AEW Dynamite Week 1

[Log]

Hager looks like Andre in there. He’s huge. 

[Mad Dog]

I thought that as a really good debut episode. Felt very WCW in a good way. Definitely felt refreshing visually. I think they need to work on some pacing issues for future shows though.

[sek69]

Cody really wants to do a War Games match to honor his dad, I think we might have just got the teams for one set up.

[FMKK]

I was worried about the timings but they managed to cram two hot angles in there.

[C.S.]

Somehow they managed to make Jake Hager look like a big deal. 

[NintendoLogic]

I am unironically excited by the prospect of Jack Swagger vs. Dustin.

Pretty great first episode.

[Boss Rock]

Jericho with his own stable is pretty cool. And of course conspicuous by his absence MJF...

I agree the pacing with the commercials wasn't great and they could've used more promos and a little less time on matches, but I liked this a lot. Some cool developments 

[Log]

Just now, Mad Dog said:

I thought that as a really good debut episode. Felt very WCW in a good way. Definitely felt refreshing visually. I think they need to work on some pacing issues for future shows though.

Agree with all of this. You could tell a few times that they weren’t sure where to go after a segment, but overall solid show. 

 

The He biggest plus for me was that it moved. WWE’s biggest issue right now is how much their shows drag. This was far from perfect, but it didn’t drag. 

[KawadaSmile]

Swagger being aroung is not good. It's hilarious but not good.

[PeteF3]

Fuck, they used Hager about as well as possible. If he stays in his lane as a goon for Jericho, at least until he shows consistent improvement, I have absolutely no issues with him.

[Ricky Jackson]

Yeah, post-match angle was great, and I'm far, far from a Hager guy

[Jmare007]

Swagger is a very underwhelming choice for a reveal/surprise. Mox planting Kenny head first on a glass table felt more important and worthy of ending the show, imo.

Having said that, it was a successful first show. They established Guevara, Riho and Swagger and started to promote the tag tournament, which will carry the show in the coming months.

Did this show make me change and my mind and be interested enough to keep watching? Not really, but as I've said before, I'm not this show's audience. Unless MJF is on, I'm on anything they do right now.

[FMKK]

3 minutes ago, Boss Rock said:

Jericho with his own stable is pretty cool. And of course conspicuous by his absence MJF...

I agree the pacing with the commercials wasn't great and they could've used more promos and a little less time on matches, but I liked this a lot. Some cool developments 

Yeah, I can understand wanting to go with action on the first night but they've got to get Cody, Jericho and others on the mic next week to get over their personalities. Plenty of time til the PPV though.

Good show overall and they still have cool characters like Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus to be introduced. Tag tournament should be fun.

[WingedEagle]

I'm happy to eat crow on what I said about Nyla earlier.  At least for one night.  It was far and away the best match on the show and they worked a really smart and fun match around the size difference.  Involving Omega in the post-match didn't make much sense, but I really dug everything else.

its not fair to say there's nothing they can do to make me care about Jack Swagger, particularly as I"ll be watching every week, but there's almost nothing they can do to make me care about Jack Swagger.

[C.S.]

3 minutes ago, Jmare007 said:

Swagger is a very underwhelming choice for a reveal/surprise.

Give the cameraman a raise, though, for quickly locating fans who were shocked and/or excited by Hager's presence.

[KawadaSmile]

Swagger is a good wrestler. However, he is the absolute worst HW champion WWE has ever had. To have him as your big surprise resembles TNA in a bad way, ~BUT if they manage to avoid him turning on Jericho, and contain him to a henchman role, it won't do much harm.

[William Bologna]

The people behind me were absolutely marking out about Swagger. I don’t know if that’s representative.

[C.S.]

4 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Swagger is a good wrestler. However, he is the absolute worst HW champion WWE has ever had. 

Great Khali says hi. 

[FMKK]

5 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Swagger is a good wrestler. However, he is the absolute worst HW champion WWE has ever had. To have him as your big surprise resembles TNA in a bad way, ~BUT if they manage to avoid him turning on Jericho, and contain him to a henchman role, it won't do much harm.

It's hard to pick up anyone who's ex-WWE that hasn't been booked into absolute oblivion at some point tbf.

Jericho has barely got his ass backstage and he's already retweeting every positive comment anyone has made about him tonight lol.

[joeg]

That was really good 

[Boss Rock]

I was sort of worried they were going to blow it and that the show would be an absolute mess. There's still kinks to be worked out, but I think they passed their first test tonight.

[MoS]

They HAVE to pull the trigger on Cody. He's by a massive distance the most over guy in AEW right now. 

[Strummer]

Yep for all the criticisms of Cody he was the most over on the show

[KawadaSmile]

6 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Great Khali says hi. 

Khali was more iconic. Not a good wrestler, but has a charm to him that Swagger simply does not.

4 minutes ago, FMKK said:

It's hard to pick up anyone who's ex-WWE that hasn't been booked into absolute oblivion at some point tbf.

Alberto would be a better choice tbh

[...TG]

I was flipping back and forth between this and baseball, so I wasn't locked in. It was a very good debut show, plenty to build on for the future. At the risk of committing the horrible crime of nitpicking AEW, there's some stuff not to like as well - Cody shaking the hand of the dude who pushed his wife in front of the tope, Moxley dragging Omega out of the ring right in front of the ref, awkward cuts to the audience in the middle of a match/angle, a lame bit with D-list celebrities.