AEW Dynamite - 9/9/2020

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[AxB]

That's a strange form of signing bonus, but OK. There's also Dustin Rhodes vs Brodie Lee for the TNT title, and Orange Cassidy vs Angelico (!)

[Flair’s Shadow]

Enzo showing up tonight as best man?

 

[Casey]

Steamboat's Shadow told me it was Miro.

[Flair’s Shadow]

12 minutes ago, Casey said:

Steamboat's Shadow told me it was Miro.

Huummmm.......I never met this Steamboat Shadow who defeated my human on a couple of occasions with fluke wins.

Enzo as best man to play off of Janela’s history with Penelope?

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Flair’s Shadow

[Dolfan in NYC]

[Death From Above]

MIRO IS HERE FUCK YEAH I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT OTHER STUFF TOO BUT MIRO IS HERE

So this was the first time in a while AEW has actually executed a live TV where there weren't a few head scratching production things. Good sign. Nice being able to actually hear fans at a show again too.

Lucha Bros/Jungle Express was alright. Are we really heading towards a Rey Fenix vs Penta match? I'm down with it if we are.

Matt Hardy's promo was nice, I kind of expected it to lead into an angle, because wrestling is wrestling. This felt kinda like PR work but at least it was good PR work.

Cassidy/Angelico was fun while it lasted, these guys could easily have more time. I'm actually really into this Best Friends vs Santana/Ortiz feud as it progressively gets nastier and nastier. Looking forward to that match a lot, to be honest.

Kip Sabian's comedy stuff was fine, I didn't mind it. You know how a lot of people look at Warhorse and see nothing but An Indie Nerd? That's also kinda how I feel about Brian Pillman Jr. MIRO IS HERE FUCK YEAH

Wardlow is going to absolutely murder MJF someday. Like just powerbomb him right through the ring. It's gonna be great.

Jericho/Hagar vs Janella/Kiss was honestly much better a 50/50 match than I expected. Fun match. Jericho winning through pure shitheeling with a fire extinguisher then instantly getting on the mic to ask the fans to cheer for him is Chef's Kiss stuff. 

Tully Blanchard is speaking, of course it's good. They let FTR speak anyway and for the first time since they got here, I actually enjoyed it. Miro has blessed this show, clearly. The payoff needed a face in a cake, goddammit. Dumping some ice on them isn't getting it there. How DARE you tease me with a cake in a wrestling ring and no one's face goes into it. HOW DARE YOU

Taz and Ricky Starks mocking Darby Allen is good stuff.

Welcome to AEW Tay Conti. Prepare to die. Nyla Rose putting someone in an armlock just so she can bite their fingers seems like some Monster Ripper approved bullshit. This actually had some neat stuff in it. There were a couple moments where things were a half second slower than they should have been but I can make that same critique of every single Luchasaurus and Sonny Kiss match too, so spare me the "women's division is doomed" thing. The finish was fucking great.

I think it's a little odd there was zero build on this show whatsoever towards Dustin vs. Brodie Lee. Not a single mention of it or promo package leading into the TNT title match. I don't know how much Dustin has left in the tank but the guy can absolutely throw good strikes, and sell. Both guys really laid their shit in. This would have been excellent if not for the fucked up piledriver attempt, but it was still pretty good. Good main event.

JR was on his best behaviour tonight and the whole announce team got along. Everyone can calm down.

[For Great Justice]

Man there was some amazing mic work on this show. Kingston, Mox, Starks. 

[Shadow]

Happy Miro Day!

[Curt McGirt]

No head scratchers? They screwed up the opening theme! Also the fans were ragging on the ref ("He Can't Count") in the main though I didn't think he did anything wrong. 

Glad to see Miro no sold everyone and managed the Moxley. Also that he was effortlessly moving from elated to pissed and back.

Lots and LOTS of talking this show, but the main was a nice potato-fest. Take in mind this was two older guys as well, 40 and 51, doing and taking ranas and Canadian Destroyers. Respect.

