AEW Dynamite - November 10, 2021

[Timbo Slice]

I hate Indy standoffs but Moriarty and Dante just killed it. 

[Jmare007]

Hangman may have to get a Foley world title run because Miro needs every belt on the planet right now.

 

[MoS]

10 minutes ago, sek69 said:

You're not wrong but I object to X-Pac heat being unfair, sure there may have been worse examples since but he was BRUTAL at the time that phrase was coined. 

When exactly was it coined? The story I remember is that it was coined during the Invasion angle when all WWF heels were getting cheered against the outsiders but not X-Pac. He had been terrible the year before, yeah

[sek69]

IIRC it was that post DX period where X Pac really didn't have a direction and he had that horrible Uncle Cracker theme. 

[MoS]

That tag match was just an excellent TV match

[Perfectly Straightedge]

2 minutes ago, sek69 said:

IIRC it was that post DX period where X Pac really didn't have a direction and he had that horrible Uncle Cracker theme. 

That's the way I remembered it as well. During the whole X-Factor gimmick.

I love FTR updating their theme music. 

[Strummer]

I think it was also because X Pac didn't lose much despite being a heel and being undersized by WWF standards due to his friendship with Hunter and Shane (to a degree I guess). He went over Kane several times in their program 

[sek69]

I knew the minute Hangman came out in a white shirt we were getting blood, I love it.

[MoS]

That was a home run of a contract signing and final segment. Tremendous episode of Dynamite, best in quite some time. The Hangman era is going to be awesome.

[AstroBoy]

I really thought that was a terrible go-home show to be honest.  No MJF, no real follow up to Punk and Eddie that was red hot.  Plus a pointless Matt Hardy angle.  Crowd was good though, I just thought this was a really weak lead in to the PPV outside of the final segment.

[sek69]

I will say an enraged Eddie Kingston running full speed to murder someone is one of the more terrifying things I can think of. 

[Alucard]

2 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

Isn't Max gay? I guess he likes curly hair with his white boy

Anthony Bowens of the Acclaimed is gay, it's never been said whether or not Caster is as well. I was lost on the fetish line as well. 

[Blehschmidt]

If they keep having Wardlow powerbomb motherfuckers into oblivion, he is going to be a huge babyface in no time!

[Matt D]

14 minutes ago, Blehschmidt said:

If they keep having Wardlow powerbomb motherfuckers into oblivion, he is going to be a huge babyface in no time!

There was a moment on Dark or Elevation a couple of weeks ago where the crowd started chanting "One More Time" and he teased it and then didn't do it and went right to the finish.

[joeg]

Thought it was a good show overall, not as big a fan of the contract signing segment as most people here. It had a lot of talking about feelings and melo drama that dragged on and it made Hangman look like a bitch. After everything Omega & Co have done to Hangman, for Hangman to not smack Omega in the middle of Omega's self indulgent speech makes him look weak. But that's what every Omega/Bucks angle is, so much middle school melodrama and the babyface just getting pissed on and turning the other cheek. 

[DMJ]

14 hours ago, Dav'oh said:

Anyone else getting "Mick Foley, Everyman" vibes from Eddie Kingston?

I wrote it elsewhere/awhile ago, but I'll say it again, there's definitely an alternate timeline where AEW didn't end up with such a stacked roster and Eddie Kingston challenged and beat Omega at Grand Slam/Arthur Ashe Stadium to a mega babyface pop (only to then drop the title back at some other special episode of Rampage). Its not surprising that the guy gets his fair share of cheers against any and everybody they put him up against. His piece in the Player's Tribune this past week was incredible. His interviews on various podcasts are incredible. He's a brutally honest dude who admits to many, many shortcomings and its just impossible to really root against a guy like that. 

And even if you don't know his back story (like I didn't when he first debuted on AEW), he's easily the best promo guy I've seen in maybe 20 years. He's Austin/Funk level with the believability of who he is and what he stands for. Eddie Kingston is not a guy who is just really good at playing a character - like MJF - he is the real deal to me. 

[joeg]

@Dav'oh @DMJ Absolutely. I say it almost every week, Eddie Kingston is the most relatable man in wrestling. Everybody knows an Eddie Kingston. Go to any dive bar, any union hall, and blue collar joint, and you will find an Eddie Kingston. I grew up with more than a  few Eddie Kingston's   

[Infinit]

13 hours ago, AstroBoy said:

I really thought that was a terrible go-home show to be honest.  No MJF, no real follow up to Punk and Eddie that was red hot.  Plus a pointless Matt Hardy angle.  Crowd was good though, I just thought this was a really weak lead in to the PPV outside of the final segment.

You know AEW has one more TV show before the PPV, right?

[MoS]

1 hour ago, joeg said:

Thought it was a good show overall, not as big a fan of the contract signing segment as most people here. It had a lot of talking about feelings and melo drama that dragged on and it made Hangman look like a bitch. After everything Omega & Co have done to Hangman, for Hangman to not smack Omega in the middle of Omega's self indulgent speech makes him look weak. But that's what every Omega/Bucks angle is, so much middle school melodrama and the babyface just getting pissed on and turning the other cheek. 

Disagree completely. Hangman did fully listen to him and respond by calling out Omega's bullshit, instead of interrupting him by smacking him in the face, because he needed to. He needed to calmly tell the world that Omega's manipulation does not affect him anymore, because he sees through it. He knows that Omega is scared of him, and he wanted to tell the world he knows that. Omega's bullshit isn't going to faze him anymore, because he realizes the bullshit isn't a weapon, it's a crutch. A shield. Also, the best way to get to Omega wasn't to punch him, but to (kind of) mention Ibushi. The gasp from the crowd proved that. I thought it was perfectly done.

