AEW Dynamite - 11/11/2020

[Burgundy LaRue]

Brandi's promo came across as what someone thinks a 'sassy' Black woman sounds like when arguing. There are some Black women who do. But I'll venture to say Brandi Rhodes doesn't fall into that category, hence the code switching.

I saw way too many White fans say Brandi went 'hood.' As if they or Brandi have a clue about that. They're going to the lowest common denominator based on ignorance and dumb perception.

That's the problem. It's largely a stereotype for Black women. Loud. Cursing. Angry. Threatening to be violent. With so few Black women in high-profile positions in wrestling, it can cause Black women performers to be even more marginalized among certain fanbases. I can almost guarantee that Jade will get 'ratchet' catcalls from this.

I'm not going to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't like, because no group is a monolith. But seeing this happen repeatedly in all forms of entertainment is frustrating, to say the least. 

[AxB]

We had a few fun wrestling bubble moments when MJF was plagiarising Drake lyrics (and denying he knew who Drake was). It was all "Eli Drake did a rap album?" "No, it must be HT Drake." "Who, Drake Maverick?".

Ortiz and Sammy looking downcast at getting their Vegas tickets, while Santana was actually quite into it... if this was WWE we'd assume they were splitting them up, but I don't think that's the deal here.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

2 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

To me, Butcher and Blade still feel like they could be something cool, while there's nothing at all special about the Natural Nightmares.  QT Marshall has never meant anything anywhere (not hating, just stating, as Konnan says) and Dustin is on the tail end of his career.  One teams feels like they should be doing something while the other feels like they should be putting up and coming teams over.

I said this in the discord: I am not a QT fan whatsoever, but he looked awesome here. Depending on how long they're stuck running only Jax due to Covid, I could see him possibly settling into a lovable loser, Dreamer-esque role with that crowd.

[John from Cincinnati]

3 hours ago, El Gran Gordi said:

Yeah, Cody Rhodes is such a selfish, self-centred pro wrestler! Can anyone  even remember the last time he put someone over clean in the middle of the ring?

I get that you're joking, but I wouldn't call that result representative of the totality of his booking. As far as putting someone over clean, he's done it three times in over a year. He took the fall in the tag match w/Dustin vs the Bucks, but that's the Bucks' realm and they should be winning that. He lost clean to Brodie, but got his win back immediately. And then he lost to Darby after a year+ of build. 

Not that I disagree with how he's booked. He's a top guy and he should be booked strong. But his schtick is way over-seasoned and he's always positioned as an important part of the overall AEW product. I really like his work, but reading "selfish" or "self-centerted" isn't outlandish. I can see how some people reach that conclusion. 

Edited November 13, 2020 by Andy in Kansas

[John from Cincinnati]

17 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Great way of putting it. Like if I could pick a team from when I was a kid to compare them to, id say Meng/Barbarian. Yes they're mostly enhancement, but you have em pick up a few wins on the mothership or whatever, and they're instantly believable against the Steiners or the Heat. Same deal here I feel.

This is such a good comparison. If Blade has the occasional Meng vs Benoit singles match in him, then yeah, that's about where I've got them slotted in my head. 

[Curt McGirt]

Since I was at work last night I just FF'd to the Bunkhouse match. Baffles me how Dustin didnt bleed.

[Wyld Samurai]

33 minutes ago, AxB said:

We had a few fun wrestling bubble moments when MJF was plagiarising Drake lyrics (and denying he knew who Drake was). It was all "Eli Drake did a rap album?" "No, it must be HT Drake." "Who, Drake Maverick?".

As much as I love what the NWA was doing- I'd absolutely be thrilled to see Eli Drake in AEW.

[dragonzombie]

Boopy doo here are your ratings 

AEW: 764,000

NXT: 632,000

[The Great ML]

14 hours ago, cubbymark said:

I'm all here for Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson joining Shaq and jumping Cody 4 on 1. Inside the NBA invasion of AEW will be bigger and better than the Battle Dome invasion of WCW.

The moment Kenny Smith tries to put the boots to Cody, his inverted knees will snap in half.

[Mike Campbell]

4 hours ago, Casey said:

EDIT: Oh, and I think the large majority of fans will say that they think the Dark Order turned a corner because of BTE, not anything that's happened on Dynamite. Perhaps the Nightmare Family beatdown, but they were already into "entertaining as fuck" territory well before that.

I've been saying it for a while now. Intentional or not, John Silver's goofball in contrast to ultra serious Brodie looks just like Raven and Stevie Richards. Silver's PPV match with Cassidy only made it more clear that he can definitley be somebody in the promotion.  The other thing that bothers me about the Dark Order is when they bring out the masked dudes with only numbers, Excalibur basically shits on it.  Justin Roberts introduces them at "5" or "10" and Excalibur is telling everyone that they're Alan Angels and Preston Vance.

[TheVileOne]

2 hours ago, Burgundy LaRue said:

Brandi's promo came across as what someone thinks a 'sassy' Black woman sounds like when arguing. There are some Black women who do. But I'll venture to say Brandi Rhodes doesn't fall into that category, hence the code switching.

