AEW Dynamite - September 1, 2021

[KawadaSmile]

48 minutes ago, MoS said:

God the Good Brothers were absolute slugs in this match. The result makes me think the Lucha Bros have to be winning on Sunday though

People should have listened when Karl Anderson said he loved the Fed's money. Him and Gallows suck ass yet people insisted they were misused. More like overused wherever they went.

[sek69]

9 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

People should have listened when Karl Anderson said he loved the Fed's money. Him and Gallows suck ass yet people insisted they were misused. More like overused wherever they went.

I thought they were fine as background fodder in the Bullet Club, but then I wasn't watching NJPW on TV every week to burn me out on them. 

[sek69]

Andrade/PAC being off the PPV is a bummer, but bumping the women's battle royal to the main show might mean we get someone like Ruby showing up. 

[funkdoc]

Man, tonight set off a ton of discourse in our watch party Discord (not the GWE one, something completely separate from PWO) because people hated the ending - felt like the beatdown went on too long and they're just sick of the Elite cheating all the time and winning all the time.  A lot of this crowd are the sort who dropped wrestling from their schedule in the past because of heel dominance and how samey the cheating always feels - i feel like people like us who are more steeped in wrestling booker mentality maybe don't notice that as much.

i'm optimistic AEW has their plan set for this, but if Hangman doesn't get the belt at Full Gear...we might just become a puro watch party Discord

EDIT: i agree with the point that if they're going to use run-ins and ref distractions this much, they should be more willing to have countout/DQ finishes...but most fans nowadays hate those on principle.  Like in our Discord group above the majority opinion is "there should never be a countout or DQ on a PPV" - keep in mind this is referring to AEW where the PPVs are a lot more spread out & you're less likely to get the same match on 2 PPVs in a row.

[sek69]

I loved it and what it was building to, but I also immediately thought it would sour the mouths of fans who largely bond over hating WWE shit. You absolutely have to do a heat segment once in a while to really jolt a program, but since WWE does it nearly all the time it poisons the well for anyone else. 

 

[Boss Rock]

I thought it was fine but it went too long and Kenny talked too much. My hope is that this means the Lucha Bros. are going over, but I certainly don't think Christian should.

[funkdoc]

28 minutes ago, Boss Rock said:

I thought it was fine but it went too long and Kenny talked too much. My hope is that this means the Lucha Bros. are going over, but I certainly don't think Christian should.

Nobody in our group thinks he should either - the prevailing mood is hoping the Lucha Bros win here then Omega drops it at Full Gear.  Also "largely bond over hating WWE shit" does sum us up pretty well, haha - good call there sek!

[MoS]

There are too many run-ins and heel beatdowns every week. At this point, AEW's biggest issue is their production and formatting. 

I hope they pull the trigger on Hangman soon too. I have been thinking about starting a thread in the main forum about how much "The money is in the chase!!" is largely a product of myth and using isolated examples. How many iconic babyface aces won the big title after months and months of losing to the champ? Hogan won the title in a different promotion. Historians always say the long chase took the edge off of Jack Brisco as a draw. The rule of thumb should be to pull the trigger when someone is hot. 

[NintendoLogic]

It's bizarre how many people subscribe to the idea of the money being in the chase in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I'm not sure there's ever been a babyface who dethroned a long-term heel champion after multiple failed attempts and then went on to become a long-term successful champion in his own right. That's really what it comes down to, though. Far too many people think HEAT~! should be pro wrestling's default state and babyface triumphs should be rare and fleeting because their brains have been rotted by terminal levels of exposure to 80s JCP.

[KawadaSmile]

 

Make this the main event. Sometimes all you need is two badass mofos talking big.

[NintendoLogic]

Well, shit.

On the plus side, maybe this means they'll move Big Show/QT to the buy in.

[Kadaveri]

They've already announced another 10 man tag for the buy in.

[funkdoc]

1 hour ago, NintendoLogic said:

It's bizarre how many people subscribe to the idea of the money being in the chase in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I'm not sure there's ever been a babyface who dethroned a long-term heel champion after multiple failed attempts and then went on to become a long-term successful champion in his own right. That's really what it comes down to, though. Far too many people think HEAT~! should be pro wrestling's default state and babyface triumphs should be rare and fleeting because their brains have been rotted by terminal levels of exposure to 80s JCP.

Yep, pretty much this.  i'd just add that with a lot of fans nowadays the influence isn't from Crockett so much as HHH & Brock.

[Rah]

It feels like writers get the idea of what "the chase" is all wrong. It isn't having the eventual winner failing at every step before the villain gets their come-uppance. It's the bad guy reigning supreme before someone new knocks them off their throne.