I definitely find a lot of the melodrama the Elite does to be cringe and complete turn-offs, but I thought this was a great example of excellent pro wrestling melodrama. 

[SirEdger]

I thought that segment was a great demonstration of storytelling through that story arc between Hangman and Omega; we were reminded through the show of the history together with everything that happened between Hangman and The Elite in the past year and Hangman's road to redemption. This segment wasn't about Hangman punching Kenny in the face - he'll have plenty opportunities of doing that at Full Gear. It was about Hangman showing that mentally, he's ready to dethrone Omega and that he's not gonna be an easy target. It was very well played to mention the Ibushi thing because that one line perfectly summed up Omega's attitude as a heel and as a viewer, it made you go like "OK, Omega's in deep trouble now". We're now in that part of a movie where the hero is about to enter the final battle with the villain and everyone - the villain included - knows that it's not gonna end well for him.

[joeg]

@MoS I feel like you are the easiest person on this board to please. You like everything! I hate almost every angle the BTE guys run, its the same type of over the top melodrama or silly comedy that turned me off WWE years ago.  The angle two weeks ago on Halloween fit the bill of silly comedy I don't like. The show last night fit the bill of over the top melodrama that I don't like. These are grown fucking men not little girls. One was betrayed by the other. For two years now we've been waiting for Omega to get what he has coming to him and for Hangman to get what he rightfully deserves. Last night and the previous weeks as well have done a very poor job of convincing me to spend $50 to see the culmination of this storyline. But I'm still following, even if disatisfied. Its not like WWE where I've kinda just said fuck it. 

Its so different than the Kingston vs Punk story line, which felt like a realistic escalation. Kingston being a crazy hot head, blows up at the first person he sees after a loss. Anybody who played sports growing up has seen somebody blow their shit after a bad loss. It happens. Punk takes it personally and demands an apology. Anybody who has ever had somebody above them in the social order demand an apology knows how infurating it can be. Its the most bullshit power move there is. Kingston being the crazy hot head he is, refuses to apologize. Punk criticizes Kingston's abilities and character, making this personal. Kingston responds by attacking Punk's character. Now there is trouble in Dodge. Punk headbuts Kingston and we now have a hot match at the PPV. At no point did we get into people's feelings, insecurities or emotional growth. No now we have grown men fighting each other. The way wrestling should be. 

[Jmare007]

I completely disagree with the notion that last night's contract signing was silly melodrama. Shit was pretty damn straight forward, specially for something as long running as Page/Kenny and considering it's The Elite we are talking about. I neither saw nor heard the over the top cringe stuff they normally involve themselves in. 

Hangman's promo reminded me of Kofi vs Bryan on the go home to WM 35. Where the baby face basically strips the heel of any mental advantage and makes it clear he's gonna win. And not only that, he makes the heel realize HE knows he's gonna lose. Because he's been in the face's shoes before and has lived though that "getting over the hump" moment. 

If anything, this conpletely sold me on Page winning on Saturday (just like Kofi at Manía) and that wouldn't have happened with the typical contract signing brawl were the face shows some fire. 

 

 

[MoS]

First of all I rant and moan every week about one thing at least on Dynamite, I take offence to the suggestion that I am a v positive person without having a shred of being a miserable bastard. I had for instance specifically said that while I loved the Hangman spot in the Halloween match, I didn't like the match itself. 

Second, Hangman isn't Eddie Kingston. He used to do that shit a year back, when he didn't feel confident in himself and had insecurity - incidentally, exactly where Eddie is right now. He has outgrown it, it is character evolution that is crucial to his story. It's the same reason he talked about being brave enough to take time off to be a dad in the middle of the hottest run of his career. It's this calmness that has given him the confidence he didn't have before, something Eddie still lacks. There will come a time when he will snap at someone else, but that's not the correct story here. 

For what it's worth, Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley showed pretty much the same amount of melodrama in their feud last year, because the melodrama fit their story too. 

[sek69]

Yeah Page calmly broke it down that he sees through Kenny's bullshit and he's gonna beat his ass at the PPV and the heel looked shook (until the angle at the end). It was great at showing Kenny, maybe for the first time in his reign, is actually fearful he's going to lose. 

[joeg]

37 minutes ago, MoS said:

First of all I rant and moan every week about one thing at least on Dynamite, I take offence to the suggestion that I am a v positive person without having a shred of being a miserable bastard. I had for instance specifically said that while I loved the Hangman spot in the Halloween match, I didn't like the match itself. 

Second, Hangman isn't Eddie Kingston. He used to do that shit a year back, when he didn't feel confident in himself and had insecurity - incidentally, exactly where Eddie is right now. He has outgrown it, it is character evolution that is crucial to his story. It's the same reason he talked about being brave enough to take time off to be a dad in the middle of the hottest run of his career. It's this calmness that has given him the confidence he didn't have before, something Eddie still lacks. There will come a time when he will snap at someone else, but that's not the correct story here. 

For what it's worth, Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley showed pretty much the same amount of melodrama in their feud last year, because the melodrama fit their story too. 

I think you just proved my point about the melodrama. The storyline largely revolves around Hangman's personal growth. A character study about a a problem drinker's personal and professional growth in face of fatherhood sounds like the plot of a contender for the Palm D'Or or Golden Lion, not a wrestling match blowing off a 2 year title chase and blood feud.