BRM Reviews the 10/21/2020 Dynamite
Posted: Oct 21st, '20, 22:58
AEW WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Wardlow vs. Jungle Boy (w/Jurassic Express)- 7/10
Wardlow is apparently on an eight-match singles winning streak. To my recollection, only one of those has happened on Dynamite, it was back in May, and he didn’t even win cleanly. If you want this guy to look impressive, can you maybe give him some wins against name talent on your top show (which also happens to be the only show of yours that the majority of your audience watches)?
EDIT: I went back and checked. That dirty win over Luchasaurus is Wardlow’s ONLY win against a non-jobber. Why is he in this tournament?
They had a great power vs. speed match and Wardlow finally beat someone cleanly… but holy sh*t is this the wrong call. Jungle Boy is exactly the sort of wrestler who has to be seen making progress, or the fans lose faith in him. If you tell us someone has all of the talent and potential in the world, you need to start showing us that talent and potential get him somewhere. Wardlow is fine at what he does, but he’s not going to be someone who moves tickets, no matter what Jim Ross tells us (more on that in a minute). Jungle Boy does have the potential to be a difference maker based off of his talent and physical charisma alone. When you throw in the fact that he’s the child of a famous actor, and you have someone who has the potential to get attention outside of the wrestling bubble. You need to show us that he is making progress and that you’re not just full of hot air when you put him over!
Twice during this match, Ross put Wardlow over by telling us “athletic big-men sell tickets.”
1. This is a kayfabe wrestling show. We as fans don’t give a sh*t who sells the tickets. We care about who wins the matches and who behaves in an honorable and moral fashion.
2. Maybe athletic big-men do sell tickets, but this is AEW. The largest guy who feels like a real ticket mover is Moxley, who, while large by normal human standards, isn’t really what we’d consider a “big-man” in wrestling, either by his height or his weight. This is a company where most of the people who move tickets (Cody, Jericho, Omega, Young Bucks, Lucha Bros.) are small enough that they would never have been considered for top star status before the last twenty-five years outside of Mexico, and most of them wouldn’t have been considered for such a spot before the past ten in most promotions (TNA being the only real exception in terms of notable promotions. I’m using “solid TV deal” as a stand-in for “non-indy” here, so ROH wouldn’t have qualified yet).
FOOTAGE FROM AFTER AEW WENT OFF THE AIR- didn’t like it
Kingston ranted and raved about how Ambrose was a “sell-out” for going to WWE and failing to get his indy friends jobs there, too, so that “the inmates would run the asylum,” and about how dedicated Eddie is to pro wrestling. This all makes Kingston seem more sympathetic, which is the opposite of what you want to do with your heel.
He also vowed to make Moxley quit. Because of this, we were told that Moxley went to Tony Khan to demand that he be allowed to defend his title against Eddie Kingston at Full Gear in an I Quit match. I’m not a fan of I Quit matches in general, and I think announcing a world title match using the same gimmick that the other company has already announced for their next PPV isn’t the best look.
AEW WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Kenny Omega vs. Sonny Kiss- no rating, good squash
If Wardlow’s presence in this tournament is questionable at best (and it is), then Sonny Kiss’ is utterly ridiculous. His singles record in AEW is 2-7 (2-8 if losing a three-way on the second episode of Dark counts). He beat Serpentico on Dark about six weeks ago. To find his most recent singles win before that, you have to go all the way back to the pre-show of Fight for the Fallen 2019, when he beat Peter Avalon. Not only can Sonny Kiss not beat anyone who is above jobber level, but he has even lost to bottom of the barrel undercard geeks like Luther. And his tag team matches with Joey Janela don’t really help him very much, as even their duo has generally failed to beat anyone who isn’t a jobber.
And, no, the fact that he is subbing for Janela doesn’t help things because 1) Janela’s record isn’t much better. He’s 6-10 overall in AEW, and hasn’t been anyone above a jobber since February, and 2) there must be SOMEONE out there with a better record. MJF, for example. Or Lance Archer. Or Brodie Lee. Or Dustin Rhodes.
