AEW Dynamite - 7/7/2021

[J.T.]

25 minutes ago, Casey said:

To follow up on the 10 page AEW Jim Ross Dynamite thread from last week: I did hate the "Tommy End, or whatever he ends up calling himself" line from JR. And him always saying "Cowboy Shiznit" when Hangman is on the screen is really cringe, too.

I let that slide.  The man is old school and doesn't want to say the word "shit" on a live broadcast even though it is one of those words you can probably get away with these days.

Edited July 8, 2021 by J.T.

[Casey]

He's said shit on-air more than anyone on the roster not named Chris Jericho, probably.

[Raziel]

Any interest I had in Black immediately disappeared when I remembered he's gonna feud with Cody.

[NikoBaltimore]

7 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

If the Chanters go with "MA-LA-KAI" instead of "BLACK BLACK BLACK BLACK" they'll disappoint me more than usual. 

If you say it that way it means "Asshole" in Greek which most wouldn't know when they chant it.  I now kind of wish that was the name as I'd be giggling everytime they chant that.  Speaking of Greek stuff I appreciated MJF bringing that up as that was one of my favorite mythology stories growing up.

The show was pretty good though not the blowaway show I was expecting.  It appears the crowd live was nice and loud but unless my TV/soundbar failed me they sounded a lot quieter than I would have thought.  Could have been something with production for all I know.  The mixed tag was nice and whoever came up with the finish deserves a raise.

Right, I almost forgot to mention for the love of fuck can we please stop with on-air bagging on the other company?  I know on podcast interviews they would refer to the other company which is fine.  But between Kingston's post show promo on Dynamite and especially Britt's Saudi line it's getting ridiculous.  I'm of the belief that the biggest insult one can make is to prove how great you are instead of saying.  And with NXT not even on the same night anymore there's just no need for stuff like that.  So unless it was a hit live and didn't come across that way I consider that line a fail.

Edited July 8, 2021 by NikoBaltimore

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

[Custos]

All of that show was a joy to watch, felt quite promo heavy and they all hit without exception. Jericho was on his A game, Britt with the 'oh no she didn't' line and Rebels great miming alongside. But I think the most pleasantly surprising one was the Anderson promo for the NJPW title challenge, just letting everyone know there's a wider wrestling world and he's a big deal in it.

Two other random observations - Blade is the reddest man in wrestling today, and Wheeler's spill out of the ring on the Hager clothesline was a work of art

 

[Jiji]

1 hour ago, Custos said:

Blade is the reddest man in wrestling today

Shane McMahon or Brock Lesnar 5 minutes into a match? I guess that's more purple than red though. 

[LoneWolf&Subs]

You know how I said Ethan Page needs something to put himself over the top? Well for one, I think that promo last night helped a lot, but two, I think that outfit, and color scheme he wore needs to transfer over to his gear somehow.

Edited July 8, 2021 by LoneWolf&Subs

[Technico Support]

THAT'S MALAKAI BLACK!  Because the name Mephistopheles "Hail Satan" McSpookyface was determined to be a little too on the nose.

Excalibur: "The Bucks are dressed for a come as you are streetfight"
Tony: "Really?  That's how they were?"

JR's line about Callis looking like the Tony Montana of Winnipeg was great.  Almost made up for him calling Excalibur by his shoot name. 

I love Exaclibur's deadpan Callis insults.  "Don, welcome to Miami.  Terrible to have you here."

I agree that Andrade's debut was really off.  

Cody is the first guy through the curtain for the first show back on the road.  Because of course he is.  He may be Dusty's kid but my dude politics like Hogan with Time Warner Execs in the building.

I hate what the "touch all four corners" strap match has become.  Just like "escape the cage" used to mean "beat your hated rival to death and walk out in disgust," but then became "let's have a race to get out of this fight," touch all corners used to mean incapacitating your opponent so badly you could humiliate him by dragging him around the ring.  Now it means let's do cutesy shit like the babyface sneakily touching corners behind the heel, who is actually winning the match the right way.  Also, the strap being like 40 feet long meant that Cody could have just sprinted around the ring right when the match started and won right away.

Loved JR almost knocking over the announce table with his erection while discussing Santana's improved physique.  But damn, don't sleep on Ortiz, who is looking lean and jacked as well.  I like to make fun of JR for being such a body guy but I don't really care about him complimenting guys who are working hard.  My issue is when he talks about people who don't look like bodybuilders and says they should put on mass or get in better shape.  Again, because there's a lot of baggage in that kind of talk.

To that end, JR characterizing Sanatana's work on his body as "taking his career seriously" is some bullshit.  Because, by that logic, guys who aren't jacked are not taking their careers seriously?  I guess in WCW in 1989, JR thought Luger was the only professional on the card.  And incredible wrestlers with meh physiques, like Zack Sabre Jr, clearly just don't take wrestling seriously.  Christ.

