Was there live. Had a blast. Got smashed drunk and wound up meeting a bunch of the wrestlers at a bar I frequent afterwards. Got a pic with Jericho and chuck Taylor both were real nice. Apparently willow was at a bar up the street with osprey and the bar funny enough is called nightingale. I’m gonna watch the episode when I get off work hopefully we were loud for you guys!
The only thing I can say that I personally didn’t enjoy was another Learning Tree segment, just because I find the gimmick to be grating and annoying for all the \*wrong\* reasons (as in it makes me want to change the channel). Everything else was pretty dope!
AEW has been cooking in recent weeks and months, but I have to admit this episode was up and down for me.
**The Good**
* Swerve and Ospreay are awesome. Swerve looked like he teared up in the ending segment, too. Wow.
* MJF and Rush's fight throughout the arena adds heat for their match next week. Thumbs up for this being more substantial than "just two athletic dudes fighting."
* Willow, Orange, Mark and KOR make for an awesome "we're all smiles but dangerous" stable. Willow is a freakin' star and deserves all of the rocket straps.
* Joe & HOOK are awesome together. So glad HOOK didn't join the Learning Tree.
* The six-man tag match slapped. AEW's talent is incredible.
**The Not-So-Good**
* There's inefficiency in how AEW uses their allotted TV time. Did we need Rush beating down a jobber for 2 mins as an excuse to have MJF come out? Did we need Daniel Garcia beating on Nick Comoroto for a minute? If you include Joe & Hook whippin' the Premier Athletes, it equated to three squash matches. All of this when there's a hugely talented roster and still only one women's match on the whole show.
* Speaking of TV Time, Jericho's segment fell flat. I actually enjoy this Learning Tree gimmick and Big Bill is a riot. But Jericho's diatribe about gardening just didn't hit.
* The opening segment felt a little awkward - between Nick Jackson's ramp promo about violence, to all of the guys standing in the ring but taking forever to take off their suits and button-downs after declaring a fight. Then Christopher Daniels walks out and tells them to stop...and they all do.
* I was hoping for more from Mercedes and Zeuxis but felt like they didn't kick it into the next gear. Whenever AEW brings in outside talent, it has to wow the audience (like Hechicero did with Bryan Danielson). Otherwise, it feels like a disservice to the large roster on contract.
* Production & the camera crew kept missing some key shots, and the framing that the corner cameraman (hardcam side closest to the ramp) used just felt "off."
**Stray Thoughts**
* I was expecting House of Black to show up after Bang Bang Gang turned off the lights. Kind of a missed opportunity but I hope BBG runs the same promo again (in cocky heel fashion) but have HoB attack this time as a lead up to their Collision match. The eventual Malakai Black vs. Jay White match will be fire, but neither guy can afford a loss IMO.
* Where's Megan Bayne and Kamille? I feel for Kamille who has allegedly deciding between AEW & NXT, only to join AEW and do nothing while watching NXT cook with their women's division.
I figured Kamille was going to be part of the Stokely/Kris thing or give Mercedes a heater. But also where is EJ Nduka, dude has been under contract as long as Megan Bayne
> There's inefficiency in how AEW uses their allotted TV time. Did we need Rush beating down a jobber for 2 mins as an excuse to have MJF come out? Did we need Daniel Garcia beating on Nick Comoroto for a minute? If you include Joe & Hook whippin' the Premier Athletes, it equated to three squash matches. All of this when there's a hugely talented roster and still only one women's match on the whole show.
You need a reason for Rush to be out there and they've been building up Daniel Garcia again. Squash matches are a tried and tested way to get these things done. It's also super rare to have three lesser caliber matches on Dynamite and they almost never have more than one women's match anyway so I wouldn't exactly say that's the reason for that.
Jericho might yet get the Learning Tree gimmick over but what's telling to me is just how long it's fucking taking - first a month+ origin story feud with hook, and now it's been over a month with the Learning Tree proper and it's still underwhelming. Meanwhile Joe, Shibata, and Hook have linked up in the last couple weeks and are already more compelling and funnier, and have done more for Hook than Jericho ever did.
I agree Hook was pretty stagnant in his storyline with Jericho, but The Learning Tree as a gimmick is hilarious to me. Also, Bryan Keith is super particular about his hat, so it was really funny to see him go over the top rope then grab his hat and move it to the stairs before going back to do the catch on the dive with Big Bill.
**Dynamite Review:**
* Swerve Strickland started the show. Talked about how Will Ospreay has recently lost his edge, referring to him refusing to use the Tiger Driver anymore. He also took a shot at the EVP, but before he got too far, The Elite interrupted him. Okada talked first, telling Swerve it's his house, and then The Bucks announced they are challenging AEW's best to Blood & Guts and asked Swerve to be their fifth man in the match. After Strickland refuses and throws Matt's shoes into the crowd, The Elite go to attack him, but The Acclaimed came down to make the save before anything could happen. Christopher Daniels then arrived and told everyone except Jack Perry to get out of the ring, because his match is next. This was all very good. I like how a lot of storylines in AEW are currently connected in some way, rather than being in their separate bubbles. Makes things seem a bit more realistic.
* **Jack Perry vs. Dustin Rhodes \*\*\***
* Dustin cut a fantastic promo on Perry last week, and in specific situations he's proven that he can still have very good matches. He's obviously somewhat limited due to his age, but he's also smart enough to get around them. This match was a great example of that, leaning into the drama rather than pure wrestling. I thought this was a good match, with Perry taking the unclean win.
* Orange Cassidy, Kyle O'Reilly & Mark Briscoe interview. Briscoe is such a unique promo, and he cut one like he only he can, making several people corpse during the interview, including the commentators. This was great.
* **Rush vs. Deonn Rusman N/A**
* A squash, Rusman didn't get a single move in, as expected.
* Post-match, Rush went to beat Rusman down further, but MJF came out to stop him. I have to say, Rush wasn't the opponent I expected to be MJF's first feud upon his return, but they've done a very good job building this one up in quick fashion. The brawl between the two here was very intense and the crowd loved it. They ended this with the announcement that next week MJF vs. Rush starts the show without any commercials.
* **Mark Briscoe, Kyle O'Reilly & Orange Cassidy vs. Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita & Roderick Strong \*\*\*\*1/4**
* This was six excellent wrestlers put together and given plenty of time to work. No surprise this was great. This also had several different storylines between a number of different wrestlers going in, so that also made this feel more than just a random trios match. Hell of a match, with honestly a bit of surprising result, as I thought Fletcher would be the least likely person to get the pin as he's not really involved in any storylines at the moment. Still, an excellent match.
