AEW Dynamite - 5/19/2021

[Craig H]

5 minutes ago, El Gran Gordi said:

Jericho and Malenko's interaction was another low key highlight of the show for me. Loved the quick reference to the "man of 1004 holds" promo.

Well, I forgot a few.

I laughed and then my heart kinda broke a little bit because Malenko was my favorite wrestler not named Steve Austin back then. I just thought about how much time had passed since promo, thought about Malenko and Jericho both being older, I'm older, Malenko has Parkinsons, my mom has Parkinsonism.

Time is a motherfucker, but I'll take the laughs where I can get them.

[For Great Justice]

2 minutes ago, Hagan said:

- The Varsity Blondes adding Julia Hart as head cheerleader (who is only 19 so they are all for sure a really young act to feature) is a money move. Like, they're all such good babyfaces but once they get more experience I could see that being a fun heel act. 

This was such a great, logical move. And I like that they don't position Hart as the manager. Like she, herself, is a varsity blonde. 

[Craig H]

What is Julia Hart a 2 time national champion in? And holy shit, she's only 19 and has been a part of 2 national championship teams?

Edited May 20, 2021 by Craig H

[Hagan]

One thing that AEW does well and WWE doesn't, is use the woman, especially inexperienced ones, to complement male acts. I mean, we don't need to go back to ECW style eye candy or cat fights but someone like Hart or Anna Jay, who are both really, really young and inexperienced, immediately get some juice by being associated with male acts. 

The WWE's reticence to use woman as valets/managers or even stable mates despite it nearly always working is weirdly baffling. Look at how Nikki benefitted from being with Sanity or even B-Fab with Hit Row already. 

I think there's some weird post-modern idea that having a female "just" be a manager or valet as opposed to being  a wrestler is demeaning somehow. 

[eikerir]

Loved Jericho saying "I forgot a few" to Malenko, very cute.

Man I really enjoy Griff Garrison in the ring, he really lays his shit in like Hangman.

Please never let the Young Bucks go back to being faces again, these version of them is so much more enjoyable to watch, I laugh my ass off a few times per match with all the stupid shit they do.

[Craig H]

It's a little thing, but Griff Garrison has my favorite big boot right now. Griff isn't a hoss or anything, but holy shit, he fucking connects with that thing.

[AxB]

1 hour ago, Craig H said:

What is Julia Hart a 2 time national champion in? And holy shit, she's only 19 and has been a part of 2 national championship teams?

Cheerleading, I think? She's a Dustin Rhodes trainee. 

I wonder if there's a little fraternal competitiveness between Dusty's kids' schools. Because both have really good track records so far. Possibly partly because AEW is willing to trust green talent at a level you don't often see in wrestling.

[HarryArchieGus]

Christian Cage is poetry in motion.  So thankful he chose AEW - wouldn’t have seen him otherwise.  Sydal has been an excellent pick up too.  I really like his role on the card.  AEW’s put together an excellent jobber squad.

[Hagan]

25 minutes ago, AxB said:

Cheerleading, I think? She's a Dustin Rhodes trainee. 

 

Cody posted on Twitter that she was one of his trainees. Regardless, Dustin and Cody/QT are developing a really good track record so far on developing people. 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

10 minutes ago, Hagan said:

Cody posted on Twitter that she was one of his trainees. Regardless, Dustin and Cody/QT are developing a really good track record so far on developing people. 

I'm not a regular listener, but I recently heard a great clip from Observer Live on YT where they were talking about Tay Conti's progress training with those guys being a real indictment on the WWEPC way of training, and I have to say, I'm inclined to agree so far

[Craig H]

4 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

I'm not a regular listener, but I recently heard a great clip from Observer Live on YT where they were talking about Tay Conti's progress training with those guys being a real indictment on the WWEPC way of training, and I have to say, I'm inclined to agree so far

To add to that, on today's WOR they talked about watching Jungle Boy and Jake Atlas and how Jake Atlas was ahead of why Jungle Boy was at in his development. Then Jungle Boy went to AEW, Jake went to NXT, and now Jungle Boy is way ahead of where Jake Atlas is now because Jungle Boy has kept doing the same things and improved on them whereas Jake has learned this vanilla as fuck WWE system. 

[Death From Above]

I don't know if I'd go as far as to say the WWE training program is outright bad, but considering how many workers they signed to developmental plus the cost of the training center, they've got to be spending millions a year, and it's clearly a massively inefficient system at best.

I missed the show last night. My internet was all fucked so I was between being on the phone with my ISP and then my NHL team had their first playoff game in a few years so wrestling got shoved aside.

[matt925]

11 minutes ago, Death From Above said:

I don't know if I'd go as far as to say the WWE training program is outright bad, but considering how many workers they signed to developmental plus the cost of the training center, they've got to be spending millions a year, and it's clearly a massively inefficient system at best.

