Big Shotty had Black running like a lamb :lol:

WWE really missed the ball not passing the mantle of the Undertaker to Black. They should have given the entire gimmick, in a master and disciple angle.

Yeah I definitely wouldn't have had Arn block the Black Mass. If you're getting that over as a uber dangerous finisher that isn't a good decision.

Black leaving because of some trainee dude doesn't make him look great either. Big whiff on that segment imo.

Aug 26, 2021 2:02:47 GMT @admin said:

Yeah I definitely wouldn't have had Arn block the Black Mass. If you're getting that over as a uber dangerous finisher that isn't a good decision.

Black leaving because of some trainee dude doesn't make him look great either. Big whiff on that segment imo.

I'd buy Dustin Rhodes chasing Black off because he dwarfs him in size but I agree not Lee Johnson. Would make sense for Cody to save his big brother from something vile down the road.

Aug 26, 2021 2:02:47 GMT @admin said:

Yeah I definitely wouldn't have had Arn block the Black Mass. If you're getting that over as a uber dangerous finisher that isn't a good decision.

Black leaving because of some trainee dude doesn't make him look great either. Big whiff on that segment imo.

I didn't understand or like any of that finish either. That was fucking weird.

Fully expected Cody to come out and chase him off. Instead we got some guy that nobody has heard of outside of AEW Dark (and even then...)

Bad finish boys. One of your best Dynamites ever ended with a wet fart in church. Boooooo

Arn definitely killed the Malakai Black gimmick a little bit. "I will simply put my hands up."

Man, do I hate Dan Lambert. Not in a wrestling way. I don't want to see him get beaten up. I want him to disappear.

Both Trios matches were really fun, even if QT Marshall is just the biggest jobber in the entire universe.

I love Jamie Hayter.

The ordering of Dynamite continues to be one of their main issues. Last week they rolled about 10 promo segments together in the back half which completely killed the momentum that the three matches in the first hour had built. This week they had the matches in the wrong order, the tag match and the Darby/Eddie/Mox trios would have worked much better as the opener and the closer to start and finish strong rather than the two they had.

Arn told 'em backstage "That's not gonna work for me, brother. You gotta let me block the kick. I know I haven't wrestled in almost 30 years and I have no drawing power and I am not a name or an attraction anymore, but I'm old, so you have to gimme something."

Black did not back off because Lee was a threat. He backed off as Lee was "innocent," and Black only attacks those who deserve it.

That's a nice enough explanation but it's not how it came across at all.

Yeah, came off really bad. The danger of the "smart" gimmick that Black is trying to do, is it is so easy to lose people as not everyone wants to look more into everything a guy does to understand it. He does a lot of little things that are easter eggs for people who know like occult lore stuff, but will go utterly missed by the 99 percent of people who had normal hobbies growing up.

The Elite gets more heat than Edgey boi MJF or Dan Lambert by just dressing like assholes and making goofy faces.

Aug 26, 2021 2:01:32 GMT c said:

WWE really missed the ball not passing the mantle of the Undertaker to Black. They should have given the entire gimmick, in a master and disciple angle.

Fucking hell. Exhibit A as to why wrestling fans shouldn’t book wrestling. 😂

This show was a big miss to me. Most anticipated Dynamite of all time probably, or at least second after the debut, and it was filled with job guys. Wingmen, Nightmare Factory, Gunn Club, Red Velvet, Jamie Hayter. Just really weird to give your audience so many reasons to tune out on such an important show. You’ll have shows like this in a 52 week television year, but not this one Tony. This was very disappointing and I think lost some of the momentum to be honest. A week after AEW felt like a big television production, this felt like indy wrestling on TV.

I felt like the episode as a whole was a weird way to capitilise off the CM Punk momentum. Going in, the card wasn't that flash but still I thought they'd come up with some interesting angles to pad the show out. By and large they just played it straight using the show to feature their under-card. On one hand you can rest a little easier when you nail signings like CM Punk & Bryan Danielson but you should be putting your best foot forward as well and AEW didn't do that last night.

The show opened with Orange Cassidy coming from behind to defeat Matt Hardy. I thought the two actually complimented each other nicely since Cassidy is more of a character than a traditional worker which allowed Matt to come up with some fun spots that worked well. Matt's nose got busted, so once again he just keeps finding himself in the wars at AEW and I think the finish worked for both guys. It wasn't a commanding victory but it was very Orange esque. Considering Cassidy is set to face Jack Evans next week, I presume this rivalry is going to continue which isn't a bad way to use everyone involved.