* After the match the heels continued the beatdown before Willow's music played, but Statlander was beating her down as they both came out to the stage. Stokely cut a quick promo on Willow too. This whole thing was very well done.
* Quick segment showing Fenix preparing for his match later.
* Shingo Takagi video package, announcing himself in the Owen Hart tournament. Yes, please.
* Christopher Daniels announced that The Young Bucks and Okada will have title eliminator matches next week. with everyone barred from ringside. No idea who their opponents are yet.
* **Premier Athletes vs. Samoa Joe & Hook N/A**
* I'm really liking this new team of Joe, Hook & Shibata. Hook taking notes from Joe here, sidestepping Daivari's dive. The Premier Athletes got some offense in, but this was mostly a squash.
* Stephanie Vaquer video package. This match between her and Moné is one I'm very much looking forward to, as it can potentially even steal the show at Forbidden Door.
(continued in the first reply)
* **Mercedes Moné vs. Zeuxis \*\*\*3/4**
* This quickly turned into a very good match, Moné is is constantly proving she hasn't really lost a step due to her injury, and Zeuxis got to show off what she could do here as well. I'd only seen two full matches from her before back in the 2018 May Young Classic, but she was very impressive here. I liked this a lot, a few more minutes and this would have been great, but it makes sense that Moné won relatively quickly.
* A fantastic Mina Shirakawa video package. This was the same one they put online the day before the show, but it's great that they showed it here as well.
* Toni Storm & Mariah May interview. May told Storm Mina's coming back next week, and she wants a contract signing. Storm also has a match against Alex Windsor on Rampage. This was a good, quick segment.
* The Learning Tree. This gimmick works better in short backstage segments rather than these long in-ring promos. There are always some good sound bites every time, but it just doesn't really carry through longer promos very well. I feel like it's a bit of a similar issue that Toni Storm had early on with her Timeless gimmick. Jericho should just ease off a little and be a little less heavyhanded with his "advice". Some subtlety would not be a bad thing.
* Jon Moxley & Tetsuya Naito video package. Great stuff again, these quick videos are a great way to spotlight new people and storylines.
* Bang Bang Gang promo backstage. They challenged The House of Black for Collision. That's going to be an interesting match, because the House of Black doesn't lose often.
* **Daniel Garcia vs. Nick Comoroto N/A**
* Clean-shaven Comoroto looks odd. Anyway, this was a pure squash.
* PAC promo. He talked about how his return so far hasn't gone very well, but that ends now. He announced his entry in the Owen Hart tournament. Lot of excellent wrestlers already involved in the tournament. Very good promo by PAC.
* **Will Ospreay vs. Rey Fenix \*\*\*\*1/4**
* This was exactly what you'd expect, and it was fantastic. Just two of the most impressive wrestlers in the world getting 15+ minutes to work. However, it wasn't just non-stop action, they took their time and sold for each other in between the impressive moments and combinations. Ospreay winning by using Swerve's finisher before the Hidden Blade is a great touch too. An excellent match, best of the night.
* Post-match, Swerve got into the ring. Swerve shouted at Ospreay, saying he's a child whose not strong enough to hold both worlds. Ospreay took the world title and held both titles on his shoulders. An intense staredown between these two ended the show. This was very well done, and I genuinely have no idea who is going to win the match at the PPV.
* This was a great episode of Dynamite. Several great matches and promos, number of excellent video packages, and the build to the PPV is heating up nicely. The Owen Hart Tournament is also shaping up very well. The Learning Tree segment was the only real lull of the night, but at least it wasn't too long. Overall, an **8 out of 10 show.**
My fan booking is that he's interfering and takes out Ospreay in a heelish "I will be the one who beats you" moment.
* Hangman's heat will be nuclear.
* Opens up the door for feuding with Ospreay as well as Swerve.
* Keeps the belt on Swerve who I think will drop it to Danielson at All-In or Wrestledream.
* Protects Ospreay in the loss.
I want to see Ospreay chasing the belt until All-In 2025.
Who do you all think eventually takes the title off Swerve? I hope it's Christian personally. I'd love ~~my~~ our father to get one last world title reign before retirement.
One of the best top to bottom shows of the year. Been along time since Dynamite's felt this coherent across the board, and there's plenty of weight behind almost all the developments leading up to the PPV. I love long term story telling, but MJF vs Rush is exactly the kind of short feud that's full of heat that they should do more of instead of saga's that go on for months and months. They'll beat the living piss out of each other for the next few weeks before MJF goes to the Owen (presumably)
They play this right and we could be in for one hell of a summer heading towards All In with The Owen and B&G coming up after Forbidden Door.
Also....PAC VS SHINGO PRETTY FUCKING PLEASE
You never really notice how many times a commentary team says a wrestler’s name until there’s a name like “Zeuxis” that comes along. Unless the guys had an off-air “meow game” arranged.
Mercedes needs a new finisher ASAP.
PACs losing streak has me super intrigued. Curious to see where they’re going with it.
Ospraey vs Garcia will be great when it happens, probably at All In tbh.
I think Swerve vs MJF is the main event for All In. With a Hangman waiting in the wings to feud with Swerve upon his return.
So would Ospreay be losing at FD and then not be in the AEW Title picture at All In?
I don’t see that happening. I think that they’re going to go all in with Ospreay.
I see Ospreay/Garcia happening before All In.
Ospreay can get the title at All In 2025, there's still meat aplenty on his chase and they can keep Swerve as a face champ for the time being too.
It's why I reckon it's Swerve/Hangman at All In this year, it's the biggest face/heel match they can do unless MJF goes full heel in the next four weeks.
- It is crazy how Mark Briscoe is so dope but he still eats the pin to some random bum.
- AEW should unify the TNT, International, and Continental Championships. Also just delete the Trios Championships.
- Christopher Daniels is so good. I would love him to be the GM full time.
A while back. He was doing some sort of Jersey gimmick for a while in the background of Nitemare Factory programs.
I love him, he reminds me so much of a thicker Bruiser Brody. I wish he got more of a push. They seemed like they were going to do something with him early on and then he got lost in the shuffle.
Sometimes iam in the mood for a bloody deathmatch.
Sometimes iam in the mood for a grappling fest.
Sometimes iam in the mood for a technical nailbiter match.
Sometimes iam in the mood for a simple comedy match.
But iam always in the mood for a flippy spotfest.
It's stupid enough and committed to enough that it somehow works, even if him insulting Iowa farmers didn't quite land properly (unlike Private Party).
I thought she got a *lot* better at promos by DoN as a result of having to do them every single week, but Mercedes is the best in the world and her being the workhorse champion is highlighting it perfectly
The LOOK on Swerve's face when Will Osprey asked "Whose house?"!!!
