BRM Reviews the 8/4/2021 Dynamite (WATCH THE MAIN EVENT!)

[Big Red Machine]

SINGLES MATCH IN WHICH CHRIS JERICHO MUST WIN WITH A TOP-ROPE MANEUVER AND IF HE LOSES OR IF ANYONE INTERFERES ON HIS BEHALF, HE WON’T GET ANOTHER MATCH AGAINST MJF: Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera- 7/10
On their graphic, they spelled “labor” with a u, like the British would, so that’s either a bad typo, or a hint that they’re bringing in Zack Sabre Jr. next.
Didn’t Juvi lose his mask to Jericho? I know that WWE did whatever bullsh*t to let Rey keep wearing his, but I call that bullsh*t because it really is. Copying WWE bullsh*t is never a good thing, especially when you’re trying to present yourself as a more traditional alternative (at least in terms of presentation). And, perhaps more importantly, it’s also not good to ignore a famous stipulation when you’re trying to make your own stipulations mean something.
Aubrey Edwards has gone full Red Shoes. Not only was she making o effort whatsoever to count them out while they were brawling on the floor, but she has started making these wacky arm movements when they threw strikes… and don’t try to tell me that she was indicating that the strike was legal or something like that. She was doing it for kicks to the midsection; no chance of a closed fist being an issue and nowhere near either the eyes or the groin.
The match was great as a sort of “one last ride” for Jericho vs. Juvi. It really didn’t work at all in terms of MJF’s plan feeling like it was in any way close to happening, but I’m no going to hold that against the match because in kayfabe things don’t always go according to plan.
What I will do, however, is throw something of a yellow caution flag up for the storyline as a whole, as unlike the first two matches, this felt way too much like something Chris Irvine wanted to do and found a storyline way to do with the maximum impact. Contrast that with last week’s Nick Gage match, which I’m sure Chris Irvine also wanted to do for artistic or legacy reasons, but it always felt like something MJF came up with to punish Chris Jericho.
There is also an issue here of what MJF really wants. If he doesn’t want to have to face Jericho again, why did he book him against Juvi in a match with these wacky stips instead of booking him in a handicap match against every heel on the roster? And if MJF’s goal is to have Jericho actually earn the match but he so worn down by the time he reaches him that MJF will be able to win easily, why not keep booking him against guys like Gage or in big handicap matches where he pays the others off to just drag Jericho’s limp body on top of their own at the end? No matter what the idea, Juvi seems like a pretty bad choice, and as a result, this starts to feel like an artsy storyline instead of something real.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
Wardlow beats Jericho up after the match, then beats Juvi up for failing MJF. He knocks Jericho out with the Casualty of War, which Schiavone tells us he has knocked many wrestlers out with, (though none on Dynamite, and I don’t believe for a second thar Schiavone watches Dark, just like I don’t believe for one second that Jim Ross so Suicide Squad. Can’t we give Excalibur the line about the finisher we’ve never seen before?), then announces that Jericho will face Wardlow next week in a match with MJF as the referee.

ONCE AGAIN, PAC’S TRAVEL PLANS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED BY ANDRADE AND CHAVO- didn’t like it
I’m sorry, but I just can’t believe that it’s that easy to cancel someone else’s travel plans in 2021. You can’t do ANYTHING nowadays without an email confirmation. Did they hack Pac’s email, too? How would they even know what flight he was on or even what carrier he was taking. If Pac is posting that stuff on the internet a week after they managed to somehow cancel his buddies’ travel plans, he’s an idiot. If Pac isn’t doing that then AEW should have opened an internal investigation because someone in the office is in cahoots with the heels and causing the company to falsely advertise the presence of a big star, and they should have told Pac to book his own travel for this week and they’d pay him back.
I just can’t bring myself to care about any of this. Death Triangle have turned so many times AEW might as well make Paul Wight their manager, and Chavo is just so… Chavo. He’s the archetype of a guy who- while a talented worker in his day- was nothing more than a midcarder in WWE and WCW when he wasn’t teaming with Eddie, but promotions try to bring him in as if he means something when he really doesn’t. And it’s not like he’s a guy who there is a big feeling that other companies missed the boat on, like Zack Ryder or Aleister Black or FTR or Andrade or even Sydal. He’s… just Chavo. At least with Sydal he was still in his prime when WWE let him go, and you can’t fault any company for bringing him in. Chavo is FIFTY!
And, perhaps worse, Andrade, who should be a major difference-maker, feels COMPLETELY WASTED.

