Category: AEW Television Musings

This is going to be short because I’ve got very little to say about this show. Not even gonna bother with a banner.

Jon Moxley beat Jeff Hardy in the opening match… I’d want to say that this is a big deal, but when was the last time Jeff Hardy was used in any meaningful way? I do like that Mox went for a handshake after the match and Jeff flipped him off… I laughed. This followed by Hangman Page getting a win over some guy I’ve never heard of, but this is supposed to be Swerve Strickland’s chosen opponent for Page to continue that feud. The match was okay in a vacuum, but clearly nobody figured Hangman was losing this one.

The Young Bucks – sporting goatees to get away from the creep mustaches – fine an intern for getting their names wrong… I wonder if they’re going to extend that to special favors backstage to really push this tired joke further. And speaking of tired jokes, Wardlow almost kills the Kommander with a power bomb that even I could tell looked a bit. I know they signed this big Kommander guy so he could lose a lot, but that doesn’t mean kill him outright.

And speaking of killing things… the Undisputed Kingdom of jobbers come out to beat up on poor Kommander until Orange and Friends come along to save the day. By the way, I know it’s been a while since I last watched an episode of AEW, but weren’t these Kingdom guys doing comedy bits the last time I saw them on TV or something? And now I’m supposed to buy them as the next big super heel group? Seriously, guys?

Chris Jericho, fresh off the Jericruise and looking somewhat “out of it” as a result, defeated some guy. Former TNA wrestler Deonna Purrazzo defeated Taya Valkyrie while Timeless Toni was on commentary talking about titties or something, so clearly that was the thing you’re supposed to be paying attention to… I can at least say that for the moment, this gimmick is still somewhat likeable. And then in the main event, Swerve beat RVD in a hardcore match. And then we have a confrontation between Swerve, Hangman, and Joe.

Yeah, so this was playing a less-than-full crowd and it sort of explains while AEW has been playing to less-than-full crowds as of late. Tony probably should’ve gotten pointers from TNA on how to make a near-empty arena look full because they used to be really good at that. Not the worst show I’ve seen, but I was bored through most of it, so…

Next week, Tony Khan has a big announcement.

To quote a great man, “that’ll put butts in them seats.”

Tuned into AEW for the first time in what seems like months and what do I get for my efforts?

– The finals of the Continental Classic is going to be another match between Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston at AEW’s New Year’s Eve Eve PPV this Saturday, which I’m sure will be a nice bloody affair and those guys will absolutely maim each other for the opportunity of carrying three shiny belts that mean absolutely fuck all. (Seriously, why do we need more belts?)

– With Swerve out of any title picture, we’ll finally getting that Swerve vs. Keith Lee match that every one of YOU (not me – I don’t care either way) have been clamoring for. Hey, no knock of Swerve; the guy’s got a great main event feature if anyone is willing to pull the trigger on him, but him and Keith Lee going at it seemingly years after their deal mattered means nothing at this point. But hey, a payoff long past its due date isn’t completely alien to AEW these days.

– This Devil storyline is still going on? Does anybody really give a shit at this point? There were a couple points beforehand where the devil should have been revealed and we’re STILL doing this shit?

– By the way, speaking of belts that don’t matter, your new ROH tag titles are the masked mystery men that nobody cares about.

I don’t want to rail on this show entirely; you had good matches in Mox/Swerve/White and Danielson/Kingston. Statlander/Blue was also pretty good even with the hokey finish and the fact that your TBS title program is the battle of the scary ladies (I’d do a Cornette Face, but that’d be feeding the Cult Of Corntards, so I’ll refrain), and Le Sex Gods reuniting so we’d have SOME title match for Starks and Big Bill is a nice, wholesome Boxing Day moment… but fuck me, this Devil shit needs to die in 2023. It’s already occupied a spot in the Losers Of 2023 listing and I’ve only watched ONE show involving this shit.

200 episodes of Dynamite… how ’bout that? And in a month, Impact Wrestling is going to hit its 1000th episode… I should probably give that a watch too…

Continue reading “AEW Dynamite (August 2nd, 2023): 200th Episode”

Well, that was certainly a “big” announcement.

So a couple things happened on last night’s edition of Dynamite. AEW had signed Jay White of Bullet Club fame to an #AllElite contract and aligned himself with Rock Hard Juice in the latter’s feud against Absolute Ricky Starks, which was almost expected despite rumors that he might sign with WWE – I guess word of Vince being back in the saddle changed his mind. Either that, or he watched Mania… or the RAW After Mania.

