BRM Reviews the 6/17/2020 Dynamite (great)

[Big Red Machine]

AEW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Kenny Omega & Adam Page(c) vs. the Natural Nightmares (w/Brandi Rhodes)- 6.5/10
The announcers finally get around to telling us that “this story” with Q.T. Marshall and Allie (no details, just “this story”) has been “transpiring mostly on Dark.” That’s nice to tell us that now, but WHY THE F*CK DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT AT ANY POINT IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS?! Also, maybe explain to us why Allie isn’t with The Butcher & The Blade anymore? That’s the first question that always pops into my mind, so why have the announcers not thought of it yet?
They cut away from an AEW World Championship match several times to show us Britt Baker sitting in her big comedy wheelchair and using a pully pass Tony Schiavone a note, because apparently that’s more important that a championship match.
Kenny and Dustin accidentally bumped heads on an up-and-over out of the corner. It looked pretty rough due to the speed they were going. Hopefully neither guy got a concussion there. Dustin wasn’t involved very much from then on, but he did do some stuff, and the story being structured around Q.T. being in there in what the announcers pushed as “almost a handicap match situation” worked well enough with the idea of Allie coming out to support Q.T. that I’m willing to give them credit to think that might have been a work (and I’d certainly hope they wouldn’t let a dude with a possible concussion do a Canadian Destroyer).
Allie eventually came out to support Q.T. He didn’t get distracted by her, but he lost clean anyway. Hopefully Brandi and Dustin will apologize for their behavior last week, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what’s going to happen.

ANNA JAY VIDEO PACKAGE- bad
She comes off like a crappy babyface version of Nina Samuels heel character in NXT UK.

ANNA JAY vs. ABADON- 0.5/10
Abadon is “a horror-movie come to life.” That’ exactly how Excalibur put it, and that’s a TERRIBLE character. It’s the sort of thing that screams “look at my fake gimmick and appreciate how artistic I am being with my homage” rather than something like feels like a real person.
The horror movie gimmick idiot with her fake eyes and so forth got the win. If you wanted Anna Jay to lose to someone, why not have it be an already-established woman on the roster? Perhaps someone like Big Swole, who needs wins?

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
The Dark Order come out and give Colt Cabana some papers in an official envelope. The also help Anna Jay to the back.

MJF (w/Wardlow) vs. BILLY GUNN (w/Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn)- 5/10
Billy’s knee got worked over and he sold it well, but the rest of this was okay at best. There was one spot here that was so bad I’m not even certain what it was supposed to be. Excalibur seemed to imply that it was MJF trying a Fame-Asser and Billy countering, but it looked a lot more like MJF grabbing Billy’s head as Billy was bent over and using it as a base to do a backflip for no reason at all. Was I really supposed to believe that he tried to do a leg drop to a bent-over opponent, but Billy’s neck is so thick and his balance is so good that MJF bounced off of him so hard he flipped over? COME ON.
MJF cheated to win with the Dynamite Diamond. I’m sure it probably hurts, but I’m buying this thing less and less as a weapon with each passing week. It’s just not working for me, especially on MJF’s pinky.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
MJF and Wardlow get in Jurassic Express’ face at ringside, and the babyfaces hop the barricade to brawl. So they’re willing to hop the barricade for this (and others are willing to jump the barricade to break this up), but no one ever hops the barricade to prevent vicious heel gang-beatings?

ALEX MARVEZ INTERVIEWS LE SEX GODS- good heel stuff

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERIVEWS DR. BRITT BAKER, DMD- bad
Britt Baker is pushing the “Aubrey Edwards has a conspiracy against me” clown bullsh*t. Can we please not do this dumb crap. If she’s going to be out for months, just take her off TV. Sticking her in an angle that won’t go anywhere just to keep her on TV is a bad idea because you’re ultimately wasting time with something with little upside that you’re not going to blow off for months and months, if ever.
Is Britt a clown at this point? Yes. Yes she is. But that doesn’t mean that Tony wasn’t a jerk here. Why would he come over to her just to announce something totally unrelated to her?

