AEW Dynamite Week 8 - 20 Nov 2019

[Slasher]

Darby has said a few times that he has no interest in wrestling long term. His ultimate goal is to do something with filmmaking. So yeah it makes sense he would think it's okay to do those crazy stunts if he had already set an internal deadline for when to walk away (or roll away in a wheelchair?). If he was planning on sticking around long term I would doubt he would be as willing to do those things on a weekly basis. I would be careful to assume that taking some rockers who mutilate themselves means he lives their lifestyles. It is just as likely he is playing a character, and nothing more. I mean, Finn Balor doesn't actually think he is Finn McCool and Balor the demon. It's just a gimmick.

[SirEdger]

2 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

I'm just guessing here, but it might be a Canadian thing.  As you probably know, historically there has been a fair bit of tension in Canada between Quebec and the rest of the country. It's nowhere near as bad now as it used to be, but of course at one point Quebec actually wanted to separate from the rest of Canada, and some parts of the country (especially the Western Provinces) can be resentful towards Quebec for getting what is perceived to be preferential treatment.  It has also chaffed a lot of people historically that the entire country is required to be bilingual, with French on all government signs etc, when only one province is predominantly French.  This led to a bit of a cultural thing where sometimes, people from the West or kids would put on a mocking French accent or deliberately mispronounce French words, or over exaggerate certain phrases.  It happened a lot when I was a kid, and Jericho is pretty much the exact same age I am.  He grew up in Winnipeg, so it could be something he picked up there as a comedic affectation, I'm not sure.  As I said, it's just a guess.

Jericho using French in promos isn't a novelty thing. I remember attending a WWE house show in Quebec City in 2002 and he was telling us "Fermez la bouche!" (Shut up!) to start his promo. It was pretty funny in hindsight and I love that Jericho keeps using this right now.

It's now become so weird here in Quebec now that the separatist movement has lost a lot of its luster to see that now, that save movement is picking up in Alberta....because of Quebec.

[El-P]

1 hour ago, gordi said:

It's a straight rip-off of an old Adam Sandler character:

Ooookay. That's pretty funny. Is that a young Kevin Nealon next to Sanders ? Nealon is legendary to me as a Weeds fan.

[Migs]

3 minutes ago, El-P said:

Ooookay. That's pretty funny. Is that a young Kevin Nealon next to Sanders ? Nealon is legendary to me as a Weeds fan.

That would indeed be Nealon. He was on SNL for about a decade in the late 80s and early 90s.

[El-P]

Thanks. Legendary indeed !

[gordi]

6 hours ago, El-P said:

Ooookay. That's pretty funny. Is that a young Kevin Nealon next to Sanders ? Nealon is legendary to me as a Weeds fan.

 

Indeed. It is KeVON NeaLON.

 

And, as has been pointed out already, I believe, the "unable to say sorry" bit was ripped off from Happy Days. Jericho's sense of humour may not be the most original... but his comic timing and sense of how to work that stuff into a pro wrestling promo are magnifique.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26yzgd
 

[Stiva]

If anything, lifting references from a 70s sitcom actually enhances his desperate to be cool, midlife crisis gimmick

[gordi]

That is true! I honestly wonder if it is intentional or not. 

[MoS]

16 hours ago, War is Raw said:

Nick Jackson vs. Rey Fenix  912,000
Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida lost 50,000
Dark Order video/ beginning of the Battle Royal gained 13,000
End of the Battle Royal/ the beginning of the Chris Jericho interview gained 98,000
Jericho SCU, post match brawl,/Luchasaurus vs. Peter Avalon gained 21,000
Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz lost 196,000
Post-match of Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz/ Moxley vs. Allin intros lost 4,000
Moxley vs. Allin gained 83,000 (and Teenage Peak)
Finished 899,000

The one they would be unhappy with is Santa a and Ortiz v. Private Party losing the most viewers. I don't know what was happening on NXT at the same time, but you would generally expect Proud and Powerful to do well in the ratings.

[WingedEagle]

17 hours ago, El-P said:

Ooookay. That's pretty funny. Is that a young Kevin Nealon next to Sanders ? Nealon is legendary to me as a Weeds fan.

This is wild.  You need to go watch SNL Kevin Nealon.  It'll make you appreciate him on Weeds even more.  Then go rewatch WCW again for the rest of us.

[Cowboy Hats 4.0]

So what were the rules of the battle royal? Eliminations can occur through the middle rope, but not the lower rope?

Billy Gunn may look like a super heavyweight in this company, but the announcers should try dancing around that better.

Liked the Dark Order video a lot. Not so much Omega’s taped promo. It didn’t look like he was benching much?

