Category: Wrestling Television Musings

AEW Dynamite (July 27th, 2022): Fight For The Fallen

Well, after several weeks of promotion joint New Japan ventures and a Ring Of Honor PPV that only a minute number of hardcore ROH fans will care about, Dynamite returns to form pushing some AEW talent on its AEW program. I’ve largely zoned out of the AEW cycle for the past few weeks and only caught glimpses here and there. I’m not going to dwell too much on the past (you can listen to the DTM-Cast episode posted yesterday for that), but I just want to talk about this Dynamite show, which has been, again, a return to form.

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RAW (July 26th, 2022) – A New Era (Allegedly) Begins

For whatever reason, I felt compelled to waste three hours of my life watching last Monday’s edition of RAW, which is significant due to being the first RAW following the retirement/resignation of Vince McMahon and the ascension of Paul “Triple H” Levesque as the new head of WWE Creative. Also, the show was taking place in MSG, so it had to be special right?
First segment that opens in Miz and the Youtube guy brawling… that’s followed by a CGI Roman Reigns figure that looks like ass. Fortunately, we’ve got a long Roman Reigns promo that saw Paul Heyman do most of the talking, who is interrupted by that Theory kid, who is taunted by Roman because “Daddy’s not here anymore.” This leads to Theory in a match against Drew McIntyre, who gets ambushed by Sheamus and friends, which prompts Bobby Lashley to come out and turn this into a TAG TEAM MATCH, PLAYA! And then I zoned out.
The rest of the show was just stuff that happened. Rey Mysterio celebrated 20 years in WWE by cutting a humble promo, followed by a tag match with him and his son Dominick beating Finn Balor and the Priest guy. This leads to a backstage bit where the Rhea girl pushes the Mysterio girl and I guess theyz haz match?
The more this show went on, the most I zoned out. All throughout the night, the dog is restless and needs to go. So I let her into the yard for a bit and she comes back ten minutes later. Finally, I take her for a long walk and by the time I came back, RAW was over.
I had the show DVR’d, but really, the best thing I could say about this episode of RAW is that it was largely inoffensive and there wasn’t much in the way of stupid shit. It’s still RAW, it’s still three hours, and it’s still a waste of time. Certainly didn’t make me interested in this weekend’s upcoming Summerslam show.
With that said, this show played out as I expected it to: business as usual. I’m sure those who regularly watch the show – my condolences, by the way – will be able to spot for any minor differences that are supposedly there, but those expecting this show to outright change overnight should tempered those expectations. HHH just got the head creative job and as good as his run on NXT has been, you can’t expect those same results from day one. These things take time. Whether people have the patience to sit through it or not is another story.
I can say I watched the first RAW after Vince’s retirement, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I am willing to give the new regime another shot in about a month or so, but for now, I’d say it’s going to be a while before things start to feel different from the same old routine.

IMPACT (January 4th, 2010) – The Opening Salvo Of The Monday Night Pillow Fight

Let’s turn back the clock, kids. Back to 2009, when the company formerly known as TNA Wrestling announced that they had signed Hulk Hogan and they were going to do a special live edition of IMPACT on Monday, January 4th… that’s right, kids. For the first time since WCW aired its final edition of Monday Nitro in 2001, WWE RAW was going to have a rival wrestling show on the same night to deal with.
Fortunately, two things were in RAW’s favor; the return of Bret Hart to WWE television – his first real appearance in a WWE ring since that night in Montreal in 1997. And the other thing was that… it’s fucking TNA.

I’ve only seen snippets of this show back in the day and decided it wasn’t worth my time. However, numbers were promising and that convinced TNA and Spike (who aired IMPACT at the time) to make the move to Monday Night more permanent. Now I recently posted musings on the short run of Monday Impact that I had written years ago, but never did get around to posting for one reason or another. Probably because I didn’t want anyone to know that I actually watched IMPACT and to be fair, there were a couple good episodes in there… but they were mostly bad.

So, to put a little bow on this Monday Night Pillow Fight of 2010, I’ve decided to go back and watch the January 4th edition of IMPACT, which was THREE FUCKING HOURS and we’re going to do this thing for… some reason.

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AEW Dynamite (June 29th, 2022): BLUE-D AND GOOTS TOO! Now With More Claudio.

