BRM Reviews the 6/4/2021 Dynamite

[Big Red Machine]

DEATH TRIANGLE (Penta el 0M & Pac) vs. YOUNG BUCKS (w/Brandon Cutler)- 6.25/10
Penta is still wearing that ugly Joker gear. We were told that Moxley was injured from taking all of those BTE Triggers. We were also told that Rey Fenix isn’t out here at ringside because the Bucks jumped him in the back. I like the explanation, but Excalibur saying that AEW is refusing to play the footage is a little silly to me. It’s pro wrestling. We play that stuff all the time.
Tony Schiavone added the detail that it was multiple BTE Triggers that injured Rey Fenix, so we’re starting to educate the cans that that combination is an instant injury. I like that.
What I didn’t like is Pac and Penta calmly standing there while for the entrance of the people who attacked and injured their friend/brother. This was exacerbated even more by Frankie Kazarian viciously assaulting Michael Nakazwa in the crowd. I don’t remember if Nakazwa was personally involved in the Bucks vs. Addiction match, but even if he was, Kaz should not be more angry about his friend being forced to split up their tag team (due to a stipulation they themselves wanted, and with no explanation) because some guys cheated than Death Triangle should be about a physical assault on their friend and brother so vicious it prevents him from appearing on the show tonight.
Anderson and Gallows chased Kaz away. The Bucks went to check on Nakazawa, and only when they got back to the ring did Pac and Penta attack. This all could have been solved by having the Elite enter first, doing the thing with Kaz, and then having Pac and Penta enter second and charge right at the Bucks (or even come out of the crowd and jump them from behind. Death Triangle are heels, after all).
Don Callis was on commentary for this match. I assume his comment when Matt Jackson was running around the ring to do the shoulder block was a planned shot at WWE. Either that, or it was a shot at the recently-fired Braun Strowman, which probably wasn’t the best thing to do if you have any desire to bring him in.
The match started off fine but devolved into the usual overly-cutesy spottiness that Penta tends to bring out in people. We got a Whazzup spot right in front of the referee should not be happening, and it looks even worse when you make sure the referee is distracted for a low blow later. It makes it look like the wrestlers don’t think with any eye towards some sort of internal consistency.
The spot with the Bucks taking Penta’s mask off but then he had another on under it was fine, but it would have been a lot better if there had been any sort of follow-up on the Bucks taking off Fenix’s mask during a match (I had completely forgotten about it until Excalibur brought it up earlier, and even then still had no memory of how long ago it was). And the finish… yeah. Ross is completely right that there was no way the referee could have seen if Pac’s shoulders were actually down or not. On the one hand, there is no excuse for that sort of crap, but on the other hand, AEW’s referee already look incompetent, and Ross probably shouldn’t be pointing it out when they look even more incompetent.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- okay
The Bucks continued the beat-down. They went for Penta’s mask… but then gave up on it and set him up for the BTE Trigger instead. Eddie Kingston came out to make the save for his old comrades. This would have been better if Kingston had had some sort of weapon. I’m fine with the heels being cowards in a fair fight, but this would have been two on one (or three, with Cutler) and they’re the tag champs. They shouldn’t have run away from one unarmed man.

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS MARK HENRY- bad
Mark teased getting back in the ring (which they shouldn’t do unless there is an actual plan for). He said that he wasn’t here to “fix” AEW, but that he was here to “turn the screws.” I’m not totally sure I understand what that means, and doubly so in kayfabe.
Then Vickie Guerrero came out and told them to f*ck off, and they just did. That didn’t make Mark look very good.

VICKIE GUERRERO INTRODUCES ANDRADE EL IDOLO- bad
Andrade came out to no music and cut a short promo saying that he would be the face of AEW. Vickie is a D-tier manager, and then to have Andrade come out to NO music? Are they TRYING to kill him? I get that Andrade needs a bilingual manager, but are you really telling me that there isn’t a single bilingual manager on the indies who is better than Vickie Guerrero? I refuse to believe that.
Jim Ross, being… well… Jim Ross… managed to immediately get Andrade’s name wrong.

