AEW Dynamite Week 1

[Migs]

2 hours ago, Jesse Ewiak said:

The fact the long-term plan is Kenny as champion instead of Moxley is crazy to me. 

 

It might be! We're all just riffing here.

[SirEdger]

Yeah, there are several good options for them. We're just speculating with what we've seen so far.

[Boss Rock]

I don't think PAC would be in the running for a title run any time soon, but I definitely see him as a potential title challenger for Cody.

[El-P]

Finally took the time to watch the show.

Marked the fuck out for Tony, who looks great (DDPY in effect) and I can't imagine how he must have felt, 18 years after that grim last Nitro.

Some mentioned how relatively restrained the show was and I agree and it is exactly what it should have been. They are here for the long haul. Introduce characters like Guevarra, SCU, Britt Baker, MJF, shot some angles to build to the next PPV and some long term storylines, have a feel good moment (Riho winning the women title, which I did not expect, like I did not expect Nyla to be that good considering how green she has looked thus far), have a heat moment (the final angle), have a surprise that is not like the biggest thing ever (Jake Hager "from Belator"). So many people not even seen thus far that are gonna make their TV debut in the weeks to come.

Riho & Nyla kinda stole the show, as the crowd was kinda quiet at the beginning and going crazy at the end. Love me some Riho, she's the perfect underdog. People who think she's not credible have not watched enough joshi. She's their Cuty Suzuki.

Hager, well, at least he looked better and more significant than he pretty much ever did. He still has that "deer in the headlight" void kinda look, but I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt. If they can make me care even one bit about him, that'll be a feat.

PAC looked terrific. MJF is gonna be such a star very soon. Dustin is not retired yet ! The tag-team tournament has a bracket (so unlike WCW) ! 

So much fun. I have all intentions to enjoy this ride a whole lot.

[Tim Evans]

Since I was at NXT last night, I missed the show live so I watched it on DVR. Overall, I enjoyed it. I loved the look of the show as the whole production was very professional. I really enjoyed seeing a clearly motivated Tony Schivonie with Excalibur. Compare that to his MLW stuff and it's like night and day.  Even JR was fine for the night.

Riho/Nyla was pretty good. First time seeing Nyla and she has potential. She reminded me of what Nia Jax should have been booked like.  Riho was great as the underdog.

The six man was good with advancing the story. It got me excited to see Mox vs Omega. LAX looked like they belong with the Bucks. Nice to see Dustin back.

Only part of the show I didn't like was most of the first hour. Cody vs Sammy was pretty pedestrian for a first match of a new promotion's tv.  Of course, Brandi had to get involved in some way. I hope she doesn't go the Stephanie route but I have a feeling she will. MJF/Cutler was ok I guess. The stuff with Kevin Smith and Jack Evans was embarrassing. WWE gets rightfully bashed when they do something like that so AEW should to.  I thought PAC/Hangman was bad. Bastard Pac is an awful character and I don't think I will ever get the Hangman hype. He might be better as a heel.

[KawadaSmile]

7 hours ago, Sweet Brown Koko said:

From PWTorch:

 

AEW Dynamite on TNT drew 1.409 million viewers, while NXT on USA Network head-to-head drew 891,000 viewers.

https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2019/10/03/aew-beats-nxt-by-wide-margin-nxt-drops-aew-falls-short-of-approaching-smackdown-and-raw-numbers/

 

Batshit insane numbers. Excellent 1st showing for AEW, and not so bad for NXT either, all things considered.

Week 2 is when things start to become even more meaningful, but that viewership number had to blow away even the more optimist of fans.

[El-P]

7 hours ago, Tim Evans said:

Of course, Brandi had to get involved in some way. I hope she doesn't go the Stephanie route but I have a feeling she will.

Of course she had to get involved. She's a classic valet and she's part of the act. Bitching about that would be like bitching about Sherry getting involved in a Randy Savage match. 

And honestly, the Stephy comparisons that come up regularly have to stop (generally speaking, not pointing at anyone one in particular). Brandi did not inherit a company because she's daddy's girl. She's a worker, she hustled alongside Cody to get where she is. And if we're talking about talent, she's a terrific promo anyway and like I said, she's been a classic valet like you don't see anymore. The Stephy comparisons are ill-fated and honestly, kinda feel like misogynic to me (since we don't hear anything about Cody "booking himself like HHH" for instance, nor do we hear anything about Omega or the Bucks or Chris Daniels, when they all are company officials like Brandi...)

