I'll give TK some credit, at least he announces a lot of matches ahead of time so we know what we're getting ourselves into.

For Dynamite we're getting...

AEW Revolution Ladder Qualifier Match

Rey Fenix vs. Lance Archer - Hell yes! Quite possibly one of the best high fliers in the world versus one of the most athletic big men in all of Pro Wrestling. I am so down for this match and can't wait to see it unfold. My only complaint is that it's a qualifying match for that trainwreck of a ladder match. I'm so sick of TK throwing together these random free for alls to decide his number one contenders. Show some balls man! Book PAC vs. Omega IV, boom. Or Shida vs. Omega I, like you teased me with for the AEW Game (literally the only reason why I have it pre-ordered).

Ricky Starks & Brian Cage vs. Varsity Blondes - I've been sending in applications to join Team Taz and instead keep getting Dark Order pamphlets in response. I'm such a big fan of these guys, but c'mon this doesn't benefit them one iota. I don't think this is doing the Varsity Blondes any favours either, I think they could be a good team if they were paired up with the right opponents. I'm skipping right to the post-match where Darby and Sting will interfere.

Jon Moxley vs. Ryan Nemeth - Because Ryan was so impressive against PAC. Again, this doesn't benefit Moxley who already got some wins underneath his belt. Let's cut to the chase and have Kenny's Klub confront Moxley.

Jake Hager vs. Brandon Cutler - Rinse and repeat except why is TK trying to give Hager a spotlight? Cutler to me is still the biggest heel in the business for having the audacity to speak out against Good Ol JR.

Hangman Page vs. Isaiah Kassidy - Y'know what? I'm actually looking forward to this. I see something in Isaiah Kassidy, I believe he could be one of the best high fliers in the industry if given time. I think he'll keep Adam honest and they'll have a better match than what Page will have at Revolution with Matt.

Anna Jay vs. Dr. Britt Baker DMD - At least I presume this is the match that made it onto Dynamite? Excalibur's preview was so vague that once again it justified the knock against the women division and how poorly it's being booked by TK. I feel Omega is doing the best he can, but between TK and the Brandalorian he's just getting no support. I think this is going to be a real ugly match, but I hope that it just boils over because I think both women have some real intensity and fire in them. I'm really not a fan of this tournament and once again shows that TK has no clue what he's doing with this division. 

So Fenix/Archer as a potential AEW MotYC, with Kassidy/Page as a respectable television bout and an opportunity to see more of Isaiah. Outside of the women's match which could be anything, the rest is all just fast forward material for me.

What about you guys? Do we have any Brandon Cutler fans in the house?

Looks to be a weak card, why is Cutman getting TV time on DYNAMITE rather than Dark? Isn't he the AEW's Dungeons and Dragons dungeonmaster? How quick of a squash is this going to be going against Bellator's Jake Hager?

Is Ryan Nemeth signed with AEW? If not, why is an outsider getting this many chances on DYNAMITE? He's a heck of a seller which runs in the family and I like the little he has shown but still, is he suppose to be bleeding to a pulp this match to highlight how violent Moxley can be?

I don't buy Isaiah Kassidy as a heel, looks too good good to me. Curious how he plays up as a heel in the ring, they come off as natural midcard tag team babyfaces, him and Qwen.

Curious how far along Jay has come. Remains to be seen if DMD can carry a match on her ownself but I am curious of the outside shenanigans between Dark Order on the outside vs Rockin' Rebel.

I don't think heels are as pronounced in AEW. If this was the WWE, we'd be seeing more reverse chin locks and the like because they get exposure through trolling the fans. In AEW it's different, where guys 'play' bad guys but deep down they're all just loveable goofs. So with that said, I think Kassidy will flip, flop and fly to try and accomodate for Page's superior strength and wrestling acumen.

Feb 21, 2021 12:20:44 GMT Big Pete said:

I'll give TK some credit, at least he announces a lot of matches ahead of time so we know what we're getting ourselves into.

This is an underrated good thing that AEW does, much more logical that a wrestling promotion would have the majority of matches planned before hand rather than the quite honestly intelligence insulting WWE method of "yeah we'll just go out there and wing our two/three hours of TV". Plus, as you say it gives you a clear idea of whether the show is worth watching or not.

No respect for the World's greatest detective and the person who is up two kills on Allie for the year. Brandon Cutler

Okay so I misunderstood last Thursday's announcement. It was actually the winner of Baker/Jay vs. Rose/Conti, which means we're going to get...

Dr. Britt Baker DMD vs. Nyla Rose - This is definitely a better match-up for Baker and a huge test for her. I just hope this is the Nyla we saw at the start of last year, and not the Nyla who just lacks that killer instinct and bumbles about. Baker has come a long way and I've got my fingers crossed she can deliver.

Good show this week, even if it wasn't too eventful.

Did anyone else find Archer/Fenix to be a styles clash? It just didn't feel like the match had any flow to it, just a case of Archer hitting his signature moves, then Fenix and vice versa until they had to end things. I thought it'd be a similar match as Meurtes/Fenix which was a fantastic david vs. goliath style match but here it was just a collection of spots. Archer reminds me of Brian Cage as far as somebody who does a lot of cool moves, but the work in between just seems lacking. I never really got any intensity from him or anything.

I think in-universe it'll be one of the better Dynamite matches of the year but I just found it so off-putting they had this big knock out drag em out type of match and at the end of the day the winner just gets an invite into a ladder match for a shot at the TNT title. I'm ready for an Archer/Omega match, not a throw-away ladder match.

Page-Kassidy was an odd match to me. All the heat took place during the ad-break and I was too busy looking at all the amazing fatty food you've got over there instead of Isaiah's arm-work. When they cut back, it was just a series of Page hitting signature moves but not being able to put Isaiah away. If anything, I felt sorry for Isaiah because it appeared he was about to pull it out until Page hit the Dead Eye. I thought the post-match was over-kill and they kind of just did the entrance ramp to the arena floor spot just to do it with 5. If they needed to set the match up for next week, why not just have Matt Hardy cut a promo backstage and do the deal there?

Nyla/Baker was about as good as it was going to be. Heel vs. Heel and naturally Britt is the babyface in this situation, but they made Nyla the lesser of two evils. It was a similar story as Page-Kassidy where they did all the heat arm work during the ad-break. The difference here is that they actually put together some nice back and forth near-falls. Honestly if somebody said it was their MotN I wouldn't bat an eyelid, they definitely put together the best near-falls.

I like the Varsity Blondes but I don't approve of Team Taz barely getting any offense in. It seemed like it was 60/40 to the Blondes, and I'm somehow supposed to believe they're a threat to Darby & Sting. I'm not sure what to make of that Sting segment. On one hand, he actually moved about as well as he did 10 years ago. On the other the whole build up with the video was over-kill. If Sting had have just come out with the bodybag, fans would have picked up that it was Darby and made the reveal more shocking.

Pretty ho-hum. I'm going to skip most of Cross Roards except for Jade Cargill match and tune back in for Revolution. It's been a weird period for AEW, they've had some exciting developments but they just can't get out of second gear.