AEW Dynamite February 5, 2020

[The Thread Killer]

11 hours ago, WingedEagle said:

Here's my problem.  MJF comes across as an absolutely incredible manager or mouthpiece.  I don't see him as any kind of physical threat to anyone on the roster.  He doesn't have imposing size, or a presence that conveys any kind of danger or threat to anyone at all. 

If he was in WWE or NXT I agree that might be a problem, but AEW isn't exactly the land of the giants. On a roster that includes major stars the size of Darby Allin or Jungle Boy (not to mention Marko Freaking Stunt, who had a competitive match on Dark last week and pinned a guy twice his size) or workers with killer physiques like Joey Janela and Chuck Taylor, I don't think MJF sticks out all that badly.  To me, he's a modern day Roddy Piper.  During the height of the Hulkamania era when the WWF roster was populated primarily by giants and steroid monsters, Piper still managed to distinguish himself and he was average sized and had a rather normal physique. In Pro Wrestling (and MMA, actually) an average body and height but a big mouth can carry you a very long way, I've always felt.

Not to mention, MJF seems to be one of the few heels in Pro Wrestling right now (Aron Stevens is another) who doesn't mind doing old school stooging, acting like a coward, begging off, etc.  One of the many things I hate about modern Pro Wrestling is "cool heels" who we're supposed to hate, but they wrestle the exact same way they would if they were babyfaces.  MJF actually acts like a cheating weasel when he wrestles, so that makes up for any lack of high impact moves in his arsenal.  I'd actually prefer that he cheats rather than doing a bunch of NJPW "Strong Style" moves.  Everybody in AEW does that stuff.  MJF actually stands out and works differently.

[gordi]

We'll find out soon enough, I suppose. An upper-card PPV grudge match against a white-hot Cody Rhodes is about as good an opportunity for a breakthrough showcase match as any pro wrestler could hope for these days. MJF will either hold up his end... or prove that he just hasn't got what it takes to be a top guy in the ring. If the match flops there will still be a role for him, just not as a big match guy. I've been pleasantly surprised by AEW often enough that I am cautiously optimistic.

[MoS]

He is also just 23. Plenty of time for him to develop a more vicious ring-style. Hell, maybe we see that in the Cody match. It's the first red-hot angle he has been involved in, to my knowledge. Much like gordi, I have been pleasantly surprised by AEW often enough that I am optimistic. 

[FMKK]

Knowing MJF's limitations in the ring, I'd assume Cody has already started laying out what's going happen in the PPV match. He has to beat his ass with a belt for sure anyway.

[Migs]

On 2/5/2020 at 8:37 PM, goodhelmet said:

Ok, Orange Cassidy not helping his friends while getting beat down seemed pretty stupid but I guess it made sense for his character? 

He was getting in there as fast as he could!

[Migs]

4 hours ago, MoS said:

He is also just 23. Plenty of time for him to develop a more vicious ring-style. Hell, maybe we see that in the Cody match. It's the first red-hot angle he has been involved in, to my knowledge. Much like gordi, I have been pleasantly surprised by AEW often enough that I am optimistic. 

MJF hasn't really main vented anywhere before getting to AEW, he got plucked while he was still on the way up in the indy scene. As a result, he hasn't really had a lot of "big" matches. He was a star in MLW but even there he was upper mid card and MLW doesn't really do epics most of the time. But I'm certainly excited to see if his character work can translate into something bigger.

[sek69]

22 minutes ago, Migs said:

He was getting in there as fast as he could!

*one apathetic thumbs up*

[SirEdger]

20 minutes ago, Migs said:

MJF hasn't really main vented anywhere before getting to AEW, he got plucked while he was still on the way up in the indy scene. As a result, he hasn't really had a lot of "big" matches. He was a star in MLW but even there he was upper mid card and MLW doesn't really do epics most of the time. But I'm certainly excited to see if his character work can translate into something bigger.

Fantasy booking here....what if EC3 landed somehow in AEW after being released by WWE? Compared to MJF, considering that they have very similar characters as heels, how do you think he'd fare? Would his upside be similar to MJF's?

[sek69]

I would think there's something you could do with EC3 as a babyface. He has tons of charisma, and since the in-ring is the weakest part of his game he can do a program where some heel bumps all over the place for him.

[rovert]

I was one of the first champions of MJF online. Say what you what and do wait for the Observer to publish the quarter-hour numbers. But the internal word is that the whipping angle very nearly came to a million viewers. Additionally MJF's minute by minute numbers have been phenomenal from the outset of Dynamite.   

