Apologies if I miss something in this review. It hasn’t been that long since I saw the Hana Kimura news, and watching this show is what I’m trying to do to distract myself and get myself back on a normal track.
ALEX MARVEZ INTERVIEWS THE INNER CIRCLE- bad
I guess this theoretically builds up to whatever they’re doing with the Elite tonight, but I don’t think “that’s nothing compared to what we’re going to do to the Elite tonight” is really going to convince anyone who was on the fence that this match will be worth watching. They also insulted Marvez a lot in a manner that many elementary school children would be proud of.
BRODIE LEE PROMO- boring
This was all over the place and I have no idea what the point of it was. If he was trying to convince us that the Dark Order isn’t a cult it would have made a lot more sense to address the criticism head-on instead of this sort of thing where he’s talking around it, talking about wanting to “pay back the love” that his followers have shown him, but not actually trying to provide us with explanations of why the things that make the group feel cultish are actually not cultish behavior at all.
Also, 10 is now a “High Knight of the Dark Order,” whatever that means.
10 vs. JON MOXLEY- 2/10
I think they made a misstep with Moxley not caring that Brodie stole the belt. It makes him look like he doesn’t care about the title. (EDIT: Yes, Moxley had an explanation later, but that explanation should have come the first week after the belt was stolen, not two weeks after it).
Speaking of missteps, according to Excalibur, this 10 has previously competed in AEW under the name “Preston Vance.” So he’s just another jobber, then… and yet Moxley is having some trouble with him? I think it would have been much better to just say that Brodie and/or the Dark Order trained this guy after they recruited him. It not only avoids the jobber stigma, but also gives you the sense the Brodie is raising an army.
10 got some offense in, but Moxley won handily, so this 10 dude still feels like he’s mostly a jobber, so why did we waste time giving him a video package?
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
Moxley grabs a chair and threatens to break 10’s arm unless the AEW World Title belt is returned to him. Brodie showed up on the TonyTron, cut his go-home promo, and then went home, saying that everyone has to make sacrifices before sacrificing 10’s arm to Moxley. Schiavone insisted that this feud was now personal on both sides (Moxley was angry because the belt was stolen and now Brodie is angry because his “favorite” Creeper’s arm was broken), but that goes against the entire presentation of Brodie Lee. He’s a cult leader. He doesn’t actually care about his followers’ well-being.
MARKO STUNT vs. MJF (w/Wardlow)- 4.75/10
The announcers pointed out that MJF’s only loss in AEW was in a four-way that he didn’t even take the pin in. Well then why isn’t he the #1 contender?
They match was good for what it was.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
MJF is a dick to Marko and insults him. Then has Wardlow hold him in place so MJF can hit him with the ring. Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy ran out, too late to make the save. Their lack of presence at ringside felt weird in itself, which made their lateness to make the save feel a little forced. Also, while this wasn’t bad, it wasn’t much of an angle, either. It felt like doing something just for the sake of doing something rather than something that will in any way enhance the story that will be told between MJF and Jungle Boy (and I don’t foresee the feud between these two groups continuing after the PPV, either).
ARN ANDERSON & JAKE ROBERTS TALKING SEGMENT- terrible
They rambled on for a while, not saying anything of any importance. I’m hoping that Arn’s comments about Tyson being allowed to do whatever he wants were Arn just running his mouth and not AEW teasing a f*ck finish.
Arn’s promo about Cody was particularly bad. He said that Cody was a leader of AEW and has helped revolutionize the business via AEW and thus he “had to win because he wants to know that he his leadership is being recognized, because he earned it.” Within kayfabe, this comment makes no sense at all, and outside of kayfabe, it sounds like Cody is whining and demanding a title. Neither of those is good.
This ended with a tease of a physical confrontation and referees running out to break it up. Arn said that he would give Jake a spinebuster at the PPV. Please don’t. There is no reason to risk something going wrong, and especially with a guy with a history of painkiller addiction.
DARBY ALLIN VIDEO- meh
I’m fine with Darby being the overly-artsy guy, and this was fine for that, but neither the message nor the delivery were very interesting.