BIG SWOLE HIJACKS BRITT’S… TRANSPORTATION DEVICE, KIDNAPPING HER-
I popped for the “Where to, Stephanie?” reference, and Britt has certainly been a jerk (and been one to Swole in particular), but what is Big Swole going to do to a person in a wheelchair?
Also, remember all of those times when WWE inexplicably gave us a view from the dashboard of a vehicle, and how much everyone hated it and thought it was moronic? Well apparently AEW doesn’t, because they did it here, too. WHY?!
Even worse, the dashboard cam (or, in this came, a camera below the steering wheel) kept showing us Big Swole taking her eyes off the road to turn around and look at Britt, while driving at high speeds. That was very reckless, and absolutely not a babyface thing to do.
CODY PROMO- f*ck off, Space Clown
He runs his mouth about nothing, joking about how he doesn’t know if he’s in the Elite anymore because he doesn’t seem to interact with the others, or and ditto for him and the Nightmare Family. Tis served zero purpose except to let f*ck-fake get off to the sound of his own voice before he gives an a goofy “let’s give warm welcome to…” intro. Because G-d forbid we just let Arn talk and save the well over a minute you just wasted to one of the wrestling matches tonight. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the egotistical tree.

ARN ANDERSON PROMO- He says that “the time isn’t right” for Cody to be able to beat Hager. Huh? Care to explain that one?
Anyway, Arn has brought in an opponent who he tells Cody “you can hone your skills” against. So Arn and Cody are now getting to hand-pick challengers, and are doing so for the purpose of letting Cody train for his title defense against Jake Hager. That seems pretty heelish to me.
The guy they have picked is former NWA TV Champion Ricky Starks, who looks nothing like Hager, so I’m not really sure how he’s going to help Cody learn to face a bigger dude like Hager.

RICKY STARKS PROMO- good

AEW TNT TITLE MATCH: Cody Rhodes(c) (w/Arn Anderson) vs. Ricky Starks- 7/10
Props to Jim Ross for telling us that if Starks wins, he’ll earn a job in AEW. That’s SOOOOO much better (and much more logical) than what so many promotions like do to and ramp up the fake drama and have the announcer freak out that this guy could walk out with the title.
Like a total f*cking heel, Arn pulled Cody out of the way of a move Starks was going for. Other than that, I thought this was a great match, with Cody working over Starks’ neck, but from a storyline point of view it failed for me because Starks wrestled nothing like Hager, so how is this supposed to help Cody against Hager? Also, Cody KILLED this poor kid with the CrossRhdoes. Right on his head. It was pretty scary.
Hager was shown watching the match on a monitor in the back. AEW did what WWE cannot and found an angle for him to stand at that looked completely natural.

YOUNG BUCKS vs. SUPERBAD SQUAD (w/Penelope Ford)- 7.5/10
J.R. thinks Jimmy Havoc as “reinvented himself,” showing that J.R. knows nothing about Jimmy Havoc.
Rick Knox found a pair of pliers on Havoc while he was searching him before the bell. Good. What’s bad is that Knox just left the pliers on the apron where anyone can easily pick them up, instead of doing the smart thing and giving them to the ring announcer to hold.
This was a great match with the stories of the heels cheating and Matt’s injured ribs being worked together well. First The Butcher & The Blade and then FTR got involved.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
There was a schmoz. It ended with the Bucks and FTR each hitting a heel with their favored variation of a Spike Piledriver.

TAZ & BRIAN CAGE PROMO- AWESOME!
And not just Taz, either. Cage was pretty darn great, too.

JON MOXLEY PROMO- AWESOME!

The thing the Dark Order gave Cabana earlier was, indeed, a contract. It’s a contract to be Brodie Lee’s partner next week against Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss. Also signed for next week is Luchasaurus vs Wardlow in a lumberjack match, Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara, and FTR vs. Natural Nightmares. Also, Moxley will wrestle while Taz is on commentary.

REBEL HAS FOUND BRITT BAKER- bad
She used her GPS to find Britt, who was in a dumpster. So our babyface took someone in a wheelchair and threw her in a dumpster? Some of the comedy here was enjoyable, but it’s the type of comedy that makes it impossible to take Britt seriously because she’s coming off like such a goof.
At least they tried to explain why the camera was there. I did appreciate that.


#1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: Best Friends(c) vs. Le Sex Gods (Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara)- 7.5/10
Matt Hardy was on commentary. He offered to let Sammy pick which version of Matt Hardy he faces next week.
This was a great match, and I was pretty shocked that the babyfaces won.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine, I guess
Orange Cassidy was disguised as one of the cameramen. He attacked Jericho after the match and beat him up. I don’t know if I’d have brought OC back so quickly, but if you’re doing the match at Fyter Fest (which it was announced that they are), I guess you need to so OC can cut the go-home promo on next week’s show.