For MJF's supposed limitations and rep as a character-driven wrestler and not an in-ring one I don't recall watching a match of his that underwhelmed or shit the bed. He's more than fine. If you disagree on that not only he's 23 but he's really neurotic perfectionist. He'll ultimately win you over so enjoy the ride.

[Big Pete]

1 hour ago, rovert said:

I was one of the first champions of MJF online. Say what you what and do wait for the Observer to publish the quarter-hour numbers. But the internal word is that the whipping angle very nearly came to a million viewers. Additionally MJF's minute by minute numbers have been phenomenal from the outset of Dynamite.   

For MJF's supposed limitations and rep as a character-driven wrestler and not an in-ring one I don't recall watching a match of his that underwhelmed or shit the bed. He's more than fine. If you disagree on that not only he's 23 but he's really neurotic perfectionist. He'll ultimately win you over so enjoy the ride.

The match against Brandon Cutler is in the running for the worst singles match in Dynamite history. His biggest match so far, the Dynamite Diamond Ring match did nothing for him or Adam Page either. So far his best effort was his recent match against Janela and even then it was taped and edited.

It's too early to completely write him off but as it currently stands the few opportunities he's had to impress have been underwhelming.

[sek69]

MJF is the wrestling equivalent of an athlete in "real sports" who has all the tools and talent but lacks the seasoning needed to go to the next level. I have much more faith he can reach his potential in an environment like AEW as opposed to one where everything unique about him gets painstakingly scripted away until he's another indistinguishable cog in the machine. 

Will he step up and deliver the performance of a lifetime at the PPV? Nothing's certain of course, but considering the mindset of the people involved I wouldn't bet against it.

[WingedEagle]

16 hours ago, rovert said:

I was one of the first champions of MJF online. Say what you what and do wait for the Observer to publish the quarter-hour numbers. But the internal word is that the whipping angle very nearly came to a million viewers. Additionally MJF's minute by minute numbers have been phenomenal from the outset of Dynamite.   

For MJF's supposed limitations and rep as a character-driven wrestler and not an in-ring one I don't recall watching a match of his that underwhelmed or shit the bed. He's more than fine. If you disagree on that not only he's 23 but he's really neurotic perfectionist. He'll ultimately win you over so enjoy the ride.

I don't doubt his drive, but not shitting the bed isn't exactly a very high bar.  I can't say I recall a match of his that was that poor, but on the other hand I can't recall any of his matches.  At all.  They are not memorable and have not stood out in the slightest.  That's not to say his work going forward won't deliver but I've yet to see anything suggesting big things from him between the bells.  I wouldn't even go so far as to say it would shock me if he puts together some great matches because he clearly cares and seems to hit every other note outside of matches.  But I might be pleasantly surprised.

[Stiva]

The Cody match on the PPV is probably going to involve a ton of bells and whistles; Wardlow and Dustin are definitely going to be involved at the least so I’m not sure you can judge MJF too much on it considering he’ll more than hold up his end of the bargain when it comes to nailing the interference and heel spots.  What is clear about him is that he understands the core aspects of pro wrestling so clearly that when the in-ring work does catch up, he’ll be fantastic. I am slightly worried about where he goes post-Cody though since his entire run in the promotion so far has been defined by his presence in Cody’s orbit. It would be easy to say that he’s Moxley’s first challenger for the title but I’m not convinced Jericho should be losing it for a while yet. At least not until they finally run the Inner Circle/Elite War Games match.

[SirEdger]

While I'm not against Jericho keeping the title at Revolution, I'm concerned as to what a loss to Moxley would do at the moment if you decide to move Jericho to the next contender (which, in reality, there isn't any in singles on the babyface other than Mox unless you go for the Hangman rematch). Jericho won't be hurt by a loss to Moxley - especially if you somehow have the Elite neutralize the Inner Circle, to then setup that War Games Match. If they go with a fuckery finish and blow off the feud at Double or Nothing in May, I could live with that but AEW has to strike the iron while it's hot on many wrestlers.

[Log]

I hope MJF has been hanging out with Tully a bunch backstage.  There's a dude who can show a young guy how to be a chickenshit heel that can still be viewed as dangerous at times.

[Migs]

2 hours ago, Log said:

I hope MJF has been hanging out with Tully a bunch backstage.  There's a dude who can show a young guy how to be a chickenshit heel that can still be viewed as dangerous at times.

He's said that Tully is an influence on him, so I'm sure he's taking advantage of that.

[rovert]

Sorry yeah, the whipping segment did 972,000 viewers.

MJF has a match against Jungle Boy on AEW Dynamite this week. They've very good chemistry together. They had a match on the Jericho Cruise that people raved about. Either way, we will likely know what we currently have with both as singles currently.