 

[Godfrey]

Really good show overall. The crowd sounded better and it helped. Some notes:

• Lucha Express/Jurassic Bros was another great showing from Jungleboy but I also dug Luchasaurus and that wild ass chokeslam to Fenix. Silly finish but a great post-match promo from Kingston, I could watch him break up fights all night.
• Angelico/OC was tremendous, great way to get both guys over in a short match. I thought we were done with PnP/Best Friends but they talked me back into the arena, I'm into seeing what these guys will do in a parking lot. Hopefully nothing too dangerous, of course.
• Hahaha, Marvez.
• MIRO DAY! Kip's promo leading up to that was a little obnoxious but he's a heel so that tracks. Miro going all Chong Li never gets old. Excited to see what he can do on what is now a stuffed roster. Fortunately, Miro can easily switch between goofy and deadly which will give him a lot of shelf life.
• Moxley cuts another great promo. So does Tully Blanchard. So does Ricky Starks. MJF and Wardlow splitting will be a lot of fun, I hope Wardlow makes an effective babyface because he'll be turning on one of the best heels in the world. I thought Matt Hardy was going to retire at first. Hope he gets and stays healthy.
• Conti/Rose was rad. I like Conti's style, using her background lets her stand out. Nyla is getting really good too. 
• Main event was some quality wrestling. Dustin may not have much left in the tank but he can still go and he and Lee meshed really well here. Brodie Lee is so good, I hope he gets a long reign too, he's earned it.

[EVA]

I really liked this show.  

Jungle Boy looked better at lucha than the Lucha Bros tonight.

Loved the hoss fight in the main event.

[Curt McGirt]

Forgot to mention the No DQ tag, I liked it a fair bit too, Sonny was very impressive. Sticking Jericho and Hager together in the tag mix works. 

Funniest thing all episode was the little bald fart from Dark Order (sorry I can't remember his name) getting pump kicked in the chest by Dustin hahaha

[Casey]

Miro thing was telegraphed ever since Saturday when Kip mentioned having a best man, then plugged his Twitch channel. He's in a wrestling collective type group with Miro, Creed, Cesaro, Breeze, Evil Uno, Aiden English, etc. And if you're going to put something like this on a prime slot on TNT, it better be a big debut, so of course, yeah, it's Miro. That's great, I thought he'd stay retired since Twitch can be lucrative if you're a celebrity and/or good at games and get a following, but hey, working once a week (twice if it's a PPV week) isn't a bad gig. Funny that Lana had to delete her tweet about him being on Dynamite, when by all accounts it was just referencing his new hair color or outfit or something.

Omega/Hangman/Bucks continues to be the most compelling story in wrestling, sorry Sasha Banks and Bayley.

Wardlow is going to turn on MJF, and it'll be soon, and it will be amazing. It's a shame we aren't headed towards full capacity events anytime soon most likely, because that would make any arena's roof explode I'd bet.

Tay Conti, while not there yet, will be really good when she IS there. That's the thing with a lot of their division - green and rough around the edges, but they all have something going for them that makes it fun to watch, rather it's Tay, or Abadon, or even Anna Jay. I love Tay's BJJ transitions and moves and shit. Also, when she came out, she was about to cry. 

Anyone else think that Cody announcement, when it was happening, was about to announce that the second AEW show was going to be something like Tough Enough? I sure did, and I'm glad it's just another shitty TBS game show that I won't watch.

Oh and I guess Brodie/Dustin was cool too. Just two big ol' guys slappin' meat. I'm here for that type of shit, as long as I also get my indyriffic wrestling and Eddie Kingston continues to backfist people into the future/past (hopefully coming to Dynamite soon!). Speaking of - where are they going with the Kingston thing? He mentioned not being eliminated, then Lance Archer's future AEW title shot is announced for the anniversary show. He mentioned Blade's wife, Allie, so now I'm supposed to think they're either separated or Blade is a cuck? I'm so confused but Kingston talking is never a bad thing.

EDIT: @Curt McGirt They were chanting "He Kicked Out" towards Brodie Lee.

Edited September 10, 2020 by Casey

[bodyslamdunk]

Very excited for Miro. Someone in another topic mentioned that they don’t think he’s making bank on Twitch, which is absolutely not true. He def doesn’t NEED wrestling money, so I was nervous we wouldn’t see him again, at least not for a long time.