The streetfight was really good.  I know the Bucks, and this type of crazy-ass match, aren't everybody's thing and that's cool.  I really enjoyed it.  My only complaint is how they're getting a little into WWE "babyfaces have no friends" territory with nobody coming out to help Penta and Kingston.

Likewise, that 6 man was excellent.  The finish was a little weird.  Did Wardlow use a foreign object to set up the pin or something?  FTR hitting their finish to set up Warldow getting the pin is not incredibly heelish in 2021.  Still, really good match.

The mixed tag was done about as well as you can do a match with those rules, so bravo to whoever laid that match out.

After last week's Hangman moment of self doubt, this week's story felt a little rushed, especially if they're holding off until September for the match.

Why didn't the ATT fighters go save Lambert?  And Nunes smiling after Archer beat that guy up was funny.

"Your weird uncle."

Didn't dig Andrade's NY Yankees/Bareball Furies pants

MJF's cartoonish bump off the Judas Effect was awful.  Either take a wrestling bump and crumple OR go realistic with it and do a fencing pose fall, but bugging your eyes out and falling like a tree is some stooging shit that a goofy heel manager would do. 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Technico Support

[Craig H]

I thought the show was fucking awesome and it's amazing how much a new crowd adds to the show. Cody is still over like all hell and LOL at QT Marshall getting jobber intro'd for the blowoff match. Holy shit. Anyway...With Cody still being hot, he needs to put Black over as a big deal. None of this, "well, Black gets more out of losing a competitive match" or "Black will win the first match, but Cody will win the feud" bullshit. Cody needs to decisively lose to Black.

And as someone who is a geek for all of the little touches Tommy End makes for his character, I like this. If you follow his IG, then you got a heavy sense that not only was he debuting on Dynamite, but he would have a darker character named Malachi Black, but that guy is a darker version of Tommy End. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go through a face turn and go back to being Tommy End at some point.

Oh, and as part of that IG tease, he also teased that Buddy Murphy would be joining him.

Sit down interview with Darby and Ethan Page was good shit. I low key like their feud with these two running into each other through their careers. 

Pinnacle and IC 6 man tag was great. Lot of shit going on, but everything worked well. Plus, my man Wardlow got the win. Santana and Ortiz looked great as well.

I love Britt, but she gets a little shooty with her promos and whenever she does that it makes me cringe. This was no exception. She's way too good to need to rely on shoot comments to get heat. Plus, I hate it when the wrestlers reference Tony Khan.

Great camera work on the Jericho and MJF segment to not highlight the asshat that tried to run into the ring. And then they had a fine promo. Jericho is really going to have his work cut out for him to make it through 4 singles matches before the bigger match with MJF. That's a lot of opportunities to fuck up a Lionsault. Please stop going for the Lionsault.

Ok, that Dan Lambert segment. Dude cut a hell of a promo that I thought went on for too long. I thought it was leading to Lambert bringing out Bryan Danielson or some other debuting act. Instead it lead to Lambert getting ethered by Archer. Ok then.

That Andrade match...I was disappointed. Sydal got in way too much offense and Andrade just looked rusty and off. This is where Fowler would say, "see, I told you he sucks." Worst of all, Andrade just didn't stand out in his work, but his aura and look was still that of a main event player. I had hoped that Andrade would hit that insane gear and he just never did. And look, I get the argument that Sydal was ranked 5th and someone ranked that high shouldn't get squashed, but sometimes it makes sense to get squashed. Sydal is never going to be a main event dude, but Andrade will.

Main event ruled. I legit gasped at the thumbtacks being thrown in the face of Eddie. I love wild ass brawls and this was one of the better ones. I'm also fine with the Bucks winning. So weirdly enough, the Bucks win the street fight over the dude from the streets and Penta and Eddie won the straight up wrestling match. A trilogy seems to make sense to me.

Finally, the Omega promo. I marked the fuck out when Hangman's music hit. I didn't think we'd get Hangman buying into the match this early or this far out from All Out, but I guess All Out isn't that far away now. Loved EVERYTHING about Page killing everyone and then having the stare down with Kenny. This was the shit. Adam Page with a full crowd feels like the most special thing in wrestling right now.

[Bryan]

3 hours ago, Casey said:

For right now I'm choosing to believe that Malakai Black is actually two different characters. I mean, we already have a wrestling zombie and alien on the same show, why not add in a good ol' fashioned possession angle too? That could play into the "bruises" on his face and whatnot as well.

To follow up on the 10 page AEW Jim Ross Dynamite thread from last week: I did hate the "Tommy End, or whatever he ends up calling himself" line from JR. And him always saying "Cowboy Shiznit" when Hangman is on the screen is really cringe, too.

The Tommy End thing is a direct product of Excalibur once again stepping on a debut and making it worse with his know it all shtick.

