AEW Dynamite - 2/3/2021

[Jiji]

The obvious story with the Inner Circle is that MJF turns Jericho against Sammy for the latter's correctly calling out of the former, right (Jericho sides with MJF because of recent success)? Then MJF turns on Jericho after he gets his chance. Jericho has to own up to Sammy for making the wrong choice. That's what I'd be doing. FAUNTASY, yeah. MJF vs. babyface Sammy is going to be ridiculously great whenever they pull the trigger on it. 

The big picture stuff with the IC is great. The way they've planted the seeds for all of the above the last 2 or so months was really well done. They've even been featuring Sammy doing cool shit in the ring lately to shine him up for the babyface turn. But they've been stretching out the story for way too long and it led to a lot of superfluous, flat segments. I get wanting fans for when MJF finally sticks the knife in Jericho's back (or worse yet gets Jericho's friends to do it, theatre of Pompeii styles with Jericho delivering the final blow), but the delay has been detrimental. Actually, they probably have drawn it out this long so it doesn't feel so cheap like so many rushed wrestling angles of the past 25 years, betrayals in particular. 

[TheVileOne]

22 minutes ago, Jiji said:

The obvious story with the Inner Circle is that MJF turns Jericho against Sammy for the latter's correctly calling out of the former, right (Jericho sides with MJF because of recent success)? Then MJF turns on Jericho after he gets his chance. Jericho has to own up to Sammy for making the wrong choice. That's what I'd be doing. FAUNTASY, yeah. MJF vs. babyface Sammy is going to be ridiculously great whenever they pull the trigger on it. 

The big picture stuff with the IC is great. The way they've planted the seeds for all of the above the last 2 or so months was really well done. They've even been featuring Sammy doing cool shit in the ring lately to shine him up for the babyface turn. But they've been stretching out the story for way too long and it led to a lot of superfluous, flat segments. I get wanting fans for when MJF finally sticks the knife in Jericho's back (or worse yet gets Jericho's friends to do it, theatre of Pompeii styles with Jericho delivering the final blow), but the delay has been detrimental. Actually, they probably have drawn it out this long so it doesn't feel so cheap like so many rushed wrestling angles of the past 25 years, betrayals in particular. 

This does seem to be the way they are building this. I could also see Wardlow playing the Batista/Evolution role at some point, but maybe not initially.

[Niners Fan in CT]

FENIX was spectacular I was perfectly fine with that ending the show and then they gave us fucking KENTA!!  Great.   NJPW x AEW we been waiting for this 

[John from Cincinnati]

Any show that jumps straight from the opening fanfare directly to Jungle Boy's entrance is doing something right. More of that, Coach T.

[Steventon]

Jericho/MJF getting a tag title shot makes the most sense in terms of booking, though I have no interest in that match. More Inner Circle strife... I'm not completely bored of it yet but it's a waste of the other guys in this faction to just be background characters (and that's the story!)

Adam Page was the 4th best guy in his match

All the build up of the wedding segment for that? Woof

Kingston carried Archer to another good match and it looks like they are setting him up as Omega's next title challenger. Makes sense but again but can't say I have any interest in that match

Hopefully Darby vs Janella is better than their PWG match from a few years back

Main event kind of sucked outside one or two flashes from Fenix. The Good Brothers are no good, let's move this along.

KENTA attacking Moxley - Not a fan of AEW using their main event to put over New Japan's 4th most important singles belt, though if KENTA is going to become a semi-regular fixture in AEW then I can live with it. I am in the crowd who'd much rather AEW be separate from New Japan and carve out their own identity, but looks like old wounds must have healed and a working relationship is going ahead.

[J.T.]

Lots of important shit happened last night.  It was hard to keep track of all of the new booking set into motion.

All of the good news in this week's episode came from Japan.  I about lost my shit when they announced that Aja Kong, Riho, and Maki mother fucking Itoh were going to be in the Women's Title tournament and maybe KENTA will kick the shit out of Moxley and take the belt that Mox never defends stateside.

There was something morbidly satisfying about the Sinister Minister presiding over a wedding.  I felt badly for Penelope being clowned on her "wedding day" but the rescue of Charles by Orange Cassidy was pretty awesome.

Good on AEW to support the EJI during African American History month.  Sure, they are selling the shirt of a white man with blue eyes and bleached blonde hair but at least his wife is black.  Cody nabbed one of the better sisters out there.  I support Cody receiving a full hood pass.

Edited February 4, 2021 by J.T.

[The Natural]

Jon Moxley vs. Toru Yano II. Please and thank you.

[A_K]

Wonderful main event. FENIX is indeed the man. A cruiserweight division would have been great from the off for Fenix, Darby, Sammy, Perry etc. to showcase in, much like Mysterio/Eddie/Jericho etc back in the 90s. 
 

Good Bros would make a great permanent fixture. Mitchell was fun for what he is. Miro keeps growing and growing. Don’t need Archer near the main event. Wedding angle wasted on Sabian + whoever was on camera work shouldn’t come back again.