This was a pretty great episode of Dynamite. There were a few things I didn’t like, but many of them were small, the wrestling was mostly great, and there were some damn good promos on this show. I’m actually pretty darn excited for Fyter Fest.

[Thelone]

They badly want a spoopy character/group to catch on, isn't it? Also do they have any other serious female babyface after Shida?

[cero2k]

They badly want a spoopy character/group to catch on, isn't it? Also do they have any other serious female babyface after Shida?

"Serious" as in top, not really, closest is Swole. "Serious" as in personality, not really, closest is Swole. They seem to be signing people, so maybe they can try and get someone, but I think that as long as Shida is champion, they may not worry about it that much.

As for scary, it's not a bad gimmick to have really, Decay and Rosemary got really over on Impact, and it's not something that gets used often. For their demographic, a horror icon is a good thing to have, it would sell merch.

[Big Red Machine]

They badly want a spoopy character/group to catch on, isn't it? Also do they have any other serious female babyface after Shida?

"Serious" as in top, not really, closest is Swole. "Serious" as in personality, not really, closest is Swole. They seem to be signing people, so maybe they can try and get someone, but I think that as long as Shida is champion, they may not worry about it that much.

What about Riho?

Personally, I think Swole is what they need. She is a no-nonsense ass-kciker but with a big personality. She's the Ali to Shida's Foreman.

As for scary, it's not a bad gimmick to have really, Decay and Rosemary got really over on Impact, and it's not something that gets used often. For their demographic, a horror icon is a good thing to have, it would sell merch.

Decay got over because they were involved with the Hardys. No one cared about their early feuds.

[Thelone]

"Serious" as in top, not really, closest is Swole. "Serious" as in personality, not really, closest is Swole. They seem to be signing people, so maybe they can try and get someone, but I think that as long as Shida is champion, they may not worry about it that much.

Which is becoming quite ludicrous at this point. I get it, Count Chocula-itis changed everything and they have a good chunk of the roster stuck overseas, but they'll have to make some choices when everything goes back to normal.

As for Swole being the #2 babyface, that's a bit concerning because the heels won't be able to gain much momentum before going after Shida.

As for scary, it's not a bad gimmick to have really, Decay and Rosemary got really over on Impact, and it's not something that gets used often. For their demographic, a horror icon is a good thing to have, it would sell merch.

I guess "being dark" and "being horrific" isn't exactly the same thing, but it feels like there are a whole bunch of dark/evil/scary characters around lately (Wyatt, Black, Priest, Kross, Dark Order(*), Nightmare Collective, and now this Abadon girl). I guess it's just a bit repetitive at this point, especially in AEW where it died twice in spectacular fashion.

(*) I know I did mention the whole "Lee is VKM" thing when he debuted, but am I the only one who thinks that the Dark Order in general is supposed to be a knock on WWE at this point with Lee as VKM trying to recruit anything that breathes, put them in a certain mold, but failing to really gain anything with that routine?

[cero2k]

What about Riho?

Personally, I think Swole is what they need. She is a no-nonsense ass-kciker but with a big personality. She's the Ali to Shida's Foreman.

idk when she is ever coming back, same with Yuka Sazakaki. Plus i think TheLone would have replied telling me that Riho sucks.

Decay got over because they were involved with the Hardys. No one cared about their early feuds.

Decay was over before the Hardy feud, but they got 98% over because Rosemary. No one cared about their Hardy feud. It was always Rosemary.

[cero2k]

Which is becoming quite ludicrous at this point. I get it, Count Chocula-itis changed everything and they have a good chunk of the roster stuck overseas, but they'll have to make some choices when everything goes back to normal.

As for Swole being the #2 babyface, that's a bit concerning because the heels won't be able to gain much momentum before going after Shida.

it's always been a concern, there's a ton of 'signed' people we've really haven't seen in almost a full year of work. I'm still waiting for Sadie Gibbs. I'm hoping the supposed second show can alleviate that.

You are right that heels won't have people to defeat on their way to Shida, hence why I think Penelope has an story winning in a four way and being kinda unworthy. They do have all the indie talent that they can bring in to squash, but something needs to happen for us to believe that Ford has any chance.

