6/8/2022!- AEW DYNAMITE!

[Jiji]

32 minutes ago, S.K.o.S. said:

It's not a straight single elimination tournament. It's 4 qualifying matches for a 4-way match at the PPV.

Oh my God what is Tony doing? 

[kafkonia]

Why is the Australian flag in black and white?

[S.K.o.S.]

Because Buddy got eliminated from the tournament.

Now if you're wondering why the New Japan logo is in black and white, I can't help you there.

[kafkonia]

AH, that makes sense. I thought it was some sort of goth/House of Black thing, but then I noticed the Dutch flag was still in colour.

Too bad they couldn't have found two distinct countries amongst the wrestlers in New Japan. It looks kind of weird to have six countries and then a wrestling promotion.

[porksweats]

2 minutes ago, kafkonia said:

AH, that makes sense. I thought it was some sort of goth/House of Black thing, but then I noticed the Dutch flag was still in colour.

Too bad they couldn't have found two distinct countries amongst the wrestlers in New Japan. It looks kind of weird to have six countries and then a wrestling promotion.

It might be that New Japan is choosing their participants and will stick to the distinct countries as well?

[Technico Support]

OH FUCK I am in a nitpicking mood:

I am old and don't necessarily remember Geography class, which took place in 1988 for me, but I'm pretty sure Japan is not on the Atlantic.  Also, does this mean wrestlers from California can't challenge for it?  There goes my fantasy of Super Dragon running in.  

I like the idea of the TNT belt becoming the TV title and this being akin to the US title, but do something to TELL us that.  Because I have no idea what this belt is for or who can contend for it aside from "the bracket is filled with guys from other countries."

Didn't Marina JUST get a TBS title shot?  I guess she farmed enough wins on YouTube.

I haven't watched NJPW in a bit.  When did Will Ospreay turn into HGH TJ Miller?

All the wrestling on the show was pretty good!  The non-wrestling stuff, gimmicks, angles, etc were really a mixed bag.

I like Jungle Boy not being especially down with Christian's decisions and guidance!

Ae they trying to kill Jeff Hardy?  Is this like the restaurant scene in Goodfellas where they burn the place down after they got all the money they could out of it?

Finlay is really solid and was a good foil for Hangmin here.

Every match Mox wrestles, he turns into such a gross brawl that I think he's going to ask his opponent to join the BCC afterward.  Every time.

Has Cash Wheeler always had that lisp or was he dipping?

WardlowUHHHHH witUHHHH the Triple H deliveryUHHHHHH

I really liked Swerve being a dick in the battle royal

Didn't we just get Statlander vs Velvet in the Owen tournament?  Do they have so few women that we're running shit back?  Isn't this supposed to be the company that doesn't do that?  

Ditto Adam vs Adam.  Don't need to see it again, please don't set that up.

Is Jericho going to go the Kevin Nash route in the hair vs hair match and end up with a sensible, short haircut?

Fully agree with the Casino Battle Royal concept needing a change.  Five guys enter at once, separately, to their own themes?  Ugh.  Also, it strains kayfabe credibility that both the Assclaimed and Red Dragon both drew their own suits.

I had no idea the flag of the Netherlands looked like part of the GI Joe logo

 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Technico Support

[Casey]

Just now, Technico Support said:

Didn't we just get Statlander vs Velvet in the Owen tournament?  Do they have so few women that we're running sht back?  Isn't this supposed to be the company that doesn't do that?  

To be fair, that match wasn't supposed to happen (or was it?). Kris was only facing Velvet in the tournament because of the Hikaru Shida situation. They should have done Red Velvet versus Athena last week on Rampage if the plan was for Kris to fight a Baddie on the way to Athena's title shot. Fresh match ups and all, y'know. But it's whatever, the eventual Athena/Kris/Anna Jay versus Jade & the Baddies match will be fun, along with Jade/Athena for the title.

As for Okada... Meltzer is saying a three way is in the books between Cole, Hangman & Okada. Whereas I think it's kind of clear they're teasing Jay White & Adam Cole versus Okada & Hangman. Who knows. Either way all of those matches will be great from an in-ring perspective, but I'm also not sure I need more Hangman/Cole interaction.

