about his college wrestling acumen.  If he’s not able to be there, just let him tape some more of those B&W vignettes. 

-The rankings system is so bad right now.  When they talked about Jurassic being #4 because they are 3-0 this YEAR which means they are barely averaging one match per month is absolutely silly. 

-MJF’s squash/promo were good

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by caley

[LoneWolf&Subs]

13 minutes ago, caley said:

his bizarre non-sequitur about men and their relationships with inanimate objects in light of Vanguard being destroyed 

 

I thought that was hilarious. Especially with the wrestlers showing off their gaming room all over Instagram.

[Casey]

14 minutes ago, caley said:

just like the Jericho-Mox thing was for Tony K to show off his car

That wasn't Tony Khan's car.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

2 hours ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

Actually you can tell of all the AEW wrestlers, the New York crew of Santana & Ortiz, and MJF don’t have home gyms. 

If I had to guess, they're probably on small calorie surpluses in order to retain muscle and are a little softer as a result.