BRM Reviews the 7/27/2022 Dynamite (featuring possibly the biggest squandering of a story ever!)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 7/27/2022 Dynamite (featuring possibly the biggest squandering of a story ever!)

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 29th, '22, 17:13

AEW INTERIM WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jon Moxley(c) vs. Rush (w/Jose the Assistant)- 8/10
Apparently beating Dragon Lee clean and beating Penta by cheating is enough to get Rush a world title shot. Those are his only two wins (and the ROH win doesn’t even count in his AEW record, so for AEW purposes, he has won just one match, and it wasn’t even a clean win).
The commentary team for this match was Excalibur, Taz, Jim Ross, and William Regal. Hopefully that means Schiavone isn’t here.
These two had a really great brawl, but it would have been much better if this had been a non-title match. That would have both allowed for some actual drama on the nearfalls, as people would actually think Rush had a chance of winning, and it also wouldn’t feel like it devalues title matches and cause plot-holes for why Rush is getting one but other guys with better records and winning streaks don’t.
Andrade got involved, so the Lucha Bros. came out to chase him away. Moxley won.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- didn’t like it
The Jericho Appreciation Society came out, in this case comprising of Jericho, Sammy Tay, Anna Jay, and one of the 2.0 loudmouths. Jericho ranted a bunch and also built up their matches tonight, including tonight’s main event of Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia. Why is that the main event and world title match is the opener?
Anna Jay’s new character is that she is a cartoonish loudmouth.
Jericho demands his champion’s rematch for the world title in two weeks at Quake by the Lake. Why did it take him two years to get around to this? And if Adam Page cared about being world champion so much, why hasn’t he asked for his yet?
Moxley responded by cutting a promo against Jericho’s “sports entertainment,” and says that he wants to face “Lionheart” Chris Jericho. “the last survivor of the Hart Dungeon.”
A few issues here:
1. To get the easiest one of the way first, I’m certain he’s not the last. Even if you want to say that Nattie and TJ and Rick Victor (and Teddy) and that younger generation don’t count, Lance Storm was training people at that same “Hart Brothers Wrestling Camp” that he and Jericho trained at, including Justin Credible, so he’s not the last chronologically. And if you want to say he’s the last one still active, that’s also not true. He’s not even the only one active IN AEW (Dr. Luther).
2. What is the difference between “Lionheart” Chris Jericho and what we get now? Does Moxley want Jericho to not use his newer moves? That doesn’t seem in line with the character of someone who just wants to prove that he’s the best. And it’s not like Jericho doesn’t ever do Lionsaults and Lion Tamers and other stuff like that. He just mixes it in with other stuff, and doesn’t go for the Lionsault as often because he knows he’s older and missing will take more out of him than it used to.
Does he not want him to use catchphrases? So what?
3. This whole “sports entertainment” thing falls flat to me. Yeah, I hate the goofy bullsh*t, but what makes Jericho’s stuff “sports entertainment” when the stuff that the Bucks and Omega and Don Callis were doing wasn’t? Or Danhausen? Or the silliness with Tony Nese and Mark Sterling running around with a petition to get Shane Strickland fired? Or, on a different Axis, the House of Black stuff?

Yes, they cut some intense promos on each other, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the match, but- much like the Moxley vs. Rush match- I have no investment in it because the story/framing is poor.

NOW WE’RE GETTING TRIOS TITLES, TOO- Is Tony Khan secretly sleeping with someone who owns a championship belt factory?
Excalibur said that these were something that “fans have been clamoring for” since almost the beginning of AEW. Here’s a logic question that I’m sure no one in AEW has considered: If fans have been clamoring for these titles since almost the beginning of the company, and NO ONE had been clamoring for all “All-Atlantic Championship,” why did we get one of those before these?
And speaking of the All-Atlantic Championship, that belt was created a month ago and has yet to appear on TV outside of recap form… and they’re already announcing new belts.
We’ll crown champions in another tournament, ending at All Out.