Chris Jericho challenged MJF to one more match where he'll put his career on the line. This seemed like the logical way to go since the last match felt so anti-climatic and it gives them the ability to say they worked a program across an entire year.

The Lucha Brothers went over the Varsity Blondes. After the match the Jurrassic Express helped The Lucha Brothers lay out the Elite who had been watching on from the ramp. Lucha Bros. looked as impressive as ever. Blondes got a fair bit of offence in but looked a level below. The Blondes are one of those teams I'd be looking to put into a program with FTR and if you let them work enough matches together they could put together some signature spots.

Jamie Hayter defeated Red Velvet. Hayter showed some decent fire, she's got some of that rugged UK style but on the whole this was rough. They lost the fans early and that blown moonsault at the end really hurt matters. As a means to make an impression I thought this fell well short of the mark. In the end Statlander helped even up the numbers in what's been a pretty lackluster build to All Out.

Punk promo was nothing ground-breaking but the highlight of the show since Punk is just at another star level to everyone else. I like that they're not over-thinking it, Punk is back and he wants to test himself against the next generation of talent. Play it by ear and as long as the booking makes sense you can't mess it up.

Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston & Darby Allin went over JD Drake, Ryan Nemeth & Cezar Bononi of the Wingmen. This just felt like an excuse to get all six men on the television. After the match Garcia attacked Darby to set up a later match. Another prime example of AEW's harmless squash match where everyone benefits.

The entire basis of the Kenny Omega-Christian Cage interview segment was just too ridiculous. So back in 1996 Don Callis fired Christian in favour of a 10-year old Kenny Omega? If you could have just left the second part of that off, I think it could have worked nicely and helped add some spice to a fairly ordinary match. After the segment, the Elite attacked Christian only for Kaz to make the save to set up a match for Rampage.

Jon Moxley challenged Satoshi Kojima to a match at All-Out. They couldn't find anyone better for Moxley to face on PPV? I guess Forbidden Door and yadda-yadda-yadda but Kojima hasn't been relevant for 10 years.

The Gunn Club scored an upset victory over The Factory after Colten Gunn scored an inside cradle on QT Marshall after QT was distracted by White. It came across to me that QT was using his 15 minutes of fame to give another team a rub. Will the Gunn Club ever mean anything more to the AEW audience?

In the main event Malakai Black made short work of Brock Anderson. Not much of a match, but I presume they gave Malakai the main event slot just to give him some prestige. Bit of controversy surrounding Arn blocking the first attempt at kick but I thought it helped give Malakai some heat by having to kick a legend in the groin and following up with little to no trouble. The only issue was him being chased out by Lee Johnson which didn't play well but that was their attempt at setting up the next victim.

I skipped over a couple of promo segments involving Miro, Dark Order, Tay Conti, The Bunny, FTR, Dan Lambert which hyped up angles or future matches. I thought they were largely fine and helped pace the show out nicely but none of them really grabbed me either.

This wasn't my favourite episode of Dynamite, by like a lot. I was only half watching as I was watching at work in the middle of the night.

I have no problem with Matt Hardy opening the show. Cassidy and Matt had a good match, I enjoyed it, I enjoy everything from the best friends.

Lucha Bros are amazing, I could watch them every day and never get bored. Luchas Bros vs Dinosaur Express on Friday is gonna be awesome. I would be happy to see either of them face the young backs at All out. I have a feeling we might see a title change and the Dinosaur Express leaving All Out as champs.

Jamie Hayter looks like a boss, but that match was not so good.

Looking forward to Tay repeatedly kicking the shit out of the Bunnie on rampage Friday.

Gunn Club vs The Factory should not be on dynamite. Fuck that shit. Black vs Brock is fine for dynamite, sure we gotta build Black up slow I guess, but what the fuck is that doing as the main event? The Tag Tournament match could have main evented. Why the fuck is Brock Anderson, future failed project, main eventing.

Normally I skip everything Matt Hardy related, and I probably would have skipped this if it weren't the opening match, but it was surprisingly good. Started off amusingly, loved the spots with the pockets/dollar bills (especially Matt recovering them much later in the match). Decent heat segment and a nice comeback into a solid finish. Entertaining match, both guys came out looking great.