I saw way too many White fans say Brandi went 'hood.' As if they or Brandi have a clue about that. They're going to the lowest common denominator based on ignorance and dumb perception.

That's the problem. It's largely a stereotype for Black women. Loud. Cursing. Angry. Threatening to be violent. With so few Black women in high-profile positions in wrestling, it can cause Black women performers to be even more marginalized among certain fanbases. I can almost guarantee that Jade will get 'ratchet' catcalls from this.

I'm not going to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't like, because no group is a monolith. But seeing this happen repeatedly in all forms of entertainment is frustrating, to say the least. 

It definitely came off as stereotypical, LCD trash-talk. And then Jerry Lynn came out to keep them apart like it was right off of a Jerry Springer trash TV segment. I don't really know what Brandi's promo accomplished, since Cargill responded by patting Brandi on the rear. I don't see why Brandi needed to come out to defend Cody's honor either. Cody clearly wasn't that bothered by her feckless promo, and Brandi hasn't made it a point that she has to be the one to make stands like this before. It's hardly the first time someone insulted Cody on AEW TV before. I'm not sure why this set her off.

[For Great Justice]

As a side note, this was my first Dynamite to listen to via headphones and wow the themes and music came in so much better. So maybe it’s their sound mixing that makes the music so soft on TV. 
 

...or maybe it’s just my TV.

[John from Cincinnati]

Didn't read the whole thread (choosing instead to skim the best bits of the Shaq drama), so I'm not sure if this came up, but I was rewatching part of the show just now and the arena audio echoing all over Mox's promo was terrible. Once again, they should knock that off and present a more polished program in that regard.

Also, what was up with Mox's eye?

[Phantom Lord]

3 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Since I was at work last night I just FF'd to the Bunkhouse match. Baffles me how Dustin didnt bleed.

Blade beat him to it. Considering the amount of blood he tapped, probably better Dustin didnt.

[tbarrie]

3 hours ago, Andy in Kansas said:

Butcher and Blade are an underneath team who'll occasionally have a short TV thing with someone like the Bucks. Enhancement talent losing lower-card feuds doesn't both me in the slightest. Flip a coin, there was no wrong result in that match. 

I disagree. Butcher and Blade winning would have been the wrong result. I think B&B have a lot more future potential that QT & Dustin, but it was blow-off match to a feud that's been building for a while. The wronged babyface gives the heel their comeuppance by beating them in the blow-off match. That's booking 101.

If they were thinking of hotshotting B&B into a title feud in the next couple of weeks or something, then maybe there would be an argument to buck convention and have B&B win. But they're not. There'll be plenty of time to rebuild B&B if they ever do decide they want to seriously push them.

[TheVileOne]

18 minutes ago, Andy in Kansas said:

Didn't read the whole thread (choosing instead to skim the best bits of the Shaq drama), so I'm not sure if this came up, but I was rewatching part of the show just now and the arena audio echoing all over Mox's promo was terrible. Once again, they should knock that off and present a more polished program in that regard.

Also, what was up with Mox's eye?

Something in his eye?

 

[Ziggy]

20 hours ago, Infinit said:

Imagine the new TNT show's debut being pushed on the NBA on TNT studio show. For better or worse, Shaq is still a pretty big name that will get the company exposure they wouldn't normally get. It's not going to be Flair/Steamboat, but it will serve a purpose.

I was thinking that they'll probably get alot few NBA crossovers the Bucks are Die hard Lakers fans and Legends like Dominique Wilkins and Barkley are huge wrestling fans. Giannis and Dwight Howard have expressed interest in actively participating in Wrestling at some point. AEW do a better job than WWE with non wrestlers anyway. TNT seem to be invested AEW so why not. Shaq isn't as big of a deal as he would've been a decade ago but he's still a big name and a big part of TNT and he's a genuine wrestling fan like Tyson is. As long as they don't start bringing in guys that aren't fans and aren't enthusiastic like WWE has don't alot im fine with it

[For Great Justice]

10 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

AEW do a better job than WWE with non wrestlers anyway.

Really short sample size but I dunno man, do they? I’d put what WWE is doing now with McAfee or the initial Rousey stuff above anything AEW has done, but honestly I can only think of Tyson.

Edited November 13, 2020 by For Great Justice

[Zakk_Sabbath]

35 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

I was thinking that they'll probably get alot few NBA crossovers the Bucks are Die hard Lakers fans and Legends like Dominique Wilkins and Barkley are huge wrestling fans. Giannis and Dwight Howard have expressed interest in actively participating in Wrestling at some point. AEW do a better job than WWE with non wrestlers anyway. TNT seem to be invested AEW so why not. Shaq isn't as big of a deal as he would've been a decade ago but he's still a big name and a big part of TNT and he's a genuine wrestling fan like Tyson is. As long as they don't start bringing in guys that aren't fans and aren't enthusiastic like WWE has don't alot im fine with it

