Dynamite - 11/17/2021

[MoeCristyV.1.6]

Dante hits his aerial moves PERFECT. It's unreal how clean everything looks. 

[hammerva]

So we are just ignoring Kingston with once again the promo moment of the year begging AEW to stop interrupting people's promos and yelling about going to catering

Best part of the Dynamite was in the pre-show tapings seeing all the local DMV (and popular DMV talent) get their matches for Dark or Elevation or hell maybe even Rampage.  On one night we get (I guess I will spoiler)

Spoiler

Logan Easton Laroux,  Trish Adora,  and Erica Leigh.  Even Willow Nightingale worked pre show.  

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by hammerva

[MoeCristyV.1.6]

1 minute ago, hammerva said:

So we are just ignoring Kingston with once again the promo moment of the year begging AEW to stop interrupting people's promos and yelling about going to catering

 

No, we talked about that somewhere. Don't be hating. 

 

Kingston is a treasure. 

[Coletti]

Yeah, that mean event was fucking bonkers all things considered but you got to give a lot of credit to Sammy. He looked amazing, his selling was spot on and added a ton of drama, he did some crazy shit, and he brought it home believably. Dude has come a LONG way from being a flippy Johnny Kickpads type. 

[For Great Justice]

Maybe Lio was managing an ESG portfolio this entire time. Leveraged buyouts on Myanmar gem mines all day.

[The Natural]

Glad you had a great time, @DEAN!

[eikerir]

That opening segment and first match hit ALL the right notes for me. Great little wholesome moment with Hangman and the crowd, then Bryan comes out and boom just like that he's a massive dickhead, can't wait for this match and love how the tension slowly raised throughout the segment.

Even the little Elite promo gave some temporary closure to their relationship, Kenny's immediate future and the inevitable Kenny/Cole implosion.

Ultimate dickhead Bryan Danielson has always been the best Bryan Danielson. Holy shit, that match with Uno was low key pretty brutal from both guys, awesome stiff fest. Perfect match to showcase asshole American Dragon coming back. Holding onto submissions longer than necessary, "I've got till five", slapping the shit out of Uno, so so good. I was laughing my ass off at the unnecessary double bicep pose at the end.

Bryan and Punk getting booed against "homegrown" talents like Page and Eddie has to be seen as a triumph for the company, not something easy to achieve.

Edited November 18, 2021 by eikerir

[Steventon]

Didn't Ricky Starks already do the 'I love turtles' bit on Darby? Billy Gunn challenging is so random it's baffling, but at least an easy win for Darby.

The whole opening 30 minutes was pitch perfect. Danielson is still a babyface in the grand scheme of things but will play heel against Page and give him a big rub. Page's line about being able to beat Omega in less than 30 minutes was top tier pro wrestling trash talk.

I'm lowkey really enjoying the Martin/Rush team. They set up the expectation that Rush is just grifter like Matt Hardy and is going to screw Dante over, but he seems to be actually on his side. Interesting to see if he does turn or they make a serious go for the tag belts.

[eikerir]

2 minutes ago, killsteve said:

I'm lowkey really enjoying the Martin/Rush team. They set up the expectation that Rush is just grifter like Matt Hardy and is going to screw Dante over, but he seems to be actually on his side. Interesting to see if he does turn or they make a serious go for the tag belts.

Yep, I thought Rush was gonna be another Matt Hardy like character where it was going to be obviou he was "exploiting his talent" but he shows signs of honesty and happiness for Dante from time to time so it's an interesting dynamic.

[Brandon Bones]

Hello, Season Premier!

Now let’s shuffle the deck.

Things continue to chug along in AEW.  I enjoyed this episode.  As I often do.  
 

I haven’t seen much of Uno prior to AEW.  But he did really well with his role here.  Boosted by the celebration segment before it.  Unos obvious loss here helped cement this heel construction for Bryan.  Cabana next week should really put it over the top. Just stay out of the Pacific Northwest for awhile.  Good starter match to get the wheels rolling on the new deal.  Bryan continues to be the best dude that ever dude-ed.

Ishii’s debut seemed kind of muted without some sort of highlight reel to get the uninitiated up to speed on who he is and what he is like.  At least he didn’t seem weird standing next to OC.  Decent match.  Probably could’ve been better.  But I’m nitpicking.

Lethal is not my favorite but he was very good in ring here.  He did alot better than Ishii did in not having a pre-match video.  That Sammy dive was big nuts crazy.  MOTN.  
 

I understand some of the confusion over Lio Rush wrestling incredible flashy baby face, while the story suggests there is something exploitive in his recruitment of Dante.  This one remains a “let it play out”.  It’ll most likely be there in weeks to come.  
 

Some of the signs in the crowd suggest there may be a level of frustration beginning to bubble up from under the surface.  Hopefully, it gets addressed before AEW gets swept up in this insane contrarian culture war.

Great show.  Some random thoughts.  I continue to love AEW.  I hope you’re all having as much fun as I am.
 

 

 

[Matt D]

I think the deal with Rush is that he just believes his own shit, as opposed to Hardy who's either delusional or self-conscious and heelishly overcompensates. Taz more doesn't believe in anything; he's jaded and thinks he sees the world for what it is but he still overcompensates in his own way by calling everyone his friend and being overly effusive about how close Team Taz are to one another. Rush, being a talented guy in his 20s, is earnest and honestly thinks he's best for Dante and wants the best for him, but through the folly of youth, he offered Dante more of a get rich quick scheme than Sydal who offered slow, steady progress. He's the Artful Dodger instead of Fagan and he probably flies too close to the sun and is convincing Dante to do the same, but that doesn't necessarily make him a heel.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

I was thinking about Sammy's massive table bump and got to thinking, it's really cool how AEW has the timekeepers table at ringside, but the announce booth next to the stage. It's truly the best of both worlds. You can do big main event table bumps like Sammy's and Hangman at the PPV, but you can still have a pissed off Cody or Team Taz or whoever storm the booth and grab a headset. 

