BRM Reviews the 7/21/2021 Dynamite (Fyter Fest: Night 2)

[Big Red Machine]

SINGLES MATCH IN WHICH CHAIRS ARE LEGAL FOR SHAWN SPEARS BUT NOT FOR CHRIS JERICHO, AND IF JERICHO LOSES, HE WON’T GET ANOTHER MATCH AGAINST MJF: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Spears (w/Tully Blanchard)- 7.5/10
MJF was on commentary for this match and was great. So was the match. Jericho became the first person to kick out of Spears’ C4. Raise your hand if you knew that no one had kicked out of that before (anyone with their hand up is either Shawn Spears, Excalibur, or a liar).
If I could pick one nit (or maybe two) here, it’s that Spears got beaten twice (once on a phantom tap-out and then once on the finish) and also had his finisher kicked out of for apparently the very first time in a match we all knew he wasn’t going to win. Beating him twice seemed unnecessarily damaging, and if they had actually built up that no one had kicked out of the C4, they could have used that to help elevate someone else later on.

MJF ANNOUNCES JERICHO’S NEXT OPPONENT- AWESOME!
First MJF declares that if Jericho gets any more help in these matches (Sammy Guevara had come out to stop Tully from distracting the referee) he wouldn’t get his match. So why doesn’t MJF just book a bunch of no DQs matches with Jericho facing the whole Pinnacle and some heels friends where the odds impossible?
That kind-of negative out of the way, MJF did a wonderful dramatic reveal of who Jericho would face next week in a no DQs match: Nick Fn Gage!
I LOVE this for so many reasons. Obviously it will be an interesting match, and it’s nice to see Gage get some national attention. Mostly, though, I love the fact that it’s so different from what WWE would do. Forget about Gage’s past. I’m not talking about that (the dude served his time and has therefore repaid his debt to society). I mean it’s something that is so far out of WWE’s playbook because it’s so far out of their mindset, and on multiple axes.
First, just bringing in someone who isn’t under contract for one match in a big spot simply to enhance a story is something that WWE would never do. They’ll bring someone in to tell a story, sure, but they’re not going to bring someone in for a big match with a top star and not have that person under contract, for reasons ranging from what they see as a liability issue to paranoia about that person signing with someone else in between to fear of some other company using the exposure that that act would get from one night on WWE TV or PPV to elevate themselves.
Then there is the axis of connectedness to a wider world. Acknowledging other promotions is one thing. Yes, WWE does it less frequently than others, but they do still do it. This is a different level, though. This is scouting and specific targeting of an individual wrestler not by a promotion (whose job it is to theoretically scout new talent), but by an individual wrestler for a specific one-time purpose. It makes the wrestlers seem smarter and makes the promotion feel connected to wrestling as a whole in a way that’s not as corporate/political as having a partner-promotion. And, perhaps most importantly, it tells the audience “at any given moment, we have SOOOOO many more tools in our toolbox than you’re expecting.”


(That’s not to say that Jim Ross didn’t kill some of that by saying “I thought this guy was in jail!” when Gage came out. He’s been wrestling on the indies for several years at this point, Jim.)

MIRO PROMO- fine
He’ll defend his title in two weeks. We don’t yet know against whom.

FRANKIE KAZARIAN vs. DOC GALLOWS (w/Karl Anderson)- 6/10
Solid stuff. Gallows won after a distraction by Anderson. Ross attributed the win to “size,” and Excalibur had to jump in and get across the point that the booker clearly wanted (and which should have been obvious to Ross) which was that it was the numbers game that made the difference.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Gallows & Anderson beat Kaz up. Kenny Omega and Don Callis came out and Omega acted like a goof. Omega was going to beat Kaz up more but Adam Page’s music played… so they just let him go. Callis called Page and Cowboys dumb. Page started a three-on-one (I’m not counting Callis) fight and got his butt kicked until some members of the Dark Order came out to make the save. Kenny and Callis ran away, leaving Gallows and Anderson to get beaten up. I’m sure this was better if you’re more invested in Page’s journey than I am, but they’ve done such a bad job telling his story that this was just a bland but still serviceable paint-by-numbers segment to me with the world champion acting like a clown.

DASHA GONZALEZ GETS BRIAN CAGE’S REACTION TO A GOOD PROMO BY TEAM TAZ FROM EARLIER TODAY-
Team Taz is going to have a celebration for Starks next week. Cage asks Dasha if they are still here, and she says she doesn’t think so. Cage all but tells us that he will interrupt the celebration.

WHEELER YUTA (w/Orange Cassidy) vs. DARBY ALLIN (w/Sting)- 2.5/10
They showed Hikuleo in the crowd.
Darby’s ribs are all taped up after last week’s Coffin match. These two started to have a good match around that story, but someone decided that we should interrupt that to watch Sting and Goofus vonClownington III do comedy spots. Darby managed to get distracted by this and almost lost by roll-up, but came back and quickly won. What was the purpose of doing that stupid crap?

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
The Blade ran out and hit OC from behind with brass knuckles. If only he had done that before OC ruined the match.

JON MOXLEY VS. LANCE ARCHER VIDEO PACKAGE- fine

AEW WORLD WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Dr. Britt Baker, DMD(c) (w/Rebel) vs. Nyla Rose (w/Vickie Guerrero)- 6/10
Rebel interfered to help Britt when Nyla was dominating her cleanly. Who is the babyface here? Britt also tried to Eddie Guerrer her way into a DQ win. Was it a clever spot to have Vickie recognize the strategy and immediately distract the ref when Rebel let him go? Yes… but how about you save it for when Vickie is managing someone who you book like an actual babyface (which Nyla has not been portrayed as in this feud at all, other than arguably that first segment)? Doing a clever spot is not worth confusing fans as to who the babyface is and who the heel is.
Britt won a match that- once again- would have been a lot better if they hadn’t bogged it down with crap. Just have a babyface, have a heel and play into that. Either that or have a clean match.