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Usually when a wrestler puts their career on the line, it's a foregone conclusion that he wins and saves his career, but in this case I'm not so sure. Jericho is the favourite, but not a big one in my eyes. I could easily see MJF winning and Jericho hanging up the boots. But as @admin said, he's awful on commentary and I really hope he doesn't do that. Just tour with Fozzy forever, work the odd NJPW spectacle, please don't commentate.

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Jamie Hayter is an incredible bruiser. The match was great when she was on offense, not so good when Red Velvet was attacking. It ended with a hilarious botch where Velvet missed her target for a standing moonsault. They covered it up well enough with Hayter immediately pouncing and winning with a brutal lariat.

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That Dark Order segment would have been more impactful if they weren't bad actors. Still, interesting development.

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It's not like I ever forgot that CM Punk is god-tier on the mic, but it's wonderful to be reminded. What a fucking promo. He's already proven that he still is the best in the world with a microphone in his hand. The question remains, as Punk explained himself, is he still the best in the world in the ring? Fantastic way to sell his return match. Puts Allin over huge, asks the question that everyone has been thinking, and there's only one time and one place where that question will be answered. September 5th, All Out.

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Never seen The Wingmen before. What an odd trio. None of them are like the other. Why are they together? Why is that guy wrestling in a suit? Is he a Right to Censor reject? You know what, I don't care. Skip to the finish.

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Garcia wants to job to all the top guys in the company. Fair enough. It's working for him so far, and I certainly want to see these matches.

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What is Brandon Cutler's deal? Who is he? Why does he always wear that visor? He seems like a mix of Dashing Cody Rhodes and Toru Yano (who likes to spray everything down). I've had these questions on my mind for a while, time to ask them.

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Oh hey, another generic Elite beatdown on the #1 Contender. But I shouldn't be so naievly dismissive. That segment broke some new ground on the Cage/Omega feud, with a nice bit of backstory and some hard verbal shots from Christian Cage. Callis had the last word though, dealing a below to Christian's ego. Oh hi Kaz.

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Jon Moxley vs Satoshi Kojima. Well, this gives Moxley something to do, but I'm not enamored by this Moxley vs past-their-prime-NJPW-guys stuff. Kojima is the best of that bunch, so should be a decent match. Moxley is perhaps frustrated himself, as he implied that the only NJPW guys who have the balls to step to him are precisely those legends, and not any of the younger talent. It's almost like AEW is a pit stop for the NJPW rejects. Ooohh. Controversial?

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QT Marshall lost, but more importantly, where the hell is Antony Agogo?

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Dan Lambert is a great promo, and I can't say he's bad at what he does, hitting all the anti-millenial talking points with style, but his act is so blatantly transparent that I just feel nothing. Plus he's with two wrestlers I don't care about, but they're a good fit for his act, they look appropriately douchebaggy.

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I really like that AEW are honest and present that the rookie Brock Anderson is in way over his head against Malakai Black. Arn knows it. Malakai knows it. Everyone knows it. It would be foolish to pretend otherwise.

I liked Alesteir Black when he showed up in NXT. He has an original gimmick, look, and wrestling style. While he wrestled some good matches, I stopped caring about the guy fairly quickly, and didn't pay attention to him at all on the main roster.

Malakai Black, however, is a completely different beast. His reinvention from his WWE persona is even better than Moxley's. I can't take my eyes off the guy. He's a cold-blooded, merciless killer. Everything about his presentation is perfect. The way he speaks, his attire, his makeup, his entrance music. I like that his matches so far have been short, brutal and effective. A killer striker should be able to wipe out lesser wrestlers in such decisive fashion.

Perfect squash match. Brock showed heart in his brief periods of offense, and sold Black's offense wonderfully. Even the distraction spot was fantastic. In most wrestling matches (including AEW), those routine distraction spots make wrestlers look like buffoons. But Black turning his attention to Arn, and thus giving Brock an opening, fit perfectly with his character and the story of the match. Bravo.

I have no idea who Black's next challenger is. Some random jabroni from Cody's stupid stable. I reckon he will survive for two minutes longer than Brock Anderson did. Then Dustin Rhodes rides on his metaphorical horse to give Black his first real challenge. Probably at All Out.

The closing segment was fantastic from start to finish, but I'm not sure I can convince myself it was the best part of the show. After all, there was that CM Punk promo.

