AEW Dynamite - September 2, 2020

[El-P]

So, Big Swole vs Britt Baker will be a cinematic match from Baker's "office". If they manage to make something good out of this mostly terrible angle (and with Baker involved, they may be able to), I'll never question AEW again because that's really making chicken salad out of chicken shit. It's also probably a good idea on paper considering Swole really is not gonna have a good match at all with Baker anyway inside the ring.

Would love some surprise for the Battle Royal. And no, I don't mean Lesnar.

[MoS]

1 hour ago, FMKK said:

It's character development for FTR to slowly get them over as heels as opposed to being 'aren't we so evil' caricatures, as well as putting off an FTR vs The Bucks match until later. It gave a solid reason for The Elite to actually break up and they're setting up Page as insecure etc. so that he has adversity to overcome. He's going to eat the pin on Saturday and then Kenny is going to turn on him and he'll be at his lowest point. And then they'll do the slow build to him going over Kenny for the belt at All Out 2021 or whatever. 

It helps put over FTR. I don't think it helps put over Page. He got over as a badass dude who drank beer and didn't give a fuck. It was really the perfect face character and him going down the route of doubting himself and being tricked and deceived is the kind of babyface booking I think has crippled so many faces the last two decades

 

[El-P]

8 minutes ago, MoS said:

He got over as a badass dude who drank beer and didn't give a fuck.

That's where you got it wrong. Page wasn't Steve Austin. Page drank beer and basically became the Sandman because he was insecure within his own relationship to the Elite. Yeah, for a while it worked after a very shaky start when him and Omega won the tag team titles despite him wanting out of the Elite, but FTR using the insecurity that was *always* there to screw the Bucks just made a crack in what seemed to be a unit but really was never one. The on/off chemistry with Omega, with him growing frustrated and slowly showing signs of the Cleaner character coming back is what will eventually lead to the split, the feud and Omega, I guess, putting Page over at the very end. I love how they make Page kind of a tragic figure on his way to the top.

[MoS]

You are assuming everyone who started cheering for Page watched BTE on a regular basis. His initial reason for branching off from the Elite was absolutely the reason you laid out, and your description of his dynamic with Omega is correct and is a goldmine, but he did not initially get over cuz he was insecure about his place in Elite, although that was the story initially. He started getting over as a face when he started just killing people and drinking beet afterwards, and sometimes before killing them.

Let's not forget that he was supposed to turn heel basically because of his insecurities and the initial booking of his character. But the fans chose him as their guy and he got over as a badass face. After that, there was no way they could turn him heel. For them to go back to his initial insecurity with the Bucks is contrived and convoluted, and is counter-productive to how Page has got over so far. 

His dynamic with Omega on the other hand has been consistently explored on Dynamite and Omega turning heel on Page after losing the tag titles really is the perfect way to close out the angle. This costing Bucks the tag title shot cuz FTR got in his head but not really cuz they never said anything to him is just making look highly gullible, and that's never a good face trait. 

[El-P]

We really don't know what he was *supposed* to do. It's a long term story that has evolved organically. And yeah, he did get over when he began to drink and not give a fuck (on the surface), and even before he showed signs of badasserie (as we say in French  ). But to me the current stuff is just adding another layer to the story, it doesn't detract from his character at all. He never really completely got back to the Elite. So it's not "going back to the initial insecurity", because it never really went away, it was just hidden for a while. To me Page did not come off like an idiot like cartoony Sting would, he just got manipulated by bad people who used his one big weakeness, and the kinda strained-already relationship just blew off because of it, at least with the Bucks.

I can see at one point the Bucks & Omega going full fledge heel eventually, because they, especially the Bucks, are awesome at it. 

[Boss Rock]

I thought this episode of Dynamite was pretty solid, although as a go-home for a ppv it could have been a lot better.