Or how about Shawn Spears? He’s on a ten-match winning streak if you ignore battle royales, which AEW does. That makes him more deserving than Wardlow, never mind Rose or Janela. Do you know what Spears’ singles record is this year? 14-2! And his overall singles record in AEW is 18-5. Why isn’t Shawn Spears in this tournament? Don’t tell me Spears’ can’t take a clean loss to Kenny Omega right now or it will screw up whatever he’s doing with Scorpio Sky.
Someone has decided to add comedy into Justin Roberts’ introduction for Omega. Also, he’s got dancing hot chicks with brooms, too. Remember when everyone was so happy that AEW was going to be the woke promotion?
Kenny obliterated Sonny with a V-Trigger and a One-Winged Angel. This was a good way to reframe Kenny as being more focused and works fine with their whole idea of reframing Kenny, but if that’s your goal, why are you adding comedy lines to his ring intro?
TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS ORANGE CASSIDY- bad
He said nothing of use, and came off like a goof not knowing where next week’s show was. It might be one thing if they were travelling around the country, but they’re not. He has wrestled in this same building on pretty much every show for the past seven months, so how the f*ck could he possibly not know where next week’s show is? And don’t tell me “he just doesn’t care,” because in this case, he’d have to be ignorant of a worldwide pandemic to not have figured this all out by now!
DASHA INTERVIEWS CODY AS HE ARRIVES AT THE BUILDING- mixed feelings
Of course Cody has to make sure he’s seen showing up in a limousine. And it’s not like this is the first fancy vehicle he’s shown up in, either. Remember that pick-up truck with his neck-tattoo logo on it? Having ONE cool or fancy car can be a babyface trait. Coming across as someone who just wants to be seen acting like a star does not.
Cody says that he’s surprised how quickly AEW booked a rematch. Same here. Usually they take forever to getting around to booking kayfabe obvious matches. His comments about the champions’ advantage here came off as the sort of thing someone would say as the start of a subtle heel turn. If that’s the direction AEW is going in then this is good. Otherwise, it’s bad.
Dasha also asked Cody about having put on fourteen pounds of muscle (again, coming off as someone who has to broadcast his accomplishments to the whole world. Not a babyface trait). He said that with his “recent” (I guess six months ago counts as “recent” to Cody) matches against Lance Archer, Brodie Lee, and Jake Hager, he felt he needed to put the weight on and become a true heavyweight. The problem with this is that- as Cody himself noted- he BEAT all of those guys (and I’ll throw Wardlow in there, too), so why does need to put on the weight?
EDDIE KINGSTON PROMO- GREAT!
AEW WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Penta el 0M vs. Rey Fenix- 7.75/10
Holy f*ck! They only did ONE Canadian Destroyer! And it was the finish, too! This was an excellent match with a good story about them being brothers that the commentators (including Eddie Kingston) helped tell. Penta seemed to think that Fenix took advantage of him and wasn’t happy afterwards.
BEST FRIENDS/KIP SABIAN & MIRO VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMOS- good
ALEX MARVEZ INTERVIEWS THE BEAVER BOYS & COLT CABANA- bad
John Silver is a complete and total clown now. And why is Cabana still in the Dark Order. Hasn’t he seen what terrible people they are?
AEW WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Adam Page vs. Colt Cabana (w/Evil Uno)- 7.75/10
You can add Cabana to the list of people whose presence in this tournament is questionable at best. The biggest name he’s beaten in a singles match in AEW is Q.T. Marshall.
Colt and Page did an excellent job of overcoming the fact that the outcome of this match felt very obvious going in.
Cabana lost cleanly, and the Dark Order helped him up afterwards. Excalibur pointed out that this was unusual for them.
TAZ & COMPANY PROMO- TREMENDOUS!
Just about the only thing I didn’t like here was Starks vowing to put Darby “in the grave.” Taz is SOOOOOO f*cking good.
MJF & CHRIS JERICHO GO TO DINNER- ATROCIOUS!
I wish I had a millionaire friend who would let me waste his/her money. Because that’s what this was. They did a f*cking dance number. They even had back-up dancers.
