One Man’s Wrestling Opinion
AEW DYNAMITE REVIEW 9-16
AEW’s 9-9 show drew over one million viewers. Can they make it two weeks in a row? NXT is back in it’s regularly scheduled night so AEW does have opposition. While some would argue that last week’s show which was short on wrestling and long on promos/character building etc. had everything to do with the ratings jump. I disagree a little bit. The Matt Hardy situation made the show must-see. Now the Matt Hardy hook is gone. It’s time for the AEW Dynamite Review for 9-16
Jurrasic Express vs FTR
The show opens with Jurrasic Express in the ring. The Young Bucks come out to the ring and double superkick the referee and walk out. AEW is trying to make the Bucks a heel team. The problem is I am not buying it. Plus they look like wimps first kicking Alex Marvez last week and now a defenseless referee this week. How about they beat down a real babyface? That used to be the way to turn heel.
The camera follows the Bucks into the back when surprise Tony Khan is sitting in the gorilla position wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and a fanny pack. Is this really the way your owner should be seen? When Vince is shown backstage he is always dressed up unless he was wrestling that night. And even then he would be dressed up and would change before the match. Khan desperately wants to be one of the boys and probably did not have a lot of friends growing up.
The Bucks toss 10 grand at Khan and have words with FTR before walking away. That is the last we hear from the Bucks on the night? So I guess there is no backstage reporter to try to get some words with them. If you are going to tell me that there isn’t a backstage reporter who was willing to get an interview with them because they are worried about getting kicked—then say it. That would add to the heel turn or try to make it a bit more believable.
Match
I hate when the show starts with video packages or right into a match. Last week’s AEW show started great to me. A good and simple segment outside of the arena that was entertaining and something that planted the seeds to a future program.
OK, so there was nothing wrong with the match. It was good. But the match did nothing to further any characters or storylines. It was a long match where FTR needed to break the rules to win. FTR should be beating this team in five minutes. I would break up the Jurrasic Express. I can’t give this a positive rating because it was just a filler where my championship tag team who is billed as the best team in the world has to cheat to win.
Matt Hardy Injury
This is interesting. Matt Hardy is selling a knee injury with Private Party consoling him. Then we see Chris Jericho and Jake Hager walking by and at first, look concerned. But then they started laughing as Jericho was twirling Floyd his bat around. We did not get an injury update on Matt and maybe this is just to get Matt off TV to heal up instead of admitting Matt is not cleared to wrestle which he admitted to last week.
At least if Matt works a program with Jericho it will be safer for both of them. So I can get on board with this.
Hangman Page vs Kazarian
Kenny Omega is on commentary for this match. Please Kenny Omega I beg you to show some personality and charisma. I have not seen any of this on TV with you. There might be a glimpse here or there. But I can’t get on board with you as a superstar until I see some charisma.
Now Page has it. I can see it. He had so much momentum before the Pandemic. He has lost that edge. And this angle is going on way too long. I liked the heel Page turn better than what we have now. It looks like they are making Page a face. At least that is what it looks like. Could AEW be swerving us?
The look on his face when Kenny went to the back after the match did him no favors, Then he cried in his beer post-match. I don’t want to see Page this way. He and MJF are the future for this promotion.
Match
As for the match much like the first one, it was good. But it did no real business for either wrestler. It went too long and had too many false finishes. If your trying to build up Page as a singles wrestler then Kazarian can’t have a 15-minute match where he kicks out of most of his big power moves.
The Buckshot Lariat is a sweet finisher. But this match did absolutely nothing for Kazarian. And it hardly did anything for Page as well.
MJF Match & Promo
MJF squashes John Dean is like 15 seconds then cuts a promo. MJF’s promos are can’t miss. He calls out Moxley for cheating against him. He orders Justin Roberts to call him the Undefeated, Undisputed Uncrowned AEW Champion. I like how he is not dropping this. Let’s see where this goes.
Then he says he always was a lone wolf and seeing that there is a lot of factions maybe he needs to join one? Could MJF be forming a faction of his own? Does AEW have yet another wrestler they are looking to debut? MJF should be on the show every week and also should have at least 10 minutes a show for a promo.
Eddie Kingston & Family
I don’t really know what the end game for this is going to be. But he is preaching family now and said there are three things he wants to say. The first thing is that he never lost the Battle Royal. Just like MJF, I am glad they are not dropping this but we have yet to see any indication of what both will lead to. Additionally, The last two segments had as a key talking point about two wrestlers both getting screwed with nothing getting done to resolve it. Also, can I see Kingston wrestle again?
The second point was to say that we are a family. Not a faction or a stable. We fight with each other but make up and handle business or something like that. Then the Butcher & the Blade throw some random guys into the ring and they get lit up.
The third point is Kingston telling the Blade to get your house in order. That has to mean Allie. So what is this telling us? In my opinion, we will see the restart of the Nightmare Family vs the Butcher and the Blade. Or course the Chief Branding Officer will windup putting herself right in the middle of this. God, she is the worst female wrestler in the company.
Secondly and I hope I am wrong but maybe we see Kingston and the Lucha Brothers crash the 6 man tag team match next week. The Butcher and the Blade can also get involved. I would not like that angle. Way too much going on but would be typical of AEW.