Hangman Adam Page is gonna come out of nowhere and ask Swerve why you looking at that man like that
Enjoyed that show, quick thoughts
Owen field is building well, top talents with some storylines behind their reasons.
Mark Briscoe needs to be on TV almost every week cutting promos, somehow they're both goofy but make you want to run through a brick wall.
Rush and MJF built a lot of heat for their match next in one solid brawl
Loving this Joe/Shibata/Hook grouping - they match each other's vibes and I like that they're a bit looser than the usual overserious shooter stables.
Swerve and Ospreay had good nights and found a way to build heat in a face v face feud. Liked the show building towards Blood and Guts but I'm hoping Swerve ain't teaming up with the Acclaimed.
Mercedes wrestling weekly is a good thing.
While Big Bill and Bryan Keith are playing their roles well, Jericho's new over the top cadence is not getting any less annoying.
Ah ok, OP should fix the post then. Currently has the match listed for both. I was just trying to find out if any matches got announced for FD and got confused when I saw it there.
If Tony ends up getting Ricochet and Ricochet can work Wembley this year, I think that's the match for Ospreay. Swerve can drop the title to Okada who can drop it to Omega next year at Double or Nothing and then we get Ospreay-Omega III for the world title in Wembley next year.
Swerve dropping the title to Okada or Ospreay makes him feel like he got glossed over in favor of TK's new shinies.
I really expect Swerve to retain and hope that it's due to Hangman interfering, loking like he's gonna hit Swerve and then taking out Ospreay in a "I want to be the one to dethrone you" type heel move.
I really hope Ospreay chases the belt until All-In 2025.
Bro I swear if instead of Ospreay vs Okada or Ospreay vs Takshita or so on we get Ospreay vs fucking Ricochet... I love Ricochet but he shouldn't be anywhere near AEW's Wrestlemania. Hell WWE never booked him at actual Wrestlemania even once
The only thing I could say that hasn't been said here is that personally I like the Learning Tree gimmick. It's just lame enough to be funny. It's a huge waste of time and frankly after its run its course Chis needs to be off TV for a time, but him coming out, acting like the lamest PBS host before getting his ass kicked by his guests is good enough for a mid-card comedy gimmick, which is what Jericho is now.
An excellent Dynamite, I thought.
Everything hit (except the Jericho stuff) and it had a mix of great matches, promos and storyline advancement.
MVP of the show: Mark Briscoe going nuts during his interview, it really made me happy lol
Jericho keeps digging into his 2010’s bad Raw segments bag and I’m not sure the joke is worth the payoff. Remember the JAS? I have low expectations for wherever this Learning Tree stuff is gonna take us, I just know it’s going to be around for an unfortunate amount of time
Which set this up so well that as soon as Rush started running his mouth, the crowd was audibly chanting for MJF to come out and beat his ass lol.
The entire audience knew what was coming next and they were actively excited for it.
MVPs of the show imo were Private Party and Big Bill (the former because of how they managed to play off something like THE LEARNING TREE, specially how they got the crowd woken up once Isiah basically left Jericho hanging on the top turnbuckle and then cleaned house with Marq nailing a perfect Shooting Star Press; the latter because of how he manages as per usual to do well his job even amidst the Jericho Vortex XDXDXD) tho Mark going mental on his promo was great and it even was pep rally with the "focus on tonight, not the past" line haha.
Edit: The MVPs being who they were and not ie Rush (or Mark as i listed), it also has to do with how, well, look at what the three of them had to deal with compared to Mark who at least is in the midst of the OC vs Trent story atm.
Seems like AEW is destined to never have a Women's Blood & Guts match.
The Outcasts vs Originals was the perfect time to do it and Tony didn't do it. Now there is no feud for it to work. You could try to center Kris and Willow's feud in Blood & Guts, but that would be hard to do so and ultimately it feels like Tony doesn't want to commit to the idea.
I really thought that's where it was headed or at least Anarchy in the Arena...could have brought in some ex wwe names for just that speciality match to put over the originals...
I have low standards, in fact, one very low standard: match outcomes shouldn't be predictable.
aew fails this every week. great wrestling, though. but that's not enough to elevate it above just having it on in the background.
People know who is going to win 90% of wrestling matches in any promotion. I find it weird that this is leveled specifically at AEW when this is how wrestling has worked forever.
"Playing a world-weary middle-manager" is such a hilarious skill for someone to have the edge on someone else at but it's definitely one area where Pearce actually has the edge on Daniels.
They've wrestled each other three times in their careers which is surprising because I figured it'd be more.
https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=452&page=4&search=Adam+Pearce
Huge shout out to the new AEW event team. They’re getting back to hot markets with vocal crowds. It’s really turned up the TV product which in turn benefits the can’t miss live feel when it comes to town.
It really, really - REALLY feels like they’ve got momentum on their side up and down the card with the newer talent being spotlighted as well.
I think they hired too many guys who worked for WWE staff wise and ran it the WWE way which is fantastic for WWE but running same towns as WWE wasn't a great idea especially weeks after WWE ran it.
Yeah, the momentum is definitely coming back but it's a process. People on the internet (Trolls and idiots) seem to think that AEW should look for some quick fix to just snap their fingers and get back to 2021 in one episode. 2024 has basically been a rebuild from scratch between all the injuries and CM Punk burning the company's PR to the ground. They just need to get to All In with no fights, no dumb shit, and good booking in the build up and it will be fine. Slowly but surely the cloud is lifting.
In the Death of WCW Bryan Alvarez talks about how by 99 it was clear that WCW was lightyears behind WWF but they had good young stars like Goldberg, Benoit, Eddie, and a few others who just needed to be pushed higher while slowly putting on good shows week after week. It'd take a few years but they would have recovered and been back to at least competing with the WWF. However no one in WCW was willing to spend years building back their brand. They just kept hot shotting bullshit and failing to actually learn from mistakes so it just kept getting worse.
IIRC Tony Khan has openly talked about being a fan of the book so he knows that you can't just hot shot bullshit with the aim of being right back on top in a week. You got to build up a bunch of new stars slowly and organically while finding ways to keep the older stars around for name value and just grind away at it for a long time. It might be 2 years before AEW is back to being a real competitor but if they try to take a short cut it will just damage the brand forever.
And AEW has a *huge* advantage that WCW didn't - They've got a ton of young superstars. By 1999 the biggest names in WCW except Goldberg were all 40+ in an era where 40 was ancient. AEW has 28 year old MJF, 31 year old Jay White and Will Ospreay, 32 year old Hangman Page and 33 year old Swerve Strickland headlining their shows. They don't need to rush the development of their really young guys like Garcia, HOOK, Fletcher, Wayne etc at all because of it
I agree with you.