One other thing I'm just realizing in the Shaq deal is that he now joins Cody (as a kid), Dustin, Jericho, Arn, Tully Jake, JR/Tony and I'm sure some obvious ones im forgetting as guys who have appeared on WCW, WWF/E, and AEW TV

If we're counting guest appearances, which I think we're gonna cause Shaq was only on WCW once in 94 unless I'm missing any, you also got Helms, Greg Valentine, Bret, DDP, RNRs

There's no way he'd ever wrestle because he just got hurt and probably wouldn't take the risk, but they sure have been bringing up George kittle doing the 0M thing a lot lately. Maybe he'll do a Tyson thing and sit ringside or something. I'd imagine as an NFL owner the Khans really are a call away though who the hell knows about the politics and machinations of that process as far as the league and that sort of thing

[Custos]

I take a day to catch up on the latest dynamite and we’re 8 pages deep already. I’d mentioned PAC as the potential surprise for Full Gear half as wishful thinking, considering the travel restrictions etc but the Bastard is actually back, in all his seething glory!

Three really solid matches between the main, the tag and the David/Goliath in Sydal/Cage. Definitely got my money’s worth for the week. I’ll defer to those more knowledgeable on the appropriateness of Brandi acting as she did, for me that was just one of those segments where you go ‘...okay, that happened’ and move along.

Psyched for Omega and Moxley, even if Omega is still coming off too self-referential talking about his critics and this nebulous ‘cleaner’ thing that no-one in the company have explained in the context of how it relates to his AEW persona.

Also, have we not had enough wacky hijinks with the Inner Circle crew already, now it’s ‘the Gang all go to Vegas’ episode with some knock-off Hangover gags next week? Surely they can bake in the animosity and dissension in the context of wrestling and competition? The best part of the PnP/Best Friends feud was when the shit got real, the balance for the Inner Circle guys feels off at the moment.

[paintedbynumbers]

7 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Can we talk real quick about "WRESTLING HAS MORE THAN ONE ROYAL FAMILY?"  I find it so cringeworthy every time I hear it.  It's a clear shot at Vince and it's not even a clever one.  Cody is the divorced dad who makes a point of "accidentally" running into his ex maybe once a week to show off his new girlfriend and let her know he's totally loving his new life now and is definitely over her.

Besides, in what world is the Rhodes family a "royal family" of wrestling?  Dusty was a superstar, no doubt, but there are definitely points against him -- never the top guy in a national promotion, was garbage when he had the book, etc.  And his sons are career midcarders.   

I never really thought of it as a shot at Vince as much as Flair, Anderson, multiple families,   

 

Dusty was never my cup of tea but it's hard to negate what he did in NWA, the creation of Starrcade, War games, etc.  Or what he meant to so many current stars through coming up in NXT.

Dustin had a great career. Watch his matches with Austin, Steamboat, Rude, from WCW. One of my favorites is the Clash match with Vader.   I am in a rare breed that prefers Natural Dustin Rhodes over Golddust.  Not even close work wise in my book. 

As for Cody, I never really cared for his in ring. I've met him a few times and he was really cool with me but I never pictured him as world champion material even in ROH 

[Custos]

To me, the tagline has its place as an AEW motto in the rejection of the ‘history is written by the victors’ WWE approach, and goes hand-in-hand with the associated Starrcast movement in the celebration of the rich and diverse wrestling past and present.

It’s their philosophy in honouring and not humiliating the legends. But I’ll concede that Cody’s entrance song maybe isn’t that place. And you might even say the sentiment is more 2010 (up until which Hart was still on the outs with WWE) than 2020, considering the role of the diverse library of the WWE network and the greater openness shown by HHH.

[The Great ML]

3 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

It definitely came off as stereotypical, LCD trash-talk. And then Jerry Lynn came out to keep them apart like it was right off of a Jerry Springer trash TV segment. I don't really know what Brandi's promo accomplished, since Cargill responded by patting Brandi on the rear. I don't see why Brandi needed to come out to defend Cody's honor either. Cody clearly wasn't that bothered by her feckless promo, and Brandi hasn't made it a point that she has to be the one to make stands like this before. It's hardly the first time someone insulted Cody on AEW TV before. I'm not sure why this set her off.

Because Brandi...must pose?

[Jenalysis]

10 hours ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

I'll be entirely honest: 99% of why I personally feel that way is because I think the Butcher has an awesome look. 

They have a good look, but that's pretty much all they have.

 

The Dawsons would do better in that spot.  (If they're still working with the NWA, bringing in the Dawsons for a one-off would be totally unneeded, but still awesome)

 

and yes, the Inner Circle/Jericho stuff has become tiresome and unwatchable crap that is hurting MJF.  I was more interested in the MJF that was going vicious against Cody and Mox.  This comedy goofball stuff hurts him- it's so WWE.

 

Jericho needs to be phased out.

Edited November 13, 2020 by alstein

[SturmCRF]

One thing people seem to keep missing when they want Butcher and Blade to get pushed is that Butcher is in Every Time I Die, one of if not the best band on the planet, and as soon as society starts opening up again they'll hopefully release the new album they've had on the backburner for a year and tour the shit out of it for the next two.