Jericho and Hager vs Private Party
This is another match that went way too long. I appreciate that Jericho wants to get everybody over but at the expense of him and Hager? These two should not be a tag team. I don’t see the appeal to Private Party? But why do they need to always have these long matches?
Jericho has been a good soldier for AEW since it started. He has put over so many wrestlers who really needed it. The problem is he is so devalued now. I feel he should now be able to feud with whoever he wants.
Jericho takes a nasty kick from Marquez Quinn after the match. He looked out of it.
Thunder Rosa vs Ivelisse
The Women’s NWA Champion is defending her title on AEW. If that does not indicate how bad AEW’s women division is then I don’t know what will. This match was sloppy and slow. Ivelisse for some reason looked like she was throwing power punches in slow motion.
Thunder Rosa predictably wins the match. After the match Diamonte attacks Rosa. Ivelisse joins in. Shida saves Rosa. Shida looks at her NWA belt before giving it back to her and walking out of the ring. There looked like some real blows in this match and the reports are there was something between these two before the match.
Now we are getting a tag team match between Rosa and Shida vs Ivelisse and Diamante next week. The quality of the female matches are better because we aren’t seeing the women who can’t wrestle on Dynamite. Although I didn’t like this match I will give it a good rating. Plus a storyline looks to be developing.
Miro & Kip Sabian
This was an awful 30-second segment. It is making Miro look like a clown even more. I can’t believe he is letting himself get booked like this. I am curious to know if he was promised anything when he signed with AEW.
Miro should be in the main event angle. If you want to say he just got to AEW so give it time. Ok. But pairing with Sabian who is not even over as a mid-carder is the wrong place for Miro to start.
Jake Roberts/Archer/Taz/Moxley Segment
First, I forgot how small Taz is. He looked tiny compared to the height of Jake and Archer. So now we have Cage and Archer working together. Roberts promised Taz and Cage the first title shot after Archer beats Moxley in exchange for Cage and Starks tagging with him against Moxley and his two teammates. Does anyone else see what is wrong with this?
Who cares about a 6 man tag match or even winning it. Archer already has a title shot. What is the goal here? Well for starters now I know Moxley will retain the title against Archer. The reason I know is that these deals and partnerships never work out. AEW will never allow two heels to face each other for the title.
Secondly, Archer told Kingston to stop crying. That to me means we will see the Kingston Family get involved in that match next week turning it into some ridiculous brawl.
Mox comes out to no doubt announce who his partners are. But he gets attacked by Cage and Starts who are pretending to be security guards. Here comes Luke Hobbs to save Mox. Mox announces that Hobbs is one of his partners. Then says Darby Allin is his other partner. He says Darby I know your watching at home, get your ass to Jacksonville we have a match.
Darby was probably resting from yet another injury.
There is too much illogical stuff in this for me to put it over. Plus the predictability of the partners. Except for Hobbs.
Parking Lot Match Best Friends vs Santana & Ortiz
I like it when matches take place out of the ring so I was into this from the start. I didn’t like that there were fans surrounding the cars which made up the ring so to speak. But I can get over that.
I liked the spots. I liked the physicality. I can’t believe a match with all four guys bleeding got on TV. Man, there were some brutal spots in this match. The guys definitely took some chances. As far as matches outside the ring go this was very good. I won’t call it the best of all time as a lot of AEW fanboys did. But a very good match. I am going to give this match two ratings because I feel it is warranted. Thumbs up for the physicality and the spots.
Thumbs down for firstly the two wrestlers who are New York street thugs lose a parking lot match to two wrestlers who get rides to the arena in their mother’s car. In no world does that make sense. Secondly, I feel the whole match was just to get Orange Cassidy over. The match ended when Cassidy popped out of one of the trunks and interfered on behalf of the Best Friends helping them win. So the babyfaces got outside interference in this match but the heels didn’t. There is no logic to that. Sue giving the middle finger was a funny spot.
Outlook
So AEW went back to a show of mostly wrestling and the ratings dropped. I still say the only reason the ratings got over 1 million was more because of the buzz surrounding Matt Hardy than being unopposed from NXT. Well, both of those are not happening anymore. We keep saying the same things like what else was on against it or what night is it on. If your TV show is good it will always draw a rating.
We need to stop that already and just admit that there are about 1.5 million Wednesday night fans watching Wrestling which is down about 800K from the night Dynamite debuted. These shows are never going to grow or draw over a million unopposed. Certainly not without the huge hook that Matt Hardy was.
I will say it every week. Orange Cassidy will never be a star. Tony Khan is going to try to force him down our throats. He will be fine as a mid-carder much like a lot of other wrestlers. I want my weekly TV show to have a lot of promos and character building and less wrestling. This show had very little character building and went back to wrestling. Plus the show did not end on a cliff hanger.
Mid Card Division
I really feel the biggest problem I have with AEW is that there needs to be a line drawn between main eventers and mid-carders. Could you imagine a mid-card division with Cassidy, Starks, Darby, and Sammy headlining it? You can’t have these wrestlers facing off against the big boys. If they lose it’s way too predictable. If they win it’s way too unbelievable. There is no shame in creating divisions.
Then you could have this division have longer matches while the big guys having the short matches. Plus with every ex WWE guy they bring in it becomes less believable to put the smaller guys on that main event level. Miro comes in and is bigger than the Sammy’s and the Cassidy’s. Same with Matt Cordona,
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