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AEW Dynamite - January 1, 2020


Migs

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I'll echo the sentiment about last night's show. Couldn't have asked for a better 2020 start for AEW. I know some are iffy about Arn Anderson's position as Cody's advisor/head coach but if it results in all the little things like we've seen with the finish last night, it's PERFECT. I'm not sure there are a lot of people who want Arn to turn heel on Cody, even though history suggests this would be the logical thing to do because of the history between the Rhodes and the Horsemen. But if you compare Arn's perception to Tully's, Tully has made a career being that one guy in the Horsemen being so good at being a prick that you want him in that role. Arn's later role as manager of the last version of the Horsemen in WCW probably solidified him as a credible babyface/tweener manager. Arn can do what he did last night, along with the off-the-cuff promo or Spinebuster every once in a while.

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I'm sure it will work out fine because Arn is Arn and even in 2020 that's still going to be awesome. The problem is that Cody and Brandi were such a good team it's a hard act to follow. I get she wanted to do her own thing and not be pigeonholed as "Cody's wife", but it seemed like breaking up one solid act for two so-so ones. 

Bringing in Arn does create all kinds of interesting opportunities. Beyond the obvious stuff with Tully, they could do a storyline where Dustin is worried his brother is being managed by the guy who turned on him back in WCW. 

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So listening to the show Dave did in Japan, he said there was a change in the relationship between AEW and NJPW. New Japan acknowledged Jericho as AEW champ on their website (previously mentions of AEW were forbidden), and Jericho was not at Dynamite because he is already in Japan (Dave pointed out he doesn't have a match until 1/5, and Moxley's match is 1/4 and he was on the show). The implication was clear that losing AXS a year before they were expecting to, plus Jericho seemingly mending some fences, seems to be making it a possibility we'll see the partnership everyone knows is best for everyone. 

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Should be interesting what happens with the ROH/CMLL/New Japan deal if this actually happens. AEW is with AAA so you know CMLL will want nothing to do with them. I can't see ROH/AEW working together given the bad blood and if ROH loses the New Japan deal I gotta think that's the death knell to them. Hope the deal happens cause I want to see Tanahashi on Turner tv.

As for Dynamite, I loved the show this week. Especially Cody/Darby. Arn was perfect in that match. Also, I thought Taz did a good job on commentary. Had good chemistry with JR.

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7 hours ago, sek69 said:

So listening to the show Dave did in Japan, he said there was a change in the relationship between AEW and NJPW. New Japan acknowledged Jericho as AEW champ on their website (previously mentions of AEW were forbidden), and Jericho was not at Dynamite because he is already in Japan (Dave pointed out he doesn't have a match until 1/5, and Moxley's match is 1/4 and he was on the show). The implication was clear that losing AXS a year before they were expecting to, plus Jericho seemingly mending some fences, seems to be making it a possibility we'll see the partnership everyone knows is best for everyone. 

Something related to this I have been thinking about - is Okada the first Japanese star to sell out MSG? The 2018 NJPW/ROH MSG crowd was clearly there to see a New Japan show, and Okada was by some distance the star of the night. I know Japanese wrestlers have been in headlining positions in sold-out Garden shows, but I don't know if any Japanese star has actually sold out the Garden on their drawing power before Okada. 

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4 hours ago, MoS said:

Something related to this I have been thinking about - is Okada the first Japanese star to sell out MSG? The 2018 NJPW/ROH MSG crowd was clearly there to see a New Japan show, and Okada was by some distance the star of the night. I know Japanese wrestlers have been in headlining positions in sold-out Garden shows, but I don't know if any Japanese star has actually sold out the Garden on their drawing power before Okada. 

I would argue the assumption when they sold the tickets in August of the year before was that the Elite would be there. I'd give Okada some credit for the sellout - he was the lead guy on the advertising with Marty, and I'd wager the possibility of seeing him win the title kept the bottom from totally dropping out of the ticket market - but it's probably a stretch to say he sold out the Garden on his own.

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I hope we get Tommy Rich and the great Bill Dundee as Memphis legends next week. Maybe a memorial tribute to Lance Russell and Sputnik Munroe? I assume there's no way Lawler shows up. Will Austin Idol's NWA connection keep him away, or might he show up with Aldis to set up a one-off match? Maybe Jimmy Valient? Who else? Any chance Jimmy Hart shows up?

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7 hours ago, MoS said:

Something related to this I have been thinking about - is Okada the first Japanese star to sell out MSG? The 2018 NJPW/ROH MSG crowd was clearly there to see a New Japan show, and Okada was by some distance the star of the night. I know Japanese wrestlers have been in headlining positions in sold-out Garden shows, but I don't know if any Japanese star has actually sold out the Garden on their drawing power before Okada. 

Tempted to check on Giant Baba but that was a different building regardless. 

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4 hours ago, gordi said:

I hope we get Tommy Rich and the great Bill Dundee as Memphis legends next week. Maybe a memorial tribute to Lance Russell and Sputnik Munroe? I assume there's no way Lawler shows up. Will Austin Idol's NWA connection keep him away, or might he show up with Aldis to set up a one-off match? Maybe Jimmy Valient? Who else? Any chance Jimmy Hart shows up?

There's certainly bound to be an angle coming off of this Legends of Memphis tribute. Either MJF will try to ruin this or Shawn Spears & Tully.

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1 hour ago, Al said:

Tempted to check on Giant Baba but that was a different building regardless. 

I looked it up earlier. Baba vs Bruno in early 64 did a little less than 15k in old MSG, about 3-4k shy of a sellout. What is really impressive is Baba wrestled Bruno for the WWWF title, Thesz in (I think) Detroit for the NWA title and Blassie for the WWA title (arguably the 2nd most important belt in wrestling at the time) all in the same month 

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On 1/3/2020 at 11:40 PM, WingedEagle said:

Without question.  Hopefully we didn't peak too soon.

I guess it's already been knocked down to the second-or-third-best show of the year so far by those other shows that Jericho and Mox worked this past weekend. :lol:

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Cody vs. Darby Allin opened with 1,074,000
Second half of Cody vs. Darby Allin lost 105,000 viewers and 31,000 in 18-49  
Riho vs. Nyla Rose vs. Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida gained 47,000 viewers including 34,000 in 18-49
Dark Order promo and beginning of Jon Moxley vs. Trent lost 104,000
Jon Moxley vs. Trent/Chris Jericho’s offer gained 67,000
Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara lost 13,000
MJF promo lost 39,000 viewers but gained 9,000 in 18-49
Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Pac & Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix lost 34,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 
Finished with 893,000 
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