PAC PROMO- good build for…
ORANGE CASSIDY vs. REY FENIX- 6.75/10
These two were having a very good match until Kip Sabian came out to cause a distraction by sitting on top of a ladder, because G-d forbid Rey Fenix beat Orange Cassidy cleanly.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- didn’t like it
SCU came out and acted like they were going to dump Sabian off the ladder but let him stay and turned to leave, only to come back and dump him off. Why didn’t you just run out and shove the ladder over in the first place? What is this Vince Russo “let’s serve him!” bullsh*t?
If you’re wondering what Sabian did to SCY to deserve this, the answer is that he’s in the ladder match at the PPV. Jimmy Havoc came out and did a spot, then Colt Cabana came out and did a spot and there was a big but completely pointless schmoz. This was like one of those WWE segments the week before the Mania battle royale where everyone who is going to be involved just runs in on a segment and all start trying to dump each other over the top rope. This felt like a planned segment that was put together with the intention of building up the Casino Ladder Match rather than the people who happen to be in the match having a brawl organically.
HIKARU SHIDA & KRIS STATLANDER vs. NYLA ROSE & DR. BRITT BAKER, DMD- 6.5/10
Britt’s leg was injured when Statlander and Shida slammed Nyla down onto it. Nyla, the champion, pinned #1 contender Hikaru Shida. My best guess is that the original plan called for Britt to get the pin so that a babyface could be down and Nyla could then go for the table, leading to Statlander saving Shida and Shida getting to put Nyla through the table to build up to their no DQs match for the title, and they changed it on the fly to having Nyla get the pin instead because it was the quickest way to think of that they could get there, so I’ll cut them a little bit of slack about the champion pinning the challenger right before the title match.
That being said, there really should have been someone in the back trying to come up with an alternative finish (it took me about forty-five seconds to come up with having Shida pin Nyla with a roll-up, then just have Nyla attack after the match to set up the same situation).
ALEX MARVEZ INTERVIEWS JON MOXLEY- good
Also, now I’m curious if 280 lbs. really is enough for to knock out a rhinoceros.
SHAWN SPEARS CNN PARODY PROMO- I would have liked this a lot more without the comedy
He claimed Dustin had retired, which apparently isn’t true according to the announcers, but with all of the stuff that only happens on Dark or social media or Being The Elite or whatever, I wasn’t sure if this was true or not before the announcers told me it wasn’t when the segment was over. I became even more confused when Spears then challenged this retired man to a match at the PPV. Spears made comments about Dustin’s drug problems and once again blamed Cody for Dustin getting beaten up by Lance Archer during their tournament match.
MATT HARDY VS. SAMMY GUEVARA VIDEO PACKAGE- good
MATT HARDY vs. SAMMY GUEVARA- 6.5/10
This wasn’t main event quality. Also, I really hope Matt is going to start using a new finisher because this match alone felt like it killed the Twist of Fate dead.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- didn’t like it.
The rest of the Inner Circle appear on the TonyTron. They’ve captured Kenny Omega and are beating him up in the football stadium. Matt Hardy runs off to go make the save. Why doesn’t he just use his magical powers of teleportation that they felt the need to establish the week he debuted? Fortunately for Kenny, the Young Bucks just happened to be in the football stadium, so they got to dramatically return to make the save.
Matt Hardy showed up eventually, and so did Adam Page. Are you really going to tell me that Page and the Bucks were in the complex, but instead of going to Dynamite- the show that they are EVPs and big stars of- they went to hang out at the empty football stadium? Really?
The babyfaces won the brawl when the heels decided to retreat. Page walked off. This whole thing with Page feels like it has gone on for too long. They’ve done this exact bit at least or three times now.
I like the idea of the Inner Circle trying to take Omega out before the PPV match, but having the Bucks and Page conveniently be in the football stadium to make the save made it feel a little too contrived for my liking.
This was a meh to bad episode of Dynamite. It was a paint-by-numbers go-home show, with a few too many segments that came off as a little too contrived for my liking.
BRM Reviews the 5/20/2020 Dynamite
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BRM Reviews the 5/20/2020 Dynamite
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FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3
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