Category: AEW Television Musings

All posts and musings regarding All Elite Wrestling television programming… mostly involving Dynamite, but will sometimes include episodes of other AEW programs such as Rampage or Collision… whenever they air on TSN and not the wretched TSN app.

AEW Dynamite (February 2nd, 2022): Brandi Killed The Show

Dynamite was a weird show, mostly because I missed a good chunk of it and the DVR was fucked.
So it was supposed to open with Jon Moxley vs. Brian Kendrick, until Kendrick was yanked because someone uncovered some stupid shit that he said years ago. If people got shitcanned because of shit they said years ago, everyone would be fired. So, instead we got Mox killing that Wheeler Yuta kid, and then Bryan Danielson comes out and invites Mox to join forces with him. Interesting turn of events. Go watch the promo.
Then they followed that with a Brandi Rhodes segment and I turned off the show to do other stuff, but mostly because I had no desire to sit through Brandi trying to be Stephanie McMahon. It’s the first time I’ve ever shut off an AEW show because of something they put on screen. I wonder if that’s something Brandi will twit on her Twitter, but she’ll probably get ratings or something. Don’t know. Don’t care. Sorry.
Eventually, I came back in time to catch the main event and what a main event that was. MJF defeated CM Punk twice on this show; first with a taped gimmick that slipped and when the ref saw it, he restarted the match, which made fans assume Punk would win. Then Wardlow would come out, distract Punk while he discreetly passed on TEH RING to MJF, who used it to KO PG Punk for the win. By the way, this was in Chicago and the hometown guy got beat… TWICE. I lament the tired WWE trope, but in this case, it works well here because this would end up being a big win for MJF.
Anyway, that was a show from what I saw. Better luck next week, I suppose.

AEW Dynamite (Jan. 19th, 2022): Is Vince Russo Writing Cody’s Promos?

Not gonna lie. This last Dynamite show was not one of the stronger shows that AEW has put out. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a bad Dynamite show or anything that would set me off the rails, but compared to the usual output, I would definitely place this in the lower tier entirely skippable segment of Dynamite episodes, where there was some good stuff, but nothing you’ll remember the next night.
I did enjoy the Jon Moxley promo that opened the show and when the first words to come out of his mouth is telling some heckler to go fuck himself without getting bleeped on the live feed, I smiled. Really heartfelt words from Jonathan Good about facing demons and dark cloudsas the crowd sat in silence and apt attention, only reacting when needing to. And of course, he goes full Mox about being thirsty and only drinking blood. Good to have you back, Mox.
On the other hand, that Cody promo…
Okay, honest question here… did Cody secretly hire Vince Russo to write his promos because this seems like the sort of thing he would do? Talking about backstage stuff, using “insider terms” like “turning heel” or “real life friends” to try and give the impression that “this is real shit” but come across as even faker than the fake shit that’s supposed to be fake? Because this sounds like the sort of thing that Russo would write for promos to try and nab the casual audience he thinks likes this sort of stuff, when all they want is background noise while they’re doing something else. Good lord, this was deathly dull… and it’s a shame because Cody is usually a good talker, but his talking points as of late have been turn-the-channel dull.
Other than those two bits… eh. I like that CM Punk/Shawn Spears match; that went about as long as it needed to. Everything was just… eh. Oh well, better luck next time. Apparently, Friday’s Rampage was somewhat better, but I wouldn’t know because I don’t know how to watch Rampage on my TV that isn’t on a shitty TSN app.

AEW Dynamite (January 5th, 2022): Tee Bee Ess

Yeah, it’s a new era as AEW Dynamite moves to TBS… and so we have a generic banner for these Dynamite musings. Hell of a show, too. Good enough for me to want to write a quick musings on it and not save it for a phantom post down the road.

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AEW Dynamite (December 22nd, 2021): Holiday Bash At Greensboro

You know… sooner or later, I’m going to have to get a new banner for these Dynamite musings. After all, next week is the final show on TNT before the move to TBS. Maybe come up with something a little more generic, but in any event, we’ve got the Holiday Bash and there’s quite a bit of stuff to touch on here, so let’s not dawdle.

Kyle O’Reilly made his AEW debut, running in during a match between Adam Cole and Orange Cassidy that saw him kick the latter down while the ref was distracted by Bobby Fish, culminating in a win for Cole after a pretty good match. Orange’s buddies try to run in for the save, but get killed by the formerly known as the Undisputed Era, which prompts the Young Bucks to come out and be confused by Cole bringing in all his old NXT buddies… well, maybe not Roderick Strong; he might be resigning with WWE if rumors are to be believed.

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AEW Dynamite (December 15th, 2021): Proof That Hangman And Danielson Can Draw

Yeah, so Winter came… and it sucks. All this snow, all this ice, all this cold… kill this shit and let’s get to spring as soon as possible.

In the meantime, we had Dynamite open with AEW World Champion Hangman Adam Page defending the title against Bryan Danielson in a match that saw both guys work their asses off for sixty minutes before

Some would argue that having a time limit draw for a first title defense makes the champion look weak and ineffective. I suppose it depends on the situation, but the match ended with Hangman hitting the Buckshot and had he a couple seconds more, he would’ve pinned the guy. To me, that told me that Hangman could hang – no pun intended – with Danielson and a rematch where there MUST be a winner is the only way to sort this out. A time limit draw in this case doesn’t make the champion look weak; it makes the challenger lucky he gets to have another shot down the road. You know what would’ve made the champion look weak? Having him lose the title in his first defense and that didn’t happen.

