AEW Dynamite - April 22, 2020

[MoS]

I would agree with that, with the caveat that heel Flair's offence was such that a jobber babyface beating him up seemed far more possible than a jobber often getting the better of babyface best wrestler in the world Omega. 

Matt Hardy expanding his gimmick to include Normal Matt (or as close to normal as Matt Hardy has ever been) and Crazy Matt is really a very good example of AEW listening to the audience and trying to adjust accordingly. 

[El-P]

Ryan Satin is humiliating himself arguing with Meltz on that very topic. Gotta love a perennial WWE shill and fake journalist who actually got hired by the company trying to play the "If he had signed with WWE you'd be saying otherwise" card. 

[Laz]

PRO:
-Cody's dry open was epic. He gets it.
-Jericho: "Do you know how expensive this jacket is?" He's a treasure.
-Guevara keeps getting better and better and the kid is going to be GREAT sooner than later. Shawn Spears' sign was great, too, and he gets more entertaining the more he's allowed to show a personality.
-Killer, killer match between Sammy and Darby. Vicious, violent, and never boring. The rest of the roster should really take notice on how to keep folks interested without overdoing it. Darby taking Sammy's shoe off to work the foot was brilliant, made better with Sammy selling the foot better than some ME guys can sell anything. Loved the match. Loved it. Book these two in the main by this time next year.
-Weird. Matt Hardy drops the Broken bullshit and his promo gets good. Odd how a simple and straightforward "I am going to kick your ass" matters more than any gimmicky bullshit, eh?
-"Technique by Taz" is something that needs to happen once a week. Putting over the arsenal of your talent? I'm on board.
-Best Omega match in AEW yet because a) half of it was Kenny getting his ass kicked, b) wayyyyyy less mugging and anime buffoonery mannerisms from Omega, and c) it didn't go 30 minutes. Maybe Kenny, after so many years of his bullshit, is finally realizing that cool shit becomes cooler if it doesn't happen all the time?
-Scorpio Sky's solemn interview was great and I want him to be more than he's been so far. That also means calming down on the SoCal indie MOVEZ MOVEZ MOVEZ style and doubling down on psychology and storytelling.
-Great little clip of Dustin leaving the "I will retire" voicemail to Cody.
-BTE episode 200 was YardTard Theater, but the ending video package of it was incredible. Find the show on YouTube and skip past the stupid match and just watch the video package.
-It is absolutely impossible for MJF to cut a bad promo. "Max's rat's house" was a great location. Hangnail from gambling too much? Get well soon, MJF. Get well soon.
-Dear Trampstamphawk, THIS is what a squash match is meant to look like. Signed, Wardlow. It's like Wardlow learned how to work to his strengths instead of just being another "methodical" monster. No. Be the beast that runs after you. That is way more imposing. 
-Brodie Lee deserves better than the Dark Order. Far, far better. 
-THE BUBBLY BUNCH IS EVERYTHING GREAT ABOUT AEW. THE INNER CIRCLE WILL SAVE THIS COMPANY. Get that hand sanitizer, Sammy. Get it. I hope this is what sets the stage for the inevitable Sammy/Jericho program.
-Good promo package to hype Sabian/Dustin. I don't even mind the lame adult alternative soundtrack to it.

CON:
-I loved the match, but if Sammy and Darby have such heat with each other over things that happened 2 months ago then why have they barely interacted? It's been a promo, a run-in save, a tag match, and that 7/11 bit for Sammy's YouTube show. Very little of it on the company's primary show. 2 months, 4 interactions, only 3 of which aired on TV. Have shit happen if their hatred is so severe. This isn't unique to these two, either, it's happened with every program that hasn't involved Jericho or Cody.
-Broken Matt is garbage. Broken Matt is garbage. BROKEN. MATT. IS. GARBAGE. My girlfriend, who liked the Hardy Boyz back in the day, said it best: "he's so fucking annoying." This shit wasn't even cool when it was new, but the Deletion shit was unique enough when it was new to stand out. It's been played out for years.
-So, after we had that video package putting over how lethal the V-Trigger is, a no-name jobber kicks out of it? Yeah. Good booking. Really sell how heavy hitting that move is by having a guy half his size eat one and shrug it off. 
-JUST LET JIMMY HAVOC WORK GARBAGE BRAWLS. FUUUUUUCK. He literally made his career out of working deathmatches in Fight Club Pro, ICW, wXw, CZW, etc. Let him do a bit of the ol' ultraviolence instead of this 1988 throwback shit. Let him be the wild brawl guy, and that's why he's dangerous. This was one of those examples of how not to lay out a match so that it hides the weaknesses of its talents. At least the right guy went over.
-Oh yay. Best Friends vs. Kip Sabian/Jimmy Havoc. Can't wait.
-The Dark Order still sucks. Fuck this stupid gimmick. Kill it and let Brodie Lee be his own thing that doesn't involve thinly veiled shoot comments about Vince McMahon. BE BETTER. At least pace the shows better. Two squashes in a row where the big guy throws the job guy around like he's nothing is the opposite of good pacing. It hurts even more because Wardlow had the better match. 
-Do you know how incredibly hard it's been over the past few years to have a dull match with Dustin Rhodes? Somehow, Kip Sabian accomplished it. Cut bait. He's shit and half of your roster would've done better in that spot. I've seen better Buff Bagwell performances than what Kip is capable of. I would rather be forced to sit through 2 full hours of Kenny Omega matches than see Kip Sabian be anything but a jobber ever again. 

