AEW DYNASTY - 4/21/2024

[Matt D]

My take on the big match: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2024/04/aew-five-fingers-of-death-415-421.html?m=1

[JLowe]

3 hours ago, Just Dave said:

I've posted this elsewhere, but this would be the time I'd REALLY elevate HOB. I'd probably put the Trios titles on them AND the TNT Title on Malakai. I'd probably have Buddy win either Eddie's NJPW title (if AEW is allowed to make that call) or the Owen. Or both. If TK was letting me book the show, I'd have Brody steamroll Mark Briscoe for the ROH World title, too. Put gold on all those guys. 

I agree with the Brody part minus the steamrolling.

[Technico Support]

3 hours ago, Just Dave said:

put the Trios titles on them AND the TNT Title on Malakai

But he'd have to lose them sometime

[Coletti]

I liked Rosa just fine before the injury but man, she's just looked "capable" at best since returning. So sloppy. 

Besides that and Jericho's shit it was a killer frickin night. 

[Curt McGirt]

Mone's entrance got exposed by nobody keeping up with the "CEO" chant in the crowd after it stopped, which exposed it being incredibly cloying (even moreso) and super heelish. Kind of... hmmm. Ah, I got it, like this. 

Spoiler

 

[Matt D]

I liked the main event quite a bit. One of my favorite Swerve matches ever. It was ok that he took so much of it because it was due to him capitalizing on opportunities (some of which he was able to create) and because you want your new chant to win definitively. It wasn't enough for him to win; he had to Beat Joe and he did.

[Go2Sleep]

I feel like there's a lot of hyperbole in people's reactions to this show.

I'm not seeing how Danielson/Ospreay is anywhere near the best match ever or even either guy's best match this year. Ospreay/Takeshita did a lot more for me on first watch, as did Danielson/ZSJ in NJ. It was still very good, mind you, but pretty much any Ospreay formula match is gonna be good and Danielson is obviously gonna be game for keeping pace. Some big spots here, and the "Hidden Blade vs. Busaiku knee" was really cool. Danielson's retirement tour has kinda gone back and forth between performative bucket list type of work and actually building a good match through genuine struggle. This was definitely all the way on the performative side whereas his work with ZSJ with a story of trying to establish technical dominance or his quick and violent strap match with Starks are the matches that show why he's still one of the best. The Omega/Ospreay matches were rooted and character work playing off their career arcs (like Kawada/Misawa) underneath all the moves.

Likewise, I'm not really sure how Hook/Jericho was the worst ever. Jericho's character right now is that he's a hanger-on despite having nothing to offer. The more this gets exposed, the more he throws tantrums calling back to his WCW heel turn. If anything, he's probably playing the character too well or perhaps just miscalculated leaning too much into what the AEW die-hards think about him. He's getting exactly the heat that he wants, whether that comes across well on TV or not is another story I guess. That said, the match wasn't good by any stretch, but it was far from AEW's worst this year (Billy/Jay is running away with that, and Dustin/Butcher was horrible too). Basically, both guys have limitations, and neither guy is at a stage of their career where they can compensate for the weaknesses of the other. Worst match on the show, sure, not much beyond that.

The rest of the show was pretty good overall. KOR/Roddy was the sleeper match of the night. Swerve/Joe was a really well put together match too, where it felt like Swerve was going hard the whole time but really had to earn the win.

I feel like no one's talking about Adam Cole is back bay bay. I think we're looking at Cole/Swerve at Double or Nothing with MJF negating Kingdom interference.

[NikoBaltimore]

14 hours ago, Matt D said:

My take on the big match: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2024/04/aew-five-fingers-of-death-415-421.html?m=1

I might end up re-watching this match sooner than anticipated.  A lot's been said about the match but I never considered the crowd's part in this.  I mean how can you not go batshit insane watching this?  Yet your reasoning for the crowd missing out on something makes perfect sense.  I know I was losing my mind at all that was going on and maybe missed out too.  Maybe that's why the ending felt like a shock to me and snapped me out of the euphoria I was feeling.  It's something to think about and thanks for that awesome write-up.

[Kevin Wilson]

9 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

I feel like no one's talking about Adam Cole is back bay bay. I think we're looking at Cole/Swerve at Double or Nothing with MJF negating Kingdom interference.