THE FACTORY (Q.T. Marhsall & Anthony Ogogo) vs. CODY RHODES & LEE JOHNSON (w/Arn Anderson)- 5/10
Ross got all unreasonably… something. Is there a word for a combination of angry and dismissive? Anyway, Ross got all *INSERT THAT WORD HERE* about Q.T. Marshall’s name, demanding to know “what does ‘Q.T.’ even stand for, anyway?” Who gives a sh*t, you old fart? It’s the dude’s initials! There is no reason for you to be upset about this.
The way they have framed this Factory storyline (that the wrestlers are loyal to Q.T. because he actually did the training while Cody was out doing other things for the company) makes Lee Johnson look like quite the suck-up to the boss, which is not a good look for a babyface.
No one embarrassed themselves, but neither of the youngsters stood out, either.
The thing that stood out to me the most in this match was Cody showing good instincts and making sure he got his shoulder up in a situation where he was being pinned and knew Johnson was supposed to break the pin up, but was being covered in such a way that he couldn’t see if Johnson was coming or not. Always good to do something like that, just to be safe.
The finish saw Aaron Solow come out to distract the referee so that Ogogo could run in and punch Cody while Cody had Q.T. set up for the CrossRhodes, so Q.T. fell on Cody and pinned him. Q.T. cut a good heel promo afterwards, bragging about his accomplishment when we all know that he just got lucky.

INNER CIRCLE PROMO- great promo, but…
It took them A LOT of tries to find fans who actually seemed to know the words to the song, which makes me a little suspicious about just how many “fans” we saw before the pandemic were actually real fans and not plants. Jericho gave everyone free Stadium Stampede t-shirts. Well… if you over-make an event t-shirt, that’s not a bad way to get rid of inventory while creating good will at the same time.
Anyway, these guys (other than Hager, who I will get o in a moment) cut really great promos framing why they want to continue their feud with the Pinnacle. I think they did about as good a job as possible, given what they were asked to do, but continuing the feud feels like it completely cheapens the Stadium Stampede gimmick… which in turn also cheapens the Blood & Guts match, and makes the whole feud feel like something of a money grab/ratings ploy rather than matches that flow organically from the needs of the story. This feels like a feud that the wrestlers put together themselves based on what matches they thought it would be fun/cool/a draw to have.
As for Hager… his promo was essentially “you beat in a pro wrestling match (which is neutral territory because we’re both pro wrestlers) so now I want you to face me on terrain where I have the advantage (an MMA cage).” What kind of cowardly heel crap is that?

WORLD TITLE MATCH/ORANGE CASSIDY VIDEO PACKAGE- good, but…
I’d love for there to be DQs in three-ways, but in AEW, there don’t seem to be. If there were, then Omega should have been disqualified (or, even better, ejected from the match) when Callis pulled Bryce Remsburg out of the ring, but that didn’t happen. So either we’ve once again got completely incompetent refereeing, or the babyfaces are complaining about the bad guys breaking the rules when they technically didn’t.
Also, there was a spot in the world title match where it definitely seemed like the idea was that Pac got screwed (Omega took the ref out while Pac had OC in the Brutalizer), but that has gone completely unmentioned all night, and it seems like we’re supposed to view OC as having been screwed, but not Pac (who also got hit with belts and the like). Why aren’t we supposed to feel that Pac got screwed?

KENNY OMEGA & DON CALLIS STUFF- very bad
They’re claiming that there is a “conspiracy” against Omega and said up for a segment next week that will either be bad comedy or it will be boring delusional heel crap. Jungle Boy gets his title shot in three weeks. Omega was goof while talking about him as well.

CHRISTIAN CAGE & JUNGLE BOY vs PRIVATE PARTY (w/Matt Hardy)- 6.25/10
Fine tag team stuff. Jungle Boy gets the clean win for his team.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Matt Hardy attacked Christian on the ramp. There was nothing wrong with the execution of this, but this is a feud I would be staying far away from if I were AEW.

TAZ PROMO ON BEHALF OF TEAM TAZ- great (although I could have done without the dramatic music)
Taz challenges Adam Page and one of his Dark Order buddies to face Will Hobbs and Brian Cage on Dynamite next week. Not only that, but he plugged a match on Dark: Elevation, where he says his team will destroy some jobbers.

TONY SCHIAVONE’S INTERVIEW WITH DARBY ALLIN & STING IS INTERRUPTED BY ETHAN PAGE & SCORPIO SKY ON THE TRON- fine, but…
Sting thanked the fans. Page and Sky interrupted on the Tron and claimed that Sting was carrying Darby. They challenged Darby to prove them wrong by finding a different partner to face them. In vacuum, I like the idea here (and I still do, even with what I’m about to say), but at this point I’m getting the feeling that absolutely nothing was solved at Sunday’s PPV.