[MoS]

Also, Brandi is excellent in the sense that her actions lead to direct heat in the match and on the wrestlers. That was something neither Stephanie nor Shane could ever do, even in 2000-2001 when they would take a lot of bumps as opposed to the last few years when Steph has been treated as the God-Empress of WWE. Vince drawing attention to himself in matches and segments was fine because Vince is arguably the greatest heel in WWE history; Shane and Steph doing that was not. From everything I have seen of Brandi, from her valet act in (or just outside) the ring to her promos, she is excellent at getting the matches and wrestlers over. Hell, Cody gets God-like reactions on AEW shows, and I would argue Brandi has been massively instrumental in getting him over to that level. 

 

Even in this particular case, Sammy putting Brandi in harm's way got the crowd massively riled up, and even more invested in the match and Sammy getting his comeuppance. I fail to see how Brandi's actions/booking had a negative impact, honestly.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

3 hours ago, El-P said:

Of course she had to get involved. She's a classic valet and she's part of the act. Bitching about that would be like bitching about Sherry getting involved in a Randy Savage match. 

And honestly, the Stephy comparisons that come up regularly have to stop (generally speaking, not pointing at anyone one in particular). Brandi did not inherit a company because she's daddy's girl. She's a worker, she hustled alongside Cody to get where she is. And if we're talking about talent, she's a terrific promo anyway and like I said, she's been a classic valet like you don't see anymore. The Stephy comparisons are ill-fated and honestly, kinda feel like misogynic to me (since we don't hear anything about Cody "booking himself like HHH" for instance, nor do we hear anything about Omega or the Bucks or Chris Daniels, when they all are company officials like Brandi...)

To be fair, she invited the comparisons on herself by giving herself the same job title as Steph, and playing something of a mother hen to the women's division.

[C.S.]

So, Randy Orton apparently got drunk on Twitch and praised AEW and Sammy Guevara.

He also supposedly used the n-word?!?!

Summary:
 

 

 

[Log]

A couple stray observations:

When Guevara came out, my 8-year-old daughter commented, "That guy doesn't look like he could beat anybody up."

The SCU segment was the only downright-bad thing on the show.  It was embarrassing.  My wife had wandered in during it and said, "Oh, this is that new promotion.  Looks like it's not any good, huh?"  Their NAO schtick is tired.  Most of the stuff they were saying didn't even make sense.  Just a bunch of disjointed catchphrases.  All three guys are veterans and should know better.

During the Jay and Silent Bob segment, the interviewer needed to say who Jack Evans and Angelico were.  A couple of my friends who were tuning in for the first time were confused.

I liked the show, though.  Like someone else mentioned, it was probably good that they were a little restrained in this first week.  Gotta be able to go up each week.

[C.S.]

7 minutes ago, Log said:

When Guevara came out, my 8-year-old daughter commented, "That guy doesn't look like he could beat anybody up."

Agreed. He looks like Justin Bieber with black hair. (Edit: What Bieber looked like when he first became famous, not Bieber now.)

With that said, I think the match "made" him.

7 minutes ago, Log said:

The SCU segment was the only downright-bad thing on the show.  It was embarrassing.  My wife had wandered in during it and said, "Oh, this is that new promotion.  Looks like it's not any good, huh?"  Their NAO schtick is tired.  Most of the stuff they were saying didn't even make sense.  Just a bunch of disjointed catchphrases.  All three guys are veterans and should know better. 

Yeah, that was downright bizarre. What is their gimmick exactly? That So Cal is the best place to live? So, basically, they're the American version of the Shining Stars?

7 minutes ago, Log said:

During the Jay and Silent Bob segment, the interviewer needed to say who Jack Evans and Angelico were.  A couple of my friends who were tuning in for the first time were confused. 

Agreed. I had no idea who they were. AEW needs to realize that most of these people are not stars outside of the indie rasslin' bubble and need to be introduced properly.

[El-P]

12 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Yeah, that was downright bizarre. What is their gimmick exactly? That So Cal is the best place to live?

It's kinda funny to see reaction of people unfamiliar with stuff you're familiar with. Basically, every town SCU go is the worst town they've ever been in. They are over as fuck, but unlike the NAO or, gasp, Nzo & KKass, they are terrific workers (even Daniels at his age is still excellent) and they are the perfect opening act to start a show hot.

Drunk Randy Orton > not drunk Randy Orton

[C.S.]