Unless I mis-read it, I don't think he's back. To add a real life element to it, I know someone that last summer had unfortunately a very similar injury to Adam Cole, to the point he had to go in for a second surgery it was so messed up. Today he is walking just fine, if you met him you wouldn't know his ankle was fucked, but he still can't even run, let alone jump off a turnbuckle and land on it. He said he's still at least a few months away from doing anything more than walking around as there is just more healing it needs to do.

Now everyone heals different and no two injuries are the same so I'm not saying its a 1:1 to Cole, but I read it as "he's well enough to appear at shows again to further storylines" not "he's healed and will be able to wrestle in a month." I could be wrong, my IRL example may be clouding my interpretation, but I saw it more as a positive step than a sign he's close to an in-ring return. I mean while everyone else jumped on the apron, Cole carefully went up the stairs, I'd be shocked if he's wrestling by Wembley still.

[Octopus]

Interesting and I enjoy meditating on the crowd response. A match like this I’ll need to watch again to give actual thoughts outside of gut feelings. Maybe in a month or so when it is on a sneaky peaky upload. During it, I very much felt that the immense pandemonium improved my experience. I don’t think the attack off the apron was missed as much as it was like when I’m doing “THE CLAW” with lil Octopus and he is uncontrollably squeamishly giggling because of all the fun surrounding “THE CLAW” which include powerbombs on the couch and piggyback rides. You very well might be onto something, but what you were talking about as a negative I very much resonated. 
Great comparison to RVD vs Benoit. That made me appreciate this match more and if I got what I thought would be nice on paper, maybe would have been less happy.

This match was maybe the best possible outcome of the two being opponents. If it was more ~Ospreay~ then I’d likely be less thrilled, if it was more then it would have had less exciting for the fan of the modern style. This match was a very tasty Arnold Palmer.

[The Natural]

My top five AEW Dynasty matches:

5. Roderick Strong vs. Kyle O'Reilly.

4. Timeless Toni Storm vs. Thunder Rosa.

3. The Young Bucks vs. FTR.

2. Kazuchika Okada vs. PAC.

1. Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson.

Might switch Bucks/FTR with Storm/Rosa.

[The Natural]

I'm having difficulty where Bryan Danielson vs. Will Ospreay from AEW Dynasty 2024 places in my Best AEW Matches Ever list.

https://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9128-best-aew-matches-ever/page/5/#comments

I still rate Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr from AEW WrestleDream 2023 as the best AEW match ever. It's a toss up between Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega from AEW Grand Slam Dynamite 2021 and Bryan Danielson vs. Will Ospreay at AEW Dynasty 2024 for second and third place.

What's yours?

Edited April 23 by The Natural

[Zakk_Sabbath]

14 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega from AEW Grand Slam Dynamite 2021

It's this one for me - but I acknowledge the bias I have from being in the house, and that whole show overall being probably the literal peak of my 30 year fandom. If I lived in St. Louis you might get a totally different answer.

[Sex Machine Gun]

Danielson/Omega remains my favorite AEW match ever. Maybe that'd change with another viewing of Danielson/Ospreay but I don't think it will.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

28 minutes ago, Sex Machine Gun said:

Danielson/Omega remains my favorite AEW match ever. Maybe that'd change with another viewing of Danielson/Ospreay but I don't think it will.

I'll say this: since Danielson/Omega, I think Danielson/Ospreay is the only other match I've seen in recent memory that got a "holy shit!" before they even locked up. I thought that was kind of an interesting parallel when we were watching

Edit: I went back and read @Matt Ds post (excellent as always) and given his take on the crowd I guess this post became slightly prescient

Edited April 23 by Zakk_Sabbath

[Go2Sleep]

Gotta say Omega/Ospreay at Forbidden Door 23. Two guys that know how to do a proper 40-minute King's Road style match with a little infusion of sports entertainment with Don Callis' excellent desperation character work throughout.

MJF/Punk dog collar is probably number 2, but MJF/Danielson iron man, Hangman/Swerve TDM, and FTR/Briscoes 2/3 falls (assuming we count nu-ROH) would all be strong contenders.