DR. BRITT BAKER’S CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATION- very bad
Ross got Hikaru Shida’s name wrong. He’s been saying it for almost two years at this point.
We’ve got Tony Schiavone and a bunch of undercard heels in the ring. Britt tries to trick the fans into looking under their seats for “burger coupons.” No one fell for it. Then she cut what was supposed to be an arrogant heel promo talking about how great she is, except the fans- who she had just tried to be mean to moments ago- all cheered her like she was a babyface.
Then Britt said that only she, Tony, and Rebel could have the burgers. This upset Nyla Rose, so she knocked the burgers out of their hands, threw the remaining burgers on the floor, popped the balloons, and then left.
Yes, Britt is being mean, and burgers are awesome and taunting someone with them is a dick move. But on the other hand, what the hell did Nyla expect was going to happen? Britt Baker is a known asshole, and it’s not like they’re friends. Now throw in the fact that none of the heels reacted this way, and the fact that the fans didn’t even boo when Britt tried to taunt them about the burgers, and what you’ve got here isn’t a babyface turn; it’s just Nyla being unreasonable and throwing a temper tantrum.

ALEX MARVEZ’S INTERVIEW WITH EDDIE KINGSTON IS INTERRUPTED BY PAC- great
Pac ran in and said that they didn’t want Kingston’s help. Kingston responded by telling him “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Let that marinate in your brain for a minute.”

RED VELVET vs. THE BUNNY (w/the Blade)- 4/10
This is a follow-up from an angle on Dark, of which they showed a replay before this match. See? It’s not that hard.
Ross said that Bunny’s personality had changed since she joined with Matt Hardy’s group. HOW?
The heels tried to cheat for the win but the babyface overcame it and won clean. Hooray!

DORK ORDER PROMO- exceedingly dumb
It’s John Silver’s birthday. His parents really went overboard, because I counted eight clowns on the screen. And apparently at least one off of it, because Tony Khan apparently agreed to give John Silver a TNT Title shot for his birthday, but because Silver is injured, he can give it to one of his friends, so he’s giving it to Uno. Remember, everyone: Records are important here in AEW, and wins, losses, and rankings matter.

MIRO PROMO- very good

BULLROPE MATCH: Dustin Rhodes vs. Nick Comoroto- 6.5/10
Some Luchador I had never heard of or seen before interfered on Dustin’s behalf. Also, Colten Gunn and Aaron Solow got involved. This wasn’t terrible or anything, but it certainly wasn’t a main-event quality match, either.


Another meh to bad episode of Dynamite. The wrestling was okay, and while there were some great promos, a lot of them had caveats attached, and that Britt Baker segment. UCH.

[Thelone]

DEATH TRIANGLE (Penta el 0M & Pac) vs. YOUNG BUCKS (w/Brandon Cutler)- 6.25/10

The Bucks sure love to work with the Lucha Brothers/Death Triangle. I counted, they've faced I think TEN TIMES in some shape or form since AEW became a thing.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- okay
The Bucks continued the beat-down. They went for Penta’s mask… but then gave up on it and set him up for the BTE Trigger instead. Eddie Kingston came out to make the save for his old comrades. This would have been better if Kingston had had some sort of weapon. I’m fine with the heels being cowards in a fair fight, but this would have been two on one (or three, with Cutler) and they’re the tag champs. They shouldn’t have run away from one unarmed man.

Because this hot feud must continue.

VICKIE GUERRERO INTRODUCES ANDRADE EL IDOLO- bad
Andrade came out to no music and cut a short promo saying that he would be the face of AEW. Vickie is a D-tier manager, and then to have Andrade come out to NO music? Are they TRYING to kill him? I get that Andrade needs a bilingual manager, but are you really telling me that there isn’t a single bilingual manager on the indies who is better than Vickie Guerrero? I refuse to believe that.
Jim Ross, being… well… Jim Ross… managed to immediately get Andrade’s name wrong.

I mean, this is a pretty bad name, but yeah Ross needs to be let go whenever his contract is up.

As for who could be Andrade's manager, if only there was a guy who's already doing it for a SHAPE-shifter who seems to "turn" every time he's on screen and so is pretty pointless for that guy overall. Or a hot latina businesswoman who's been let go from her previous job and is now available. Eh, Screechie Guerrero will do, whatever...

In all seriousness, maybe Vickie is just a placeholder here while we're waiting for Salina de la Renta or maybe Trinidad (Abrahantes is already there)? The issue is that Thea is out of her 90 days already and I doubt SDR has any kind of no compete (like, isn't Pillman Jr. still signed with MLW technically?), so both could have introduced him here already.