I missed the show last night. My internet was all fucked so I was between being on the phone with my ISP and then my NHL team had their first playoff game in a few years so wrestling got shoved aside.

Dave rants about this a lot. They spend $20 million per year on the performance center and get baron corbin out of it. They could just use that money and sign famous people. 

[Infinit]

I thought last night show was another fun, easy watch. Lots of progress and some great in ring action.

When did they tape the show? Was it a show with fans or taped like Dark?

[Kev]

That whole opening to the Mox/King match was really fun, from Wild Thing to Caster’s rap to Mox smashing Bowens mid catchphrase.

I feel like they use some variation on “you’re a bitch/I’m gonna make you my bitch” far too often as an ‘edgy’ cheap pop line. Hager and Archer pulled it out this episode. It also feels kind of out of place/cliche in 2021.

I did like Miro’s reaction though, calmly brushing it off. Despite the criticisms of Miro’s early run with Kip (and I don’t want to open up that discussion again), I think his character is more well-rounded for it. He’s this charismatic, normal, chill dude who plays video games with friends, expect he’s also totally not chill and will absolutely wreck your shit.

I thought Spears was pretty good in the Pinnacle segment. I think somebody suggested it here already, but shifting his character to a real of piece of shit sociopath is a good fit, rather than just being another cocky guy.

Although it was mostly a foregone conclusion, I liked them building the Blondes with the quick highlight package and promo time. Griff is someone who does nothing massively flashy (by modern standards) but pretty much everything he does looks great.

The sharpshooter always feels a bit out of place in the Bucks move set to me so I wasn’t a massive fan of the finish. I’m liking their heel work, but I still think they’re miscast as ‘the best wrestlers’.

Oh and thought the Kenny-OC segment was low-key really fun. Kenny absolutely should be using the EVP role to lean into the power trip thing.

[NikoBaltimore]

1 hour ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

I'm not a regular listener, but I recently heard a great clip from Observer Live on YT where they were talking about Tay Conti's progress training with those guys being a real indictment on the WWEPC way of training, and I have to say, I'm inclined to agree so far

You might want to check out today's episode of AEW's podcast then.  When asked about it she said it's because she's happy and isn't busy walking on eggshells.  That and she has actual time to study lots of wrestling and MMA/other combat sports.  But really I'd say check it out anyway because she seems like an incredibly sweet person.

[Technico Support]

Just a bunch of stray observations here because I watched the show in chunks and my memory is spotty.

I agree that we need a moratorium of people calling themselves and others "bitches."

Ethan Page is not as good on the mic or as charismatic as he's led anyone to believe, is he?  I was way more into Sky's promo than his.  Why was Ethan yelling right from the get-go, then all the way through, like some 1985 Road Warriors shit?

Yes please more pissed off Serena Deeb just destroying opponents god damn and thank you. 

Miro is just the right amount of sloppiness on the mic that he feels real as fuck and that's such a good thing and works so well.

Excalibur: "Human urinal Don Callis"

Minus a million points for Excalibur, and moreso JR, for having to carry water for Cody's consensusly shit promo from last week.  Especially JR's "and that's not just TV announcer talk" bullshit.  Any time someone in wrestling insinuates EVERYTHING IS FAKE BUT THIS THING HERE IS REAL, I want to pull the TV off the wall and toss it off the deck into the pile of trash the guy down the street left after he moved out.

Austin Gunn biting that blood capsule like he's late 90s Ken Shamrock.  Love Ogogo's pop-up haymaker.

I did not expect Shawn Spears to work "angry alcoholic" into his collection of gimmicks but that's cool I guess.

I FFWD'd Christian and Sydal because both guys kind of bore me.  They're both incredibly competent, sure, but nah.

Adam Page's run-in was wonderful.

If you don't know how tall Griff Garrison is, just ask JR.  I swear he said it 5-6 times.  Is he a good wrestler?  No idea.  But I've been told he's tall, so that's something.  Does JR put over anyone under 6'2"?  In a company where not many people are hyooooge, having your lead announcer mostly only put over big guys is really detrimental.  He's is more stuck in the 80s than my musical tastes after a few drinks

Sammy really feels disingenuous on his promos.  Is he going to turn and join MJF or am I reading it wrong just because his delivery is so bad and he comes across like he doesn't believe a word he's saying?

Any version of Wild Thing that doesn't lead to your top guy staring bewilderedly into space, confused at the pan flute solo being played during a wrestling show, is fine with me.

I usually think Jade's promo's are repetitive but I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

Overall a really good, low key show.

[John from Cincinnati]

46 minutes ago, matt925 said:

Dave rants about this a lot. They spend $20 million per year on the performance center and get baron corbin out of it. 

Also.

Spoiler

 

[AxB]

19 minutes ago, Infinit said:

I thought last night show was another fun, easy watch. Lots of progress and some great in ring action.

