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AEW Dynamite - 4/7/2021


Dolfan in NYC

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The main event angle was utter dung. Aside from the lame acting, they blew through a storyline that should have been built up gradually over a much longer period of time within a week or two. You can say the same thing for the Inner Circle/Pinnacle angle. As good as the locker room brawl was last week, that and the announcement of the Not Wargames match should have been built up over time rather than run through in less than a month.

Drake got his chest worked over pretty good on Dark (which I'm assuming was taped before tonight's show) so that might have accounted for his new gear. I'm all in for more of him though.

I thought QT's turn was a half assed copy of the Pinnacle/IC angle, but his promo was actually pretty good.

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30 minutes ago, HumanChessgame said:

Aside from the lame acting, they blew through a storyline that should have been built up gradually over a much longer period of time within a week or two.

THIS.  This is why it was so "meh" to me.  We needed a lot more stuff about how the Bucks are torn because they hate Callis and aren't fond of the Good Brothers, but Kenny is still their friend.  They shouldn't have even wanted the match last night.  They should have kept turning this kind of thing down until it was somehow unavoidable.  Instead, they jumped from the most obvious Callis manipulation to what we got last night.  The whole deal just rang so hollow.

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It’s funny that the feud that led to all this, Cody vs Kenny went a year, The Bucks progressively more and more torn between Cody and Kenny and truly in the middle. This in contrast was rushed and also how come no mention of Cody v Kenny in all of this?

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1 minute ago, Web Conn said:

It’s funny that the feud that led to all this, Cody vs Kenny went a year, The Bucks progressively more and more torn between Cody and Kenny and truly in the middle. This in contrast was rushed and also how come no mention of Cody v Kenny in all of this?

I don't watch BTE, so I'll ask those who do: How often do the Elite members bring up Cody? 

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I think what really gets me about the Bucks angle last night is that we had this months-long build-up...to ultimately end up right back where the angle started (the Bucks reluctantly superkicking someone attacking Kenny and then throwing up he Too Sweet to close the show while viewers were left to wonder what was going on).  We’re back to square one!  What was the point of any of this?

I suppose you could argue that the second set of superkicks, as ordered by Kenny, represents a more solidified union, but...the past few months have been a really long walk to arrive at such an incremental change.

Edited by EVA
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@EVAStrongly agree on these points.

This show just fucking meandered - I don't really know how else to put it. Maybe they knew NXT would do a number, who knows..

It just seems kind of weird to both rush things in certain respects, and to remain in what appears to be a "holding" pattern for others. It's not like there's a PPV or big Dynamite to build to other than Blood and Guts which is still well far away. 

Just a very strange tone this week, would be the best way of describing it.

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10 minutes ago, EVA said:

I think what really gets me about the Bucks angle last night is that we had this months-long build-up...to ultimately end up right back where the angle started (the Bucks reluctantly superkicking someone attacking Kenny and then throwing up he Too Sweet to close the show while viewers were left to wonder what was going on).  We’re back to square one!  What was the point of any of this?

I suppose you could argue that the second set of superkicks, as ordered by Kenny, represents a more solidified union, but...the past few months have been a really long walk to arrive at such an incremental change.

Exactly it did not feel like a turn but then once again trying to make Kenny happy. Kenny was really working over Matt’s arm in the match, they weren’t really taking it easy on one another nor were The Bucks really icing Moxley during the match there was nothing to justify them taking it easy in Kenny or having a change of heart at the end there.

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Man, it's weird.

Cody's angles and presentation of his character are nonsensical.

The Bucks/Kenny thing was somehow both meandering and rushed at the same time, and also nonsensical.

If I didn't know better, I'd think maybe the EVPs having creative control isn't the best idea.

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I loved Jericho's promo and thought he did a great job of building up a concept that was brought up and dropped due to Covid around a year ago. Trying to get THAT match over is what he was put out there to do and I think he did a damn good job of it. Points for whoever said it feels like MJF/Co. vs. Jericho/Co. because I always felt like Sammy should be the guy to eventually end the MJF/Inner Circle rivalry. Despite the "parallels" (if you can even call them that) between MJF and Jericho, this is where you get your new talent over. Remember that Sammy Guevara/Darby Allin match from Revolution last year? That's the moment I thought Guevara had a BIG future ahead of him.

Big fan of Max Castor and his gimmick. but he definitely needs to brush up more in the ring. As much as I love AEW, one thing that does kind of disappoint me is the amount of botches on a weekly basis. I'm all for this company and will continue to support them to the enth degree, but man, if you put AEW and NXT side by side (which I did last night) NXT just seems to have a much cleaner in ring product. I don't know if that's because those guys are at the PC every day and practicing their craft vs. one day a week in AEW, but I really was hoping that by now we would see a little bit cleaner of an in ring product. That's only exclusive for certain guys though (Luchasaurus, Max Castor) whereas you then see someone like Hangman and realize just how damn good he is. Loved the finishing sequence of that match. Hangman = super athletic guy.

Team Taz more recruiting. Don't care. This is like Christian's faux joining of Team Canada back when he debuted in TNA. Just let the guy run solo.

Funny that I always thought someone like Jon Moxley was gonna be the equivalent to Stone Cold for AEW, but instead it turns out to be Britt fucking Baker. I was invested in her when she first came in and she was definitely improving, but ever since that injury she got last year she has REALLY elevated not just her in ring game, but promos as well. For my money she's one of the most improved wrestlers since AEW opened, and good on her. She should be the face of that division for at least the next five to ten years depending how long she wants to wrestle (she's only 29).