FTR won back the AEW World Tag Titles, putting a merciful end to this Gunns experiment. Meanwhile, Women’s Champ Jamie Hayter retained over Riho and a good match, House Of Black retained their Trios titles over the Best Friends – I guess the almighty SUE wasn’t enough of a motivator, but the match was fun at least. Sammy beat some commander and made pot shots at Cody, which is the wrestling equivalent of kicking a puppy; sure, it’s horrible, but at least one person found it funny… oh, and Hangman Page got a screwdriver stuck to his eyeball courtesy of Bryan Danielson. Well, that’s a screwjob driven to the ground if I do say so myself.

As far as Tony Khan’s VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT… well, they brought Nigel McGuiness on board… but the actual announcement is that they’re gonna run All In (yes, ALL IN) from London… from WEMBLEY STADIUM… this coming August 27th. Okay, I will admit that. That was a BOLD announcement and I wish them all the best. However, I also notice that date falls a week before Labor Day weekend, which is traditionally when AEW holds their annual ALL OUT PPV. And then a week or so after that, they usually hold the annual Dynamite from Authur Ashe Stadium in New York. That’s going to be quite a juggling act to build all those shows up and get people to care about them… unless there’s something else in the works that we don’t know about.

Beyond that, the show was… just there. A couple fun matches here and there, but then you’ve got stuff like MJF Day which put me to sleep, the Outcasts cutting another promo that is giving me serious Divas segment vibes – that is NOT a good thing, by the way – and just a really nothing happening show at the moment with nothing of note worthy of keeping my attention on a weekly basis. That said, we’ll see if anything interesting pops up during the build to Double Or Nothing, but for now, I’m taking that extended break.

For those wondering, I have yet to see the Revolution PPV, but I’ve heard generally good things. In any event, we have new Trios and TNT champions while Hangman and MJF emerged victorious over their veteran opponents via tap-out submissions. Now color me intrigued in that they’re starting to use the old guys to put over the young guys and possibly start making some stars for this company to hang their hats on (for once).

Anyway, I watched last night’s Dynamite. It wasn’t anything special, save for the fact that we have a new TNT champion, with Powerhouse Hobbs defeating Wardlow (himself having won the title from Samoa Joe at the PPV and then was eventually – legit – robbed of his belongings – wish him the best and hope he gets his stuff back) in a pretty straightforward hoss fight that had interference from QT Marshall, who apparently no longer has a factory… I don’t know why, but there you go.

Another piece of noteworthy news is the rebranding of the AEW All-Atlantic International World Big Gold Western States Heritage Championship to merely the AEW International championship and that next week, to celebrate the release of the new Shazam film, Orange Cassidy will defend the title against JEFF JARRETT. And in Winnipeg, no less. You know what would be really funny is if somehow, someway Jeff Jarrett overcomes the odds and defeated Orange to win the International title, thereby pissing off the All-Elite hardcores… actually, now that I think about it, that is precisely the kind of scenario I wish to see next week.

Beyond that, this was a show. There were a couple multi-persons and tag-matches here and there and if you liked that stuff, this is the show for you. Nothing I’d go out of my way to watch, but an easy two hours of wrestling for better or worse.

P.S. – Apparently, today is International Womens’ Day and to celebrate the occasion, AEW gave the world a quick Ruby Soho promo followed by an extended squash over Skye Blue followed by a run-in from that Willow person that ends in failure and everyone gets spray-painted. Well, it’s something, I guess? Maybe? Maybe not… eh.

Yeah, we’re going there.

So three things of note to place on this show. Jon Moxley cut a great promo hyping his Texas Death Match with Hangman Page, Hangman Page returned the favor with a great promo of his own despite the less than stellar mic quality, Christian Cage cut a superb promo challenging Jungle Jack Boy Perry to what he calls a “fight” – which is followed by Jungle Boy digging Cage’s grave; them fightin’ grave diggin’ – and the show closed with Bryan Danielson, with only four minutes to spare, cutting a great promo trying to sell people on the idea of a 60-minute Ironman match with MJF, even going so far as to not let Max get a word in and even threatening to kick his fucking head in, which causes the crowd to chant that very thing.

Beyond that, the rest of the show was a chore to sit through. The Battle Of The Cassidies – Orange vs. Bill – was a good opening match, but then you had the Ladder Match that saw a ladder break and half a dozen refs holding the thing up so that Powerhouse Hobbs can grab the inflatable brass ring to earn a TNT title shot next week. And then there was the tag-team battle royale, which was more like a tag-team Royal Rumble than the traditional Casino format that they usually employ. And that match was won by the team of Orange Cassidy and Danhausen.

Well, the good news is that Orange Cassidy is getting a PPV payday. The bad news is so is Danhausen.