Overall, this was a better show than last week's, but these shows have had their first hours stacked and let the second hour fall off so hard since even before Revolution. This isn't live television right now. Space the good stuff out more. 

[Loss]

Kenny Omega is not over because of his dominance. He's over because his matches are a rollercoaster ride. You can agree or disagree with his approach to pro wrestling, but he seems to me like a guy giving his fans what they want.

[sek69]

I think what is messing with people is that a jobber getting offense on a heel works better because it plays into wanting to see the heel get their comeuppance, and/or getting more heat for the heel by cheating to win to beat the jobber just to be a dick.  A jobber getting anything more than basic offense on a babyface seems weird from a psychological standpoint. 

[Loss]

Maybe, although I suspect Orange Cassidy would work a squash very much the same way.

[Laz]

It's more because it's a no-name jobber that controlled most of the match against a top guy and we all doubt he'll be signed and pushed up the card (nor would he deserve it). 

As I keep saying, the whole company has a 2 steps forward and 3 steps back.

And maybe Orange Cassidy would work a squash the same way. He also wasn't a top slotted contender for the World title and hasn't been pushed as a top-tier guy. That's like saying X-Pac would've shown more ass than Steve Austin in a squash match.

[El-P]

As always, AEW gets more laser focus criticism than any other company ever. The jobber did not "control most of the match", it's just factually wrong. Also, Omega did not even use nor even tease (I don't think) his actual finisher, so in term of storytelling, it still looks like this was a heated competitive showcase, at worst. It's like Bret Hart ending a competitive jobber match with his elbow drop of doom and not bothering to use the sharpshooter. Yeah, this is so gonna hurt him after he had one of the greatest match ever (again) on the last PPV. Seriously now... 

[Laz]

Yeah. They sure are the only company to receive a ton of criticism, both micro and macro. Only one. Ever. Especially with this crowd. 

[El-P]

More than any other over stupid details with no importance, yes. Remember during the beginnings, the outrage for weeks over how the Librarians on the pre-PPV shows were gonna run people away in mass and shit. Just ridiculous stuff. Yeah, Omega gave a jobber a lot, even I thought it was too much. Big freaking deal. People are acting on Twitter like the guy kicked out of the One Winged Angel after a 15 minute match. They worked what, 5, 7 minutes ? He kicked out a V-Trigger which is a just a *spot* of Omega's repertoire, which he does over and over again in big matches because it works on accumulated damages. It's like complaining because a jobber would have kicked out of a Flair chop, really. This is such a nothing.

[Loss]

1 hour ago, Laz said:

And maybe Orange Cassidy would work a squash the same way. He also wasn't a top slotted contender for the World title and hasn't been pushed as a top-tier guy. That's like saying X-Pac would've shown more ass than Steve Austin in a squash match.

That's exactly the point. X-Pac would show more ass than Steve Austin in a squash match. Kenny Omega would have a semi-competitive squash even if others wouldn't. 

[sek69]

Orange Cassidy would be the only exception to my idea of babyfaces selling for jobbers being weird, since it fits his sloth gimmick for him to be in a constant state of selling at all time. 

[MoS]

Cassidy is as over as he is because of his selling. I do think one of the top stars of a promotion should have a much more hierarchical match with jobbers. People will always point to Flair, but a) Flair was great despite that, not because of it; and b) I would argue Flair doing that did hurt JCP eventually, since Hogan was so dominant in the other promotion and while Flair, like Rock, could always get his heat back because he was such a tremendous promo, it definitely made fans eventually feel that one champ was more legit than the other. 