After that match, the rest of the show was an afterthought. There was a Wardlow squash, followed by a pretty good Shida/Deeb match that fell under the radar and didn’t quite catch on. Not because it was a bad match; on the contrary, it was a perfectly fine wrestling match and on any other night, it would’ve been a highlight. But this is a fine wrestling match following Hangman vs. Danielson; there was no way they were going to be able to follow that up. Finally, MJF beat Dante Martin to retain his Diamond Ring gimmick, which shouldn’t have been a surprise since… what the fuck is Dante going to do with that ring?

Stick around for Hangman/Danielson, take or leave the rest of the show. It’s up to you.

AEW Dynamite (December 1st, 2021): Cody Suffers For His Art… And Still Wins

Not a whole lot to say about this show, actually. It was fine for the most part, but also felt like a show that you could skip and not miss a thing. I say this even as the main event featured a somewhat fiery ending. So I’ll just touch on a couple things.

Bryan Danielson kills Alan Angels and goads Hangman Page – sitting in commentary for Jim Ross, who is undergoing treatments for his skin cancer – into a fight. Page and Danielson aren’t allowed to touch each other for another two weeks, where their title match will take place at Winter Is Coming, the special Dynamite episode named after a Game Of Thrones tagline. Page is about to go on, but John Silver stops him and decides to go after Danielson himself, who refuses to share the ring with Silver because he is a lowly man. Well, he’s not wrong and next week, said lowly man will be getting his fucking head kicked in. It’s been a good run, John, but it’s time to put your affairs in order.

The sight of Sting and Billy Gunn wrestling each other in a match is surreal, which explains this whole Darby/Sting vs. Gunn Club feud. Gunn Club did suffer their fist loss as a tandem, so that’s notable. There was a pretty fun match with Ruby Soho and Kris Statlander, with Ruby winning to advance in the TBS Title tournament. A bunch of other stuff happened, I guess, but you could look that up elsewhere.

And finally, the Cody/Andrade street fight in the main event… yeah, first off, that was a nasty fall that Arn Anderson took, and bless Andrade’s lackey for helping the poor guy up and then beating his face in. What an absolute pro. Anyway, the big spot; Cody suplexes Andrade through a flaming table, gets scorched pretty badly, and still manages to win. If this is supposed to get Cody cheered by those who’d rather have nothing to do with him, I don’t think it worked all that well, but good effort, regardless.

AEW Dynamite (November 24th, 2021): The Show Opened WIth 20 Minutes Of Talking

Yeah, I know it’s a week later… but that promo…

It’d be a waste of time to try and explain the opening interaction between MJF and CM Punk, but fortunately, AEW has uploaded the entire segment onto Youtube and that’s what’s being embedded here. So, go watch that, be amazed by two masterful talkers, and groan at the knowledge of Edge trying to reference this on RAW for a cheap pop and getting no reaction, whatsoever.

There’s other mild bits to talk about here, but other than that opening promo, the rest of this Dynamite show felt secondary.

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AEW Dynamite (November 17th, 2021): “Of Course, Virginia Boos Hard Work!”

Well, AEW has a new World Champion and his name is Hangman Adam Page. And he’s going to celebrate in his home state of Virginia with a Cowboy Shit celebration. Sadly, top-ranked contender to the World title Bryan Danielson takes exception to this because when he won the World Championship at Wrestlemania, HE WRESTLED THE VERY NEXT NIGHT! Kind of unfair to levy that towards Page, since AEW has no Monday show… unless you wanna count that Elevation Youtube show that’s taped in advanced.

This, invariably, leads to Bryan Danielson having a match with Evil Uno and subsequently kicking his fucking head in for the win. Danielson then threatens to kick all the Dark Order’s heads in until he gets his title match with the Hangman. The idea of Danielson killing all the (all due respect) Dark Order geeks to get to Hangman looks like it’s gonna be a fun ride if nothing else. And the most amazing thing about this so-called heel turn is that it wasn’t a turn. Danielson think he’s the best wrestler in the world, he backs up his claims since day one-ish, and now he’s up against the fan-favorite champion. There’s no sudden shift in character; it’s always been like that and it’s brilliant. That’s the sort of “shades of gray” storytelling I like.

The Gunn Club decide to start some shit with Darby, who goes along with it, which will give us the Rampage match between Darby Allin and SIXTY-PLUS YEAR OLD BILLY GUNN. YES, BILLY GUNN IS IN HIS SIXTIES AND STILL LOOKS GOOD FOR A MAN HIS AGE. WHY AM I YELLING?

The main event match saw TNT Champion Sammy Guevara retaining the title over former ROH Champion and newest AEW signee JAY LETHAL in a pretty awesome match. There was actually quite a bit of good stuff on this show; a fun Lio Rush/Dante Martin vs. Acclaimed tag match, an MJF promo interrupted by CM Punk, who walked in, said nothing, and walked out as poor Maxwell offered a handshake, a fun little Nyla Rose/Hikaru Shida match, and a couple other bits.

Not much to say in the long run, but I quite enjoyed this Dynamite show.

AEW Dynamite (Oct. 27, 2021) – Proton Pack, Protein Pack, Glass Of Milk, WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE?!

Well, it’s the Halloween edition, apparently, which means the Elite are in costumes and stuff. Anyway, said costumes are a source of contention for some reason, so let’s get into… something or other.

Quick comments and bits and bobs after the break.

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AEW Dynamite (October 23rd, 2021): Fade To Rhodes

The show opens with Bryan Danielson and Dustin Rhodes just beating the whole hell out of each other in a fantastic wrestling match that ended with Danielson trapping Dustin in a guillotine and causing him to pass out, thus winning the match and advance in the World Title Eliminator tournament for a World title shot in the future. Good to hear that this Danielson fellow is keeping his promise of providing excellent professional wrestling because I’ve been enjoying his stuff. As for Dustin, the fact that he did all that stuff in his early-50s proves that age isn’t a detriment if you can still go… and boy can that SOB still go.

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