BRM Reviews the 6/30/2021 Dynamite (very good)

[Big Red Machine]

Chris Jericho is on commentary.


WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE ELIMINATOR MATCH: Young Bucks (w/Brandon Cutler) vs. Eddie Kingston & Penta el 0m (w/Alex Abrahantes)- 7/10
The Bucks have added terrible facial hair to their purposely terrible looks. Maybe next week they’ll show up with ugly neck tattoos.
I enjoyed hearing Jericho lose his mind about how that close count was definitely three and it wasn’t fair. It was corny and over the top and a little annoying, but at least it’s consistent with how he acts during his matches. It makes it feel like less of a put-on when he doesn’t during matches. That would also be the last time he said something I didn’t extremely annoying all night. He came across like someone trying to play a character turned up to eleven rather than a real person.
What I didn’t like was Jericho alleging that Rick Knox was on the take from the Bucks. He’s a referee not seeing a low blow, and he was clearly distracted. It happens all of the time without someone taking a bribe. I also hated how over the top Cutler was with the spray. It turned the whole thing into a joke.
The Good Brothers came out and distracted the referee, but Cutler accidentally sprayed whichever Buck it was in the face, setting up the win for the babyfaces. Good use of a f*ck finish to give us a happy ending and set up a title shot while protecting the tag champs (and especially against guys who aren’t even a real team). Kazarian showed up to attack The Elite because that’s what he does.
Jericho said that Gallows and Anderson had been fired from Impact. If that’s true, then why are they allowed in Daily’s Place. They’re not AEW wrestlers. They were only here because of whatever deal that was worked out with Impact. If they’re no longer Impact employees, they shouldn’t be allowed on the premises (and if they’re supposed to be invited guests of Kenny or the Bucks, the announcers should say that).

JUNGLE BOY & CHRISTIAN PROMO- good… until they had had to make it stupid at the end
Christian gave Jungle Boy a great pep talk that fell perfectly in that spot where everything he was saying sounded sincere and believable, while also feeling just slightly unnecessary, so he comes off as patronizing, but only to a degree where it is a little off-putting instead of being outright offensive and making you want to see someone hit him.
Luchasaurus and Marko showed up and Luchasaurus thanked Christian for having Jungle Boy’s back and said that because of that, he will have Christian’s back. Okay. A logical plot development.
Then Christian had to claim to be “a quarter quadroceratops on my mom’s side” and Luchasaurus wondered if Christian was related to his uncle Larry. WHY?! WHY MUST WE DO THIS CRAP?! HE’S NOT A REAL DINOSAUR, AND PEOPLE PRETENDING THAT HE IS ISN’T FUNNY! What was gained by this? You made some twelve-year-olds laugh?

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS ETHAN PAGE- excellent… until the end
Tony asks why Ethan Page wants a Coffin match against Darby Allin… so I guess Tony didn’t pay any attention to Ethan Page’s promo last week when he explained exactly that.
Fortunately, Tony’s ignorance turned into something positive, as Page proceeded to cut an outstanding promo giving a much better reason than last week’s mere metaphor. He said that he wants to “cripple” Darby Allin “mentally.” Any time Darby goes for one of his many coffin-named moves, he’s be forced to think of Ethan Page shutting him in a coffin and defeating him, thus shattering his confidence. GENIUS!
Sting showed up with a coffin. We saw a video of Darby putting an Ethan Page dummy in a coffin and setting it on fire. Live, Darby got out of the coffin Sting as rolling in (it was on wheels. Sting wasn’t rolling it on its side) and charged the ring. Sting walked along as well, but only got involved when Scorpio Sky got involved. Darby started gouging Ethan Page’s eyes, and security had to pull him off.
That last part was a problem for me, as it made Darby seem a little too vicious, and it opened the can of worms of why security doesn’t come out to stop other beat-downs. Other than that, though, this segment was excellent.
If only it had ended there.
Page grabbed a mic and said that the match was off. He said that if Darby doesn’t touch him at all next week, then maybe he’ll let the match take place the week after. This is clearly setting up some sort of heel trap, and maybe you could justify Darby falling into it if the match hadn’t already been agreed to, but my understanding that the match had, in fact, been agreed to. AEW was advertising it, weren’t they? Maybe I misheard something or saw something wrong, but this feels to me like Page being allowed to back out of a match he has already agreed to. Just last month, Kenny Omega having to get an opponent’s permission to do that was a major plot point.