Edited April 23 by Go2Sleep

[Octopus]

Off the top of my head and in the deep void of my gut, I’ll say

1. Bryan Danielson vs ZSJ

2. MJF vs Bryan Danielson

3. Young Bucks vs Omega & Hangman

Each of those are in my [rough draft] top 50 All Time favorites. 
 

[NikoBaltimore]

So I ended up watching this again.  But in order to take out the crowd's part in the way Matt mentioned I decided to watch it on mute.  It goes against what the point of wrestling is meant to do but I didn't want the crowd to influence my view of the match.

On rewatch yeah it really fucking rules.  The story beats worked with Danielson knowing early he was in for a rough ride so he had to dominate.  Then when the top rope Tiger was done it almost snapped Will out of it and he rose to the occasion.  From there it led to a wild third act and it came crashing down with the worked injury.  It almost reminded me of The Beatles "I want you (she's so heavy)" in that it would build up and up and up then it suddenly got silent and it felt jarring.  First time hearing that song I was not prepared but have grown to love it.  The ending of this match was essentially it getting suddenly silent and I was in all kinds of "Wait, what?" mode.  So yeah with Danielson's history of real and fake injuries no thank you.

But watching the match back I realized I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't pay attention to 1. The Storm Driver being done as safe as possible and 2. The gravity of the situation in Will's reaction.  He had that post-match as well as in the media scrum and with that context this is one time where the fake injury works.  I just hope Danielson never goes fake injury route again.

As for ranking the matches Natural mentioned I don't know.  Daneielson/Omega was loved by me for emotional reasons and Danielson/Sabre was a technical dream match that I ate up with a giant spoon.  This one was a mix of everything and it all just worked so beautifully.  I think it's a bit soon for me to say where it compares to the other two.  The shock of the end has worn off a good bit but I also want to see how this is followed up on Dynamite and a couple shows after.  I feel if the fake injury was concerning for some it might be worth a rewatch.

[The Natural]

My top five:

5. Adam Page/John Silver/Alex Reynolds vs. MJF/Santana/Ortiz. AEW Dynamite, 30th December 2020.

4. Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Winter is Coming Dynamite, 15th December 2021. *****.

3. Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Dynasty, 21st April 2024. *****.

2. Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega. AEW Grand Slam Dynamite, 22nd September 2021. *****.

1. Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. AEW WrestleDream, 1st October 2023. *****.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

11 minutes ago, Octopus said:

Young Bucks vs Omega & Hangman

Yo, great shout. I think I like this one for the same reason @Go2Sleepliked Ospreay/Danielson: great mix of killer work and again, that liiiiiittle eye dropper full of sports entertainment at the end with the 'maybe' buckshot tease (and the awesome 'Wait.. did I.. did you guys just see...nevermind' call from Schiavone that accompanied it)

[Just Dave]

21 hours ago, Technico Support said:

But he'd have to lose them sometime

Sure. When a babyface shows up with a garlic necklace and a stake to drive through his heart.

 

But no, I understand your point. It should just really mean something when Malakai drops a fall.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Aside from all the other great stuff I was excited to see a Melvins shirt prominently on the hardcam.... until I realized it was probably a mashup for Taven. Something I love with someone I don't care about. 

Glad to see Willow win. I love her. Stokely on commentary was great. 

[Technico Support]

26 minutes ago, Just Dave said:

Sure. When a babyface shows up with a garlic necklace and a stake to drive through his heart.

 

But no, I understand your point. It should just really mean something when Malakai drops a fall.

What I meant was that, apparently, Malakai himself is edging into Mil Mascaras “NO YOB!” territory.

[Niners Fan in CT]

21 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

 super heelish.

  Hide contents

 

 

That seems to be the point.  She came out and stole Willow's spotlight and everyone including the announcers were saying as much.  She's coming off as disingenuous  towards Willow as well.  She probably didn't even really get attacked.  

I could be wrong but that looks like what they're doing. 

[Just Dave]

7 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

What I meant was that, apparently, Malakai himself is edging into Mil Mascaras “NO YOB!” territory.

I've heard that. He himself has refuted that, but iiwii. His run wouldn't have to last forever, just long enough to really get a babyface over for pinning him. House of Black being the dragon sitting on all the treasure would be dope as hell.