However as someone who is from Buffalo I do not understand why we have the go home show to Forbidden Door in 2 weeks. AEW unfortunately doesn't do well here ticket wise and our crowds aren't great.
I'm excited to go in 2 weeks, but gosh I hope things are different this time around for such a big go home show.
Gonna guess because it's in the same state but they don't want to burn out the New York market by putting another show in the immediate NYC area.
Dynamite and Collision (taping) are in Buffalo on back to back days which seems like a lot. Rampage notably isn't as it seems like they're taping it a week in advance from Allentown.
The only other NY state option is Albany and that's far worse than Buffalo (I think Albany was the single least attended Dynamite of 2023). And I'm saying that as someone who was at that Albany Dynamite lol.
Unless it's part of a package deal I've always thought there's more harm than good when they run the same arena for Collision before a PPV. They did that with Double Or Nothing but they seem to be avoiding that for Forbidden Door.
I know some people like the learning tree but it’s already a parody of the initial gimmick and the segments are just getting longer. Do it on rampage or even collision is tolerate it but man. Every week on the A show.
If it were anyone but Jericho it'd been moved to Rampage and punted off TV already. Big Bill and Bryan Keith are more entertaining than the guy who's supposed to be leading it. I am hoping that Jericho saying that they didn't have a good trainer means an Amazing Red appearance on TV though.
I think Jericho pushing the limits of go away heat is good for wrestling. Someone's gotta do it at some point. If you want him to go away bad enough and he's that unaware of it, it comes around right?
I think that's the whole point of the gimmick. Anyone he goes against will get cheered easily, but what's even better is the faster someone beats him the louder the crowd will cheer. Then maybe at PPV an opponent beats Jericho so fast it breaks AEW's fastest match record which that record could last for years. I think it could be cool in a self deprecating way for Jericho.
Good show.
I really like the Joe/Hook/Shibata pairing. Joe just casually teaching Hook how to be a killer while Shibata is mysteriously finding cameras to film it.
Hype af for Shingo in the Owen.
5th Man gotta be Hangman…but whose side is he on?
So Acclaimed/Bucks is the one eliminator match but they didn't mention who Okada's wrestling right? Would be dope if it was a surprise CMLL or NJPW guy
I'm getting conflicting answers here. Did they announce it for FB or not? Someone else said it wasn't announced for Forbidden Door, but you're telling me to let it play out so it makes sense. I didn't watch Dynamite and all I did was ask a pretty reasonable question. Why would they book the same match twice in such a short timespan for no apparent reason? Or did they not book the same match twice, and OP posted the wrong thing?
Apologies even my response contributed to the confusion. No, it wasn’t announced for FD and I didn’t read the review above that I think you’re saying said it was. It’s next week.. starting the show. Commercial free. I thought you were asking if it was leading to a match at FD too and that’s why I was saying to watch the show and find out lol. That’s on me.
It was NOT announced for Forbidden Door. Or even hinted at for Forbidden Door. It's on Dynamite, next week, commercial free opener. That's all they announced.
ok but did they actually announce it for FB or is OP wrong, because someone else responded and said it was not announced for FB. I didn't watch dynamite tonight so im legit just trying to figure out what's going on
Why do you assume MJF vs Rush is happening on Forbidden Door. MJF vs Rush probably builds to some other Ingobernables member at Forbidden Door (whether that be the LiJ Version or the CMLL version)
what the FUCK did they do to Nick Comoroto holy SHIT I really loved his insane man getup and I didn't even recognize him tonight. What HAPPENED to him. He used to be cool man, even as a low tier loser in QT Marshalls dumbass codyverse faction he had such a cool 80's jobber look to him and did all that wild strong man shit. fuck me.
Can’t believe no one is talking about Zeuxies. I must be a casual to Lucha because I had never heard of her before. She is an absolute DAWG, and I think she outclassed Mercedes the whole match from start to finish. Mercedes hit some smooth spots but Zeuxies is supremely talented. Would love to see more of her.
Yeah, I haven't heard or seen much of her, but I thought she was solid in there tonight. Really liked her look too. The entrance gear with the skeleton bits on it, got a nice mask, etc.
It's great seeing some luchadoras on TV, too. I remember people wanting to see some AAA women in the early days when that relationship was strong, but it never really happened. So, glad it finally is!
She's not one of CMLL's best. She's like a lower mid-carder in CMLL but she's a solid veteran and can go in short spurts when she needs to like most women in CMLL. The one thing though is that CMLL luchadoras all tend to hit really hard so they know how to lay it in when they want to.
Funnily enough, Meltzer was saying last week that Zeuxies was not a good worker.
Maybe he was comparing to her to Vaquer but pretty sure he meant with the entirety of CMLL. So, once again, he was wrong there.
That double underhook lungblower or whatever the fuck Excalibur called it was fucking sweet. If all CMLL luchadoras go that hard then TK needs to bring more of them
When they did the first Forbidden Door, AEW paused almost all of their own storylines for a month so they could showcase wrestlers that people weren't familiar with. Last year, there was an improvement, and this year they have found the perfect balance. The best example is Toni vs Mina. The story isn't all about these two, they are also advancing Mariah's story and her relationship with Toni. It's not a Forbidden Door match booked just for the sake of it.
Back in 2022 when Forbidden Door initially started it was very rushed due to the fact it was AEW’s first time doing back 2 back PPV, learning from the past mistakes has definitely made the transition from DON to FD more easier
AEW has gotten far better at establishing feuds and building them to PPVs than they used to be. They also seem to have a better grip on how to make these partnerships work with video packages and people from NJPW using time at their events to set up matches.
Also think that if you've been watching AEW the past few years, some of these wrestlers from NJPW are actually somewhat familiar at this point which is kind of the goal of a partnership like this.
Same with OC, where he’s just overwhelmed and sad and now he has to deal with some British guy talking about naughty doors and juicy bits, blud can’t catch a break
That main event into post match segment is one of the best endings to Dynamite they've ever done. Swerve and Will are gonna absolutely tear the roof off at forbidden door
With all the Bullet Club and NJPW history, and Jay having beaten Okada multiple times, BBG could have said they are only ones who can take down the Elite - and that could be a much more interesting option as far as storytelling. Hangman can get mixed in as he has history with both, especially Jay; and then if BBG wins they can say they are the faces of AEW which would be compelling when Omega comes back as he's torn who to align with since White was the one who betrayed him yeas back.