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS DANTE MARTIN- maybe his best ever
Dante cut an excellent babyface promo on Sammy becoming complacent. Unfortunately, it had to end with him introducing his secret weapon to counter Tay Conti’s presence at ringside: Sky Blue. Not Ruby Soho, who has a major beef with Tay, not some top-level or even mid-card babyface who just doesn’t like the idea of people cheating. We’re getting a random jobber.

FTW TITLE MATCH: Ricky Starks(c) (w/Will Hobbs) vs. Danhausen- no rating, dull segment (see below for my full thoughts)
Schiavone is on commentary now, replacing Regal. A major down-grade. Ross and Schiavone claimed Danhausen was “complex,” destroying whatever credibility they might have had left.
Starks got a fancy video about being a champion before his entrance.
Despite injuring his surgically repaired neck, Starks beat Out-hausen with ease.
Starks again decides to offer to defend his made-up title a second time tonight, and apparently everyone in management is just fine with that and they’re not worried that any of the other scheduled matches will go their time limits.
Hook came out to accept the challenge, resulting in another…

FTW TITLE MATCH: Ricky Starks(c) (w/Will Hobbs) vs. Hook- no rating, frustrating segment
How did Rush get a world title shot with one win and yet Hook, who has been undefeated for months, wasn’t given one?
The match itself was short but good. My issues with this whole thing is how much of a waste it is. I might not understand why, but Hook is undeniably over, and not I the “because it’s goofy and stupid” way that guys like Orange Cassidy and the Dork Order and Dorkhausen are. Putting him in a title match on a PPV is something that might well make people decide to buy a PPV. At the very least, it’s the kind of thing that will put someone who is on the fence over the top.
Hook is also Taz’s son. The FTW Title is Taz’s title. The current FTW Champion is Ricky Starks, Taz’s star pupil, who Taz essentially hand-picked to give the belt to when he took it away from former star pupil Brian Cage. Hook deciding that he wants to challenge Ricky Starks for the FTW Title has the makings of an ALL-TIME CLASSIC STORYLINE!
And Tony Khan just pissed it away to put the belt on Hook with ZERO WARNING AND ZERO BUILD.

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS RICKY STARKS- very mixed feelings
Starks cut a tremendous babyface promo… except that too much of it felt like he was talking about being upset at how he was being booked. How does the FTW Title supposedly being a “noose” that had to be turned into a positive make any sense in kayfabe? Or him being told that he has to wait because “it’s not your time?”
He started to talk about how he was sick of waiting and wasn’t going to wait anymore and he and his buddy Will Hobbs were going to do great things… and which point Hobbs laid him out with a FANTASTIC clothesline to the back of the head. He then laid him out with his finisher, a Spinebuster, and Excalibur was smart enough to find a way to connect this to Starks’ injured neck.
This was a FANTASTIC angle, but I can’t help but feel like there was a huge waste of potential here because it takes us away from a story with Starks feuding with Hook. If you weren’t going to go that route, this was definitely the best thing to do, though.

THE ACCLAIMED PROMO- okay
This was a good promo, but I was quite annoyed by the “if you want to find out what stipulation we’re pitching, you need to watch our new music video” bit. Based on what they said here, it seems like they were hinting at an Inferno match, but that would be really out of nowhere.