TONY SCHIAVONE’S ATTEMPT TO INTERVIEW THE DARK ORDER BACKSTAGE IS INTERRUPTED BY ADAM PAGE TELLING THE DARK ORDER THAT HE THINKS HE IS BETTER OFF ALONE- meh
Everyone is talking as if Page had “cost” the Dark Order a title shot, but they never really had one in the first place. It was Page who had the title shot coming to him and was willing to put it on the line to get them a title shot. Page tells them he thinks he’s better off alone and leaves. Having eight guys standing there going “aw, Adam. Come on!” at pretty much the same time made this too comedic (and that’s not even the full Dork Order contingent, as Anna Jay is injured, and Tay Conti has inexplicably not been involved in any of this).
Page leaves and the segment just ends, without Schiavone making any effort to get an answer for the question he asked. Good work ethic there, Tony.

DANIEL GARCIA AND 2.0 vs. JON MOXLEY, EDDIE KINGSTON, & DARBY ALLIN (w/Sting)- 4/10
2.0 are someone else I wouldn’t have brought in. They have loser stink all over them, and haven’t really gotten over anywhere that wasn’t CHIKARA or Quebec. I like Garcia, but he doesn’t fit in with the other two in terms of personality or style.
Our team of babyfaces were doing heel stuff in the corner, including distracting the referee so guys on the apron could reach in and rake Matt Lee’s (that’s what the loud- well… louder- one in 2.0 is going by now) eyes. Tony Schiavone just laughed this off. Please remember this the next time he gets upset at the Pinnacle or the Elite doing something.
More stuff happened, and the “babyfaces” won. Just to annoy me, Garcia got pinned instead of one of the clowns.
BRIAN CAGE VS. TEAM TAZ VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMOS- Taz and Starks were great, but Cage was terrible. He says he “never asked to be in Team Taz.” Really? Well if you didn’t ask to be in the team, you at the very least consented to it when Taz asked you to join, which has basically the same effect.
He also claimed that you got to AEW without Taz, which is, at the very least, kayfabe disputable. He debuted with Taz as his manager. If you want to say that he was signed a few months before that (Wikipedia says that his signing was announced in January 2020) then that’s fine, but I would submit to you that the fact that he was under contract for FOUR MONTHS and wasn’t booked in a single match until he hooked up with Taz proves that he probably did need Taz to help him get anywhere meaningful in the company. He also claimed that he was given the FTW Title as a “consolation prize” for Taz throwing the towel in on him when he was challenging Moxley, but that timeline is incorrect, as Taz gave him that belt before the title shot.
He then bragged about how he beat up those innocent musicians last week. Hey, moron! How about instead of beating up innocent people to show Team Taz what you would do to them, why didn’t you just attack Team Taz? They were standing right there! But you chose to attack the weak and innocent, and do to so from behind like a coward, to boot.

THE ELITE ARE CLOWNS BACKSTAGE- bad
They’re still playing with the basketball. Gallows says that the Dark Order are getting a shot at the Impact Tag Team Titles. So last week they wrestled a match where they would only earn a tag title shot if they won, and they wound up losing that match, but now they’re getting a tag title shot anyway? Well to kill the stip! Yes, I know that that was the AEW Tag Team Titles and they’re are now getting a shot at TNA’s titles but the general idea is still problematic, as it no longer feels like the Dark Order have lost much (and makes Page feel like he’s overreacting even more than he already does).
The Jacksons were decent and Kenny was mostly good, but the whole atmosphere here was a joke, and the stuff with Cutler was idiotic. Has it ever been explained why he’s their slave? Didn’t he used to be an actual wrestler on the roster?

CHRISTIAN CAGE vs. THE BLADE (w/the Bunny)- 6.75/10
Did they try to clothesline each other with a shirt? Why wouldn’t you just use your arm?
The Bunny interfered, but Leyla Hirsch came out to chase her off. Christian avoided the brass knuckles and won a solid match cleanly.

