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Dynamite - 9/8/2021


Dolfan in NYC

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Other things that came to mind...

Baker's "catering" insult was stupid.  In general, I can't stand worky shooty bullshit.  It's not on the level of, "I SAID...DID YOU FORGET YOUR SCISSORS" but it's up there.

Enjoyed Don Callis' Kirk Lazarus Starter kit.

Nick Jackson out there looking like a Bajoran while Matt rocks the Malcolm X glasses.

JR has no idea what "Ruby Soho" is so he references a country song from 55 years ago.

I'm still fully behind the fact that babyfaces on this show actually have friends outside of their tag partners, especially Riho and Statlander saving Ruby.

We complain about the trope of booking your main event during the opening promo, as in, "what would the main event have been if these guys hadn't faced off in seg 1?"  But that happened here tonight.  We had a Danielson promo on the schedule with 20 minutes left in the show.  How, in kayfabe, would that have worked out if he hadn't decided to confront the Elite during their segment?

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I don't get why Griff didn't come out with Pillman, do like a double dropkick to Wardlow, have MJF scurry away and have Pillman make the challenge for Arthur Ashe instead of having the prolonged talking segment and having the faces look like dweebs.

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46 minutes ago, killsteve said:

 

 ...when your badass kickboxer guy's kicks visibly miss by miles.

Jim Ross made it perfectly clear that Malakai Black's preferred Martial Art is Kickfighting. And that's not hyperbowl.

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I once saw on twitter, someone had made a fake movie poster, for a movie in which Young Minoru Suzuki has to battle through a gauntlet of gangsters to rescue his girlfriend. Who has been kidnapped by the boss gangster (who is played by Old Minoru Suzuki).

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40 minutes ago, Infinit said:

I don't get why Griff didn't come out with Pillman, do like a double dropkick to Wardlow, have MJF scurry away and have Pillman make the challenge for Arthur Ashe instead of having the prolonged talking segment and having the faces look like dweebs.

Because in this instance the faces are dweebs, and because they just pulled MJF out of the treacle that was working with Jericho for an indulgent eternity with a very lame pay off and need to make him look even remotely aloof still however crass it was.

”OMG if Punk doesn’t come out at Chicago we riot!!11” was such a hyperbolic neck beard statement but MJF is out there risking inciting real riots. Glorious heel in his own way. It’s just .. aimless. He can’t go up the card after Jericho. He could beat up on lower card like Pilman but it’s meaningless. They’ve booked him into a corner where the most logical next step is to feed him to Wardlow. If they do that, they better figure out how they can position Wardlow as legit champion material or else it was all a bit of a waste of time. 

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Aside - Adam Cole looks like an absolute star. Top charisma. Small but so was Napoleon: he’d make a good psychopathic scheming little Bonaparte. A lot in his mannerisms that remind of late 90s Triple H more than Shawn actually.

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Other issues I had as a first-time live viewer of the show:

1) Did they do any sort of introductory video explaining who Minoru Suzuki is and what he can do? I don't remember if they did, since I missed a few minutes here and there. But there was nothing I saw. I'm someone tuning in for the first time after hearing about the buzz from the night before. I have no idea who he is. I don't follow Japanese wrestling. I stuck around for it to see Mox in front of his crowd. But I have no idea who Minoru is or why I should be excited to see him. I know Punk talked about him during his promo, but he was talking about Pancrase and stuff I know only in passing. 

You have to show people like me why I need to want to watch this match -- even if it's just a 10-15 second segment of him beating the crap out of someone. They kept on teasing "Bryan Danielson coming up next!" and that makes sense. But you also need to do some explanation to an audience who does not know the AEW personalities yet, let alone a guest star from Japan.

2) The more I think about that MJF thing, the more I hate it. I don't care about the content even though it's stupid cheap heat. I just hate the layout of the segment. 

They needed to do another way of introducing her to the audience besides Punk namedropping Aunt Linda and not going into details except something about the Dark Side of Wrestling. Even a lot of the live audience wouldn't know who she was just based off of that.  Here's a good way to have done the whole segment:

1) They show Aunt Linda and Pillman's sister. Tony or JR or whoever explain who they are. It's also on their version of the TItantron or the ring announcer introduces them to the audience. They get the respectful applause from the crowd. It's like 60 seconds, total, at tops, and you've introduced them. LIke when the WWE shows a new HOF inductee in the audience and the like. Also, it gives Punk less work to do in his promo and can get more focus on building to Team Taz. 