SAMMY GUEVARA (w/Tay Conti) vs. DANTE MARTIN (w/Sky Blue)- 6/10
Last week, management knew the JAS would probably interfere in a match, so they locked them in a shark cage. Why can’t they do the same to Tay tonight? Everyone knows she’s going to interfere, because she has a history of it. That’s why you have to actually build to your stipulation matches! Because if you don’t, you just open up plot-holes.
They were having a pretty good match until they did a spot where Sammy was in the ring and standing, and Dante hopped up onto the ropes from the apron… and instead of hitting a springboard dropkick or a flying forearm or something, he jumps to the other rope because his move a double-springboard moonsault, dammit… so, of course, when he makes this unnecessary extra jump and turns his back to his opponent, Sammy runs over and counters the move. I just started laughing. I was really hoping that was just going to shove him off the top rope to the floor and that he would lose by count-out. What a moron.
Dante was able to counter Sammy counter with a flip, then did another flippy move… and then got distracted by Tay Conti, allowing Sammy to counter his next move, hit his finisher, and win. Way to do your job there, Sky Blue.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- idiotic
The heels start putting the boots to Dante. Sky Blue just stood there and watched. Sammy dragged Dante over to somewhere that he could more easily hit a top-rope move from, and only once Sammy was on the top rope did Sky Blue try to get in his was… and, of course, Tay Conti beat her up from behind.
Just kidding. That would have been less dumb than what actually happened. What actually happened was that Tay walked up to her and spun her around, and then just started jabbering at her. Sky Blue jabbered back, which distracted her so that she didn’t see Anna Jay run all the way out from the back to attack her from behind. Why didn’t Tay just attack her from behind right then and there, and not risk Sky Blue decided to just take a swing at her?
Eddie Kingston and his crew came out to chase Sammy and Tay-Jay away, because that feud will never end.

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS DANIEL GARCIA- okay
He tried to build up his match with Bryan Danielson. It was okay.

JAY LETHAL, SONJAY DUTT, & SATNAM SINGH’S PROMO IS INTERRUPTED BY THE BEST FRIENDS- bad
Lethal is complaining that Sama Joe beat him with an “illegal choke.” Who is he trying to convince by saying this? All it does is make him look like a clown.
Speaking of clowns, this group of clowns (Sonjay was in full clown mode) apparently have unfinished business with Best Friends. Best Friends happened to be right there, dressed in appalling tie-dye. A challenge was made for Rampage in a goofy manner, and was responded to in an even more goofy manner by Sonjay, who seems to have made it his goal to become an Indian John Silver. It’s a shame, really, as he is a talented guy and there are much more dignified things he could aspire to be. Prince Nana has brought the Embassy back, so surely he is looking for a new human footstool. That would be much more dignified than being John Silver.

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS JUNGLE BOY- mostly great
Jungle Boy calls Christian a “pussy.” I thought we weren’t doing that anymore in 2022. Still, his intensity was tremendous, and it seemed like this was going to be a great babyface promo… and then he starts taking shots at Christian because his wife divorced him, and making small penis jokes. NO! The heel says unwarranted personal things. The babyface is supposed to be above that stuff.
We got the expected explanation for Luchasaurus’ actions, which was good. Jungle Boy then started to cut a good babyface promo again. He eventually wound up talking about having to bury his father, when Christian interrupted because a camera cut to him backstage. Why did someone cut to him?
Thankfully, he didn’t say anything too terrible. Well… he didn’t say anything inappropriate, I mean. He did threaten to murder Jungle Boy the next time they met, and that was pretty terrible. Also terrible (but in a totally different way) was the way he did this, saying “the next thing I drape over you is going to be a body-bag.” I don’t think he knows how body-bags work. Or bags in general. I laughed so hard at that.

YOUNG BUCKS PROMO- bad
Apparently the Young Bucks, EVPs on the company, didn’t know about the next six-man tag team titles. Brandon Cutler noted that all of their other friends are gone and wanted to be their partner, but they said no.

YOUNG BUCKS SEGMENT WITH ADAM PAGE- bad
Adam Page walked by, so they were friendly. Birthday wishes were exchanged. Aren’t the Bucks heels?
The Bucks said they had been meaning to talk to Page for a while, but this attempted chat was interrupted by the Dark Order running up to Page and wishing him a happy birthday in the most annoying manner possible. I really hope this story is leading up to the day where Page snaps and murders all of them.