He’s clearly here to stay, but I just don’t like looking at Marko Stunt

[El-P]

1 hour ago, WingedEagle said:

This is wild.  You need to go watch SNL Kevin Nealon.  It'll make you appreciate him on Weeds even more. 

I sure know what Youtube search to do now whenever I'm bored.

1 hour ago, WingedEagle said:

Then go rewatch WCW again for the rest of us.

No. Never. 

[MoS]

1 hour ago, Cowboy Hats 4.0 said:

Not so much Omega’s taped promo. It didn’t look like he was benching much?

He was not. It was supposed to be a joke. I didn't get it. Omega has never felt like a superstar to me. And Meltzer keeps saying he is an excellent promo, but I haven't seen it yet. 

[Slasher]

11 hours ago, MoS said:

The one they would be unhappy with is Santa a and Ortiz v. Private Party losing the most viewers. I don't know what was happening on NXT at the same time, but you would generally expect Proud and Powerful to do well in the ratings.

PnP is good team, don't get me wrong, but in AEW they have not really looked as good as the other teams does. I mean look at Ortiz mugging the camera shouting "We are the best! The best! The best!" repeatedly. Its just feels like going to AEW exposed them a little as far as TV characters go.

[El-P]

The thing is, as LAX they always had Konnan to carry the out of the ring segments and promo time, and the three of them had an excellent dynamic. They do miss that aspect of their game as characters to me. LAX was definitely more interesting than P&P from that perspective. Still a terrific team though.

[Slasher]

I did like it when Jericho cut the promo challenging the Young Bucks for his teammates. The problem is Jericho can only do so much for the show every week before getting stale. So I would guess they should find someone to be a manager for PnP and maybe Hager when he gets around to actually wrestling.

[War is Raw]

On 11/23/2019 at 4:21 AM, MoS said:

The one they would be unhappy with is Santa a and Ortiz v. Private Party losing the most viewers. I don't know what was happening on NXT at the same time, but you would generally expect Proud and Powerful to do well in the ratings.

Uncle Dave says there are not many fans switching from AEW to NXT. 

For some reason PnP is not over. Yes, PnP lost 200K and contributed to AEW's first loss. 

PnP lost viewers in their other Dynamite segments:

Ortiz & Santana vs. John Silver & Alex Reynolds

Ortiz & Santana post-match screaming w/Jericho interview on screen

Ortiz & Santana jump the Rock & Roll Express

Ortiz & Santana jump The Young Bucks (younger demo gained, but it was a total loss)

I did not include when they stand around Jericho and blend in the background, but that actually is a case against them because around 1 million people watch Inner Circle yet tune out PnP.

At the end of the day, it's the same for anyone who is not over (yet)- there is something not connecting with audiences with their presentation, booking, gimmick, star power, or "it factor"  (which Riho has). Could just be that they are too good at being thug heels and turn people off, or needed the LAX name and full group (or at least Konnan). 

As you know Dark Order now has a "gimmick tweak", so AEW will stay loyal and help workers to get over.

[Slasher]

I think until they get a proper manager or they learn how to talk for themselves they should not be mugging the camera because it is clear they do not know what they are doing there as I pointed out before. I honestly think if they had the Hager gimmick of not talking and just acting intimidating, they would get so much farther right now than they are currently. Ortiz especially needs to stay away from the camera because he is actively detracting from their mystique with the mugging.

[C.S.]

Dark Order is an awful gimmick, but the vignette last week was amazing. Unfortunately, sometimes great vignettes don't translate into great characters, or there's a disconnect somewhere. Right now, there's a disconnect. Hopefully the two can somehow mesh together

Santana and Ortiz come across as goofs with zero mystique. Kingston and Homicide in the NWA are 100x better and convey actual danger. Well, at least Kingston does. I can take or leave Homicide, TBH.

Private Party hasn't connected because their push was forced instead of earned and not followed up on. They shouldn't have beaten the Bucks if they weren't winning the tournament. I can understand the logic - make two teams, PP and SCU, instead of one with the way they booked it - but it backfired. PP isn't a lost cause by any means though. I think they'll get there. 

For all of the emphasis AEW has placed on tag team wrestling, the entire division seems like kind of a disjointed mess. The most exciting thing anyone is the tag team division has done is when 1/2 (1/3?) of the AEW World Tag Team Champions called Chris Jericho "Le Bitch" and challenged him to a singles World Title match.

[El-P]

6 hours ago, C.S. said:

Santana and Ortiz come across as goofs with zero mystique. Kingston and Homicide in the NWA are 100x better and convey actual danger. Well, at least Kingston does. I can take or leave Homicide, TBH.