Edited February 4, 2021 by A_K

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

I wasn't 100% surprised to see the door open, because I felt that the Buck's crack about EVIL in Bullet Club on BTE was just a little bit too overt.

What interests me is Jay White - maybe AEW/NJPW will be sharing him? Because let's face it, AEW doesn't need anyone around all the time - they have a really deep roster and they almost make a point of being ready to main-event just about anybody. And NJPW don't really need him on every show either, having him in too many midcard feuds is a waste almost.

Obviously yes Ibushi. 

And I think Jericho is just about ready for Yano.

 

 

[Coletti]

Fenix is one of those dudes who's always trying to be at 11, but truly could afford to dial it back just one notch. That running to corner hop-up solebutt kick is something I'd do a billion times in Fire Pro if I could. 

[The Natural]

Meant to say the following sooner. Justin Roberts sucks as a ring announcer. Bring in Tony Chimel.

[AxB]

Did you catch them doing the intro the Thunderstruck during Rosa vs Britt? I wonder if AC/DC songs are cheap to licence?

Although why they'd buy a licence for a song for a wrestler who's signed elsewhere I don't know.

[Coletti]

36 minutes ago, AxB said:

Did you catch them doing the intro the Thunderstruck during Rosa vs Britt? I wonder if AC/DC songs are cheap to licence?

Although why they'd buy a licence for a song for a wrestler who's signed elsewhere I don't know.

Rosa kept going on about how Britt doesn't think she belongs there, had me thinking she'll hopefully be signing soon enough. If not, at least we get a decent program with the two of them. 

[worldcupfever]

11 hours ago, John E. Dynamite said:

No but seriously how do you have Jake Roberts on the roster and not at least make a cheap joke with him at the wedding.

I was SO hoping for a snake in a giftbox.

[Technico Support]

The battle royal was good!  I liked that they didn't use traditional tag team battle royal rules.  It really gave more storytelling options.  I laughed at Excalibur pausing for forever on commentary while trying to figure out if Matt Jackson being thrown out to the ramp counted as an elimination.  For a while there, I thought the match might come down to Jericho and Sammy and have Jericho announce that the match was over and that Le Sex Gods were the #1 contenders, pissing off MJF.  I liked how they went, though, and I like how this storyline is progressing.  Also, Wardlow's Burberry tie.

I usually dislike JR shitting on match booking as it's happening, but the Good Brothers pulling down the rope right in front of Knox was just garbage.

Jungle Boy should be so thankful for TK buying that song.  Not just because it was his indy song, but because it feels like TK wants to get his money's worth by featuring it on every show, so Perry gets more airtime!

Thunder Rosa vs Britt Baker really delivered.  Minus a few points for Thunder Rosa doing WWE Shocked Face after a near fall, minus a few more for the screwy, clunky finish, but still very good!  The women's tournament looks cool.  For a brief few seconds, I was worried the Japanese side of the bracket would be their Rio De Janiero.  

A haiku, by Haddaway:
What is love?  Baby
Don't hurt me.  No don't hurt me
No more.  What is love?

The wedding segment was average, I guess.  The James Mitchell stuff was out of place and overdone  No idea what the whole aim of it was.  I liked Tony trying to cover for the storyline by saying Miro had thrown Kip a bachelor party last night, and then Miro said they didn't have one. I enjoyed Miro being smart to wrestling tropes, telling Mitchell to skip the "speak now or forever hold your peace" part and also destroying the big box.  

I still think the Blackout sucks.  

That Jade vignette was some 80s/90s WWF shit.  I think we're at least 10-15 years and one Nathan Jones past the point where we accept that someone who can lift a lot of weights is, in kayfabe, a dangerous fighter.  My takeaway was that is Cody and Velvet were weights instead of people, they'd be in some trouble!  That chick can really throw around some weights, I tell ya what.  The less said about the Shaq promo, the better. Sweet Jesus.

Rey Fenix is amazing.  I hope he can stay active for a while but some of those dives tell me he won't.  Again, AEW's house style is wild-ass multiman matches and I love it.  

KENTA!  NEW JAPAN!  Nice.

   

[worldcupfever]

The "speak now..." bit would have been much better if Mitchell hadn't JUST done it on the IMPACT wedding.

[The Natural]

 

[Craig H]

5 hours ago, killsteve said:

Main event kind of sucked outside one or two flashes from Fenix. The Good Brothers are no good, let's move this along.

Boo this man!

[Craig H]

Battle royales are whatever and this one was no different outside of the Inner Circle drama. Anything that furthers Sammy breaking from the pack is good. Dude is going to be a huge star. MJF and Jericho trying to hang with the Young Bucks will be interesting.

Britt vs Rosa was so fucking good. I don't think enough is said about how much Britt has improved the moment she came back from her injury. I don't even know or understand how she could have improved while injured and she just keeps getting better. She might be the best women's heel in the US. This match was the shit, though. Thunder Rosa eventually destroying Britt is going to be the best.

The troll account also said Page was the 4th best guy in his tag match, which is hilarious. Try harder my man. Chaos Project is dookie, but this wasn't a bad match. It's just there for storyline purposes for Page, which is fine.