HANDICAP MATCH WITH KEITH LEE BANNED FROM RINGSIDE: Tony Nese & Mark Sterling vs. Shane Strickland- 3.75/10
Do you want to maybe do an angle on TV to set these exact stipulations up, Tony? No? Oh. Right. Then we wouldn’t have room for our twenty-seventh championship. Good call.
Taz said that the person who made Sterling’s gear should be put in prison, but that really doesn’t seem fair. Being put in prison with Matt Striker in the cell next to you so that you can’t beat him to death to shut him up is more like it.
Wait… no. That’s too harsh. Being slowly lowered into a vat of acid seems like a fair middle ground.
Stuff happened. They showed us Keith Lee watching the match backstage… and he was standing WWE-style, with his body facing the camera, and turning his head to look at a TV facing the same way so that we wouldn’t miss the action. Strickland won cleanly. Someone should let Tony Nese know that Triple H is back in power now so he can quit AEW while he still has some dignity.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
We cut backstage to see Keith Lee laid out, and it was Josh Woods who attacked him. The same Josh Woods who Nese and Sterling have apparently been scouting recently. The pieces of this being a dastardly plan by the heels to isolate Lee so that Woods could attack him fit together perfectly… except for the initial set-up! If the heels are going to spring a dastardly plan that requires specific stipulations to work, you have to show us them manipulating the babyfaces or management into agreeing to those stipulations, or else it feels like management randomly booked stipulations in a match.
Taz clearly wasn’t paying attention, because he didn’t understand what the connection between Woods and the heels could be.

HOUSE OF BLACK PROMO- great
Malakai Black cut a promo trying to recruit Miro. Brody King cut a promo saying he would kill Darby Allin.

LAST FRIDAY, PAC DEFENDED THE AEW ALL-ATLANTIC TITLE IN OTT IN IRELAND- snore

AEW WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE MATCH: Thunder Rosa(c) vs. Miyu Yamashita- 6.75/10
Thunder Rosa won a good match cleanly. I’d like to see more of Yamashita.

Seeing as how Jungle Boy and Christian Cage cut such intense promos on each other and have such a deep personal issue, on next Wednesday’s Dynamite, Tony Khan has booked Christian to face… Matt Hardy.

BRYAN DANIELSON vs. DANIEL GARCIA- 7/10
Chris Jericho was on commentary for this match. William Regal was not.
There was some great action here, wasted by some bad storytelling decisions. Dragon jumped the bell on Garcia like a total heel. The story was that Dragon hurt his head/neck executing a missile dropkick, and at one point he actually just fell down because this injury was so problematic. That, of course, set up the heat, which I thought really took any accomplishment away from Garcia, because he only got his window of opportunity because Dragon hurt himself.
Dragon eventually made a comeback looked like he was about to get the win, but a hand blindly snuck up from under the ring at just the right moment to grab Dragon’s ankle, allowing Garcia to take over and lock in the Sharpshooter until Dragon passed out. The announcers all went on about how this was a big upset, completely ignoring the fact that the heel first got lucky and then cheated.
The hand under the ring was Jake Hager’s, by the way. And, of course, the reason the Regal wasn’t on commentary for this match was revealed to be “well, we couldn’t have him on commentary because his character would go down there and do something about the hand, so we just didn’t have him on commentary this one time even though he is every other time,” which is the height of laziness.

Another typically-frustrating episode of Dynamite, with good wrestling and one or two good promos being squandered by bad or lazy booking.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/27/2022 Dynamite (featuring possibly the biggest squandering of a story ever!)

Post by Thelone » Jul 31st, '22, 19:22

Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 29th, '22, 17:13NOW WE’RE GETTING TRIOS TITLES, TOO- Is Tony Khan secretly sleeping with someone who owns a championship belt factory?
Excalibur said that these were something that “fans have been clamoring for” since almost the beginning of AEW. Here’s a logic question that I’m sure no one in AEW has considered: If fans have been clamoring for these titles since almost the beginning of the company, and NO ONE had been clamoring for all “All-Atlantic Championship,” why did we get one of those before these?
And speaking of the All-Atlantic Championship, that belt was created a month ago and has yet to appear on TV outside of recap form… and they’re already announcing new belts.
We’ll crown champions in another tournament, ending at All Out.

[...]