Punk getting injured really just threw a big, huge wrench into their booking plans. I'm not nearly as down or ready to say TK is in his "flop era", because mostly everything still hits for me, but having to scramble to cover for the injury and the title, and Forbidden Door being so close to Double or Nothing, does nobody any favors.

Oh and fuck Will Ospreay.

[AxB]

 

I like the name All Atlantic title, because it reminds me of the AJW All-Pacific title.

[Technico Support]

9 minutes ago, Casey said:

To be fair, that match wasn't supposed to happen (or was it?). Kris was only facing Velvet in the tournament because of the Hikaru Shida situation. They should have done Red Velvet versus Athena last week on Rampage if the plan was for Kris to fight a Baddie on the way to Athena's title shot. Fresh match ups and all, y'know. But it's whatever, the eventual Athena/Kris/Anna Jay versus Jade & the Baddies match will be fun, along with Jade/Athena for the title.

All good points!  My guess is they put Hogan with Athena because they wanted Athena to have a good match for her debut and Hogan is better than Velvet.

[Casey]

16 minutes ago, AxB said:

He doesn't mention dragons - just bastards, punks, cowboys and pagans.

[DEAN]

THURSDAY REFLECTIONS:  The missed story of the First Viewing is that Konosuke Takeshita and Eddie Kingston are beating the hell out of each other in the background.  THAT would be a good little Kings Road Epic.  Wheeler Yuta eliminated Jake Hagar and Will Hobbs.  Yuta  and KOR preview a fucking awesome future match even before the final elimination.  Jesus, the PAC/Buddy Matthews match waited until YOUR Picture in Picture to throw Matthews over a table.  Matthews takes moves better than anyone in AEW.  Not just the Poison Rana, he takes a DDT like RVD.  I like how PAC and Matthews had a US style match as opposed to a spotfest.  I love the build to the Lyger Bomb by Matthews.   FTR is the only thing that gets me to shell out money for a PPV.   Aussie Open is so fucking awesome.   Adam Cole is great commentating, getting over Hangman but still actively rooting against him.  Finlay's best offensive move is that backbreaker.  He should steal the Air Raid Crash from his dad if he is going to actually try to make a go of it as a singles wrestler.  Thunder Rosa vs Shafir was totally Strange Style.  This was Arimis versus Ares.  Rosa has never laid it in this heavily before.  I love how uncooperative this match was as TR makes Shafir deadlift her.  It was like they discovered shootstyle independently of actually watching RINGS.  Shafir versus Toni Storm will be good.  Shafir versus Serena Deeb will be great.  Thunder Rosa is over in Kansas City and the heat wasn't weird in this match.  It wasn't frothing but they didn't turn on it, mostly because it had Thunder Rosa in it and it was also a world title match.  I hope they build up Storm/Rosa sufficiently.  Red Velvet vs The Big Head Girl From Outer Space!  I love X.  I got Wild Gift for Christmas in 1982.  I was 16.  It's so weird to hear X on my wrestling show 40 years later.  It's strange that the crowd in Kansas City was really good but the California crowds were so insanely molten that all other crowds seem like a transcendental meditation gathering.  MAtt D is so right about Moxley being our new Stan Hansen, but Kyle O'Riley can ape Moxley's style too so this is such a money pairing.  Watching the INTERNATIONAL FEED, you get to hear JR and Lord Regal compare KOR to Dynamite Kid.  This is the second week in a row that Regal has basically made a pitch to get Moxley's opponent into the Blackpool Combat Club.  Maaaan, that counter to the Gotch Style Piledriver is so fucking slick.  KOR is fucking awesome.  He should definitely get drafted into the BCC.  This match is so good.  Tonu Schiavonne being delighted at how good this match is is a delight in itself.  Such a GREAT match.  What a great episode.

[Matt D]

I caught the last 40 minutes (of actual TV time, so probably the second hour?) this morning after having just seen the battle royal. I'll cover the latter on Monday so I'll go back through again later. I'd caught it in scattered bits and pieces live.

