AEW Dynamite (August 27th, 2020): Matt Vs. Sammy In A Commercials Match

So here’s the deal; I’ve been fairly complimentary of AEW in these various write-ups. For the most part, they’ve put out some quality wrestling shows and even when the shows felt underwhelming, it was never to the degree where the shows felt off… until tonight.

So, for the folks who felt that I’ve been overly positive towards AEW as of late, you’ll be happy to know that I’m shifting gears today and will focus on the bad parts of the show, of which I’ll touch on three that really irked me and contributed to an episode of Dynamite that, while still somewhat fun, started to fall off the wagon a bit.

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AEW Dynamite (August 22nd, 2020): No More Papers

So, I’ll keep this short because there’s only a couple pieces of business worth mentioning; this was another fine episode of Dynamite that did a fine job of hyping up the PPV taking place in a couple weeks. And they made the most of the temporary timeslot running opposite whatever Takeover event was taking place by giving us a special show, even if the matches weren’t up there.

– Fuck The Revival is now joined by Tully Blanchard… but what about the ten guy? He beats the “Dead Ass” guys and then a backstage thing takes place where they propose a gauntlet match between the various tag teams to determine who challenges for the tag titles at the PPV.

– So the Jon Moxley/MJF feud continues with another quality Mox promo followed by MJF, his neck brace, and entourage challenging Mox to sign a petition to ban the dangerous and deadly Paradigm Shift (a double-arm DDT) from their All Out match or else he’ll SUE! Yeah, just one problem with that theory. What’s to stop Mox from dishing out a DEATH RIDER, which is also a double-arm DDT? Why not just say DDTs are banned and he can hit you with a piledriver, instead? Which is even worse than the DDT… all snark aside, this is more good quality promo work from both guys and it gives me a World title match to look forward to rather than “meh, cool, derpy funny mask thing.”

– They had the finals of the Women’s Deadly Draw thing take place. I didn’t watch the Youtube show, but if this match was indicative of the rest of the tourney, then I’m glad I didn’t miss much. But hey, Hikaru Shida vs. Thunder Rosa should be a fun match at the PPV, so that’s something.

– The Elite beat the Dark Order and Kenny goes made after a while, but who gives a shit about that? The main event saw The Exalted One Mr. Brodie Lee DESTROY Cody in a total squash to win the TNT Championship. Good job, AEW; you did a short match… after the other short match with Darby, but I digress. Cody is taken out on a stretcher, but the Dark Order geeks beat him up, they drag out Dustin and that other guy who were already beat up, and even Anna Jay gets in on the action by choking out Brandi. If you wanted a better way to put the Dark Order over as a true potential threat, then you’ll have to find it somewhere else because this did the job perfectly. Brodie looked like a monster, the Dark Order didn’t look like total boobs (this will last until the next BTE, I’m sure), and the bit where Brodie is sprinkling the broken pieces of the old TNT belt over Cody’s near-corpse was a nice touch.

So, yes, thoroughly entertained… and yes, regarding the bit where AEW is going to start having actual fans again in limited capacity… setting aside all the safety concerns, I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve seen the show take place. AEW usually does a good job with these limited capacity showings and I think they’ll be fine, but let’s wait and see with this one.

Smackdown (August 21st, 2020) – TUNDAH-DUMM!

Hey, look. I watched an actual Smackdown show… kinda, sorta…

This episode featured the first appearance of WWE’s new THUNDERDOME gimmick, which was built in a bigger arena that isn’t the Performance Center or Full Sail studios. Apparently, WWE payed Florida some pocket change to rent out an arena for a couple months with the caveat that there’d be no fans. So here’s the crazy concept where they have “virtual fans” watch the show and give the show that “much needed” vibe and energy it’s been lacking.

Or at least, that’s the theory.

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Fodder For A Future Gimmick

Limited Run Games, purveyors of limited run (no pun intended) overpriced physical packages just released their take on the X-Wing and TIE Fighter physical packages in both “standard” action-figure like backboards and a “collector’s package” that comes in a box similar to the big box PC stuff. And while I didn’t jump on board for past Star Wars gimmicks – and it wasn’t for a lack of trying – I was on board for this.

The thought occurred to pick up both the X-Wing and TIE Fighter packages, but common sense prevail when I did the math and realized I would end up paying over a couple hundred bucks for two boxes of overpriced stodge and the miserable shipping rates. So I opted with just the TIE Fighter, since it is the much better of the two games.

And yes, once I get this, I will indeed be doing a video on it.

Thoughts On Lower Decks… Not For Me

So the new Lower Decks cartoon came out and I sampled the first episode… and then turned it off halfway through.

I don’t know what this is supposed to be, but I do know that it is not for me.

I tried to give it a shot, but turned it off halfway. It tries too hard to be funny and fails. I don’t care for the main characters who come across as unlikable, annoying, and downright stupid… I’d go so far to say mentally challenged or even full-blown retardation. It feels like a lousy Channel Awesome skit, which is not the sort of thing you’d want to aim for. And it’s not something that I care to keep up with going forward.

I’m sure the show has its audience and if you enjoy the show, then more power to you… but it is not my cup of tea, earl gray, hot.

AEW Dynamite (August 12th, 2020): Tag Team Appreciation Night Doesn’t Appreciate Tag Teams

Sorry for the delay, folks… but here’s my quick Dynamite thoughts after the break. Probably won’t be covering the pre-emptied editions of the show ahead and I’m not even sure if All Out is in the cards at the moment, but we’ll get back to this one soon enough in some form or fashion.

Continue reading “AEW Dynamite (August 12th, 2020): Tag Team Appreciation Night Doesn’t Appreciate Tag Teams”