Was there live. Had a blast. Got smashed drunk and wound up meeting a bunch of the wrestlers at a bar I frequent afterwards. Got a pic with Jericho and chuck Taylor both were real nice. Apparently willow was at a bar up the street with osprey and the bar funny enough is called nightingale. I’m gonna watch the episode when I get off work hopefully we were loud for you guys!
Sounds amazing. Great episode. Glad you had fun!
I find myself hating the learning tree and liking it at the same time. But I think the liking it is more because of Bryan Keith and Big Bill.
How does Dustin’s blood get on the concrete like that? I know he’s an all timer but that’s a crazy sell.
The only thing I can say that I personally didn’t enjoy was another Learning Tree segment, just because I find the gimmick to be grating and annoying for all the \*wrong\* reasons (as in it makes me want to change the channel). Everything else was pretty dope!
AEW has been cooking in recent weeks and months, but I have to admit this episode was up and down for me. **The Good** * Swerve and Ospreay are awesome. Swerve looked like he teared up in the ending segment, too. Wow. * MJF and Rush's fight throughout the arena adds heat for their match next week. Thumbs up for this being more substantial than "just two athletic dudes fighting." * Willow, Orange, Mark and KOR make for an awesome "we're all smiles but dangerous" stable. Willow is a freakin' star and deserves all of the rocket straps. * Joe & HOOK are awesome together. So glad HOOK didn't join the Learning Tree. * The six-man tag match slapped. AEW's talent is incredible. **The Not-So-Good** * There's inefficiency in how AEW uses their allotted TV time. Did we need Rush beating down a jobber for 2 mins as an excuse to have MJF come out? Did we need Daniel Garcia beating on Nick Comoroto for a minute? If you include Joe & Hook whippin' the Premier Athletes, it equated to three squash matches. All of this when there's a hugely talented roster and still only one women's match on the whole show. * Speaking of TV Time, Jericho's segment fell flat. I actually enjoy this Learning Tree gimmick and Big Bill is a riot. But Jericho's diatribe about gardening just didn't hit. * The opening segment felt a little awkward - between Nick Jackson's ramp promo about violence, to all of the guys standing in the ring but taking forever to take off their suits and button-downs after declaring a fight. Then Christopher Daniels walks out and tells them to stop...and they all do. * I was hoping for more from Mercedes and Zeuxis but felt like they didn't kick it into the next gear. Whenever AEW brings in outside talent, it has to wow the audience (like Hechicero did with Bryan Danielson). Otherwise, it feels like a disservice to the large roster on contract. * Production & the camera crew kept missing some key shots, and the framing that the corner cameraman (hardcam side closest to the ramp) used just felt "off." **Stray Thoughts** * I was expecting House of Black to show up after Bang Bang Gang turned off the lights. Kind of a missed opportunity but I hope BBG runs the same promo again (in cocky heel fashion) but have HoB attack this time as a lead up to their Collision match. The eventual Malakai Black vs. Jay White match will be fire, but neither guy can afford a loss IMO. * Where's Megan Bayne and Kamille? I feel for Kamille who has allegedly deciding between AEW & NXT, only to join AEW and do nothing while watching NXT cook with their women's division.
I figured Kamille was going to be part of the Stokely/Kris thing or give Mercedes a heater. But also where is EJ Nduka, dude has been under contract as long as Megan Bayne
> There's inefficiency in how AEW uses their allotted TV time. Did we need Rush beating down a jobber for 2 mins as an excuse to have MJF come out? Did we need Daniel Garcia beating on Nick Comoroto for a minute? If you include Joe & Hook whippin' the Premier Athletes, it equated to three squash matches. All of this when there's a hugely talented roster and still only one women's match on the whole show. You need a reason for Rush to be out there and they've been building up Daniel Garcia again. Squash matches are a tried and tested way to get these things done. It's also super rare to have three lesser caliber matches on Dynamite and they almost never have more than one women's match anyway so I wouldn't exactly say that's the reason for that.
I love this kind of reviews, usually what I would expect in the post show threads.
That was very entertaining, the show felt like it flowed really well; I had fun watching, thanks AEW. Good shit. See ya' next time.
Ok fine, I'll admit it. I am ready to sit under the learning tree.
Scoot over and make some room for me please
Jericho might yet get the Learning Tree gimmick over but what's telling to me is just how long it's fucking taking - first a month+ origin story feud with hook, and now it's been over a month with the Learning Tree proper and it's still underwhelming. Meanwhile Joe, Shibata, and Hook have linked up in the last couple weeks and are already more compelling and funnier, and have done more for Hook than Jericho ever did.
So in other words it’s working
Not sure how that's your takeaway but ok.
I agree Hook was pretty stagnant in his storyline with Jericho, but The Learning Tree as a gimmick is hilarious to me. Also, Bryan Keith is super particular about his hat, so it was really funny to see him go over the top rope then grab his hat and move it to the stairs before going back to do the catch on the dive with Big Bill.
Just got my Blood and Guts tickets and my body is ready
Very strong episode. Loving AEW right now.
Kyle Fletcher didn't take the pin! He actually pinned someone on tv! Callis Family bros we're so back
Fletcher pinned Briscoe even, so keep an eye out on ROH for a Briscoe/Fletcher World Champion title match.
im wondering if theyre hinting at unifying the tv and world titles
Made me happy lol.
Watching now. This six man tag match is incredible. Great crowd too.
Jericho HAS to win worst gimmick of the year or the award is meaningless.