I guess "being dark" and "being horrific" isn't exactly the same thing, but it feels like there are a whole bunch of dark/evil/scary characters around lately (Wyatt, Black, Priest, Kross, Dark Order(*), Nightmare Collective, and now this Abadon girl). I guess it's just a bit repetitive at this point, especially in AEW where it died twice in spectacular fashion.

(*) I know I did mention the whole "Lee is VKM" thing when he debuted, but am I the only one who thinks that the Dark Order in general is supposed to be a knock on WWE at this point with Lee as VKM trying to recruit anything that breathes, put them in a certain mold, but failing to really gain anything with that routine?

Yeah, it's Abaddon first day, we'll have to see what they do with her. For that matter, I think the Dark Order and Butcher/Blade are not really that 'dark' gimmicks anymore. From experience, they're doing ok with reacting to fans not getting into some gimmicks.

(*) I kinda just see it as the DO is building whatever final version of the team it will be. I do think it's growing too much now and there aren't many other stables to feud with in terms of numbers.

[Thelone]

idk when she is ever coming back, same with Yuka Sazakaki. Plus i think TheLone would have replied telling me that Riho sucks.

She's bland and unremarkable, but I feel like Kenny's fascination with tiny joshi has been put in the fridge for the time being.

it's always been a concern, there's a ton of 'signed' people we've really haven't seen in almost a full year of work. I'm still waiting for Sadie Gibbs. I'm hoping the supposed second show can alleviate that.

That is true to a certain degree, but AEW really needs to stop handing out contracts like candy as well. Half of the roster have some kind of pointless second/valet/manager/mascot around, a lot of wrestlers are/were seemingly signed on a whim with little to no follow-up (hardcore """legend""" Luther, Melanie Cruise, most of the Dark Order goofs, Shanna, even Swole and Statlander to a lesser extent) and they'll sign at least one more from WWE's recent releases. Again, I get that a bunch of people are stuck overseas for who knows how long, but the bloated roster was already a problem before COVID-19.

You are right that heels won't have people to defeat on their way to Shida, hence why I think Penelope has an story winning in a four way and being kinda unworthy. They do have all the indie talent that they can bring in to squash, but something needs to happen for us to believe that Ford has any chance.

What they're doing with Ford is fine for a one-off routine defense, but they can't do that for every challenger though. There are still some veterans available who can help a bunch of green wrestlers improve in the ring and give them a rub (LuFisto, Nicole Matthews, Cheerleader Melissa?), but they let them get signed by WWE (Martinez) or Impact instead (Kimber Lee, Nevaeh).

Yeah, it's Abaddon first day, we'll have to see what they do with her. For that matter, I think the Dark Order and Butcher/Blade are not really that 'dark' gimmicks anymore. From experience, they're doing ok with reacting to fans not getting into some gimmicks.

(*) I kinda just see it as the DO is building whatever final version of the team it will be. I do think it's growing too much now and there aren't many other stables to feud with in terms of numbers.

I don't know, I was thinking about them a few days ago for whatever ungodly reason and started to make the connection between DO and WWE's recruitment process and way of turning anyone into generic drones with equally generic names. Mind you, that doesn't make them any more interesting, but that's the kind of weird meta stuff I can see them doing because #winkwinknudgenudge, even though they're very much doing the same thing at this point.

[Big Red Machine]

Decay got over because they were involved with the Hardys. No one cared about their early feuds.

Decay was over before the Hardy feud, but they got 98% over because Rosemary. No one cared about their Hardy feud. It was always Rosemary.

Were we watching the same thing? I remember them having matches with Beer Money that no one gave a sh*t about, and then they got lucky enough to get involved with the Hardys right after the Fina Deletion happened and people started to care about them.

[Big Red Machine]

I guess "being dark" and "being horrific" isn't exactly the same thing, but it feels like there are a whole bunch of dark/evil/scary characters around lately (Wyatt, Black, Priest, Kross, Dark Order(*), Nightmare Collective, and now this Abadon girl). I guess it's just a bit repetitive at this point, especially in AEW where it died twice in spectacular fashion.