X-Pac was never one of the top guys of the promotion, and one of the reasons was probably that fans would not buy him as a top guy because he would show ass in a squash match. 

In any case, this issue has been way overblown. I thought it was stupid but not a big deal. But every choice Omega makes seems to become a big deal among hardcore fans. 

[El-P]

41 minutes ago, MoS said:

Cassidy is as over as he is because of his selling.

He is over because of his character, really. The fact he's also good at selling in an actual match just helps his character. And then you remember people bitching when they signed him because "Oh, this comedy shit is killing the business" and stuff...

41 minutes ago, MoS said:

In any case, this issue has been way overblown. I thought it was stupid but not a big deal. But every choice Omega makes seems to become a big deal among hardcore fans. 

Yep. The result is, though, that people are talking about this match, when in fact it was supposed to be a nothing segment on the show. Guess who wins ?

[MoS]

Cassidy was definitely over with his character, but I really think he became a star with the PAC match where he gave a babyface performance for the ages. I think he is becoming a ratings draw as well, which is the best sign of someone becoming a star to the general fanbase of the promotion. 

[El-P]

The PAC match opened a lot of eyes I think, especially those who thought he was just a gimmick. There's a moment in the match where you can almost see PAC is surprised by the reaction they were getting. 

[C.S.]

On 4/23/2020 at 2:19 PM, El-P said:

Ryan Satin is humiliating himself arguing with Meltz on that very topic. Gotta love a perennial WWE shill and fake journalist who actually got hired by the company trying to play the "If he had signed with WWE you'd be saying otherwise" card. 

I don't necessarily disagree with Satin's general point: Omega is not a star in the United States, has no aura anymore, and shouldn't be giving so much to an unsigned jobber.

But Satin immediately lost the argument when he responded to Meltzer with an infantile "OK Boomer" gif.

Remember when wrestling "journalists" were grown-ups? 

[Tim Evans]

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, C.S. said:

I don't necessarily disagree with Satin's general point: Omega is not a star in the United States, has no aura anymore, and shouldn't be giving so much to an unsigned jobber.

But Satin immediately lost the argument when he responded to Meltzer with an infantile "OK Boomer" gif.

Remember when wrestling "journalists" were grown-ups? 

You mean back to the days of the "Junkfood dog" or "Anabolic warrior"? Or the days of Rajah.com? I agree with your main point though.

Not enough talk about how bad that Dustin/Sabian match was. I thought it was impossible to have a bad match with Dustin Rhodes in 2020 but Kip did it. He should be like Mike Bennett and just be built around Penelope and they don't even do that right.

About Omega, I hope when AEW starts doing shows in front of a crowd in 2021, they turn Omega heel. I think him vs Cody could be very good. I didn't have a problem with his match with Angels. Mostly that was cause I wasn't paying attention cause Tony and Jericho were killing me on commentary.

[C.S.]

26 minutes ago, Tim Evans said:

You mean back to the days of the "Junkfood dog" or "Anabolic warrior"? Or the days of Rajah.com? I agree with your main point though. 

Maybe I'm giving wrestling "journalism" too much credit, haha, but responding with "OK, Boomer" has to be a new nadir in immaturity and unprofessionalism.

You'll have to fill me on the rajah.com reference though - that's not a site I ever frequented.

[El-P]

7 hours ago, C.S. said:

I don't necessarily disagree with Satin's general point: Omega is not a star in the United States, has no aura anymore, and shouldn't be giving so much to an unsigned jobber.

Based on ? He's over as fuck in front of the AEW audience, he arguably was part of one of the greatest matches ever at the last PPV (along with the guy who would never get over and the guys who are awaiting for the Revival for tips on how to work apparently...). People are just mixing their own opinion with facts, Omega is one of the most over guy in AEW with Cody, Jericho, the Bucks & Darby.

And the idea that he "shouldn't give an unsigned jobber" so much, again, is based on what ? People know the exact effect of a guy, who's apparently quite a decent worker on his own right, kicking out of a "spot" (and nowhere near a finisher) during a no-audience show on the psyche of the overall AEW audience at home ? Again, this is pure projections of personal dislikes and trying to objectifying it bu making up "consequences" which don't actually exists. And as say that as I, myself, thought he was giving him a bit much, but that didn't even cross my mind it would be a "story".