LAST FRIDAY, PAC DEFENDED THE AEW ALL-ATLANTIC TITLE IN OTT IN IRELAND- snore
If I didn't know any better (and well, I don't), I'd say he created that All-Atlantic title to appease the geordie Hogan by giving him a worthless prop title belt so he even has an excuse not to do jobs in his home area. I don't know why Tiny give that much of a shit about PAC considering that the guy doesn't want to relocate, is catching jobberitis has """travel issues""" whenever he's needed in the US, and like who cares about him at this point.

But yeah, MOAR BELTS!!! That'll be the EIGHT AEW championship + six from "ROH" + I guess we can count the IWGP and AAA tag titles for now + should we count MJF's diamond ring (remember him? Really striking while the iron is ice cold there)?

Again, can't wait for the final between the Elite and the Uninspired Ersatz but who knows, maybe he'll throw the House of Blah a bone for variety.

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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/27/2022 Dynamite (featuring possibly the biggest squandering of a story ever!)

Post by cero2k » Aug 1st, '22, 20:17

Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 29th, '22, 17:13
2. What is the difference between “Lionheart” Chris Jericho and what we get now? Does Moxley want Jericho to not use his newer moves? That doesn’t seem in line with the character of someone who just wants to prove that he’s the best. And it’s not like Jericho doesn’t ever do Lionsaults and Lion Tamers and other stuff like that. He just mixes it in with other stuff, and doesn’t go for the Lionsault as often because he knows he’s older and missing will take more out of him than it used to.
Does he not want him to use catchphrases? So what?
Lionheart Jericho won't rely on cheap tricks and henchmen to aid him when things get sticky. Lionheart Jericho fired up when things got hard. He's asking for a Jericho that has a fire inside him and will fight until the end, its not about moves of catchphrases.

Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 29th, '22, 17:13 And speaking of the All-Atlantic Championship, that belt was created a month ago and has yet to appear on TV outside of recap form… and they’re already announcing new belts.
We’ll crown champions in another tournament, ending at All Out.
it takes longer to make three belts than one obviously. Also, the AA title was pretty much introduced to be a traveling title to my understanding, PAC has already defended it a couple of times, they played the matches on an AEW show. It's similar to the SWA title in STARDOM (or the idea behind it before the pandemic)
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 29th, '22, 17:13 FTW TITLE MATCH: Ricky Starks(c) (w/Will Hobbs) vs. Hook- no rating, frustrating segment
How did Rush get a world title shot with one win and yet Hook, who has been undefeated for months, wasn’t given one?

Hook is also Taz’s son. The FTW Title is Taz’s title. The current FTW Champion is Ricky Starks, Taz’s star pupil, who Taz essentially hand-picked to give the belt to when he took it away from former star pupil Brian Cage. Hook deciding that he wants to challenge Ricky Starks for the FTW Title has the makings of an ALL-TIME CLASSIC STORYLINE!
And Tony Khan just pissed it away to put the belt on Hook with ZERO WARNING AND ZERO BUILD.
It was referenced that Rush is on a 10 match winning streak between AEW, ROH, and AAA. If the argument is that they were not on Dynamite, then neither were Hooks'. Don't really see the problem there.

As for the title change, I think any story would had been better than just starting one with the title change, but I think having that idea would had felt way similar to Cage's story. If the idea is to turn Starks babyface and have Hook (already kinda a babyface anyway) win the title, then I think this needed to be a feud with someone outside of Team Taz, have Starks lose it, then Hook reclaim it. You could even use Hobbs for that I guess. Team Taz is a babyface team, may as well run with it.
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 29th, '22, 17:13 AEW WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE MATCH: Thunder Rosa(c) vs. Miyu Yamashita- 6.75/10
Thunder Rosa won a good match cleanly. I’d like to see more of Yamashita.
Look up any of her title defenses from her last run.

vs. Yuka Sakazaki from CyberFight Festival 2021
vs. Maki Itoh from WRESTLE PRINCESS II
vs. Mizuki from TOKYO JOSHI PRO '22
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Re: BRM Reviews the 7/27/2022 Dynamite (featuring possibly the biggest squandering of a story ever!)