Based on the merchandise it appears he is just going to be called Malakai but you’re talking about him having multiple personalities or something, I saw other people talking about him being possessed. Bringing up the name Tommy End just caused needless confusion.

 

[LoneWolf&Subs]

You guys had the Anti-Jim Ross Army last show, now it looks like the Anti-Excalibur Army is ready to occupy this thread.

[worldcupfever]

15 minutes ago, Bryan said:

The Tommy End thing is a direct product of Excalibur once again stepping on a debut and making it worse with his know it all shtick.

 

That's how I felt at the time, but after seeing the vignette Excalibur's commentary made more sense.  He's basically saying that Malakai Blacks is the evolution of Tommy End, which does sell the character.  It's still not great, but it's not as bad as it was when he initially said it with no context.

[Craig H]

The gist is that Tommy End was caged and institutionalized for so long that Malakai Black was born and now that character is unchained and free. 

[AxB]

11 minutes ago, Craig H said:

The gist is that Tommy End was caged and institutionalized for so long that Malakai Black was born and now that character is unchained and free. 

So it's like Dustin Rhodes as Black Reign in TNA? Cool! Is he going to have a sidekick called reredrum?

50 minutes ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

You guys had the Anti-Jim Ross Army last show, now it looks like the Anti-Excalibur Army is ready to occupy this thread.

Let's call ourselves the Anti-JRmy! We could get a banner made and have our own hashtag!

[The Natural]

 

[Just Dave]

Andrade's debut felt a little off, but one thing AEW has done really well with the free agent signings is find the right spot for guys. I have zero doubt they'll do that for El Idolo, who looked and felt like a massive star. The Black Mask getup was dope.

Cody gonna Cody. As long as he's not derailing anyone of consequence, it's more funny than concerning. I suspect Malachai Black will kick the head off of all the Nightmare Factory folks.

I liked the Britt Baker line, but I love petty shit. 

Karl Anderson does nothing for me. Hoping Mox caves his skull in next week, but I suspect more Elite fuckery, because that's what this show is now.

The Dark Order/Omega segment wasn't bad. Evil Uno was the right guy to deliver that promo. 

The Young Bucks. Ugh. The lack of selling just bothers me. 

 

 

[John E. Dynamite]

At some point during the show, Nick Jackson's on the apron, Penta is on the outside holding a trash can. Nick kicks the trash can into Penta's face and it makes a big trashcan sound. Nick still slaps the shit out of his thigh. This moment really stood out to me.

[EVA]

So, we all assume that they’re building Kenny/Hangman for All Out, but Kenny specifically referenced Fight for the Fallen as his next possible title defense (if only he had a challenger!). I’ll be interested to see what they do with that, as there’s nobody else in Kenny’s orbit right now, unless they go with somebody from the Dark Order.  Not sure anybody would buy that as a legit defense, though.

[Technico Support]

Oh lord, one realization I had about Cody feuding with Tommy End...since he successfully defended from MURICA Ogogo's English tyranny, will Cody now cut a fired-up babyface promo against the Dutch?

[LoneWolf&Subs]

“The Dutch are nothing but German’s with wooden Crocs!”

[Curt McGirt]

4 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

If you say it that way it means "Asshole" in Greek which most wouldn't know when they chant it.  I now kind of wish that was the name as I'd be giggling everytime they chant that.  Speaking of Greek stuff I appreciated MJF bringing that up as that was one of my favorite mythology stories growing up.

Oh man, now I want them to chant "HER-KA-LEEZ" at Jericho during his Trials match, like they were the granny in whatever Eddie Murphy movie that was.

2 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Almost made up for him calling Excalibur by his shoot name. 

I caught that too haha

[Curt McGirt]

"The Dutch are scum. I think you know it."

[LoneWolf&Subs]

Better yet…

”Fuck you, Black! You Devil worshipping piece of shit! The D in Devil stands for DEEZ NUTZ!!!”

[John from Cincinnati]

Hope this Page-Omega stuff is over soon. They've had their fun pandering to the BTE crowd (and based on Ex's intro of Black, this stuff is only for the people who see everything), but ideally we're in the endgame. None of this was worth waiting for.

Thank goodness for Cody. Loved the fake blackout in his match to set up the debut later. Codyverse forever. 

I want to see Hager vs Cash more than I want to see Hager vs Wardlow. I'm not even sure what I want from Wardlow at this point. First taste of FTR-P&P was good. Nice to see these guys wrestling. 

I was told that all these competitive matches were great because everyone is All Elite. And now everyone wants poor Matt Sydal squashed? Poor Matt's being thrown under the bus as not Elite. Anyway, match was fine outside of some momentarily weak strikes pre-break. Andrade's finished dude's with a hammerlock DDT before, so the variation for his finish will be fine. If not he can just go back to the DDT. 

Glad Christian vs Hardy is coming to an end. Let's get Christian onto something that matters.

The novelty of being back on the road and indoors helped paper over some flaws. Good for them.