I generally bought Wardlow's promo but it makes you wonder if Mox doesn't respect CM Punk, for instance. Maybe it'd be good for him to touch on that at some point. "Wardlow feels this. Well I just want to fight and..." blah blah blah. The payoff to the security angle is pretty good. He needs to run over Sky and then have a six month reign of just killing contenders. Like the one that Goldberg should have gotten with the US title if they didn't hotshot in Georgia.

I liked how ugly Shafir vs Rosa was too. Both of them were just trying for advantages at any point. Shafir really needs Taz to announce her matches. I hope we get Storm vs Shafir next week.

Main was good and KOR is whatever he is. I liked Mox's control segment after they got back from the floor though. He had a lot of organic offense where he'd just do something painful instead of necessarily hitting a spot. That whole bit from them coming back in to O'Reilly getting the big reversal out of the Gotch piledriver attempt was very good. I didn't love the pop up after suplex stuff later on though. Mox is like a hybrid of Hansen and Mid-South Duggan and a babyface Slater and a babyface Murdoch and Mr. Olympia. He's basically like the idealized merged Mid-South babyface.

[Casey]

I did not buy the Wardlow promo, because uh, you'd still be facing CM Punk for the actual World title when he returns (if you're still interim champ by then). I guess I can buy it if he doesn't want to hold some "fake title" and wants the real thing, but the end result is the same at the end of the day either way.

But logical pro wrestling booking tells me that since they announced an August set of shows for Ohio, and then immediately have Wardlow declare his interest in the TNT title a day or two later, means that Wardlow is going to win the title there. Or maybe they want to destroy Wardlow's mystique (yeah sorry that hasn't happened yet my dudes) and have him lose to Scorpio fuckin' Sky. But I doubt it.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Casey

[EVA]

That’s why I was saying that promo would’ve made more sense coming from Hangman. An integral part of his character for the past 2 years has been grappling with imposter syndrome. It would make total sense that he would reject an interim title on the basis that he’d feel like a phony running around with a belt while Punk still had the one he beat Hanger for.

Wardlow’s character has been purely built around his desire to be free to wreck any and all fools, but now that he’s free he suddenly has rules about which fools he will wreck? Didn’t track! Would’ve been better off just using some wrestling logic nonsense, like Smart Mark filing an injunction against his participation, to keep him out of it.

Edited June 9, 2022 by EVA

[Casey]

Wardlow has big dumb jock energy whenever he speaks.

[Jiji]

8 minutes ago, Casey said:

Wardlow has big dumb jock energy whenever he speaks.

But the nice kind! He's got potential on the mic but definitely needs a little bit more belief in himself and that should come with time.

Adding to the list of people who like Shafir's non-cooperative UWF style. It's unique and I think is a nice shift from the usual. That suplex was gnarly and the crowd gave it one of those "oooooh" responses. If she, you know, gets some squashes on TV and build before being thrown in the deep end they may actually have something but this isn't a formula for success and generally really dumb.

Did Kingston go over the top? I remember seeing him go through the middle ropes to get on the apron.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Jiji

[Belgian_Waffle]

1 hour ago, DEAN said:

I love how uncooperative this match was as TR makes Shafir deadlift her.  It was like they discovered shootstyle independently of actually watching RINGS.  

Lmao this is extremely apt. I think I loved this match *because* it got freaky? Almost like when non-shooty guys would show up in Battlarts (or, say, Makoto Hashi in Futen). 

[Just Dave]

11 hours ago, John E. Dynamite said:

We get it. We will continue to get it. The people who have initially agreed with you have *long since got it*.

I've been doing good leaning into this post-cynic part of my fandom. KOR wins the thing in the beginning and I think to myself "shit, they wouldn'ta ran it this way unless Kyle and Mox really wanna work together and think they have a killer match in them." Then they have a super mega killer match. Imagine that.

I mean, I’m not sure you’re the one to lecture me about belaboring points as it pertains to AEW talent & booking choices. 
 

I like AEW a lot. It’s the only wrestling show I watch weekly. 80-85% of what’s on their programming I am into as much as it’s possible to be into. I think that’s why it’s so frustrating when TK does something as inexplicably stupid as “let the guy who looks like ‘guy who tells Benson and Stabler where to find the rapist on SVU’ go over on legitimate homegrown stars.” It’s so mind numbingly counterintuitive that it deserves to be mocked publicly. Crowd went pretty mild on that finish, too.
 