2) Later on, MJF comes out and does his thing. Now everyone already knows who they are and has a reason to care, and you don't get the awkward "I AM HIS SISTER!" thing. 

3) Pillman comes running in to beat the hell out of MJF. He gets his licks in, but then Wardlow gets him. Then his tag partner comes out to even the odds and MJF knocks him out with the ring and then flees like a coward. Pillman goes to check on his family and makes "I WILL GET REVENGE ON YOU!" faces and the like. 

Boom. So nice and simple. But this just got too complicated -- sloppy introduction of Aunt Linda/the sister and a bad way to use Pillman by having him try and speak live instead of just not having this lunkhead with a mullet try and beat the f out of the rich snob a-hole who just called his mom a meth addict and insulted his hometown.

There is so much about AEW that I like. Hearing the freedom given on the promos is really great. They have stories that build from A to B to C. Everyone looks different.

But there are some really bad issues with producing segments and thinking of this as a TV show. Freedom on promos is great until people go on for too long and now you have to cut from the main event or take something else out of the show. (A reason why you script things for any performance -- including the WWE -- is to make sure it fits into time constraints.) Not introducing important characters to that evening's climax to an audience with unfamiliar people is not good. Making segments a bit too complicated is not good. 

Some of the performances will be good/awesome. Some of the performers are going to not be as great or even bad. But that's all acceptable because that's just wrestling.

But they've only been making live TV for a year. It's fucking HARD and there are so many moving parts -- on top of the serialized plots already unfolding, now you have to introduce new characters like Ruby Soho and Bryan Danielson; it's live TV and there's so many things like an injury or just someone blabbing away too long that can mess up the formatting; etc. All of that is completely forgivable and they'll figure it out hopefully and make it their own.

One of the things that I took away from watching AEW live the most was just that the WWE really does know how to structure a TV show. Maybe you're not into the performers or the stories or Kevin Dunn's camera cuts, but they do have a format in place and they for the most part know how to use that efficiently. 

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3 minutes ago, Goodear said:

This was the type of person I was talking about catering to by the way. 

Why would you want us to cater to people who don’t like Powerhouse Hobbs??!!? This man is against your religion.

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43 minutes ago, A_K said:

Because in this instance the faces are dweebs, and because they just pulled MJF out of the treacle that was working with Jericho for an indulgent eternity with a very lame pay off and need to make him look even remotely aloof still however crass it was.

”OMG if Punk doesn’t come out at Chicago we riot!!11” was such a hyperbolic neck beard statement but MJF is out there risking inciting real riots. Glorious heel in his own way. It’s just .. aimless. He can’t go up the card after Jericho. He could beat up on lower card like Pilman but it’s meaningless. They’ve booked him into a corner where the most logical next step is to feed him to Wardlow. If they do that, they better figure out how they can position Wardlow as legit champion material or else it was all a bit of a waste of time. 

We all know MJF is going to win at Arthur Ashe. Giving the face some shine in making the challenge at least give it a semblance of it being more than an extended squash.

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On 9/8/2021 at 1:29 PM, Goodear said:

AEW has an audience that is super tied into the wrestling bubble that will love them some Moxley/Suzuki. Those are the people that turn in every week already. You are trying to capture the people that heard about all the awesome stars that turned up at All Out and keep them hooked on your product going forward. Those people that turned into Rampage for CM Punk and didn't come back the following week. Those people will not know who Karl Gotch is or have any idea Pancrase exists. Now, they might see Suzuki and see an awesome bastard and be happy about that but the likely thing is that they are turning in to see all these cool people that they already know and love. I say feed that and convert them to regular viewers.

Yeah, this. I'm down to see new dudes like Suzuki but you have to show me why I need to see him take on a guy I do know any like. 

Also, I'm more interested in seeing the really talented folks the WWE let go and see if they can run with the ball -- Ruby Soho, Miro, etc. -- than Punk and Danielson. I'm down to see those guys because I like them, but Miro and Ruby are top tier talent and I'm excited to see them get their shot.

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Another thing that really killed the MJF stuff for me, as well as most times a heel is directing insults at somebody in the audience, is that the intended targets completely no sold the barbs. With the assumption that the non wrestlers are in on what's going to happen with them, maybe at least ask them to look upset or pissed off or annoyed? Anything besides mildly smiling... 

