AEW Dynamite - 2/17/2021

[HarryArchieGus]

Some great bouts and really dumb shit this week.  Soooo great to see Riho!  She and Deeb was one of the few Women's division matches that I wasn't even thinking about FFWDing thru.  And it very much delivered.  Riho is such a unique talent.  Her matches bring me as close to the warm fuzzy nostalgic feeling of being a kid watching wrestling that I get from AEW.

Bucks keep rolling with the consistent top shelf matches.  Santana/Ortiz looked as good as they have since the street fight.  I completely agree with @EVA on LAX going babyface.  Very much needed.

Matt Hardy is a fun heel.  I had no interest in the hobbling veteran prior to this Big Money phase.  That said I completely agree with this...

3 hours ago, Goodear said:

The whole Hardy-Page segment was a mess of convoluted horse hockey. Page switches the contract and Matt doesn't notice but Issiah Kassidy is dressed up as the Jaguar Mascot so he can attack Page when he reveals the contract because... Matt was expecting Page to use the mascot to reveal that he bamboozled Matt when Matt didn't know he was being tricked? Like what in the wide, wide world of sports was going on? This was them trying to be clever when they could have just had Matt come out with Kassidy and gotten to the same place without a stupid swerve. Dark Order was the part that made sense even if Colt Cabana is beating guys with a super soaker.

Whenever AEW tries to complicate things they fail miserably.  Remember, for example, the MJF run to the title and his main event lawyer?  Pure garbage.  This was even worse and for all the reasons mentioned.  

I'm into the Dark Order/Page stuff and was happy to see them do the run in, but... Negative 1... I think it's sweet that they've celebrated his birthday and made him feel a part of their family.  I was all for that stuff.  Not into Negative 1 being a regular character.  Just not into children being a part of the wrestling environment.  Speaking of which...

I'm a Cody Rhodes fan and find the hate on here ridiculous.  But... taking TV time to announce the sex of their child has got to be one of the most selfish wastes of precious Dynamite time this company has ever produced.  Fuck-ing pathetic.  

OC squashing Luther could have happened on Dark, no?  OC should never be used just to have him on TV.  He needs to be used sparringly so as to keep him fresh.  Also, seems like a mistake to do that wedding angle (a mistake itself) and then not have Miro/Kip/Penelope on TV.  

FTR were great per usual.  And then 'lights out'!  I love AEW, but they've abused and killed the lights out concept from day 1.  Lights out to show off a new mask on the big tv screen!?  I wonder if they ever consider the logic behind this stuff before going live? So, the Jurrasix go to the production truck and tell them they need the lights to go out just following the match (let's be fair), and then play the new video showcasing the 'really cool' new 'Mask', and then when the lights go on, GET THIS, we'll be out in the ring to jump those assholes!  Very stoopid stuff.  
 

6 hours ago, Technico Support said:

LOL these Jade and Shaq training videos are something else.  I have no doubt they can beat Cody and Red Velvet in this upcoming weightlifting competition and basketball game.  Oh, it's going to be a (checks papers)...wrestling match?  Hm.  Okay.

I was having awfully similar thoughts.  I am fascinated by this incredibly poorly booked story arc.  

Main Event was alright, but the booking seemed sorta pointless or regressive going into this.  Like a mid-card NJPW Road to tour match.  That said, Rey Fenix continues to be the showstealer.  Incredible!  Post match seemed predictable, but Kenny looked so great in his shitty duds that it was all worth it.  Exploding barbed wire!?  I would have been fine with a straight rematch.  Even preferred it, but I'm sure Omega-Mox will make me a believer.

Edited February 18, 2021 by HarryArchieGus

[AxB]

I think Mox no-sold the Uraken because it was supposed to miss.

3 hours ago, Goodear said:

The whole Hardy-Page segment was a mess of convoluted horse hockey. Page switches the contract and Matt doesn't notice but Issiah Kassidy is dressed up as the Jaguar Mascot so he can attack Page when he reveals the contract because... Matt was expecting Page to use the mascot to reveal that he bamboozled Matt when Matt didn't know he was being tricked? Like what in the wide, wide world of sports was going on? This was them trying to be clever when they could have just had Matt come out with Kassidy and gotten to the same place without a stupid swerve. Dark Order was the part that made sense even if Colt Cabana is beating guys with a super soaker.