THE FACTORY (Q.T. Marhsall & Anthony Ogogo) vs. CODY RHODES & LEE JOHNSON (w/Arn Anderson)- 5/10

So now I guess we're gonna have QT vs. Ogogo in the not-so-distant future. Riveting television right there.

KENNY OMEGA & DON CALLIS STUFF- very bad
They’re claiming that there is a “conspiracy” against Omega and said up for a segment next week that will either be bad comedy or it will be boring delusional heel crap. Jungle Boy gets his title shot in three weeks. Omega was goof while talking about him as well.

Just wait until they talk about the "power" of the belts (he has both the TNA and Impact titles after all) and that's why Omega has been collecting them.

CHRISTIAN CAGE & JUNGLE BOY vs PRIVATE PARTY (w/Matt Hardy)- 6.25/10
Fine tag team stuff. Jungle Boy gets the clean win for his team.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Matt Hardy attacked Christian on the ramp. There was nothing wrong with the execution of this, but this is a feud I would be staying far away from if I were AEW.

I don't know if we can call this a fall from grace considering Christian's debut was kinda a wet fart, but they absolutely have no idea what to do with him. It's a mystery why they didn't just do Omega vs. Christian at DoN, then move him down the card and be the mid/uppercard gatekeeper.

TONY SCHIAVONE’S INTERVIEW WITH DARBY ALLIN & STING IS INTERRUPTED BY ETHAN PAGE & SCORPIO SKY ON THE TRON- fine, but…
Sting thanked the fans. Page and Sky interrupted on the Tron and claimed that Sting was carrying Darby. They challenged Darby to prove them wrong by finding a different partner to face them. In vacuum, I like the idea here (and I still do, even with what I’m about to say), but at this point I’m getting the feeling that absolutely nothing was solved at Sunday’s PPV.

It's pretty telling about how rushed the DoN card was that a week later, it feels like it was closer to what those TNT specials will be than an actual PPV.

DR. BRITT BAKER’S CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATION- very bad

"""Shocking""" how the only woman who got any kind of focus and character for the last year or so is going to be cheered no matter what she does. Also time to reheat Rose for the billionth time, only to be featured (and beaten) during Pride Month.

RED VELVET vs. THE BUNNY (w/the Blade)- 4/10
This is a follow-up from an angle on Dark, of which they showed a replay before this match. See? It’s not that hard.
Ross said that Bunny’s personality had changed since she joined with Matt Hardy’s group. HOW?
The heels tried to cheat for the win but the babyface overcame it and won clean. Hooray!

Well, I guess now Allie is being conned by Hardy instead of conning the unfaithful QT? I don't know, and who cares.

DORK ORDER PROMO- exceedingly dumb
It’s John Silver’s birthday. His parents really went overboard, because I counted eight clowns on the screen. And apparently at least one off of it, because Tony Khan apparently agreed to give John Silver a TNT Title shot for his birthday, but because Silver is injured, he can give it to one of his friends, so he’s giving it to Uno. Remember, everyone: Records are important here in AEW, and wins, losses, and rankings matter.

Were the rankings ever used for anything involving the TNT title? I'm pretty sure even Miro wasn't ranked when he won the belt. At least they're used for the other divisions (sparringly, or "when the plot demands it"), but here we have Dark jobbers and nothing else. I get that it makes no sense for a ranked wrestler to go for the TNT title, but that's why you create another set of rules for the new belt so they don't overlap with the main one.

Also, can we stop with the Dark Order and Brodie's kid already? They've been aimless since Lee passed away (not that they had much when he was still there) and look, I'm sure the kid is well liked/treated backstage, but this started out as a nice gesture in the beginning to become exploitative and a really desperate way to keep the Dark Order around nowadays.

Another meh to bad episode of Dynamite. The wrestling was okay, and while there were some great promos, a lot of them had caveats attached, and that Britt Baker segment. UCH.

I understand that they've been dumped in a shitty timeslot for the NBA playoffs, but those two episodes have been really bad and low effort even for them.

[Big Red Machine]

^^^^^^^^^

Agreed on all counts (though I'm pretty sure it was reported that Trinidad was resigned by WWE).

[Thelone]

I think it's been debunked as just a rumor for the time being. Doesn't mean she won't be back there, but that seems even more unlikely now with her man out.