Eddie Kingston is a great promo. LAX never got more over in IMPACT than when they feuding with the OG's managed by Kingston, and you had Konnan to carry to loads on promos for LAX. That bieng said, come on now. Homocide on his own at this point is Mustafa. P&P's beating up the Rock'n Roll Express and the backstage brawl was better and more serious than anything Kingston & Homicide are doing on NWA. I do think they would be better off with Konnan. Since they are working with AAA, can't they get him for a while ?

6 hours ago, C.S. said:

Private Party hasn't connected

What show are you watching ? PP are getting over in the buldings.

That match clearly was the lesser PP match thus far, they did look green (and they are green, much like Baker). Maybe it played a part. Maybe match quality actually matters. Who knows ? Maybe what was on NXT at the same time is what hurt that match the most. Hard to really tell.

Like Omega said in his interview with Meltz, they are 8 weeks in. They are building things, it takes times. They are gonna do missteps and mistakes. Some stuff are gonna work better than others. Thus far their tag team division has been a pleasure to watch.

[El-P]

So DDP is gonna present the diamond ring to the winner. Like I said before. Schiavone even flubbed one time calling it the Diamond Dozen (which is a DDPY thing) Battle Royal.

[Stiva]

I, for one, can’t wait for the MJF promo and beat down on DDP.

[El-P]

Yeah, he HAS to make fun of DDPY too.

[C.S.]

8 hours ago, El-P said:

Homocide on his own at this point is Mustafa.  

I assume you mean Saed and not Ali. Either way, the reference is lost on me because I barely saw The Gangstas in their prime. I never got SMW and finding ECW on TV was spotty at best for me. (I was lucky enough to see the Sandman-Dreamer caning angle and Shane Douglas throwing down the NWA belt. I also saw the New Jack-Vic Grimes scaffold match live, which was insane.)

8 hours ago, El-P said:

P&P's beating up the Rock'n Roll Express and the backstage brawl was better and more serious than anything Kingston & Homicide are doing on NWA.  

I wasn't referring to their NWA booking, which is weirdly cautious about going all the way with them, but rather Kingston himself and what he brings to the table in general. With that said, they had to tape eight weeks of shows in two days, so you're inevitably going to get situations like Kingston, Murdoch, etc. not being used to full advantage as momentum builds because there's no way to gauge that in two days. I hope Billy and goofy Dave "Nick Aldis was the NWA's third choice" Lagana figure out what they have in Kingston.

8 hours ago, El-P said:

Like Omega said in his interview with Meltz, they are 8 weeks in. They are building things, it takes times. They are gonna do missteps and mistakes. Some stuff are gonna work better than others. Thus far their tag team division has been a pleasure to watch.

Good point here. 

I guess it's a personal opinion. Outside of SCU and Lucha/Jungle/Stunt, none of the other AEW teams have really caught on with me. The Bucks are understandably being used to put others over, but I hope they and Omega are eventually allowed to be the stars they're supposed to be. That's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation though, because if they're pushed too much, everyone will jump on them because they're EVPs.

[El-P]

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

I assume you mean Saed and not Ali. 

Yeah. I just dated myself. 

Anyways, Mustafa was basically "the guy behind New Jack who was cutting awesome promos". Except Homicide, even at this point, is way better than Mustafa ever was. Not that hard either.

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

With that said, they had to tape eight weeks of shows in two days, so you're inevitably going to get situations like Kingston, Murdoch, etc. not being used to full advantage as momentum builds because there's no way to gauge that in two days. I hope Billy and goofy Dave "Nick Aldis was the NWA's third choice" Lagana figure out what they have in Kingston.

That's the big issue with long-ass tapings, especially in a studio settings when I don't believe for one second all the reactions are genuine. I'd love to see Kingtson get a nod in AEW for a final run, the guy deserves to be seen on a major platform from what I've seen of him.

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

I guess it's a personal opinion. Outside of SCU and Lucha/Jungle/Stunt, none of the other AEW teams have really caught on with me. The Bucks are understandably being used to put others over, but I hope they and Omega are eventually allowed to be the stars they're supposed to be. That's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation though, because if they're pushed too much, everyone will jump on them because they're EVPs.

From what I get, they really are focusing on building other talent, confident that they can get over at the superstars level when they want to. The thing is with some of the AEW roster, I'm familiar with them from other places. For instance, Hybrid 2 are basically AAA/LU guys, so I am already connected to Angelico & JAck Evans and know what they can do. Just like when Luchasaurus popped up the first time, I already like these guys because I've seen and enjoyed them before, so half of the work is done already, I'm just glad I get to see more of them in a context I like. Like when Emi Sakura shows up, I find it cool as hell to see her 20 years after she was on those FMW tapes I was buying at ridiculous prices on VHS.