(*) I know I did mention the whole "Lee is VKM" thing when he debuted, but am I the only one who thinks that the Dark Order in general is supposed to be a knock on WWE at this point with Lee as VKM trying to recruit anything that breathes, put them in a certain mold, but failing to really gain anything with that routine?

Yeah, it's Abaddon first day, we'll have to see what they do with her. For that matter, I think the Dark Order and Butcher/Blade are not really that 'dark' gimmicks anymore. From experience, they're doing ok with reacting to fans not getting into some gimmicks.

Butcher & Blade never came off as a "dark" gimmick to me except for that one scene where they magically transformed into their uniforms when MJF paid them to take out the Bucks. But if they were supposed to be "dark" the whole time and now suddenly aren't (and their gear has now changed with no explanation, so maybe I've been wrong about them not having been dark before) then there needs to be an explanation for the change. Most people don't give up being powered by dark forces without a reason.

Dark Order aren't a "dark" gimmick in that sense anymore. They're more of a cult than the dark sorcerer with minions that they seemed to be in 2019.
They are another group that changed away from being dark with no explanation, but I think they could actually tell a good story with that if it turns out to be that Brodie was upset with SSB's failures and so he took back the power he had given them and came to AEW to deal with things personally, and his approach is more of the "we're just normal people and I'm trying to help you. You have nothing to fear from us" cult thing rather than blatantly using eldritch powers because that will scare people away, and it turns out that he still has the powers and only uses them either when he feels he needs them or when he's in secret and no one is looking (so we won't ever see it on a Dark Order video but rather it would be someone else with a camera catching it by mistake.).

[cero2k]

Were we watching the same thing? I remember them having matches with Beer Money that no one gave a sh*t about, and then they got lucky enough to get involved with the Hardys right after the Fina Deletion happened and people started to care about them.

i think you're overestimating that feud and giving Decay more credit than I am. They were over when they feuded with The Wolves, their first feud, but afterwards, people realized that Crazzy Steve sucked and Abyss was just the same Abyss as always, the Beer Money feud was like 6 months later, and the Hardy one like 1 year later. At this point, they were over because people wanted to watch Rosemary, not Steve or Abyss.

[cero2k]

Butcher & Blade never came off as a "dark" gimmick to me except for that one scene where they magically transformed into their uniforms when MJF paid them to take out the Bucks. But if they were supposed to be "dark" the whole time and now suddenly aren't (and their gear has now changed with no explanation, so maybe I've been wrong about them not having been dark before) then there needs to be an explanation for the change. Most people don't give up being powered by dark forces without a reason.

Dark Order aren't a "dark" gimmick in that sense anymore. They're more of a cult than the dark sorcerer with minions that they seemed to be in 2019.
They are another group that changed away from being dark with no explanation, but I think they could actually tell a good story with that if it turns out to be that Brodie was upset with SSB's failures and so he took back the power he had given them and came to AEW to deal with things personally, and his approach is more of the "we're just normal people and I'm trying to help you. You have nothing to fear from us" cult thing rather than blatantly using eldritch powers because that will scare people away, and it turns out that he still has the powers and only uses them either when he feels he needs them or when he's in secret and no one is looking (so we won't ever see it on a Dark Order video but rather it would be someone else with a camera catching it by mistake.).

you're right in both accounts, I also never thought they were 'dark', just kinda Goth if anything else, but people judged a lot of people wearing black as 'dark' gimmicks when AEW started; that's why i wouldn't even care for an excuse or explanation, to me it was more of a clothing change and nothing more, none of their personalities has particularly changed.

[Big Red Machine]

you're right in both accounts, I also never thought they were 'dark', just kinda Goth if anything else, but people judged a lot of people wearing black as 'dark' gimmicks when AEW started; that's why i wouldn't even care for an excuse or explanation, to me it was more of a clothing change and nothing more, none of their personalities has particularly changed.

Or how could you not show that sequence of them magically transforming and not expect people to think they have magical powers? I think that one segment is the reason people assumed they were a "dark" gimmick. That and the fact that nice babyface Allie suddenly had this heel alternate personality with no explanation. I think it was a fair conclusion to draw.
Butcher & Blade are one of those spaces where it's clear to me that AEW really didn't think through the consequences of what they were showing on TV. They were shown to be brought in by MJF (and were shown to have a separate source of income via that butcher shop), so why do they still have jobs after that first match with Cody so he could get revenge?
The lack of thinking through the consequences bugs me.