So, Forbidden Door has come and gone. Heard it was a great show with some great wrestling. I didn’t watch it because I didn’t care enough to order the PPV on the strength of good wrestling alone since that would be akin to giving a kid a participation trophy for showing up for softball practice. Good wrestling – even great wrestling – is not something that is lacking in good supply these days and I was more than content to fill the void with virtually anything else… as was the case when I posted yesterday’s weekly PPV musings.
Now Blood And Guts II on the other hand? THAT piqued my interest.
It’s rare for me to witness a good, bloody Wargames style match and the few that I watched back in the day have always been a fun spectacle of violence until I got the DVD comp that collected all of them, which is where I started to truly enjoy the match concept as a whole. So it’s the second ever AEW Blood & Guts match and this one has fucking CLAUDIO. What could possibly go right?

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AEW Dynamite (June 8th, 2022): Interim All-Atlantic Western Stages Heritage Clustermuck

Some questionable stuff from All Elite Wrestling, which should shock some folks, I’m sure, but like I said a couple times, the honeymoon period is long gone and now I’ve got things to complain as it relates to this recent of Dynamite.
Before we get to that, let me just say that wrestling-wise, this episode delivered the goods. There was a really good main event in Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O’Reilly. I might not think of Cool Kyle as a top-tier name, but he’s getting there. PAC vs. Buddy Matthews was pretty fun as well… yes, I’m forgoing the usual PAC gimmick; that’s how dour I am. Hangman Page getting a big win over New Japan’s David Finlay resulted in another good match. Thunder Rosa, your reigning AEW Women’s World Champion, was stuck having to carry one of Cold Ronda’s buddies to a borefest of a match, but at least she was on TV.
Okay, so we’ve highlighted the highlights, which remains the wrestling. Now click the break to start an effigy on the booking, which BAFFLED me to no end.

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AEW Dynamite (June 1st, 2022): An Important Show

I know I said last week that I wasn’t going to do any more of these weekly Dynamite musings, but something important and significant happened on this show that prompted me to talk about this piece of business. It’s been the talk of the town and I feel the need to provide my two cents on the matter. I am, of course, referring to…

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AEW Dynamite (May 25th, 2022): Going Home On The Go-Home Show

Well, it’s the go-home show for Double Or Nothing, which means the last push before the big PPV event this coming weekend. It’s also going to be the last AEW Dynamite musings for a good while. I’ll keep watching the show on and off, but I think I’m going to give these things a rest for a couple months and pick it up later down the road.
That said, this was a fine show.
Wardlow killed the Ten Guy in a steel cage after a chairshot from Ten Guy killed special ref MJF, which prompted a regular ref to make the winning pinfall count. This is followed by a pretty solid Hangman/Punk promo segment hosted by Tony Schiavone, who is more than happy to stir up shit between these two, leading to Hangman knocking Punk on his ass… the intrigue in this World title feud is enticing, unlike anything involving Roman these days.
Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston beat up a bunch of dudes and then they brawl with Jericho’s crew. This is followed by a ROH Tag Title match between defending champs FTR and Roppogi Vice ending in an actual, honest-to-God DISQUALIFICATION FINISH on an All Elite Wrestling television program caused by a couple New Japan guys whose names I don’t recall beating on both teams… I guess we gotta start building towards that PPV while we’re at it.
Thunder Rosa cuts a promo hyping her title defense against Serena Deeb… it’s fine. Britt Baker advances to the finals of the Owen tournament by beating Toni Storm… and Samoa Joe defeated Kyle O’Reilly to advance to the finals against Adam Cole or someone… and part of me has this funny feeling that the tournament is going to be won by Cole and Britt because they’re doing the lovin’ or something. I hope I’m wrong on that count because… eh…
On a whole, a perfectly fine go-home show for Double Or Nothing and a good note to bow out on this journey for now. See you all next Wednesday… or earlier if you like the other shit I post here every so often.