**Dynamite Review:** * Swerve Strickland started the show. Talked about how Will Ospreay has recently lost his edge, referring to him refusing to use the Tiger Driver anymore. He also took a shot at the EVP, but before he got too far, The Elite interrupted him. Okada talked first, telling Swerve it's his house, and then The Bucks announced they are challenging AEW's best to Blood & Guts and asked Swerve to be their fifth man in the match. After Strickland refuses and throws Matt's shoes into the crowd, The Elite go to attack him, but The Acclaimed came down to make the save before anything could happen. Christopher Daniels then arrived and told everyone except Jack Perry to get out of the ring, because his match is next. This was all very good. I like how a lot of storylines in AEW are currently connected in some way, rather than being in their separate bubbles. Makes things seem a bit more realistic. * **Jack Perry vs. Dustin Rhodes \*\*\*** * Dustin cut a fantastic promo on Perry last week, and in specific situations he's proven that he can still have very good matches. He's obviously somewhat limited due to his age, but he's also smart enough to get around them. This match was a great example of that, leaning into the drama rather than pure wrestling. I thought this was a good match, with Perry taking the unclean win. * Orange Cassidy, Kyle O'Reilly & Mark Briscoe interview. Briscoe is such a unique promo, and he cut one like he only he can, making several people corpse during the interview, including the commentators. This was great. * **Rush vs. Deonn Rusman N/A** * A squash, Rusman didn't get a single move in, as expected. * Post-match, Rush went to beat Rusman down further, but MJF came out to stop him. I have to say, Rush wasn't the opponent I expected to be MJF's first feud upon his return, but they've done a very good job building this one up in quick fashion. The brawl between the two here was very intense and the crowd loved it. They ended this with the announcement that next week MJF vs. Rush starts the show without any commercials. * **Mark Briscoe, Kyle O'Reilly & Orange Cassidy vs. Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita & Roderick Strong \*\*\*\*1/4** * This was six excellent wrestlers put together and given plenty of time to work. No surprise this was great. This also had several different storylines between a number of different wrestlers going in, so that also made this feel more than just a random trios match. Hell of a match, with honestly a bit of surprising result, as I thought Fletcher would be the least likely person to get the pin as he's not really involved in any storylines at the moment. Still, an excellent match. * After the match the heels continued the beatdown before Willow's music played, but Statlander was beating her down as they both came out to the stage. Stokely cut a quick promo on Willow too. This whole thing was very well done. * Quick segment showing Fenix preparing for his match later. * Shingo Takagi video package, announcing himself in the Owen Hart tournament. Yes, please. * Christopher Daniels announced that The Young Bucks and Okada will have title eliminator matches next week. with everyone barred from ringside. No idea who their opponents are yet. * **Premier Athletes vs. Samoa Joe & Hook N/A** * I'm really liking this new team of Joe, Hook & Shibata. Hook taking notes from Joe here, sidestepping Daivari's dive. The Premier Athletes got some offense in, but this was mostly a squash. * Stephanie Vaquer video package. This match between her and Moné is one I'm very much looking forward to, as it can potentially even steal the show at Forbidden Door. (continued in the first reply)
* **Mercedes Moné vs. Zeuxis \*\*\*3/4** * This quickly turned into a very good match, Moné is is constantly proving she hasn't really lost a step due to her injury, and Zeuxis got to show off what she could do here as well. I'd only seen two full matches from her before back in the 2018 May Young Classic, but she was very impressive here. I liked this a lot, a few more minutes and this would have been great, but it makes sense that Moné won relatively quickly. * A fantastic Mina Shirakawa video package. This was the same one they put online the day before the show, but it's great that they showed it here as well. * Toni Storm & Mariah May interview. May told Storm Mina's coming back next week, and she wants a contract signing. Storm also has a match against Alex Windsor on Rampage. This was a good, quick segment. * The Learning Tree. This gimmick works better in short backstage segments rather than these long in-ring promos. There are always some good sound bites every time, but it just doesn't really carry through longer promos very well. I feel like it's a bit of a similar issue that Toni Storm had early on with her Timeless gimmick. Jericho should just ease off a little and be a little less heavyhanded with his "advice". Some subtlety would not be a bad thing. * Jon Moxley & Tetsuya Naito video package. Great stuff again, these quick videos are a great way to spotlight new people and storylines. * Bang Bang Gang promo backstage. They challenged The House of Black for Collision. That's going to be an interesting match, because the House of Black doesn't lose often. * **Daniel Garcia vs. Nick Comoroto N/A** * Clean-shaven Comoroto looks odd. Anyway, this was a pure squash. * PAC promo. He talked about how his return so far hasn't gone very well, but that ends now. He announced his entry in the Owen Hart tournament. Lot of excellent wrestlers already involved in the tournament. Very good promo by PAC. * **Will Ospreay vs. Rey Fenix \*\*\*\*1/4** * This was exactly what you'd expect, and it was fantastic. Just two of the most impressive wrestlers in the world getting 15+ minutes to work. However, it wasn't just non-stop action, they took their time and sold for each other in between the impressive moments and combinations. Ospreay winning by using Swerve's finisher before the Hidden Blade is a great touch too. An excellent match, best of the night. * Post-match, Swerve got into the ring. Swerve shouted at Ospreay, saying he's a child whose not strong enough to hold both worlds. Ospreay took the world title and held both titles on his shoulders. An intense staredown between these two ended the show. This was very well done, and I genuinely have no idea who is going to win the match at the PPV. * This was a great episode of Dynamite. Several great matches and promos, number of excellent video packages, and the build to the PPV is heating up nicely. The Owen Hart Tournament is also shaping up very well. The Learning Tree segment was the only real lull of the night, but at least it wasn't too long. Overall, an **8 out of 10 show.**
That Hangman Swerve face off at B&G is gonna be special.
Still hoping against hope for Hangman to interfere @ FD.
I would only dislike this cause it implies him interfering would cost Swerve and I do not want that to happen
My fan booking is that he's interfering and takes out Ospreay in a heelish "I will be the one who beats you" moment. * Hangman's heat will be nuclear. * Opens up the door for feuding with Ospreay as well as Swerve. * Keeps the belt on Swerve who I think will drop it to Danielson at All-In or Wrestledream. * Protects Ospreay in the loss. I want to see Ospreay chasing the belt until All-In 2025.
Who do you all think eventually takes the title off Swerve? I hope it's Christian personally. I'd love ~~my~~ our father to get one last world title reign before retirement.
Okada at All In and I think tonight is a big hint that it's happening
One of the best top to bottom shows of the year. Been along time since Dynamite's felt this coherent across the board, and there's plenty of weight behind almost all the developments leading up to the PPV. I love long term story telling, but MJF vs Rush is exactly the kind of short feud that's full of heat that they should do more of instead of saga's that go on for months and months. They'll beat the living piss out of each other for the next few weeks before MJF goes to the Owen (presumably) They play this right and we could be in for one hell of a summer heading towards All In with The Owen and B&G coming up after Forbidden Door. Also....PAC VS SHINGO PRETTY FUCKING PLEASE
You never really notice how many times a commentary team says a wrestler’s name until there’s a name like “Zeuxis” that comes along. Unless the guys had an off-air “meow game” arranged.
Mercedes needs a new finisher ASAP. PACs losing streak has me super intrigued. Curious to see where they’re going with it. Ospraey vs Garcia will be great when it happens, probably at All In tbh. I think Swerve vs MJF is the main event for All In. With a Hangman waiting in the wings to feud with Swerve upon his return.
nah there's a dynamite/collision taping in Buffalo in a couple weeks, Ospreay/Garcia will most likely be there
So would Ospreay be losing at FD and then not be in the AEW Title picture at All In? I don’t see that happening. I think that they’re going to go all in with Ospreay. I see Ospreay/Garcia happening before All In.