I hate wrestling weddings. It's a trope I'd love to see just go away. This one dragged and took too much time. I think it would have also been better if Trent had recovered from his injury. As it is, I still popped for Chuck and OC pulling one over on Kip and Miro. Kip and Miro play dirtbag heels pretty well and while I think Kip's best role is playing a heater for Penelope and interfering in her matches, Kip and Miro are good together.

Man, Archer vs Kingston was kinda disappointing. It wasn't as good as the match last week, there was too much shit with the lumberjacks, and I wanted this to be more of Archer and Kingston trying to kill each other. Oh well.

The main event ruled. I don't know if it was better than Britt vs Rosa, but it was pretty fucking good. Not one lull in the match, Fenix was outstanding, he goes so fast for his dives that if someone wasn't there to catch him he'd wind up in the 4th row, everyone looked good, finish was good as it is, but then they threw motherfucking KENTA on top of it all. Plus, cross promotion continuity with Archer going after the BC. 

I love this company so much. Everything I want in wrestling is something that AEW and NJPW deliver on for me. Plus, AEW just keeps doing the coolest shit and now they're bringing in Maki Itoh. This wasn't the best show or anything and the show a week or two ago was probably their best one for just pure wrestling, but this was still really good. You can't ask for much more than a wrestling company that consistently delivers grade B to grade A shows.

[NikoBaltimore]

So last night I mentioned how my brain had a hard time processing that NJPW and AEW are officially working together.  It was almost like an "Am I dreaming" type thing.  Well sure enough I woke up this morning, saw everything said about this and yep it's not a dream.  Many of y'all said it better but it did remind me of a couple years ago.  Remember how all these weird but awesome things were happening in wrestling from cross-promotions to indy stars were being featured on bigger stages?  I want to say it was the year of the CWC and the MYC that all that occurred.  Well anyway that's the feeling I have now but on a bigger level.  The idea of all these big and small promotions working together in different ways is something I haven't seen in a long-ass time and hot damn is it wonderful.  I hate that the pandemic is still a thing but if these relationships are further strengthened by next year the possibilities are endless.  What a time to be a wrestling fan, man.

Also, that tweet with the guy explaining this to his girlfriend I feel is going to be scarily accurate for some of us.

Edited February 4, 2021 by NikoBaltimore

[Godfrey]

I definitely had to hold myself back from excitedly boring my partner with the New Japan news. 

The promo for Jade was also really good, could’ve used it a few weeks ago but better late than never.

[worldcupfever]

36 minutes ago, Craig H said:

I hate wrestling weddings. It's a trope I'd love to see just go away. This one dragged and took too much time. I think it would have also been better if Trent had recovered from his injury. As it is, I still popped for Chuck and OC pulling one over on Kip and Miro. Kip and Miro play dirtbag heels pretty well and while I think Kip's best role is playing a heater for Penelope and interfering in her matches, Kip and Miro are good together.

 

I cannot agree more with what you said about Trent.  Him coming back and getting over on Kip and Miro would have worked REALLY well.  It was still fun, especially with Orange coming out of the cake a la Miro at the Lashley/Lana wedding, but Trent returning would have been perfect.

[Flair’s Shadow]

Omega to Kenta, 

“"Brother Switchblade never told me to expect a guest".

 

Oh my..

[Bryan]

I was pretty down on this show until the end.

The battle royale was pretty meh. And I’ve been a Jericho fan since he was a conspiracy victim in WCW but he’s not looking to good...and it seemed like he was blown up from the battle royale. I know he’s over 50 and everyone has an expiration date but it’s kind of sad.

Hopefully, FTR Kayfabe murders little Marko, so I never have to see him on tv again.

He and MJF doing the Young Bucks pose after they were eliminated made me laugh though.

Lance Archer and Eddie Kingston in the lumberjack match was meh. I don’t like the WWE booking of a rematch a week later. But I guess they needed to make Archer look strong for the KENTA tag match they’re teasing.

The Hangman Matt Hardy tag was pretty meh. The best part was Hardy stealing the pin and his celebration afterwards.

The match of the night was clearly Britt Baker vs Thunder Rosa despite the finish not being smooth.

I liked the Jade Cargill package and wish they’d have started with that instead of having her debut with a really awkward promo when nobody knew who she was.

The main event was just typical AEW tag team chaos. The rules are completely abandoned in favor of doing moves to the point that you lose track of who is legal and wonder why AEW even has a ref.

That being sad, I enjoyed Fenix’s crazy acrobatic moves. I also don’t get the hate for the Good Brothers they are obviously really good. I guess they don’t do a lot of splashy video game moves though. Whatever.

I was not expecting KENTA to kick down the forbidden door. That was a really exciting and shocking way to conclude the show and make up for a pretty lackluster rest of the show.

[Goodear]

I know everyone is excited about New Japan and all but how big can the audience who likes New Japan and doesn't watch AEW (super full of white boy New Japan talent) be?

If there is a real victory to have here, it's getting the rights to sell Bullet Club shirts.