FTR VS. LAX VIDEO PACKAGE- awesome

TONY SCHIAVONE’S INTERVIEW WITH DR. BRITT BAKER, DMD IS INTERRUPTED BY RED VELVET-
Red Velvet came out and was kind of a jerk, poking Britt in the chest and demanding a title shot that I have no idea what she has done to earn. Britt was happy to take her challenge, noting that she had once beaten Red Velvet in three minutes. Red Velvet said that Britt shouldn’t be proud of that win because she (Red Velvet) was just “enhancement talent” at the time. You know… because it’s all fake and she was being told to lose. Then she went on to brag about record and all of her wins… almost all of which were against people who would fit the definition of enhancement talent.
Britt says that they’ll have the match at Rampage debut in Pittsburgh, so after having Red Velvet be a jerk, they’re going to put the match in a building full of people from Britt’s home town. Then Britt offered a handshake, but Red Velvet kicked the hand away. This caused Rebel to try to hit Red Velvet with her crutch, but Red Velvet ducked, but Britt used this distraction as an opening to take Red Velvet out. Good. Red Velvet deserved that for being a jerk the whole time. I’m sure the idea was that Britt’s handshake was a trap, but Rebel moved way too slow to make it look like that’s what was actually happening.

DASHA GONZALEZ’s INTERVIEW WITH ANDRADE EL IDOLO IS INTERRUPTED BY CHAVO GUERRERO JR.- whatever
Chavo says he has found someone willing to work for Andrade instead of the Lucha Bros. It’s Fuego del Sol. They beat him up for not being willing to shine Andrade’s shoes. Chavo then cut a promo telling the Lucha Bros that they would never be champions as long as they worked for Pac.
Fun fact: Wikipedia says that Fuego del Sol joined the Nightmare Family the day before this show aired. How much do you want to bet they won’t do sh*t to follow up on this?

TONY SCHIAVONE’S INTERVIEW WITH ADAM PAGE IS INTERRUPTED BY THE ELITE- mostly great
Has there been a live interview on this show that hasn’t been interrupted?
Good promos were cut, Page stood up for himself by slapping Omega when Omega was being an ass, Page got beaten down for his trouble. Kaz tried o help but got beaten up as well. My only issue with this was the Dark Order not saving Page because Page thought he worked better on his own. That sort of thing does not extend to situations where the asker is getting beaten up six on one.

DAN LAMBERT WILL BE BACK NEXT WEEK- Yeah, because this MMA sh*t has worked so well for TNA and New Japan.

AEW TNT TITLE MATCH: Miro(c) vs. Lee Johnson (w/Dustin Rhodes)- 6/10
I have no idea what Lee Johnson did to earn this title shot. Lots of pro-Miro signs in the audience.
This was good, but at no point did Johnson feel like he even resembled a real threat to Miro.

TONY SCHIAVONE’S INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIAN IS INTERRUPTED BY CHRISTIAN DOING DUMB COMEDY- He is the new #1 contender. Whoever decided that he had to tell everyone that Best Friends will be at ringside with Leyla Hirsch in a goofy way should be flogged.

NWA WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: The Bunny (w/Hardy Family Office) vs. Leyla Hirsch (w/Best Friends, Orange Cassidy, Wheeler YUTA, & Kris Statlander)- 5/10
Leyla won clean. Kamile was at ringside and got into the ring afterwards for an AMAZING visual of the height discrepancy between them. Nyla Rose was also at ringside. She got involved with Kris Statlander, so they’re going to have a match next week.

Tony Schiavone mentioned that Q.T. Marshall came up with another excuse to not apologize to him.

MALACHAI BLACK vs. CODY RHODES (w/Dustin Rhodes)- no rating, TREMENDOUS segment!
Black’s entrance was very cool. I thought the match was going excellently… and then Black just knocked Cody out with his kick and pinned him with his foot on his chest. This was followed by Cody selling wonderfully and giving what sounded like a big retirement speech and taking his boots off until Black came back and clonked him with a crutch. Black working on Cody’s leg to play into the “lame racehorse that needs to be put down” idea was a wonderful little touch. The only thing I would have changed is to maybe have Black attack Cody before he got the boots off and have Black take them off.
I’m generally a proponent of not spending the main event spot on a match that will just turn into an angle, but if the angle is going to be big enough and needs any follow-up to wait until next week to maximize the impact, I’m fine doing it in the main event spot, and this certainly fit that criterion. I’m also usually not a fan of someone teasing a retirement that we all know won’t happen, but theme of the lame racehorse makes it work for me here. This was probably the best thing that has ever happened on Dynamite.