AEW Dynamite (May 18th, 2022): Two Awesome Matches And A Whole Bunch Of Meh…

So, I am going to level with you. This episode has two REALLY good matches and a bunch of other stuff that either didn’t jive with me or… wait for it… put me to sleep.
And no, that last bit did not involve CM Punk.
Specifically, the Hangman Page vs. Takeshita match was a really non-title match that saw the champ hit the DDT guy with his Buckshot followed by a somewhat sloppy looking GTS, much to Announcer Punk’s approval, which is a nice change of pace seeing a guy not react poorly to another guy using his move. This Takeshita fellow is pretty good; hope to see more of him around these parts. The other fine match on this show, an Owen tourney match that saw Kyle O’Reilly advance to the semis at Rey Fenix’s expense, was also exceptional.
The rest of the show was kind of just there. There was a Jericho/Regal segment that was a thing that happened – the furthest thing I would expect to say about a segment between two great talkers – and we got a big multi-man out of it… but not a Stadium Stampede as Jericho initially wanted because Mox isn’t doing any of that sports entertainment crap. Way to bury the AEW staple, Jon… but then again, I’m sure a lot of people feel your way, so it works out.
MJF gives Wardlow some lashings, a low blow, and more lashings… Wardlow no-selling the first few lashes and even laughing it off to the chagrin of MJF made the segment in my book.
As for the two Jokers in the tourney… eh. Samoa Joe got Johnny Nitro Morrison Impact Turbo Elite Mundo (how many fucking names does this guy need?) and beat him. Meanwhile, Dr. Britt got the singing joshi with the red hair and yeah, okay, that was a thing. At least Britt won, but what was the point of having mystery opponents if they’re really nothing special?
(I’m sorry, Johnny. I’m sorry I have to lump you in with the cute girl who can’t sing a lick.)
Apparently, Adam Cole beat Jeff Hardy in his Owen tourney match and there was a beatdown afterwards. I wouldn’t know because I fell asleep during this one and by the time I woke up, the show was over. That was not a good sign and the fact that I have to watch more Adam Cole does not excite me in the slightest. Fortunately, next week’s musings was already written months ago, so I should be able to stave that off for a bit.
Oh, and there was also a Serena Deeb confrontation with Tony Schiavone and Dustin Rhodes, where she cries foul about people thinking that she (Deeb) can’t beat Thunder Rosa for the Women’s title. I realize this involved another promotion that they’re no longer working with at the moment, but didn’t Serena beat Rosa for the NWA Women’s title a year or so back? And wasn’t that title prominently featured on AEW television? Because if that’s the case, then I don’t see why you couldn’t use that to plant seeds of doubt that Rosa could beat Deeb and hold on to her title. That’s just me, though.
Not much else to say there. I didn’t hate this show, so we can leave the bots at home. Try to catch those two awesome matches I mentioned if you can, but the rest is skippable fare.

AEW Dynamite (May 11th, 2022): The Only Goodhausen Is A Deadhausen

Pretend you’re Excalibur and you have to read the following paragraph in less than 30 seconds of airtime.
Adam Cole beat Dax in an Owen match. CM Punk killed the Meatman with the Hangman’s Buckshot Lariat. A Tony Schiavone-conducted interview with Britt Baker does not get interrupted. Tony Nese, who didn’t even get an entrance, Kill-Hausens Danhausen, much to my happiness… and then Hook shows up because sure, why not? And now we have Hookhausen… I’d be much happier with Deadhausen, but whatever-hausen… Fuck, now I’m doing the hausen thing. MJF/Wardlow contract signing turns into a Dark Side Of The Ring segment featuring Barry Horowitz… MJF gets a pop from the Long Island crowd. They book the match for DOuble or Nothing, assuming ten whip shots, cage match from Ten Guy with MJF as special ref… and Wardlow kills the lawyer guy. Ricky Starks retains his FTW belt over Jungle Boy. Toni Storm beats the Hayter and Jeff Hardy beats Darby in what is supposed to be an Owen match but ended up being a match full of crazy spots and by the way, did you know Owen’s widow and kids were at the show? I wonder what they thought of that match.
It was a better show than last week, at least.

AEW Dynamite (May 4th, 2022): Does Anyone Actually Care About Ring Of Honor?

Yeah, it’s one of those shows. I think I’m going to use this banner for AEW programming that I actually didn’t care for. It was bound to happen, sooner or later, I suppose.
So this was a rather uneventful Dynamite show with a rare heel promo from Hangman Page, a couple Owen qualifiers, and another Blackpool Combat Clubberin’ on display being the highlights of sorts… and then there was that main event, which was such a “just there” match that even the normally hot AEW crowd was like, “What the fuck?”
Further musings after the break…

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