When did they tape the show? Was it a show with fans or taped like Dark?

Taped last week without fans. You could tell because Mox amd King came in from the Car Entrance (rather than from up in the stands) and the Judas singalong only had shots of Dark/Elevation workers ringside.

[John from Cincinnati]

6 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Ethan Page is not as good on the mic or as charismatic as he's led anyone to believe, is he?  I was way more into Sky's promo than his.  Why was Ethan yelling right from the get-go, then all the way through, like some 1985 Road Warriors shit?

Yeah, his rep with me at the moment has serious "was a big fish in a small pond" stink. That coupled with the team with Alexander being really good. The thing he was trying to do here isn't quite my tempo. 

Edited May 20, 2021 by John from Cincinnati

[AxB]

I still think that The North being a good team was mostly thanks to Josh Alexander carrying the load.

[HarryArchieGus]

I really dig the Ethan Page-Scorpio team.  They really came together for me during that promo and attack on Darby a few weeks back.  I really liked their promo this week.  Scorp seems to be finding his way and I’m happy to see it.  

I hadn’t seen more than a few highlights of Ethan Page prior to his AEW debut, but I like his thoroughly heel act.  

[Jamal]

Red Velvet and Serena were my favorites of the night. Just really good stuff. Velvet is such a star in the making 

[Goodear]

Matches were pretty short for AEW this week which is great considering the point was to get some people over. I expect ratings to be around  Pre-NXT changing nights norm considering there was no draw this week. 

Christian Cage defeats Matt Sydal (9:15)

Cage is probably the best guy on the show bell-to-bell if we are going by the all important "What Goodear Likes" metric. Sydal really seems wasted in his role as JTTS and has never really had a strong role in the company. He's the signing that makes sense in that he's good, but they've had nothing for him since the jump.  Match was paced very well in that it ended just win it was supposed to and didn't wear out it's welcome.

Eddie Kingston & Jon Moxley defeat The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) (10:27)

Good outing by all involved although Moxed Martial Arts with all the sleepers and chokes just doesn't work for me. Acclaimed would do really well in a company with some good agents who can get them more focused during their finishing runs. They tend to go steps further than needed (which is AEW's house style). Anyway, their characters are very clear and they would be better off working their characters than trying to do more moves. Caster giving Mox and Kingston the opening shine was probably the highlight.

AEW Women's World Title Eliminator: Hikaru Shida defeats Rebel (w/Dr. Britt Baker DMD) (2:03)

Nothing match, which is fine. Not sure why Rebel had to distract the referee during the post match since it's already the post match. 

NWA World Women's Title: Serena Deeb (c) defeats Red Velvet (9:33)

Deeb is head and shoulders above the rest of the division barring Thunder Rosa. I'm sure turning her heel will be good for the division as most of their developing talent is on the face side of the ledger. The pinning combination sequence at the end was solid and the finishing leg lock was good (women's flexibility make submissions look good example #142). Red needs to drop the moonsault from her moveset. They all looked pretty bad.

Anthony Ogogo (w/Aaron Solow, Nick Comoroto & QT Marshall) defeats Austin Gunn (w/Arn Anderson & Cody Rhodes) by referee's decision (2:13)

Ogogo good!  Austin good! Everyone else? Garbage. Cody is as about as authentic wearing an American Flag as a $4 bill. QT is maybe the worst second I've ever seen. He gives you nothing but a flat affect. Solow has nothing to do.  Nick standing there is the last thing the character should be doing. He should almost always be in a rage. Instead he stands there.

AEW World Tag Team Title: The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (w/Brandon Cutler) (c) defeat The Varsity Blonds (Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison) (w/Julia Hart) (11:34)

I really think the Bucks are just actively bad at this point. Anyways, I have decided to declare Rick Knox the Worst Referee in the World. Hi new person Julia Hart we have never seen before, our heels are going to spray you in the eyes during your first appearance! No you won't get to do anything before or after! This will get you over! Shoe related shenanigans!

PPV is in 2 weeks and they've barely got the card together. Build is terrible. Only thing that got more than 3 weeks build is Bucks-Mox/Eddie. 

[Fighting a man with a perm]

4 hours ago, For Great Justice said:

All we need now once live crowds are back is a comedic cutaway to Kenny Omega backstage during the entrance with an "I HATE THIS SONG!"

"vile thing! You make my butt sting! I detest you" 

Max Caster's Tegan & Sara t-shirt was a low key highlight this week. Wrestlers wearing non-wrestling t-shirts is always a good look! 

Ortiz bringing the innovative mic handling. I need much more Ortiz on my screen, I miss seeing him wrestle, breaking out tiger style back rakes and pointing to his noggin. 

Where do I get one of those Hangman floral shirts? I think I could just about make that work in Dublin. 

This has somehow become a minor fashion watch post.