Oh yes, there is a PPV from AEW this weekend. Despite the fact that I’ve had two posts mention said PPV – both were written some time ago – I had almost forgotten about it because this company has been cold for a while and this PPV has maybe one match (Hangman/Mox) that I’d actually want to see while the rest of the card seems like it was tossed together at the last minute. Even the 60-minute Ironman match for the World title comes across as something that has you asking, “Who would actually want this?”

I’m not one of those doomsayers that declare AEW dead every time they have a bad show, but I will say that the TV has gotten so cold that every time I take a whiff of that cold Montreal winter breeze, it feels like I’m taking three of those fucking One Chip Challenges. Sitting through this show was like sitting through a bad episode of RAW and that is NOT a feeling you should be aiming to replicate under ANY circumstances.

Yeah, not a great show on its own and not a successful push for the PPV despite a couple great promos. Looks like this is another PPV I’ll be skipping out on for the time being. Maybe ol’ TK should his company a favor and let someone else have the book for a while so he could focus on his Rot Of Honor promotion that he’s desperately trying to make people care about.

(Note: Hey, kids. I know people would rather I’d talk about last night’s Smackdown show that I attended live, but I’m saving that for when I’ve got time to digest this stuff… and also, by the time this publishes, I’m still not home yet and I ain’t typing shit on my rinky-dink phone. In the meantime, here’s an AEW Dynamite musings that I wrote a couple days ago and never posted because Picard inspired me to put something else up in its place. Later.)

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve last touched a Dynamite show, hasn’t it? Anything interesting happen while I was away.

To tell the truth, I haven’t been following much of AEW as of late. I do know about a couple ongoing stories, such as Bryan Danielson’s recently successful bid to earn an AEW Championship match contested under 60-minute Ironman rules, which should be interesting to witness in 2023… and also the ongoing Jon Moxley/Hangman Page feud, which may be coming to its conclusion at the upcoming PPV in the form of a Texas Death Match, so that gives ol’ Mox another excuse to bleed.

Continue reading “AEW Dynamite (Feb. 15th, 2023): Anything Interesting Happen?”

Well, for anyone who gives a shit, the rumored Sasha Banks/Mercedes Mone debut didn’t happen during the Saraya/Storm vs. Dr. Britt/Hayter match. Instead, what happened was Shida tossed a stick into the ring and Britt used it against Storm. Shida appears shocked as a result, though I suspect she’s faking it because she still feels slighted that stupid Saraya slighted her last week. I don’t care how they’re promoting this; Shida’s the babyface in this story as far as I’m concerned and that’s the bottom line.

Other than that, there was some good matches on here. Bryan defeating that Takeshita fellow to up his win streak in a great match, Hangman killing (not literally, though it could’ve been) Mox in a glorified hockey fight (not complaining – those are my favorite), and of course, the Elite get their Trios belts back. Not a grand slam show or anything like that, but for those who appreciate good wrestling, you’ve got your share on this show… and that women’s match was a thing too.

AEW Dynamite returns with a new look just after New Japan holds their annual Tokyo Dome Wrestle Kingdom show, which featured the long-awaited debut of Mercedes Mone – the former Sasha Banks – who challenged reigning women’s champion KAIRI to a match for the title by laying her out. Oh goodie, a Sasha Banks vs. Kairi Sane WWE-style match. That’s going to get me excited to watch New Japan.

In all seriousness, though, I wish her nothing but the best in her current endeavors, whatever they may be. Said current endeavors probably doesn’t include AEW, where she had been teased (and hyoed by fans) as Saraya’s mystery partner in her upcoming match against Dr. Britt and Jamie Hayter. And then we found out that said partner would Toni Storm, which Saraya announces while also sitting next to former women’s champion Hikaru Shida, who seemed somewhat miffed at this rejection.

I’m watching this scene and two thoughts come to mind; first off, those Sasha Stans are going to be pissed. And you know what? Fuck them. The other thought is that this blatant disregard for Shida on Saraya’s part leads me to believe that there is a possible heel turn in her future. Let me tell you folks something; Shida was the one being wronged here, so as far as I’m concerned, she’s the babyface.

Other than that, this was a pretty good Dynamite., which introduced a new look of having a bunch of screens show a bunch of lines in a bunch of colors. On the one hand, it looks fresh; AEW’s original set design was somewhat unique, but clearly something needed to change or at least be refreshed, especially if said set has been used for nearly every AEW show, including some of the PPVs. On the other hand, though, the new design being a bunch of screens reminds me of WWE’s own minimalistic set design, though nowhere near as massive. It’s something I’m going to eventually get used to, but it loses the uniqueness that AEW once had… which is something of a recurring ailment with the company in recent weeks.

Continue reading “AEW Dynamite (Jan. 4th, 2023): The Tokyo Dome Post Show”