KILYNN KING vs. DR. BRITT BAKER, DMD (w/Rebel)- no rating, bad segment
This was a squash that went on for way too long. Also, Britt should not be allowed to put a glove on before doing her finisher.
Next week’s TNT Title match has been made a lumberjack match to stop the Dark Order from interfering. Remember the last time they made something a lumberjack match, and how that resulted in there being a lot of interference? Because they apparently don’t. How about if you want to prevent interference, you book a f*cking cage match?
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara in an “Elite Deletion match” has been signed for Full Gear. They didn’t tell us what the rules of this new match are.
DARBY ALLIN VIDEO WITH STEVE-O FROM JACKASS- Darby rolled down a halfpipe in a bodybag. What was the purpose of this?
WINNERS GET AN AEW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH AT FULL GEAR: Private Party vs. the Young Bucks vs. the Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs. The Butcher & The Blade (w/The Bunny)- 8/10
That’s right! With no explanation, Allie is now back to being The Bunny again and accompanying B&B to ringside. Well… there was an explanation in that “Eddie Kingston has reunited The Butcher, The Blade, and The Bunny.” Tell me again how AEW is so great at telling stories.
FTR were on commentary for this match. They got to watch an excellent action match which the Bucks won clean.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- didn’t like it
FTR got offer the Bucks some beer. Being dicks, the Bucks slap the beers out of their hands. Meanwhile, the timekeeper, who has had a mask coving up more of his face than usual on, slipped into the ring with a chair and attacked the Bucks from behind. Jim Ross can’t figure out of this was “premeditated or not.” It turned out to be Tully Blanchard.
They Pillmanizered Matt Jackson’s leg. The PPV is in two and a half weeks, which I think is too soon to recover from what should be a major injury angle. Also, the Bucks have been such assholes that when I saw the Pillmanizer, I thought “well… at least Matt can’t superkick anymore innocent people.”
In the ring, this was probably one of the best episodes of Dynamite, if not the best. If one ignores the issues with who was put in the tournament in the first place, this is also probably the show that annoyed me the least in quite a while, and the fact that this show had that terrible MJF/Jericho segment on it and yet still annoyed me less than other shows tells you just how many logic issues and goof-off segments Dynamite has had a on a weekly basis.
Wardlow is apparently on an eight-match singles winning streak. To my recollection, only one of those has happened on Dynamite, it was back in May, and he didn’t even win cleanly. If you want this guy to look impressive, can you maybe give him some wins against name talent on your top show (which also happens to be the only show of yours that the majority of your audience watches)?
EDIT: I went back and checked. That dirty win over Luchasaurus is Wardlow’s ONLY win against a non-jobber. Why is he in this tournament?
They had a great power vs. speed match and Wardlow finally beat someone cleanly… but holy sh*t is this the wrong call. Jungle Boy is exactly the sort of wrestler who has to be seen making progress, or the fans lose faith in him. If you tell us someone has all of the talent and potential in the world, you need to start showing us that talent and potential get him somewhere. Wardlow is fine at what he does, but he’s not going to be someone who moves tickets, no matter what Jim Ross tells us (more on that in a minute). Jungle Boy does have the potential to be a difference maker based off of his talent and physical charisma alone. When you throw in the fact that he’s the child of a famous actor, and you have someone who has the potential to get attention outside of the wrestling bubble. You need to show us that he is making progress and that you’re not just full of hot air when you put him over!
Twice during this match, Ross put Wardlow over by telling us “athletic big-men sell tickets.”
1. This is a kayfabe wrestling show. We as fans don’t give a sh*t who sells the tickets. We care about who wins the matches and who behaves in an honorable and moral fashion.
2. Maybe athletic big-men do sell tickets, but this is AEW. The largest guy who feels like a real ticket mover is Moxley, who, while large by normal human standards, isn’t really what we’d consider a “big-man” in wrestling, either by his height or his weight. This is a company where most of the people who move tickets (Cody, Jericho, Omega, Young Bucks, Lucha Bros.) are small enough that they would never have been considered for top star status before the last twenty-five years outside of Mexico, and most of them wouldn’t have been considered for such a spot before the past ten in most promotions (TNA being the only real exception in terms of notable promotions. I’m using “solid TV deal” as a stand-in for “non-indy” here, so ROH wouldn’t have qualified yet).