This was a great show from AEW. There definitely a lot of bumps, but the opener and main event angle, plus some good promos even within the bad segments put it over the top for me. Next week, I finally get to watch Dynamite live again, and I’m relatively excited to do so.

[cero2k]

SINGLES MATCH IN WHICH CHRIS JERICHO MUST WIN WITH A TOP-ROPE MANEUVER AND IF HE LOSES OR IF ANYONE INTERFERES ON HIS BEHALD, HE WON’T GET ANOTHER MATCH AGAINST MJF: Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera- 7/10
On their graphic, they spelled “labor” with a u, like the British would, so that’s either a bad typo, or a hint that they’re bringing in Zack Sabre Jr. next.

Before knowing that Labour #4 was WARDLOW, I did think that it was going to be a submission match, not against Sabre thought, I was thinking more like Angle.

DAN LAMBERT WILL BE BACK NEXT WEEK- Yeah, because this MMA sh*t has worked so well for TNA and New Japan.

Lambert was one of the best things that Impact did on that transition period with early Anthem, can't throw it out until we see who his fighter is going to be.

[Big Red Machine]

DAN LAMBERT WILL BE BACK NEXT WEEK- Yeah, because this MMA sh*t has worked so well for TNA and New Japan.

Lambert was one of the best things that Impact did on that transition period with early Anthem, can't throw it out until we see who his fighter is going to be.

When have these sorts of things EVER paid off for anyone? Tyson at WM 14 is the only one, and he was a guest referee, not a wrestler. Any other time this sort of thing has worked it was either:
1. Someone coming in for an extended run (Brock, arguably Ronda and Shamrock, and Langley in TNA artistically but not financially it attention-wise).
Or
2. Japan in the 80s and 90s, and that resulted in Inoki-ism, which killed it off in Japan, too.

[cero2k]

When have these sorts of things EVER paid off for anyone? Tyson at WM 14 is the only one, and he was a guest referee, not a wrestler. Any other time this sort of thing has worked it was either:
1. Someone coming in for an extended run (Brock, arguably Ronda and Shamrock, and Langley in TNA artistically but not financially it attention-wise).
Or
2. Japan in the 80s and 90s, and that resulted in Inoki-ism, which killed it off in Japan, too.

#1, that's all you need, and maybe that person they bring in turns out to be someone like Dominic Garrini or Tom Lawlor down the line, or maybe they bring in someone like Colby Covington and gets his ass handed for a huge reaction and press, and that's not even counting all the great promos we can get from Lambert. I don't see a single issue doing any of this

[Big Red Machine]

When have these sorts of things EVER paid off for anyone? Tyson at WM 14 is the only one, and he was a guest referee, not a wrestler. Any other time this sort of thing has worked it was either:
1. Someone coming in for an extended run (Brock, arguably Ronda and Shamrock, and Langley in TNA artistically but not financially it attention-wise).
Or
2. Japan in the 80s and 90s, and that resulted in Inoki-ism, which killed it off in Japan, too.

#1, that's all you need, and maybe that person they bring in turns out to be someone like Dominic Garrini or Tom Lawlor down the line, or maybe they bring in someone like Colby Covington and gets his ass handed for a huge reaction and press, and that's not even counting all the great promos we can get from Lambert. I don't see a single issue doing any of this

If it's Lawler or Garrini or someone like that then fine.
I don't buy the press angle because 1) no one today is close to as hot as Tyson was other than maybe Connor. WWE tried it with Rousey and the extra coverage tried up very quickly.
I don't think beating an MMA guy in a worked fight will do anything for anyone because everyone knows it's a work. It won't make anyone look tougher, and I think it helps less than building up another pro wrestler for Archer or whoever to beat