JERICHO’S ATTEMPT TO PLUG HIS BOOK BACKFIRES- He asked Excalibur to pick a number, then flipped to a page and read the match for that number. He said that at Big Ass Extreme Bash, Taz beat him in a four-and-half-star match. I’m assuming that Jericho is the one doing the star-ratings in the book, because I can’t imagine anyone else giving a rating that high to a match that went six and a half minutes and ended in a DQ. More importantly, though, is that despite Jericho’s claim, he actually won that match, not lost it, so it makes me question the accuracy of anything in that book (and, yes, I checked to make sure it wasn’t from the night before, which was also called Big Ass Extreme Bash. Jericho wrestled Cactus Jack that night).

MATT HARDY PROMO- good
He doesn’t care about winning and losing; he just wants Jack Evans to injure Jungle Boy.

JUNGLE BOY vs. JACK EVANS- 6/10
They kept talking up that if Jungle Boy wins (spoiler alert: he did), he’ll be the first person in AEW to fifty wins. Two issues here:
1. The fact that they were hyping this up as a big deal tonight but not on Saturday is weird (he didn’t win any matches on any variation of Dark in between). Obviously it’s not as big as being the world champion, but if it’s a big deal it should at least warrant a mention.
Yes, I realize that they’re doing the old thing where you give the babyface a big win right after his or her big loss so that fans don’t spend too much time thinking about the babyface’s failure, but that doesn’t work anywhere near as well if it feels like you’ve created an accolade specifically so that the babyface can win it for the purposes of trying to put his failure behind him as quickly as possible.
2. I don’t doubt the accuracy of AEW’s statistics… which makes Jungle Boy being the first person to fifty if he wins tonight feel awkward, because I remember him losing a lot more matches than… well… a lot of people. And it’s not even top guys like Omega, Moxley, MJF, the Young Bucks, and Jericho. I remember him losing a lot more matches than I remember Lance Archer or Wardlow or Jake Hager losing, too. And yet Jungle Boy has more wins than these people? I’m sure the reason for that is that Jungle Boy has wrestled a lot more matches than any of them have… but if we’re going with the idea that this a sport (and if we weren’t, why would we care about records?), then one guy having so many more chances than some of these others is awkward. And it’s not like too many of the guys on that list (really no one other than MJF, and arguably Jericho and Omega at times) were cowardly heels ducking matches. Hell, Archer even went on a spree where he was demanding matches and wasn’t given any. It makes Jungle Boy’s accomplishment feel hollow because it only feels like he accomplished this feat first because he got so many more chances than everyone else.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
There was a schmoz. Christian laid Matt out and was going to choke him with his jacket but Jack Evans made the save.

MJF PROMO- AWESOME!
He cut an awesome promo on both Jericho and Guevara. In Guevara’s case it was to build up tonight’s match. In Jericho’s case, it was in the process of announcing that next week he will reveal the stipulations he wants Jericho to agree to in order to get one final match against him.

ALEX ABRAHANTES INTERVIEWS ANDRADE EL IDOLO- bad
Wasn’t the whole point of putting him with Vickie to give him a Spanish-speaking manager to translate for him? Why is he now being interviewed by Penta’s manager?
They noted that Andrade was going to make a big announcement last week when Matt Sydal came out. This week, Andrade announced that he would be facing Sydal at next week’s Road Rager show. So was that the “big announcement?” If so, it’s pretty underwhelming. And if not, then why didn’t he just make the big announcement now?
Andrade called Sydal “Matt Something” in a dismissive manner. That was good.
TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS KENNY OMEGA- very bad
He’s got a handlebar mustache. Ross commented on his sideburns. I don’t think JR knows what sideburns are.
Kenny was a good for a bit before he got around to saying that he has emptied out the division and is thus going to concentrate on defending his other belts in other promotions. This brought out the Dark Order, and the fans, seeing the situation and where this was heading, began chanting for… Colt Cabana? Huh. I bet that’s not the reaction AEW was expecting.
Kenny Omega was nice enough to clue the crowd in to what they were supposed to chant by emphasizing that members of the Dark Order weren’t even close to being “ranked” to face him for the title.
The crowd finally starts chanting for Adam Page. Evil Uno starts talking up Adam Page… without mentioning his name for some reason. Kenny Omega responds by cutting a promo saying that Page can’t beat him and doesn’t even have the guts to face him (also not using Page’s name for some strange reason).
MUSIC PLAYS…
But it’s Kenny Omega’s, not Adam Page’s, (or even Orange Cassidy’s. Remember him getting screwed out of the title at the last PPV?) and the segment ends.
WHERE THE F*CK WAS ADAM PAGE?! If he doesn’t care about the world title enough to come out here himself, then he doesn’t f*cking deserve it. You built up a world title match by having the babyface get in the heel champ’s face, not by having his goofball friends come out and cut a promo on his behalf!