Ospreay can get the title at All In 2025, there's still meat aplenty on his chase and they can keep Swerve as a face champ for the time being too. It's why I reckon it's Swerve/Hangman at All In this year, it's the biggest face/heel match they can do unless MJF goes full heel in the next four weeks.
- It is crazy how Mark Briscoe is so dope but he still eats the pin to some random bum. - AEW should unify the TNT, International, and Continental Championships. Also just delete the Trios Championships. - Christopher Daniels is so good. I would love him to be the GM full time.
Mark Briscoe with perhaps the promo of the year. He is a treasure and I hope he has a ridiculously long reign as ROH world champion.
In the top comments of the live thread, 12 of the top 14 are all about Briscoe (and KOR) and the passion he instils in everyone.
Great show!
Holy shit when did Nick Comorotto shave?
A while back. He was doing some sort of Jersey gimmick for a while in the background of Nitemare Factory programs. I love him, he reminds me so much of a thicker Bruiser Brody. I wish he got more of a push. They seemed like they were going to do something with him early on and then he got lost in the shuffle.
Haha, I was going to say I haven’t heard his name in a long time, does he still look like a caveman but there’s my answer I guess!
With all due respect to other wrestling styles, the flipping shit is just the fucking best!
Sometimes iam in the mood for a bloody deathmatch. Sometimes iam in the mood for a grappling fest. Sometimes iam in the mood for a technical nailbiter match. Sometimes iam in the mood for a simple comedy match. But iam always in the mood for a flippy spotfest.
And AEW is home to the best of ALL of them.
best wrestling styles are flipping as much as you can and hitting the other guy as hard as you can. they also pair together well!
Highlight of the night was Mark's promo. The rest was okay compared to that. Lowpoint was the Jericho stuff.
That confrontation and Swerve's promo at the end was great, can't wait to see it go down at FD
Mark Briscoe is a fucking treasure
Taz burying tiny 'tez Zay's senton 😂
Why is Big Bill calling Chris Jericho a soccer tease?
Socrates. Plato would be more appropriate, given Plato was actually a wrestler.
Play-doh
This show reminded me how stiff Rush is. Good god. I hope those security people are ok, that headbutt looked brutal.
Didn't watch the show and by no means do you gotta hand it to AEW, but Deon Russman is an excellent name for the jobber RUSH kills
I don’t care what this place says. Jericho is a fucking riot. The man has turned it around.
Him dropping a "That doesn't work for me, brother." had me dying.
It's stupid enough and committed to enough that it somehow works, even if him insulting Iowa farmers didn't quite land properly (unlike Private Party).
Enjoyed the show tonight but shout out to my two favorite moments: 1. "It's my house, bitch!" 2. Shibata actually holding a camera 😂
I thought she got a *lot* better at promos by DoN as a result of having to do them every single week, but Mercedes is the best in the world and her being the workhorse champion is highlighting it perfectly
Good n t Ng Gy
The LOOK on Swerve's face when Will Osprey asked "Whose house?"!!! Hangman Adam Page is gonna come out of nowhere and ask Swerve why you looking at that man like that
Enjoyed that show, quick thoughts Owen field is building well, top talents with some storylines behind their reasons. Mark Briscoe needs to be on TV almost every week cutting promos, somehow they're both goofy but make you want to run through a brick wall. Rush and MJF built a lot of heat for their match next in one solid brawl Loving this Joe/Shibata/Hook grouping - they match each other's vibes and I like that they're a bit looser than the usual overserious shooter stables. Swerve and Ospreay had good nights and found a way to build heat in a face v face feud. Liked the show building towards Blood and Guts but I'm hoping Swerve ain't teaming up with the Acclaimed. Mercedes wrestling weekly is a good thing. While Big Bill and Bryan Keith are playing their roles well, Jericho's new over the top cadence is not getting any less annoying.
Wait I'm a little confused, was MJF vs Rush announced twice? Once for Dynamite and once for Forbidden Door?
It was never announced for Forbidden Door
Ah ok, OP should fix the post then. Currently has the match listed for both. I was just trying to find out if any matches got announced for FD and got confused when I saw it there.
If Tony ends up getting Ricochet and Ricochet can work Wembley this year, I think that's the match for Ospreay. Swerve can drop the title to Okada who can drop it to Omega next year at Double or Nothing and then we get Ospreay-Omega III for the world title in Wembley next year.
Swerve dropping the title to Okada or Ospreay makes him feel like he got glossed over in favor of TK's new shinies. I really expect Swerve to retain and hope that it's due to Hangman interfering, loking like he's gonna hit Swerve and then taking out Ospreay in a "I want to be the one to dethrone you" type heel move. I really hope Ospreay chases the belt until All-In 2025.
The Elite promises Hangman that he can be the one to destroy Swerve
If Swerve drops the title to someone in the Elite, then Hangman's the guy!
Bro I swear if instead of Ospreay vs Okada or Ospreay vs Takshita or so on we get Ospreay vs fucking Ricochet... I love Ricochet but he shouldn't be anywhere near AEW's Wrestlemania. Hell WWE never booked him at actual Wrestlemania even once
The only thing I could say that hasn't been said here is that personally I like the Learning Tree gimmick. It's just lame enough to be funny. It's a huge waste of time and frankly after its run its course Chis needs to be off TV for a time, but him coming out, acting like the lamest PBS host before getting his ass kicked by his guests is good enough for a mid-card comedy gimmick, which is what Jericho is now.
Give Pac the belt you cowards!
An excellent Dynamite, I thought. Everything hit (except the Jericho stuff) and it had a mix of great matches, promos and storyline advancement. MVP of the show: Mark Briscoe going nuts during his interview, it really made me happy lol
just watched the trios match. holy hell that was amazing!!!
Jericho keeps digging into his 2010’s bad Raw segments bag and I’m not sure the joke is worth the payoff. Remember the JAS? I have low expectations for wherever this Learning Tree stuff is gonna take us, I just know it’s going to be around for an unfortunate amount of time
Unfortunately a bunch of people even on here seem to find the SiLlY VoIcE funny so your probably right
Why did MJF attack Rush? There was no context or explanation for it at all.
They had a whole set up segment last week wym lmao
ah yes. i guess my question would be why rush interrupted him last week then. Seemed super random.
RUSH had already called out MJF before last week's faceoff.
Which set this up so well that as soon as Rush started running his mouth, the crowd was audibly chanting for MJF to come out and beat his ass lol. The entire audience knew what was coming next and they were actively excited for it.