FOOTAGE FROM AFTER AEW WENT OFF THE AIR- didn’t like it
Kingston ranted and raved about how Ambrose was a “sell-out” for going to WWE and failing to get his indy friends jobs there, too, so that “the inmates would run the asylum,” and about how dedicated Eddie is to pro wrestling. This all makes Kingston seem more sympathetic, which is the opposite of what you want to do with your heel.
He also vowed to make Moxley quit. Because of this, we were told that Moxley went to Tony Khan to demand that he be allowed to defend his title against Eddie Kingston at Full Gear in an I Quit match. I’m not a fan of I Quit matches in general, and I think announcing a world title match using the same gimmick that the other company has already announced for their next PPV isn’t the best look.
AEW WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Kenny Omega vs. Sonny Kiss- no rating, good squash
If Wardlow’s presence in this tournament is questionable at best (and it is), then Sonny Kiss’ is utterly ridiculous. His singles record in AEW is 2-7 (2-8 if losing a three-way on the second episode of Dark counts). He beat Serpentico on Dark about six weeks ago. To find his most recent singles win before that, you have to go all the way back to the pre-show of Fight for the Fallen 2019, when he beat Peter Avalon. Not only can Sonny Kiss not beat anyone who is above jobber level, but he has even lost to bottom of the barrel undercard geeks like Luther. And his tag team matches with Joey Janela don’t really help him very much, as even their duo has generally failed to beat anyone who isn’t a jobber.
And, no, the fact that he is subbing for Janela doesn’t help things because 1) Janela’s record isn’t much better. He’s 6-10 overall in AEW, and hasn’t been anyone above a jobber since February, and 2) there must be SOMEONE out there with a better record. MJF, for example. Or Lance Archer. Or Brodie Lee. Or Dustin Rhodes.
Or how about Shawn Spears? He’s on a ten-match winning streak if you ignore battle royales, which AEW does. That makes him more deserving than Wardlow, never mind Rose or Janela. Do you know what Spears’ singles record is this year? 14-2! And his overall singles record in AEW is 18-5. Why isn’t Shawn Spears in this tournament? Don’t tell me Spears’ can’t take a clean loss to Kenny Omega right now or it will screw up whatever he’s doing with Scorpio Sky.
Someone has decided to add comedy into Justin Roberts’ introduction for Omega. Also, he’s got dancing hot chicks with brooms, too. Remember when everyone was so happy that AEW was going to be the woke promotion?
Kenny obliterated Sonny with a V-Trigger and a One-Winged Angel. This was a good way to reframe Kenny as being more focused and works fine with their whole idea of reframing Kenny, but if that’s your goal, why are you adding comedy lines to his ring intro?
TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS ORANGE CASSIDY- bad
He said nothing of use, and came off like a goof not knowing where next week’s show was. It might be one thing if they were travelling around the country, but they’re not. He has wrestled in this same building on pretty much every show for the past seven months, so how the f*ck could he possibly not know where next week’s show is? And don’t tell me “he just doesn’t care,” because in this case, he’d have to be ignorant of a worldwide pandemic to not have figured this all out by now!
DASHA INTERVIEWS CODY AS HE ARRIVES AT THE BUILDING- mixed feelings
Of course Cody has to make sure he’s seen showing up in a limousine. And it’s not like this is the first fancy vehicle he’s shown up in, either. Remember that pick-up truck with his neck-tattoo logo on it? Having ONE cool or fancy car can be a babyface trait. Coming across as someone who just wants to be seen acting like a star does not.
Cody says that he’s surprised how quickly AEW booked a rematch. Same here. Usually they take forever to getting around to booking kayfabe obvious matches. His comments about the champions’ advantage here came off as the sort of thing someone would say as the start of a subtle heel turn. If that’s the direction AEW is going in then this is good. Otherwise, it’s bad.