EARLIER TODAY, THERE IS A PRESS CONFERENCE FOR NEXT WEEK’S LAX VS. FTR MATCH- bad
I guess these were just clips, but it came across as just a mess of random stuff designed to invoke pathos. We learned nothing new about any of the characters and no one said anything interesting or particularly compelling.

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS ANDRADE EL IDOLO- meh to bad
Andrade reveals his new “executive consultant,” Chavo Guerrero Jr. (although Tony only said “Chavo Guerrero, so I was kind of expecting his father to come out. Chavo’s father, not Tony’s, obviously). From the promo Chavo cut, “Cheap Pop Guerrero” might be a more appropriate name.
Death Triangle interrupted them. Andrade wanted the Lucha Bros. to leave Pac and work for him, but they said no. They then argued over who was the “true face of the Latinos in AEW.” That seems like kind of a silly thing to be fighting over. You can’t agree that both of you can be inspirations to your people?
The guys who I think are the babyfaces approached the ring menacingly. They had the other side outnumbered three active wrestlers to one active wrestler and one Chavo. Referees came out to separate them. Once again, who are the babyfaces?

CHRISTIAN CAGE (& JURASSIC EXPRESS PROMO)- okay
His delivery was good, challenging Angelico and Private Party to a six-man tag, but I’m not sure how he thinks beating three of Matt’s lackeys in a regular match will constitute ending the Hardy Family Office “once and for all.”

ALEX MARVEZ INTERVIEWS THE FACTORY- ominous
Q.T. says he will apologize to Tony in the ring next week. So either the Q.T. vs. Cody feud is continuing, or we’re wasting TV time on Q.T. Marshall feuding with an announcer.

ORANGE CASSIDY vs. THE BLADE (w/the Bunny)- 6.5/10
Blade assumed he was going to win by forfeit and apparently didn’t hear OC’s music being played. Excalibur said he couldn’t hear it “over the sound of this crowd” but that’s clearly bulls*t. This was done so that this grudge match that they did a big angle for earlier in the show could start out with the comedy spot of The Blade looking like a goof, and only realizing that OC is there when OC taps him on the shoulder.
They did their stuff and had a fine conclusion to this feud.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- or maybe not, as OC punched The Blade with the knucks after the match.

ALEX MARVEZ INTERVIEWS CHRIS JERICHO- didn’t like it
He’s going to be the Painmaker to face Gage next week. I thought the Painmaker was meh at best, and Nick Gage vs. Jericho in his “Brawling Jericho” outfit is nowhere near as interesting to me as vulnerable veteran Chris Jericho having to use his smarts and his athleticism to overcome the ultraviolent legend that is Nick Gage on Gage’s turf.

MALACHAI BLACK VS. CODY VIDEO PACKAGE- meh

TEXAS DEATHMATCH FOR THE IWGP UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Jon Moxley(c) vs. Lance Archer (w/Jake Roberts)- 7.75/10
Lance Archer attacked a fan and used the fan as a weapon. You’d think that would get someone fired, but apparently that hasn’t happened… so why do that stupid spot in the first place?
They did their deathmatch stuff. I’m not a fan of the Texas Deathmatch/ Last Man Standing type of match. It always feels to me like it’d be a lot more dramatic if it were just a regular no DQs match with pinfalls and the like. Archer won, which surprised me a bit, but I do think he kind of needed it.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Hikuleo jumped the barricade and had a stare-down with Archer because apparently he’s getting a title shot next week. This title has never felt important to me in either company, and it continues to not feel important. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t do this sort of stare-down to build the match up, but it doesn’t actually do anything to up my interest.


This was a decent episode of Dynamite, though I thought it could have been better with a few little changes (mostly to not have people act like goofs). They’re doing an excellent job of making pretty much every match on every show feel at least like a 6 out of 10 on the importance scale for this whole crazy series of named big shows every week, which is quite impressive.

[cero2k]

WHEELER YUTA (w/Orange Cassidy) vs. DARBY ALLIN (w/Sting)- 2.5/10
They showed Hikuleo in the crowd.
Darby’s ribs are all taped up after last week’s Coffin match. These two started to have a good match around that story, but someone decided that we should interrupt that to watch Sting and Goofus vonClownington III do comedy spots. Darby managed to get distracted by this and almost lost by roll-up, but came back and quickly won. What was the purpose of doing that stupid crap?

harsh rating because you didn't like the comedy that two people not even in the match did outside the ring for 30 seconds.

[Big Red Machine]

WHEELER YUTA (w/Orange Cassidy) vs. DARBY ALLIN (w/Sting)- 2.5/10
They showed Hikuleo in the crowd.
Darby’s ribs are all taped up after last week’s Coffin match. These two started to have a good match around that story, but someone decided that we should interrupt that to watch Sting and Goofus vonClownington III do comedy spots. Darby managed to get distracted by this and almost lost by roll-up, but came back and quickly won. What was the purpose of doing that stupid crap?

harsh rating because you didn't like the comedy that two people not even in the match did outside the ring for 30 seconds.

The match only went 4:23, so it didn't have that high of a ceiling in the first place. If forty-five seconds of that (over one sixth) were dumb comedy, then that's going to bring it down quite a bit. Now factor in the fact that doing the stupid comedy brought the action to a halt. Now add in the fact that their way of transitioning back to action was a spot that made Darby look like an idiot, and yeah, I'm going to give it a low rating.