No, see, it's not WWE. The trope that the people on the show don't watch the show doesn't apply. Page switched the contract and Matt didn't notice, but then a week passed and Matt watched the show and was aware that he'd signed something else. So he had Kassidy jump Jackson DeVille and steal the costume so he could bamboozle the bamboozler.

[John from Cincinnati]

So if we follow that a step further, is Adam Page part of the league of stupid babyfaces? Hardy's suckering him in and Page is acting like he's got some big swerve, so is he assuming Matt didn't watch the show and thus doesn't know the contracts were switched and isn't going to try to pull some shit? Does Adam Page the character think WWE logic is in play? 

My man needs to lay off the sauce. 

Edited February 18, 2021 by John from Cincinnati

[Kang]

 

[RazorbladeKiss87]

I haven't watched yet (early shifts keeping me from live viewing) but listening to POST Wrestling's review had me smiling at work anticipating the reactions on here, especially from @Curt McGirt

[Goodear]

29 minutes ago, AxB said:

I think Mox no-sold the Uraken because it was supposed to miss.

No, see, it's not WWE. The trope that the people on the show don't watch the show doesn't apply. Page switched the contract and Matt didn't notice, but then a week passed and Matt watched the show and was aware that he'd signed something else. So he had Kassidy jump Jackson DeVille and steal the costume so he could bamboozle the bamboozler.

Okay, then we follow this logically then Matt saw it was something else and either did give it to a lawyer or did not depending on when he saw it. Then Page thinking that Matt didn't read it thought it would be cool to give it to the Jaguar's Mascot to bring out with Valentines balloons. Matt figured that out somehow despite it being completely crazy and switched Kassidy into the costume. He then teamed with Page to beat TH2 and he pretended that he didn't know that Page switched the contract in order to set Page up. He then asked Page to put up a quarter's salary when Page didn't have to and then sprung the trap. Matt offered TH2 who he just beat money to help and that was just good planning on his part that they agreed. And then The Dark Order spoiled his plan.

 

[AxB]

Makes sense to me.

[Goodear]

17 minutes ago, John from Cincinnati said:

So if we follow that a step further, is Adam Page part of the league of stupid babyfaces? Hardy's suckering him in and Page is acting like he's got some big swerve, so is he assuming Matt didn't watch the show and thus doesn't know the contracts were switched and isn't going to try to pull some shit? Does Adam Page the character think WWE logic is in play? 

My man needs to lay off the sauce. 

I mean is it stupid to not predict that if you give a Football mascot a wrestling contract to deliver that it won't turn out to be a wrestler in disguise?

Who hasn't done that at least once?

[John from Cincinnati]

4 minutes ago, Goodear said:

I mean is it stupid to not predict that if you give a Football mascot a wrestling contract to deliver that it won't turn out to be a wrestler in disguise?

Who hasn't done that at least once?

I wonder if there's ever been a similar incident in a setting where you know that Adam Page definitely would have seen it and thus been made aware of the risks posed by such mascots.

Spoiler

 

 

[Web Conn]

Not to start a thing but why were the children more sensible than the adults in the Kenny PreSchool skit? Why were none of the adults wearing masks? 

[HumanChessgame]

56 minutes ago, Goodear said:

Okay, then we follow this logically then Matt saw it was something else and either did give it to a lawyer or did not depending on when he saw it. Then Page thinking that Matt didn't read it thought it would be cool to give it to the Jaguar's Mascot to bring out with Valentines balloons. Matt figured that out somehow despite it being completely crazy and switched Kassidy into the costume. He then teamed with Page to beat TH2 and he pretended that he didn't know that Page switched the contract in order to set Page up. He then asked Page to put up a quarter's salary when Page didn't have to and then sprung the trap. Matt offered TH2 who he just beat money to help and that was just good planning on his part that they agreed. And then The Dark Order spoiled his plan.

 

Adam Page fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders – The most famous of which is “never get involved in a ratings war with another wrestling company” – but only slightly less well-known is this: “Never go against a heel when a run-in is on the line!

[Kev]

Sting looked good throwing shots, albeit for a few seconds.

See that stubbing a cigar out thing Cage does before his powerbomb, is that a reference to something?

I recall JBL doing it maybe once and then it being in the SVR video games as his finish for years later. I’m guessing Cage saw it there and thought it was cool, but it seems out of place for his character (which kind of sums Cage up).

[Goodear]

I want to say Kevin Nash started that trend at one point during the nWO years.