Mox / Archer does nothing for me at the moment. AEW, unlike WWE, actually acknowledges the history of the roster in other promotions (which I love). Mox beat Archer in the Tokyo Dome eight months ago. In that time, Mox has grown and improved, where Archer has almost regressed (definitely not coming across as strongly as he was in the G1). I know, different companies, but if you follow the character arcs this should be an eeeeasy win for Mox. I also think Jake is taking away from Archer at this point, rather than adding anything. Archer should be doing what we’ve been wanting from Roman Reigns forever—forget the long promos, just show up and absolutely demolish people. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they’ll take it in an interesting direction. They’ve got over a month to build.

That Matt Hardy promo, woof. I get they wanted the company to save face, but having his wife out there, when she’s been ridiculously critical of how everything’s been handled, came across incredibly phony to me.

[Death From Above]

Miro's twitch viewer count is... okay. It's nothing special. I have no idea what his sub count is. The idea he's been tearing it up on twitch honestly sounds a lot like people who don't follow enough channels to know what they're talking about.

[Curt McGirt]

So Twitch is people paying to watch other people do good at video games? Is that correct? 

[NikoBaltimore]

3 minutes ago, crazypook said:

That Matt Hardy promo, woof. I get they wanted the company to save face, but having his wife out there, when she’s been ridiculously critical of how everything’s been handled, came across incredibly phony to me.

I loved the show but I was incredibly confused about all this. And if Hardy's taking time to recover then it sure is going to add fuel to those who feel he didn't pass protocol. 

[Godfrey]

Oh, and I'm stoked for Thunder Rosa/Ivelisse next week. They've wrestled a few times before with mixed results but both women are better now than 2018 so it should be a good one.

[For Great Justice]

Is it time to trim the roster? There were so many talented guys that either weren’t on this show (Sammy, Scorp, Darby, Thunder Rosa, Abadon, Cage, and Cody and Pac will be back) or were on for less than two minutes each (Bucks, Page, Omega, Shida, several others).

Ignoring what they might be contributing off screen, I’m not sure what value Hardy, Daniels, Kaz, QT, Gunn Club, Hybrid 2, Kip Sabian (we’ll see where this goes with Miro though), Janela and a few others add to this show. 

I guess my suggestions are Miro is the last person I’d sign for a while, trim the talent base and develop Dark into a vehicle that actually materially moves stories forward. 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

I enjoyed tonight's show more than All Out. 

[bodyslamdunk]

He has about 5,000 subscribers. After Twitch’s cut, that’s good for $12.5k per month, not counting ads, donations, or sponsorship. Define “tearing it up.”

[Casey]

1 minute ago, For Great Justice said:

Is it time to trim the roster? There were so many talented guys that either weren’t on this show (Sammy, Scorp, Darby, Thunder Rosa, Abadon, Cage, and Cody and Pac will be back) or were on for less than two minutes each (Bucks, Page, Omega, Shida, several others).

Ignoring what they might be contributing off screen, I’m not sure what value Hardy, Daniels, Kaz, QT, Gunn Club, Hybrid 2, Kip Sabian (we’ll see where this goes with Miro though), Janela and a few others add to this show. 

I guess my suggestions are Miro is the last person I’d sign for a while, trim the talent base and develop Dark into a vehicle that actually materially moves stories forward. 

Dark is never going to be what you want it to be. The second show will be what you're asking for, most likely. Think of Dark like Sunday Night Heat or Shotgun Saturday Night, while the new show is supposed to be like a 1hr version of Smackdown or something.

[Death From Above]

1 minute ago, crazypook said:

He has about 5,000 subscribers. After Twitch’s cut, that’s good for $12.5k per month, not counting ads, donations, or sponsorship. Define “tearing it up.”

I have legit never seen him clock over 1K viewers at a time so that's a shocking number if accurate. Most people at his viewer count would be more like a quarter to a third of that sub total, but I'll grant he clearly has a unique audience that may not fit into the usual predictions.

[Jiji]

29 minutes ago, Death From Above said:

Are we really heading towards a Rey Fenix vs Penta match? I'm down with it if we are.

Haven't watched a damn thing yet but I need it, DFA. I need it more than anything you could imagine. Big solo dolo pushes for the both of them. YES, FUCKING PLEASE. If things work out for 'em both as well as I think they could, there will be plenty of time for a reuniting and a tag title run down the road. Tag division is loaded as is.