BRIAN PILLMAN JR. PROMO- not good
Calling Miro a “bully?” Really? And then ending your promo by calling him a “bitch” to be edgy? Is this WWE?

AEW TNT TITLE MATCH: Miro(c) vs. Brian Pillman Jr. (w/Griff Garrison & Julia Hart)- 4.5/10
They showed a young child in the audience, sitting with his parents, holding a “Miro is my hero” sign. That is some A++ parenting right there.
Was this new music for Miro? I don’t usually pay attention to the music, but this was awesome.
Rusev dominated most of the match and won cleanly. This made Pillman Jr. feel like someone who didn’t belong anywhere near a title. This was the exact opposite of what the Bucks and did for Varsity Blonds that got people wanting to see Pillman on this path.

ADAM PAGE IS UPSET WITH THE DARK ORDER- a perfect example of what AEW doesn’t understand about storytelling.
Page is upset with them for making a challenge on his behalf. They told him not to be afraid of failure and talked about how he has given them similar advice. They left, and Page seemed to acknowledge, somewhere deep inside of him, that they might be right.
I’m sure all of the AEW diehards are going to say that this was an earned payoff to a long-built and human friendship. And they’re be right.
The flaw in this- as it has often been in Adam Page’s saga- has been Page’s emotions. We have seen him for months as the this strong, confident, wrestler- to the point where the AEW diehards had previously been using that fact to say “look! This is evidence that being friends with the Dark Order has helped Page overcome his alcoholic depression!” (he hadn’t been showing signs of being depressed for a few weeks before the whole story started, either, for the record). But now, out of nowhere (and, coincidentally, the moment Kenny is supposedly out of challengers), he’s not confident anymore and doesn’t think he can beat Kenny.
I think the way we are supposed to read this segment is that Page lacks confidence in his ability to beat Kenny Omega rather than in his overall ability, so I will be running with that assumption (which is also more generous and easier to try to explain than the alternative).
One could say- and I’m sure many will- that it’s very human for Adam Page to bottle his doubts up inside and not let them out until his hand is forced, which the Dark Order did by confrontation Kenny Omega on his behalf. And one who says this would be correct. That is very human.
What it is not, however, is good storytelling. Good storytelling shows the bottled-up emotions in little drips and hints, so that when the big moment comes- in this case it would be the earlier segment where the Dark Order came out on Page’s behalf instead of Page coming out and getting in Omega’s face like one would expect- the audience understands why.
To reiterate: I am not saying that Adam Page should have been doing his best Hamlet impression every week for the past two months instead of feuding with Team Taz. I’m saying that you need to drop little hints that Page doesn’t think he can beat Kenny Omega for two or three months before you do this.
As for how to do this without making the direction obvious, I came up with the following scenario:
Have Page be the #1 contender back mid-February (and they really should have known where this would end up back then if they’re so good at long-term storytelling) and have him be offered the title match but turn it down, saying that Omega and friends did Moxley dirty, so he’s going to defer to Moxley. Then, in March, you have him be offered another title shot but say “I’m really focused on my feud with Matt Hardy right now, and Matt would surely send someone to distract me, so let the #2-ranked wrestler have this title shot instead.” Then, in April, you do something similar with some other excuse. Then, in May it’s “I’m too busy with my feud with Team Taz, so why don’t you let the #2 and #3 guys wrestle for a title shot.” Then, in June, it’s “well… Jungle Boy won the #1 contendership battle royale, and #1 contender means no one should be getting a title shot before him.” All perfectly reasonable explanations in a vacuum, but when he gets up to three or four in a row, people will start to get suspicious that maybe something is off. (And, additionally, doing it this way would make the rankings make more sense because the #1 guy is being offered a title shot and turned it down instead of people lower in the rankings getting title shots before the #1 guy for no explained reason.)

TEAM TAZ PROMO- great
It’s just Taz, Hook, and Hobbs right now because the relationship between the other two has been “toxic” to the team. Hobbs and Hook both tell Taz that the fighting between Starks and Cage needs to end, and so they are going to fight it out on whichever named show is July 4th, when Cage will defend the FTW Title against a medically-cleared Ricky Starks.
This is the first time I’ve felt like the FTW Title being around has been an artistic positive (the conflict last week could have been created by establishing any personal foreign object for Cage that Starks could have grabbed). The belt will essentially become a physical manifestation of Taz’s favor as he interferes to take it away from Cage and give it to Starks.