Dasha also asked Cody about having put on fourteen pounds of muscle (again, coming off as someone who has to broadcast his accomplishments to the whole world. Not a babyface trait). He said that with his “recent” (I guess six months ago counts as “recent” to Cody) matches against Lance Archer, Brodie Lee, and Jake Hager, he felt he needed to put the weight on and become a true heavyweight. The problem with this is that- as Cody himself noted- he BEAT all of those guys (and I’ll throw Wardlow in there, too), so why does need to put on the weight?
EDDIE KINGSTON PROMO- GREAT!
AEW WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Penta el 0M vs. Rey Fenix- 7.75/10
Holy f*ck! They only did ONE Canadian Destroyer! And it was the finish, too! This was an excellent match with a good story about them being brothers that the commentators (including Eddie Kingston) helped tell. Penta seemed to think that Fenix took advantage of him and wasn’t happy afterwards.
BEST FRIENDS/KIP SABIAN & MIRO VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMOS- good
ALEX MARVEZ INTERVIEWS THE BEAVER BOYS & COLT CABANA- bad
John Silver is a complete and total clown now. And why is Cabana still in the Dark Order. Hasn’t he seen what terrible people they are?
AEW WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Adam Page vs. Colt Cabana (w/Evil Uno)- 7.75/10
You can add Cabana to the list of people whose presence in this tournament is questionable at best. The biggest name he’s beaten in a singles match in AEW is Q.T. Marshall.
Colt and Page did an excellent job of overcoming the fact that the outcome of this match felt very obvious going in.
Cabana lost cleanly, and the Dark Order helped him up afterwards. Excalibur pointed out that this was unusual for them.
TAZ & COMPANY PROMO- TREMENDOUS!
Just about the only thing I didn’t like here was Starks vowing to put Darby “in the grave.” Taz is SOOOOOO f*cking good.
MJF & CHRIS JERICHO GO TO DINNER- ATROCIOUS!
I wish I had a millionaire friend who would let me waste his/her money. Because that’s what this was. They did a f*cking dance number. They even had back-up dancers.
KILYNN KING vs. DR. BRITT BAKER, DMD (w/Rebel)- no rating, bad segment
This was a squash that went on for way too long. Also, Britt should not be allowed to put a glove on before doing her finisher.
Next week’s TNT Title match has been made a lumberjack match to stop the Dark Order from interfering. Remember the last time they made something a lumberjack match, and how that resulted in there being a lot of interference? Because they apparently don’t. How about if you want to prevent interference, you book a f*cking cage match?
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara in an “Elite Deletion match” has been signed for Full Gear. They didn’t tell us what the rules of this new match are.
DARBY ALLIN VIDEO WITH STEVE-O FROM JACKASS- Darby rolled down a halfpipe in a bodybag. What was the purpose of this?
WINNERS GET AN AEW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH AT FULL GEAR: Private Party vs. the Young Bucks vs. the Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs. The Butcher & The Blade (w/The Bunny)- 8/10
That’s right! With no explanation, Allie is now back to being The Bunny again and accompanying B&B to ringside. Well… there was an explanation in that “Eddie Kingston has reunited The Butcher, The Blade, and The Bunny.” Tell me again how AEW is so great at telling stories.
FTR were on commentary for this match. They got to watch an excellent action match which the Bucks won clean.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- didn’t like it
FTR got offer the Bucks some beer. Being dicks, the Bucks slap the beers out of their hands. Meanwhile, the timekeeper, who has had a mask coving up more of his face than usual on, slipped into the ring with a chair and attacked the Bucks from behind. Jim Ross can’t figure out of this was “premeditated or not.” It turned out to be Tully Blanchard.
They Pillmanizered Matt Jackson’s leg. The PPV is in two and a half weeks, which I think is too soon to recover from what should be a major injury angle. Also, the Bucks have been such assholes that when I saw the Pillmanizer, I thought “well… at least Matt can’t superkick anymore innocent people.”
In the ring, this was probably one of the best episodes of Dynamite, if not the best. If one ignores the issues with who was put in the tournament in the first place, this is also probably the show that annoyed me the least in quite a while, and the fact that this show had that terrible MJF/Jericho segment on it and yet still annoyed me less than other shows tells you just how many logic issues and goof-off segments Dynamite has had a on a weekly basis.