Surprised at the negative reaction to the show. I thought it was a good Dynamite. A nice combination of featuring establishing talent while continuing to introduce new talent. The segments with Punk and Black felt really special. I think if we expect every segment on every Dynamite to be a home run nobody will be satisfied.

Aug 26, 2021 2:02:47 GMT @admin said:

Yeah I definitely wouldn't have had Arn block the Black Mass. If you're getting that over as a uber dangerous finisher that isn't a good decision.

Black leaving because of some trainee dude doesn't make him look great either. Big whiff on that segment imo.

I was fine with it. Arn was selling his arms afterwards, which gave the opening for the low blow. Love that Black stoops to that level even though he clearly doesn't need to.

I didn't see it as the trainee dude chasing Black away. No way Black is scared of that guy. Black is a calculating assassin who picks his spots. He's methodical. He's careful. He could have wrecked that jobber easily, but now wasn't the moment. It wasn't part of his plan. Nobody really believes that the no-name guy stands a chance against Black do they?

Also love how he shut down the crowd chanting for more Black Mass. He calmly looks around, then just pins the guy. No second Black Mass for you.

That segment did not hurt Black at all in my opinion.

My only objection would be that it's a cold way to close the show, but I can also see the argument for putting Malakai Black in the main event. Maybe it would have been better to end the show with the Moxley/Kingston/Allin trios match.

Emperor brandon cutler is one of the young bucks best friends, and does camera work for being the elite. So he's just kind of like one of the entourage that guys have, like on ufc when 40 guys come out with the fighter but you dont know who the fuck they are, cutler is one of those jabronis.

Surprised at the negative reaction to the show. I thought it was a good Dynamite. A nice combination of featuring establishing talent while continuing to introduce new talent. The segments with Punk and Black felt really special. I think if we expect every segment on every Dynamite to be a home run nobody will be satisfied.

It wasn't a train wreck but it wasn't the type of show AEW can hang it's reputation on either. It was a weak card, a lot of the angles left something to be desired and it was very repetitive in spots.

I can understand your view on the Lee Johnson/Malakai Black situation but I think they could have done a better job of presenting it. There's a language to Pro Wrestling and when you have one guy charge the ring and another bail out it sends a message to the fans that the heel doesn't want any part of the babyface.

I try to avoid playing fantasy booker but this is one of those weeks where they could have given PAC, Miro, Starks, Andrade, Dante Martin, Thunder Rosa, Hikaru Shida, Leyla Hirsch etc. more screen time and they likely would have put on a better show.

Also if I had to play this show out, the Jericho-MJF segment would have gone last with a couple of segments to build the moment up.

Aug 26, 2021 9:36:21 GMT Big Pete said:

The entire basis of the Kenny Omega-Christian Cage interview segment was just too ridiculous. So back in 1996 Don Callis fired Christian in favour of a 10-year old Kenny Omega? If you could have just left the second part of that off, I think it could have worked nicely and helped add some spice to a fairly ordinary match. 

I think this is another example of where they just don't quite get the storytelling right. I think this is actually a fantastic little basis for a feud, it works on a number of levels:

- Everyone in Canada could see that Christian had what it took, so Don stopped bringing him to Manitoba to protect his throne
- Kenny was still a kid so wouldn't be at that level for another decade, by which point Callis would be winding down his career and he could potentially take over - and keep the mantle in the family
- relates to the current situation where the Elite pretend they are the best and own all the championships, but are they actually just there because they have the book - like Callis did back in the IWA?

Instead they chose to ham it up a bit and do it comedically, which was alright in isolation because I find both Don and Kenny good in that role - but it was a missed chance to really stick some dynamite under this and make it personal.

I'm confused. They're billing this coming week's Dynamite as the 100th episode, when this past week's show was the 100th show of record. What gives? Do the late night, and Saturday shows not count?

Speaking in kayfabe, why is Dan Lambert in AEW? he clearly hates everyone. So why not leave? Page and Sky could have said the same thing without Dan the lamb being around.

Aug 29, 2021 18:17:19 GMT CM Punk'd said:

I'm confused. They're billing this coming week's Dynamite as the 100th episode, when this past week's show was the 100th show of record. What gives? Do the late night, and Saturday shows not count?

Yeah they're not counting that one late night 1 hour episode so next week is officially Dynamite #100. cc: Lony