Just now, El-P said:

It's kinda funny to see reaction of people unfamiliar with stuff you're familiar with. Basically, every town SCU go is the worst town they've ever been in. They are over as fuck, but unlike the NAO or, gasp, Nzo & KKass, they are terrific workers (even Daniels at his age is still excellent) and they are the perfect opening act to start a show hot.

Agreed about them being terrific workers (I've been a fan of Daniels since he had hair), but the AEW segment was weird. 

[El-P]

2 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Agreed about them being terrific workers (I've been a fan of Daniels since he had hair), but the AEW segment was weird. 

Well, it was not weird to me, but I've watched SCU do their stuff on BTE forever now, so... 

[Mad Dog]

I feel a need to stick up for Road Dogg. He wasn't a terrible worker until like 1999.

[MoS]

I agree that the Jay and Silent Bob segment was weird and could have been better done.They should have given a better intro of both Evans/Angelico and Private Party. 

[Slasher]

Late to the party but to add to the Brandi discussion I want to point out that the comparison is apt because both women are not consistent with their characters. They swing wildly between being the babyface boss of a division and being a heel valet/part of the husband's act. 

[Scarlet-Left]

Did I just miss MJF or was he cut from the UK broadcast?

Anyway, Sammy Guevara's tights kept riding up his arse crack. Brandi & Cody both looked stunning, definitely more suited to a heel act though. I though the match was okay but I'm not a fan of Sammy at all - he also botched the early rope-running stuff which was much worse for being in the opening match.

This is my first time seeing Page and I thought he was good. I don't get PAC or "The Bastard" or whatever, does he just not understand that pulling off the aerial stuff interrupts his heel work?

Sorry to say that I thought Riho was the wrong person to put over. I don't think Nyla should have the belt, per se (it should be on Britt, Bea or Brandi), but I thought it should have ended with a rage DQ or something (which is what I thought they were doing). Beating Nyla this early, especially with a girl who's twig thin even by Joshi standards, seems off. I don't know, I just thought it was one step forwards, two steps back. I was prepared to hate Nyla but she gets massive props for sorting out the botched powerbomb and not just dropping Nakazawa on his neck like an indie geek/douche.

The main event was weird for me because I like Jericho and despise the Elite but the latter were so over as faces. I liked the Omega/Moxley brawl except for the DDT at the end - it's just a pet peeve of mine but I hate when wrestlers do a move that so obviously hurt them more than their opponent. Also, what's the point of the VIP area? Only a few of the people there seemed remotely interested in the brawl and do they watch the event on the TV? Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick.

The big brawl at the end was a good way to end the show and I thought Jack Hager had a better "Luger on Nitro" moment than, well, Luger on Nitro.

Also, do AEW have a midcard title? They need one if they're going to keep a lot of their main guys going somewhere.

All in all, I enjoyed the show and I'm really looking forward to next week.

[Log]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

It's kinda funny to see reaction of people unfamiliar with stuff you're familiar with. Basically, every town SCU go is the worst town they've ever been in. They are over as fuck, but unlike the NAO or, gasp, Nzo & KKass, they are terrific workers (even Daniels at his age is still excellent) and they are the perfect opening act to start a show hot.

Drunk Randy Orton > not drunk Randy Orton

I'm not unfamiliar with them.  The segment just made no sense.  They said some catchphrases in a taped segment, then they said some catchphrases in a live segment, then Lucha Bros said a catchphrase and then they fought.  That's what happened. 

[sek69]

It's so weird that the "X doesn't look like he could beat someone up" is still a thing when there's like a million MMA promotions out there where the smaller guys generally put on the best fights, and guys like Floyd and Manny are the two greatest boxers of all time.

[NintendoLogic]

Boxing and MMA have weight classes. Floyd and Manny aren't fighting guys who outweigh them by 100 pounds.

[sek69]

Has anyone ever said Rey doesn't look like he could beat anyone up?  It's just a weird argument that only seems to happen with people in non WWE promotions.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

People say it all the time about all sorts of guys in all sorts of promotions. Yes, I've seen it said about Rey too. 

[joeg]

I've said that or something similar about half the guys in AEW. They have a lot of guys who are undersized and don't have an athletic build. Sammy Guevara may be small and look incredibly young, but he does have an athletic build, and he looks like he takes care of himself.  

 

I don't think its unreasonable to expect pro wrestlers to look like athletes and look like work out.  Its hard to suspend disbelief when watching somebody who looks more like one of the fans then a collegiate wrestler or pro football player.