[A_K]

Danielson is superb. A cut above. Very good crowd. 

[eikerir]

I was impressed with the guy in the crowd wearing an Excalibur mask for most of the show but swapping it for an Evil Uno one during his match and surprisingly for a SES CM Punk one when he came out.

 

[DEAN]

Well, that was very fun and very long.  I spent the entire night explaining all the inside joke chants to my son who hasn't watched wrestling in five years.  The crowd was AMAZING.  I got burned out halfway through Dark Elevation but these freaks in Norfolk were up for EVERYTHING.  I thought they lost the crowd during the Acclaimed match, but Lio Rush brought them back.  That was a big time performance.  Man, the highlight of the night was Ishii.  THAT's how you get over.  There were old school drunken rednecks sitting behind us and they stopped their unfunny yammering when Ishii started bringing it and we like, "Holy shit, that Chinese guy is beatin the piss out of that hairy fella."  It was awesome.  It was awesome that the crowded started a big Ishii chant but couldn't figure out how to pronounce his name.  Ah, Norfolk.  You know who got the biggest pop?  JAY LETHAL.  That match was really awesome.  Jay Lethal doing Flair stuff in Norfolk was pretty great.  My son being confused by everyone knowing the words to the Chris Jericho song was pretty funny.  That was a LARGE crowd and it looked like mostly wrestling nerds but a good mix of older folks.  The rednecks behind us recited the entire New Age Outlaws shtick when Billy Gunn was wrestling but were trying to understand the "Ass Boys" chant directed at the Gunn brothers-  which was the strangest chant because Danhausen called them that on twitter like MONDAY.  The Shida match was her best non-Serena Deeb match.  Shida was waaaaay over.  You could tell they had gone to a commercial midmatch, which was annoying,  Anyway, it was over at 11, I got home at 1ish- which is amazing as I figured it would take an hour to get out of the parking deck but we were out in 10 minutes.  I never got up with my brother and nephew because they got there late and I assume had to leave early because my nephew brought two of his young sons.  Oh, and Rampage will suck Friday.  Unless I was just burned out.

[A_K]

When they produce a show so well paced, so well toned as that, surely it becomes difficult to justify ever giving Chris Jericho on air minutes again to run that tired old schtick. All the talent you need to run that program around were there front and Center.

[DEAN]

10 hours ago, ChrisPBacon said:

Cant hear "Gimmie Back My Bullets" without thinking about The Briscoes. 

That was the first thing I thought when I heard that.  That was the greatest entrance music EVER.  I was like, "Oh man, are the Briscoes here?"

[chriskbrown50]

9 minutes ago, A_K said:

When they produce a show so well paced, so well toned as that, surely it becomes difficult to justify ever giving Chris Jericho on air minutes again to run that tired old schtick. All the talent you need to run that program around were there front and Center.

Great show with BTE for what 2 mins and no match (but super effective - Kenny saying he has not watched the match , etc was just perfect); Jericho being a sidekick, - heck Punk said nothing and still was amazing. Fun stuff

[peterien]

Part of me thinks Punk is burning through feuds/matches because his contract isn’t THAT long and he wants to fit as much in as he can. 
 

Then another part of me thinks as @ChrisPBaconmentioned that we’re getting a slow burn and Punk is here for the long run.

Either way- wrestling is awesome. 

[DEAN]

4 hours ago, J.T. said:

I thought that the gigantic dude in the front row wearing the blue plaid shirt was Dean, but it was not.

Oh, I am a big dude but I was the 7,000th fattest dude there.  The adorbable nerds sitting in front of us couldn't fit in their chairs.  It was a glorious nerd fest.

[A_K]

1 minute ago, chriskbrown50 said:

Great show with BTE for what 2 mins and no match (but super effective - Kenny saying he has not watched the match , etc was just perfect); Jericho being a sidekick, - heck Punk said nothing and still was amazing. Fun stuff

The Punk/MJF & Danielson/Page segments were high grade. No zaniness, no high jinx, no desperate *wink wink* humour. Just quality, under-stated narratives. Hopefully the rating is good and they keep on this track. 

[A_K]

Was actually a little touching to see MJF choked up on that Punk segment. Shows how focused and intense and sincere he is about all this in a manner way outside his usual character work. Hopefully Punk picks up on that and throws it right back into his face on his promo work. That’s just a great feud for both to be in.

[DEAN]

Ladies Love Cool Tomohiro.

 

[JLowe]

2 hours ago, MoeCristyV.1.6 said:

Dante hits his aerial moves PERFECT. It's unreal how clean everything looks. 

I posted before that he has an NBA level vertical and sometimes just looks like he's floating in mid-air while doing his moves, even when they're not springboard rope moves. He and Moriarty were working some chain grappling stuff and I would like to see Dante add some ground work/limb stuff to his repertoire just to look a little more complete for his inevitable move up the ladder.

I expect he and Lio will have a tag title match soon, but I would like to see them build Dante towards a title match with Sammy, and maybe a surprise switch.

[Matt D]

So long as he avoids injury and AEW continues to make good, solid hirings, AND he keeps doing what he's doing now and work people in other styles outside of AEW, can you imagine what Martin will be like at 25 if this is him at 20?