NYLA ROSE & VICKIE GUERRERO vs. REBEL & DR. BRITT BAKER, DMD- no rating, bad segment
Tony Schiavone insisted that this match “has so many implications to it,” but was only able to come up with one. Maybe think before you start your sentence next time.
Nyla dominated the match, then tagged Vickie in, and, for some reason, went up to the top rope herself. Why did she tag Vickie in if she was about to hit a move? Anyway, Dr. Baker kicked Vickie into Nyla, who took a heck of a bump off the top to the apron and then down to the floor. Britt then locked in the Lockjaw and won. This made Nyla look like an idiot for tagging Vickie in at all, and, quite frankly, made Vickie look like an idiot for getting the match booked with herself as Nyla’s partner instead of anyone else.
Nyla, being a sore loser, attacked Britt from behind and hit her with a powerbomb. There is no babyface in this story. Nyla went to put Britt through a table. Remember earlier when two people were fighting outside the confines of a match and security showed up to stop it? Where are they now?
Nyla powerbombed Britt off the apron, through a table.

JAKE HAGER & LAX PROMO TO BUILD UP A MATCH GAINST WARDLOW & FTR NEXT WEEK- bad
I love how everyone is so outraged that MJF punched Dean Malenko in the face two weeks ago, but no one seemed to be upset when the Pinnacle beat Dean up much worse a few weeks before that. LAX made ZERO mention of the fact that their supposed father-figure was viciously assaulted by FTR last week.

Next week we’re getting what Excalibur introduced as a “HISTORIC match.” It turned out to be Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander against The Blade & The Bunny in a mixed tag. Yes, it’s technically historic in that it’s Dynamite’s first mixed tag… but it’s just a f*cking mixed tag team match, and one where only one of the four wrestlers feels like he or she is even a midcard level. An announcer’s credibility is is an extremely valuable resource. Throwing it away for something like this is idiotic.

MJF vs. SAMMY GUEVARA- 8.25/10
It was so nice to see a promotion take two guys who they have told us are the future and then go out and give them significant time to show us why. These two had an awesome match. They did a lot of big spots, but they made sure everything they did mattered. I just wish they had come up with a better way to injure MJF’s knee, because a Tombstone Piledriver off the top rope should be a death move, but in this match it seemed to have hurt the guy who hit the move a lot more than the guy who was hit with it. I was also disappointed to see that the story from last week with Spears hitting Guevara in the arm with a chair didn’t matter one bit.
Spears came out so Jericho went to stop him and walked into an ambush by Wardlow. Hager and LAX didn't come out to help because... um... they were all in the bathroom, I guess? This led to the referee being distracted and Spears hitting Sammy with a chair to set up MJF’s win. I like the dirty finish here, as Jericho should be the first one to get real revenge on MJF, and this finish both protected Sammy in his loss while redirecting him to Spears in what should become a feud about Spears’ need to avenge his pinfall to Sammy in Stadium Stampede.



This was a very good episode of Dynamite. There were certainly some weak points, but I thought the positives outweighed the negatives this week. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if Jericho hadn’t been on commentary. He was SOOOOO much better on commentary in WWE. He felt like a totally put-on character here.

[cero2k]

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS ETHAN PAGE- excellent… until the end

Page grabbed a mic and said that the match was off. He said that if Darby doesn’t touch him at all next week, then maybe he’ll let the match take place the week after. This is clearly setting up some sort of heel trap, and maybe you could justify Darby falling into it if the match hadn’t already been agreed to, but my understanding that the match had, in fact, been agreed to. AEW was advertising it, weren’t they? Maybe I misheard something or saw something wrong, but this feels to me like Page being allowed to back out of a match he has already agreed to. Just last month, Kenny Omega having to get an opponent’s permission to do that was a major plot point.

the speculation that I heard was that this was a last minute call to postpone it because it be bad taste to have a coffin match in Miami while the building collapse is still ongoing there. So the idea is to just move it to the Texas shows.

[Big Red Machine]

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS ETHAN PAGE- excellent… until the end

Page grabbed a mic and said that the match was off. He said that if Darby doesn’t touch him at all next week, then maybe he’ll let the match take place the week after. This is clearly setting up some sort of heel trap, and maybe you could justify Darby falling into it if the match hadn’t already been agreed to, but my understanding that the match had, in fact, been agreed to. AEW was advertising it, weren’t they? Maybe I misheard something or saw something wrong, but this feels to me like Page being allowed to back out of a match he has already agreed to. Just last month, Kenny Omega having to get an opponent’s permission to do that was a major plot point.

the speculation that I heard was that this was a last minute call to postpone it because it be bad taste to have a coffin match in Miami while the building collapse is still ongoing there. So the idea is to just move it to the Texas shows.

That makes sense. I just think you need to come up with a better way to do it. Even just saying that out loud would have been better.