Post by Big Red Machine » Aug 1st, '22, 20:31

cero2k wrote: Aug 1st, '22, 20:17
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 29th, '22, 17:13
2. What is the difference between “Lionheart” Chris Jericho and what we get now? Does Moxley want Jericho to not use his newer moves? That doesn’t seem in line with the character of someone who just wants to prove that he’s the best. And it’s not like Jericho doesn’t ever do Lionsaults and Lion Tamers and other stuff like that. He just mixes it in with other stuff, and doesn’t go for the Lionsault as often because he knows he’s older and missing will take more out of him than it used to.
Does he not want him to use catchphrases? So what?
Lionheart Jericho won't rely on cheap tricks and henchmen to aid him when things get sticky. Lionheart Jericho fired up when things got hard. He's asking for a Jericho that has a fire inside him and will fight until the end, its not about moves of catchphrases.
This is specious, but give you credit for it. If only Moxley had said any of this.
cero2k wrote: Aug 1st, '22, 20:17
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 29th, '22, 17:13 And speaking of the All-Atlantic Championship, that belt was created a month ago and has yet to appear on TV outside of recap form… and they’re already announcing new belts.
We’ll crown champions in another tournament, ending at All Out.
it takes longer to make three belts than one obviously. Also, the AA title was pretty much introduced to be a traveling title to my understanding, PAC has already defended it a couple of times, they played the matches on an AEW show. It's similar to the SWA title in STARDOM (or the idea behind it before the pandemic)
1. If this is true, they should have said something to that effect. They didn't.
2. What is even the purpose of a "traveling title?" It's not like you can't take one of your other titles and defend it in a different promotion, or like people from other promotions can't come to AEW to get shots at an AEW title, so what is the point of it?
cero2k wrote: Aug 1st, '22, 20:17
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 29th, '22, 17:13 FTW TITLE MATCH: Ricky Starks(c) (w/Will Hobbs) vs. Hook- no rating, frustrating segment
How did Rush get a world title shot with one win and yet Hook, who has been undefeated for months, wasn’t given one?

Hook is also Taz’s son. The FTW Title is Taz’s title. The current FTW Champion is Ricky Starks, Taz’s star pupil, who Taz essentially hand-picked to give the belt to when he took it away from former star pupil Brian Cage. Hook deciding that he wants to challenge Ricky Starks for the FTW Title has the makings of an ALL-TIME CLASSIC STORYLINE!
And Tony Khan just pissed it away to put the belt on Hook with ZERO WARNING AND ZERO BUILD.
It was referenced that Rush is on a 10 match winning streak between AEW, ROH, and AAA. If the argument is that they were not on Dynamite, then neither were Hooks'. Don't really see the problem there.
Many of Hooks' wins were on Dynamite or Rampage. Rush's weren't in even in AEW. His record literally said 1-0, and that win wasn't even clean. It makes no sense that he would get a title shot (he certainly wasn't in the Top 5), and it's even more ridiculous that he gets one while others with better records don't.
cero2k wrote: Aug 1st, '22, 20:17 As for the title change, I think any story would had been better than just starting one with the title change, but I think having that idea would had felt way similar to Cage's story. If the idea is to turn Starks babyface and have Hook (already kinda a babyface anyway) win the title, then I think this needed to be a feud with someone outside of Team Taz, have Starks lose it, then Hook reclaim it. You could even use Hobbs for that I guess. Team Taz is a babyface team, may as well run with it.
The idea wouldn't be to turn Starks babyface (at least not before the match. You could have him turn babyface afterwards by shaking Hook's hand. It would be a story about Hook wanting a title that has special meaning to him, a story about whether Starks' greed will compel him to cheat against someone he theoretically has an affinity for, and a story about how Taz will react to this situation that could create dissension in his ranks. It's nothing like the Cage story.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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