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38 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

Yeah, this. I'm down to see new dudes like Suzuki but you have to show me why I need to see him take on a guy I do know any like. 

Also, I'm more interested in seeing the really talented folks the WWE let go and see if they can run with the ball -- Ruby Soho, Miro, etc. -- than Punk and Danielson. I'm down to see those guys because I like them, but Miro and Ruby are top tier talent and I'm excited to see them get their shot.

To be fair, and hear me out, Miro has been getting his shot and his been one of the best things in AEW for months now. He has been booked as perfectly as anyone else. He was brought in, had an angle thing with Kip Sabian against the Best Friends, that whole thing ran its course until they had an awesome blowoff hardcore match, and then Miro assaulted Kip and Miro did his own thing since. There was a ton of hand wringing over Miro's use at the time, but it was great booking because it allowed Miro to get his feet wet without it being at the expense of others who had been doing their thing since AEW started. Miro got himself established and he's been on a fucking monster tear ever since. To say that you missed out on Miro's evolution and how awesome he has been is an understatement. He's been getting his shot and has been outstanding.

There is a very, very cool thing NJPW was doing on YouTube for a bit where they were doing these "history of" video packages breaking down the history of a wrestler or a stable. AEW should do the same exact thing, if nothing else but to give folks like you a view into where someone is and how they got to where they are now. In fact, during a Miro match, throw up a QR code on the screen and tell folks that if you want an in depth view into how Miro got to this point then scan the QR code.

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The MJF stuff didn't bother me at all beyond how long it ran.

EDIT: Actually, that might be my biggest issue with MJF. It's clear everyone in production and the fans know he's a top tier heel and part of the company's future. They know he's amazing on the mic. The problem is that no one, including MJF, seems to understand what the sweet spot is for his promos and segments. There are times where it's absolutely perfect. It doesn't run long, it's not too short, it's just right. But for every time they nail that timing, they give him too much time and it becomes overkill and runs way too long. TK is big into analytics. Check out all of MJF's promos, see what amount of time works best, and go with that to avoid MJF becoming overkill.

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15 hours ago, EVA said:

GET HIS ASS @Goodear

To be fair, a match where Hobbs gets his bell rung is likely not going to be his best opportunity to showcase his talents but let’s not ignore @Greggulators criticism that Hobbs does a lot of sneering in between his moves.

I would argue that the wider issue I have with the stereotypical “indy worker” is that they place a high value on athletics and ignore the more nuanced stuff like facials. And while Hobbs does lean on two main facial expressions (his sneer and his big toothy grin) I would say his pacing is far more productive than going move to move. I don’t often feel like they are misplaced in a match’s context but I could see how someone could look at it as spamming. 
One of the things I love about Hobbs is that he makes his stuff matter and let’s it settle after he nails someone. He’s not typically in a rush and he also doesn’t go in for overkill. He’s got his spots he does super well and doesn’t reach to do stuff he can’t do. 
Honestly  lot of my admiration for Hobbs comes from him being smart in that he knew how to get other people over when he was Dark enhancement talent, get himself over when he started working those types of matches and is now really solid as Team Tazz’s muscle. One thing that separates him from someone like Brian Cage is that Hobbs is able to develop a chemistry with Hook and Starks that solidifies their team structure. 

 

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45 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

Yeah, this. I'm down to see new dudes like Suzuki but you have to show me why I need to see him take on a guy I do know any like.

Or maybe AEW just isn't for you? I don't mean that to sound as condescending as it does. But me personally, I can not stand how WWE beats their viewers over the head about every single thing as if we're all first time viewers. So I love AEW not doing constant replays and doing things in hopes of keeping someone new that just clicked the wrong number on the remote. Plus we're in the digital age now. If you wanted to know more about Suzuki, take 10 seconds and type his name into a google search on your phone. At this point you not knowing about him is due to your own laziness, not AEW's presentation. The TV industry does a quick episode recap at the beginning episode. AEW did that. They did the quick recap of what happened at All Out. Beyond that if you have a question it's not out of the realm of possibility to assume you're smart enough to do a google search. Just like if I tuned into Breaking Bad season 4 episode 1 for the first time and wanted to know who Gale Boetticher was (like I just had to do to get the correct spelling).

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