Lots of good on this show. I liked the CBR up until the finish. Keith Lee, Swerve, Andrade, Lance Archer, and Wheeler all looked like huge deals. Which is another reason I found the KOR decision idiotic. 
 

Mathews/PAC was the goodness, and I think they’ve got an even better one in them. I like the new title, but I hope the trios and womens tag titles debut soon. My favorite part of the bracket was that there aren’t any “elite” guys in it.

 

Shafir/Rosa was a good match, but they have to figure out some womens stuff. 
 

Wardlow is going to murder Scorpio Sky. Him against 20 geeks will be fun. I can think of some geeks perfect for that.

 

I don’t watch njpw, but folks seemed excited about Will Ospreay. He’s the guy that got into it with Seth Rollins on Twitter a couple years back, right? I like the little bit of Roppongi Vice I’ve seen, so I’ll definitely check out that next week.

 

Adam Page is awesome. Adam Cole is not. 
 

Main event was fine. Mox is on another level right now, but how much more compelling would that match have been if Moxley would’ve had a credible opponent? 

 

[Casey]

Kyle O'Reilly is extremely credible. He got to the semi-finals of the Owen Hart tournament, beating Jungle Boy, Rey Fenix and Darby Allin along the way. One is a champion, one is a former champion, and the other is a tentpole AEW guy.

Maybe not credible to YOU, but in AEW's kayfabe - yeah, he's right up there.

[Log]

Just now, Casey said:

Kyle O'Reilly is extremely credible. He got to the semi-finals of the Owen Hart tournament, beating Jungle Boy, Rey Fenix and Darby Allin along the way. One is a champion, one is a former champion, and the other is a tentpole AEW guy.

Maybe not credible to YOU, but in AEW's kayfabe - yeah, he's right up there.

Exactly.  I wasn't excited about KOR winning, either, but at least there's some story to back it up.

I get the feeling they didn't want to "waste" like a Mox/Andrade match on this one, so they went with a guy who could take the loss, but give them a good match.

[Matt D]

There really needs to be some consequence to what Swerve did to Keith Lee at least.

[onelegbrynn]

I watched the majority of Dynamite but started falling asleep while watching Moxley vs KOR, probably because I knew the outcome was inevitable.

Some other thoughts:
* The Casino Battle Royal was better than some of the other ones I've seen from them but still feels like a jumbled mess when a new slate of entrants come out. Would've preferred someone like Keith Lee or Andrade to win. Better yet, maybe someone from the JAS to keep that going into Blood & Guts.
* PAC vs. Buddy Matthews was hella good! That tournament and that title though seems like it came from out of nowhere.
* Eddie Kingston is amazing on promos.
* Page vs. Finlay was fine. Didn't think it was anything too special.
* Wardlow destroying geeks next week will be fun.
* I'm an extremely casual viewer of New Japan and I'm kinda familiar with Will Ospreay. I saw a lot of him when he did some stuff in ROH though (the match with Jeff Cobb at G1 Supercard comes to mind). Have no idea who Aussie Open are but the six-man tag on Rampage should be good in theory.
* Marina Shafir getting a title shot seemed random. At least it got Thunder Rosa on TV though so I won't complain!

Next week's Dynamite looks wild with the three-way ladder match and Jericho vs. Ortiz hair vs. hair.

[Casey]

Just now, Matt D said:

There really needs to be some consequence to what Swerve did to Keith Lee at least.

I imagine there will be, given that Swerve called Keith Lee "dead weight" on Twitter.

[Belgian_Waffle]

Between eliminating Lee and Darby I'm thinking Swerve is turning, if he hasn't already turned, heel. Keith Lee and Darby as a big man/little man tag team would be fun, even if their promo dynamic would be weird af. Now they would just need a big heel partner for Swerve...

[JLowe]

11 minutes ago, Matt D said:

There really needs to be some consequence to what Swerve did to Keith Lee at least.

While it maybe made sense in terms of Swerve's character, if they really are breaking them up it has the WWE feel of "shit, these guys are hotter than the guys we're pushing for the titles, we need to split them NOW"