Is it finally time we move on from the Kenny Omega six man main events now? I do enjoy Kenny more than others and have no qualms with his current character, but let's get that title back to at least being somewhat of a focus of the show. Is this going to lead us back to Inner Circle vs. ELITE again after the Pinnacle feud except with the dispositions flip flopped? Or do we get Hangman running with the D.O. before finally usurping Omega at All Out? Or is it too soon without the fans? MAN I JUST WANT THIS PANDEMIC OVER WITH. GIMME AN ARENA FULL OF PEOPLE CELEBRATING HANGMANS TITLE WIN

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2 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Not at all. 

That's about the answer I expected. I don't think Cody and the Elite have been together on TV since the first pandemic show, IIRC. So to answer @Web Conn's question, there's been a concerted effort to separate Cody on screen from the rest of the EVPs which is probably why he's not been mentioned in this story.

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There's at least rumors that Cody and the other EVPs had some sort of falling out and barely even talk to each other anymore. Whether or not there's any truth to that, who knows, but it certainly looks plausible.

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I mean, none of this is news. These faults have been glaring and building over many months, and identified here variously. There is no one  at the helm. I actually thought last night was OK overall - although obviously the Bucks do and always have sucked in any role other than weasel heels (they’re not even pulling that off here). Ultimately what will get them is having an EVP system where the EVPs are all on screen talent. That was simply bat shit crazy from the start.

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40 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

There's at least rumors that Cody and the other EVPs had some sort of falling out and barely even talk to each other anymore. Whether or not there's any truth to that, who knows, but it certainly looks plausible.

I need more details on this.  Many, many more.

There was a lot of "read between the lines" stuff in the Bucks' book that gave me the impression that Cody and the others didn't exactly gel.  One that really stood out was how Cody was torn between joining AEW and going back to the WWE and went back and forth on it a lot before ultimately deciding on AEW.  So pardon the pun, but he definitely was not all in.

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I can't fault Cody for being torn on AEW or WWE. Personally, I think the Bucks are full of shit if they don't admit that they at least also considered WWE's insane offer that they supposedly got at the time.

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I don't see anything wrong with the Six Man Kenny. It's good to not have the championship defended on TV every single week. I would say that they should bring back the old rule of a championship needs to be defended at least once every 30 days, but what they're doing right now is absolutely fine and it continues their multi-angled storyline. 

The TNT Championship is something that I feel should be defended at least 2x a month on TV- and maybe not defended on PPV. It's the Network Champion... It should be network exclusive and at least the semi-main event of your shows.

I thought Jericho looked the best he's looked since the birth of AEW. He appeared less bloaty last night- and his promo was seriously the best I've heard from him since the glory days of the late 90s / early 00's. He absolutely has a Sebastian Bach type of voice to get a crowd riled up, and I totally digged that. 

I'm never really into big guys working like small guys- I love the Luchasaurus character, he's an intelligent dude dressing up like a dinosaur... And I'm probably sounding like an old timer in my viewpoints- but big dudes doing flips detracts from the small dudes doing flips. I think it would tighten up his work in doing so.

Bear Country reminds me of War Machine.

Edited by Wyld Samurai
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Echo'ing the suggestion that they book the ending of Blood and Guts like (I can't believe I'm going to write this) that one Survivor Series that Dolph Ziggler won. Have Jericho get taken out early, but let Sammy be the guy that overcomes the odds to win it in the end and make the guy. I hope and think that is where this is going. 

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2 hours ago, Casey said:
Also, Bayley fans are giving him shit on Twitter for that line about Solow not just being known as someone's boyfriend.

Haha, oh man, I thought that was a shot at Cody because of Brandi.

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I haven't heard anything about there being any issues between Cody and Kenny, the Bucks, and even Hangman. Consider how much Cody worked together with all of them early on. I think if anything, the match against Dustin and the other feuds Cody had showed that it would be better to have distance between Cody and the rest of the guys instead of always saddling Cody with the Elite. Also, last year all of them opened the first Dynamite of the COVID era by talking to the audience. 

All of that makes even more sense when you consider that all of Cody's storylines and feuds have almost been in a bubble, separated from the rest of AEW. He has almost become this special attraction kind of guy.

As for no one steering the ship, I don't think that's entirely accurate. It does feel like maybe TK has been a little more hands off lately because you can see a distinct difference in the booking style when we knew for sure TK was heavily involved with booking and what the last six months have been like. It's not like the last six months have been bad, they've actually been really outstanding, but there has been a massive increase in the number of people appearing on each Dynamite to the point where it's hard to keep track of everything, there has been a lot more interference and post-match beatdowns, and a lot of the storylines feel like they're in something of a bubble. When TK was more heavily involved, there was more of a simplicity to things and less people were featured.

It's probably worth dialing back things a bit to do simple better, to quote Joe Maddon. I get the need to get air time for all of the talent they have, but now there are too many factions, too many teams on Dynamite, and it's getting hard to follow. I think the simple solution of getting folks on Dynamite by putting them in factions is having diminishing returns. There's no reason for AEW to have more groups than NJPW. You have the Elite/Bullet Club, Dark Order, Nightmare Family, The Factory, Inner Circle, Pinnacle, Best Friends, Death Triangle, HFO, Team Taz, Jurassic Express, and jobber stables with Nemeth/Bononi/Avalon/Drake. To do simple better, you have to relegate some of this talent to Dark and sadly, when COVID clears up more, probably clean house. A lot of contracts are coming up anyway so it's probably a good time to cut things back. I bet you could probably cut the entire roster in half and be ok. 

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I choose to believe the Cody/Elite rift simply because I want it to eventually lead to an awkward split screen scene (a la Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi in The Good Wife) because they refuse to appear on camera together. C'mon fellas, let that bitterness grow for the entertainment of us all

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