Dragon Ball Z is the world's worst example of the Invincible Hero but even that show had Frieza run through geeks before we got the showdown with Goku.

[cm funk]

First things first:  the synthwave music during the Mox/Kojima hype vid was dope and I need to know what it was

during the show I was really feeling it was too heavy on ex WWE/WCW guys

another thought was that they're killing Chicago with all these shows.  Punk felt much less over here.  Maybe it's just me but now that he's back the shine has already worn off, I want him to ditch Cult of Personality and the decade old merch and reinvent himself.  By necessity he's going to have to or he's going to get dusted, unless he like Cody wants to be a neo-HHH

the most over people on the show with the crowd were AEW originals and not ex-WWE guys.  food for thought AEW.  This was the first show where about half way in I was really getting the "omg almost everybody featured on the F'n show is ex WWE/WCW" and that's not a good thing

I had a bad taste in my mouth up to the point where SHOWGUNNS EXPLODE 20 YEARS LATER LMAO.  I actually marked out for that, didn't see it coming, and I loved QT's reaction.  That actually got me back into the F'n show!

Poor Jack Evans looks horrible.  I've been a huge fan of this dude for a long time but he's looking like old man Scorpio out there

I loved the main event and the ending.   I love The Elite though, so I get that mileage varies.  I find it F'n hilarious though, people like Cornette saying "now that Tony has real stars maybe he'll wise up and get rid of the Bucks and Omega!" as if they aren't the reason AEW is where it is in the first place

Super hyped for that cage match.  Lucha Bros have been one of the best things going in wrestling for a long time now and it's time for them to get the gold.  A cage match is the perfect way to do it too, and I love that AEW treats it like the big deal it's supposed to be

The show overall was a really good go home IMO.  The cage match, Eddie/Miro, Omega/Christian, Mox/Kojima and Punk/Darby all have me fairly hyped for what should be another awesome big show from AEW

Edited September 3, 2021 by cm funk
I can't type

[El-P]

To me The Elite reign of terror is the best thing in pro-wrestling since the Hart Foundation stuff in 1997, easily. Except the matches are about a hundred times as good. Funny how AEW really began to grew bigger as they finally positioned themselves as the top stars. The addition of Callis was what pushed it from simply great stuff to classic. Of course they'll never ever get credit from some people, neither for being some of the best pro-wrestlers ever neither for being actual stars that made it possible, but there you go. Like I said, after 30 years of being a pro-wrestling fan, I've been living my best life thanks to these guys, and yeah, especially these three guys (+ Callis, whom I was a fan of in 97, how sweet). 

The addition of ex-WWE guys is an inevitability after 20 years of near monopoly + a politic of trying to kill the indies. If AJ Styles showed up tomorrow (he won't but that would be a sweet end to his career), some people would consider him a WWE guy when really the majority and peak of his career was in TNA and NJPW. When Adam Cole shows up, sure he was the star of NXT, as was Andrade (but he was a much bigger star as La Sombra), but again it comes after a time where *everyone* on the indies was signed by WWE to prevent, well, what just happened. So sure, I don't want Paul Wight to be a regular *at all* and Billy Gunn should stay on Dark shows (at best), but considering they have been doing a masterful job building up younger stars thus far (and with the numbers of pet project they have like Dante Martin, Powerhouse Hobbs, Jade Cargill, Anna Jay, Tay Conti etc...), I'm not worried at all.

[Laz]

3 hours ago, Rah said:

Dragon Ball Z is the world's worst example of the Invincible Hero but even that show had Frieza run through geeks before we got the showdown with Goku.

That's the one thing I'll give DBZ, really. Their heels were built up amazingly...but it all required the audience to buy into the faces (Goku et al). 

"The chase" should be the hero overcoming obstacles, not just the villains constantly besting them. It's like people just think Austin/McMahon drawing all the money in the world, or how Sting and DDP were the most over faces against the nWo, barely happened. The heels create the obstacles and the heroes fight back. Gotta give the good guy a win now and then, even if it's just them fighting off the bad guys for a night.

[gordi]

14 hours ago, cm funk said:

 

another thought was that they're killing Chicago with all these shows.  Punk felt much less over here.  Maybe it's just me but now that he's back the shine has already worn off, I want him to ditch Cult of Personality and the decade old merch and reinvent himself.  By necessity he's going to have to or he's going to get dusted, unless he like Cody wants to be a neo-HHH

 

Yep. You absolutely nailed it with this take. Chicago is definitely over CM Punk. Didn't react at all to Cult of Personality. Could have heard a pin drop when he sauntered down to make the save on Rampage. Bloom is well and truly off the rose already.

Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted. Maybe they'll be able to book Chicago again in a couple of years.