[Goodear]

1 hour ago, Web Conn said:

Not to start a thing but why were the children more sensible than the adults in the Kenny PreSchool skit? Why were none of the adults wearing masks? 

Florida?

[Steventon]

I'm pretty sure Brodie did the cigar stub taunt before a powerbomb sometimes

[John E. Dynamite]

6 hours ago, Goodear said:

I always thought Shinya wore this...

In my head cannon, Bill the Butcher from Gangs wore a sash and 3/4 pants but I couldn't find an image of the pants. I could be misremembering.

Corned Beef Hash, baby. His thighs are eating that seam alive.

[Coletti]

Cage also references Wolverine a TON, and Logan had a fondness for cigars, no?

[AxB]

Brian Cage AKA Weapon X AKA The Swollverine is an X-Men guy? Who knew?

[John from Cincinnati]

He's just like Johnny Gargano, except bigger.

He even got to meet his hero once and show him what a huge inspiration he's been:

Spoiler

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

7 hours ago, Goodear said:

I always thought Shinya wore this...

In my head cannon, Bill the Butcher from Gangs wore a sash and 3/4 pants but I couldn't find an image of the pants. I could be misremembering.

If he's doing Shinya, he's doing it wrong. To me, he's wearing the 19th century quasi tights (or knickers I guess) w/ the sash that pre-turn of the century boxers use to wear before they went to what people now know as "boxers". If it's Gangs of New York inspired, it certainly fits that particular timeline. 

[HumanChessgame]

59 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

If he's doing Shinya, he's doing it wrong. To me, he's wearing the 19th century quasi tights (or knickers I guess) w/ the sash that pre-turn of the century boxers use to wear before they went to what people now know as "boxers". If it's Gangs of New York inspired, it certainly fits that particular timeline. 

I always thought that was pretty obvious given their whole gimmick is Gangs of New York cosplay. Regardless, he still looks like he walked off the set of some pirate themed Medieval Times sort of outfit.

[The Natural]

3 hours ago, killsteve said:

I'm pretty sure Brodie did the cigar stub taunt before a powerbomb sometimes

Think Mr. Brodie Lee did it in one or both of the Cody AEW matches.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

I am late to the thread but I finally got to watch the show tonight.

I can't say enough about Riho/Deeb, the limb work, it was just fantastic. I will co-sign the Bret comparisons all day, every day. 

I will say: I absolutely hated the Kenny pre-school segment. The mask situation was awful, the social distancing situation was awful, the verbiage from Kenny was awful, the kids' acting was terrible, the audio was fucked up. I get what they were going for (I think?) but I wasn't digging it. At least the teacher was hot (settle down now!)

I was a little confused that Jurassic Express came back immediately after the Luchasaurus vignette. I think they could have gotten a couple more weeks out of those, do the ol "head games" thing with FTR during their matches. I figured it was gonna be the first of a couple, and then boom there they were.

I like the premise for the Hardy/Hangman match, but that promo was a little long for my tastes. But down and out Matt could be fun, and by the same token broke, drunk, depressed Hangman could be fun, so im still looking forward to this one. It's a very old school stip like they just did with the Chuckie T butler thing so Im into the idea of more of that.

Sting!!! Dude... Part of me wonders if they shot that match already? I mean, wow. If that was just "testing it out" in advance, that's pretty wild. If he's cleared for that, God bless him, but I tensed up HARD. 

 

 

 

[caley]

Given how little he does and half-checked-out Shaq has been in these segments (I think the only real thing he's done in these is a sink a free throw) along with his past history of talking up wrestling matches then doing almost nothing or skipping out completely, if feels to me like it's going to be some sort of swerve where Shaq steps aside for someone else to team with Jade against Cody but I was wondering if there was anyone else who's a big enough star that they could debut in that spot and have it not feel like a rip-off. Is there anyone that big still around?

 

The whole presentation of it has been so weird. Like it clearly feels like it was conceived as a way to debut Cargill as a big star by beating Brandi, but then she got pregnant so they wedged Red Velvet into it instead, so when Cargill beats Red Velvet it's going to be a bit, whatever, as Velvet really doesn't have any big name wins.  I dunno man, it's really really weird.

[Jiji]

It has been strange. I get why they wanted to do it but hopefully they back off the celebrity matches for a while after this unless the person is fully committed and contractually obligated because it was Tyson bailing (understandably) and now this half-assed Shaq thing. 

I see him doing 3-4 spots and it's Jade from there on out.