The fact is with this "story", is that there is no story. I'm amazed people are still talking about it three days later. In another promotion, people would actually talking about how Angels looked really good, but since it's AEW and especially Omega, haters gotta hate, for some reason. I mean, the Mox vs Hager 30 mn match was not very good at all and Ross announcing legit kill any sense of fun the show had the previous week. But since it was Mox and JR, almost nothing was talked about this match online.

The Kip match was alright. But yeah, not very good either. Overall, I find it really hard in front of no crowd for acts like his, where the Penelope spots are the highlights and heat-getting moments, to work in a void. But as of now he absolutely got that Lance Storm vibe, in that he's solid but not engaging, and the girl is the one getting the big pops (she's great at her thing too).

7 hours ago, C.S. said:

But Satin immediately lost the argument when he responded to Meltzer with an infantile "OK Boomer" gif.

Ryan Satin, a journalist ? 

[FMKK]

Look at the crowd reaction for Omega coming out at the last PPV and tell me he's not a star. That audience adored him. He's played an integral part in making Hangman a star and once he inevitably has a match with him in front of a crowd, the atmosphere is going to be great.

This is anecdotal but my brother is a casual fan who only watched Dynamite and old WCW with me. Had no idea who Omega was really before this and the only thing he had to say about the match on Wednesday was that it was cool when people win without using their finisher.

[Laz]

5 hours ago, El-P said:

Based on ? He's over as fuck in front of the AEW audience, he arguably was part of one of the greatest matches ever at the last PPV (along with the guy who would never get over and the guys who are awaiting for the Revival for tips on how to work apparently...). People are just mixing their own opinion with facts, Omega is one of the most over guy in AEW with Cody, Jericho, the Bucks & Darby.

That bolded part coming after the praise for match that can best be described as "divisive" is pretty funny to me. FWIW, I thought that match was the drizzling shits and one of the worst on the entire card, went way too long, and its highlights involved every other guy but Omega.

It's almost like there's an entire contingent of the fanbase that, vocally, dislike his schtick. Keep stanning for him, to each their own, but don't try to use your own opinions as facts and then deride others for it. 

As for Omega being a draw? Well, not really. Nobody is. There isn't exactly a pattern in place for who does and does not move the needle, especially given the downward trend in ratings since the start of the year. The anecdotal evidence of his stardom works both ways, too, as my girlfriend (who only briefly watched during the peak Attitude years) watched 10 minutes of him and has hated him ever since. A good friend that I've been to indie shows with, loves anime, big gamer...he never saw an Omega match before AEW, and he, too, cannot stand him.

It's cool that you guys love his work. Good for you. A lot of us don't, though, and chastising people for dissecting a talent when there is a board literally called "The Microscope" is as futile an effort as any.

[FMKK]

I've never seen people get so bent out of shape over such a nothing match in my entire life. It was a six minute TV filler squash where he pinned the guy with a secondary move and it apparently invalidates him as a star to the point where it's seemingly more important than headlining two out of their four PPVs and the Tokyo Dome twice.

[El-P]

58 minutes ago, Laz said:

That bolded part coming after the praise for match that can best be described as "divisive" is pretty funny to me. FWIW, I thought that match was the drizzling shits and one of the worst on the entire card, went way too long, and its highlights involved every other guy but Omega.

It's almost like there's an entire contingent of the fanbase that, vocally, dislike his schtick. Keep stanning for him,

Awwww, I stopped reading your post here. How sad.

Hey, be glad I did not even expose your cute strawman earlier on (you know, when you pretended I said AEW was the *only company to receive a ton of criticism* when of course I said it was *the only company to receive as much criticism for irrelevant details*, but when you don't have any argument, well, strawman is the way to go).

10 minutes ago, FMKK said:

I've never seen people get so bent out of shape over such a nothing match in my entire life. It was a six minute TV filler squash where he pinned the guy with a secondary move and it apparently invalidates him as a star to the point where it's seemingly more important than headlining two out of their four PPVs and the Tokyo Dome twice.

No shit. The funniest thing is that it totally expose people as having a piss poor approach to pro-wrestling psychology, really. Omega beat that jobber WITHOUT EVEN USING A FUCKING FINISHER. That tiny little bit of detail flies over the head of seemingly everyone losing their shit because he gave a young guy some cool offense. Killing the business, I tell you.

[Laz]

Chastises use of "ok boomer," pulls the "sTrAwMaN" defense over the omission of clarifying details, still ignores the majority of IWC criticism. Whatever.