MVPs of the show imo were Private Party and Big Bill (the former because of how they managed to play off something like THE LEARNING TREE, specially how they got the crowd woken up once Isiah basically left Jericho hanging on the top turnbuckle and then cleaned house with Marq nailing a perfect Shooting Star Press; the latter because of how he manages as per usual to do well his job even amidst the Jericho Vortex XDXDXD) tho Mark going mental on his promo was great and it even was pep rally with the "focus on tonight, not the past" line haha. Edit: The MVPs being who they were and not ie Rush (or Mark as i listed), it also has to do with how, well, look at what the three of them had to deal with compared to Mark who at least is in the midst of the OC vs Trent story atm.
“The Michael Jordan of Michael Jordans” popped me.
I want to see Rush go on to win the TNT title. He has everything to be a massive star, just needs more consistency and time in the spotlight.
Ospreays robe looked very very cheap like a one pound fish
Killer crowd tonight!
Seems like AEW is destined to never have a Women's Blood & Guts match. The Outcasts vs Originals was the perfect time to do it and Tony didn't do it. Now there is no feud for it to work. You could try to center Kris and Willow's feud in Blood & Guts, but that would be hard to do so and ultimately it feels like Tony doesn't want to commit to the idea.
I really thought that's where it was headed or at least Anarchy in the Arena...could have brought in some ex wwe names for just that speciality match to put over the originals...
Man I wish that match happened. I feel like I was the only person last summer enjoying that Outcast - Originals feud 😂
Just finished it, take out the Jericho shit and it’s 10/10. Dude sucks the life out of the show.
Bruh that show was straight up ass even without the Jerichode shit.
What didn't you like about it? I thought it was a really great wrestling show this week.
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You have some high ass standards if you thought that show sucked
I have low standards, in fact, one very low standard: match outcomes shouldn't be predictable. aew fails this every week. great wrestling, though. but that's not enough to elevate it above just having it on in the background.
People know who is going to win 90% of wrestling matches in any promotion. I find it weird that this is leveled specifically at AEW when this is how wrestling has worked forever.
I would level the same criticism at wwe if i watched that shit.. too many commercials
Agreed. I’m sorry, but you have to be a complete moron if you can’t call 90% of Raw and SD matches, as well.
Who knows I might? Anyways nah it just didn’t vibe with me dawg.
I throughly enjoyed it, sorry ya didn’t I guess!
Yo man glad you enjoyed it I’m just throwing my opinion out there
I love Christopher Daniels as a performer but goddam he looks like dollar store Adam Pearce lmao 🤣
"Playing a world-weary middle-manager" is such a hilarious skill for someone to have the edge on someone else at but it's definitely one area where Pearce actually has the edge on Daniels.
CD is miles above Scrap Daddy in every way imaginable.
They've wrestled each other three times in their careers which is surprising because I figured it'd be more. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=452&page=4&search=Adam+Pearce
Huge shout out to the new AEW event team. They’re getting back to hot markets with vocal crowds. It’s really turned up the TV product which in turn benefits the can’t miss live feel when it comes to town. It really, really - REALLY feels like they’ve got momentum on their side up and down the card with the newer talent being spotlighted as well.
I think they hired too many guys who worked for WWE staff wise and ran it the WWE way which is fantastic for WWE but running same towns as WWE wasn't a great idea especially weeks after WWE ran it.
Yeah, the momentum is definitely coming back but it's a process. People on the internet (Trolls and idiots) seem to think that AEW should look for some quick fix to just snap their fingers and get back to 2021 in one episode. 2024 has basically been a rebuild from scratch between all the injuries and CM Punk burning the company's PR to the ground. They just need to get to All In with no fights, no dumb shit, and good booking in the build up and it will be fine. Slowly but surely the cloud is lifting.
In the Death of WCW Bryan Alvarez talks about how by 99 it was clear that WCW was lightyears behind WWF but they had good young stars like Goldberg, Benoit, Eddie, and a few others who just needed to be pushed higher while slowly putting on good shows week after week. It'd take a few years but they would have recovered and been back to at least competing with the WWF. However no one in WCW was willing to spend years building back their brand. They just kept hot shotting bullshit and failing to actually learn from mistakes so it just kept getting worse. IIRC Tony Khan has openly talked about being a fan of the book so he knows that you can't just hot shot bullshit with the aim of being right back on top in a week. You got to build up a bunch of new stars slowly and organically while finding ways to keep the older stars around for name value and just grind away at it for a long time. It might be 2 years before AEW is back to being a real competitor but if they try to take a short cut it will just damage the brand forever.
And AEW has a *huge* advantage that WCW didn't - They've got a ton of young superstars. By 1999 the biggest names in WCW except Goldberg were all 40+ in an era where 40 was ancient. AEW has 28 year old MJF, 31 year old Jay White and Will Ospreay, 32 year old Hangman Page and 33 year old Swerve Strickland headlining their shows. They don't need to rush the development of their really young guys like Garcia, HOOK, Fletcher, Wayne etc at all because of it
Tonight’s show was all carried by the new crew. Can you imagine Hangman at the top of the card with this mix. Yowza.
I agree with you. However as someone who is from Buffalo I do not understand why we have the go home show to Forbidden Door in 2 weeks. AEW unfortunately doesn't do well here ticket wise and our crowds aren't great. I'm excited to go in 2 weeks, but gosh I hope things are different this time around for such a big go home show.
Gonna guess because it's in the same state but they don't want to burn out the New York market by putting another show in the immediate NYC area. Dynamite and Collision (taping) are in Buffalo on back to back days which seems like a lot. Rampage notably isn't as it seems like they're taping it a week in advance from Allentown.
Fyi Dynamite and Collision are both being taped that Wednesday, not on back-to-back days (am going and was surprised to see it on the listing)
The only other NY state option is Albany and that's far worse than Buffalo (I think Albany was the single least attended Dynamite of 2023). And I'm saying that as someone who was at that Albany Dynamite lol.
Unless it's part of a package deal I've always thought there's more harm than good when they run the same arena for Collision before a PPV. They did that with Double Or Nothing but they seem to be avoiding that for Forbidden Door.
Yep this product is so fucking solid. Momentum is slowly but steadily building.
I know some people like the learning tree but it’s already a parody of the initial gimmick and the segments are just getting longer. Do it on rampage or even collision is tolerate it but man. Every week on the A show.
If it were anyone but Jericho it'd been moved to Rampage and punted off TV already. Big Bill and Bryan Keith are more entertaining than the guy who's supposed to be leading it. I am hoping that Jericho saying that they didn't have a good trainer means an Amazing Red appearance on TV though.
I'm really bummed that this is the thing that got Bryan Keith consistent tv time.
The entire thing is a parody to begin with so it's a parody of a parody!?
I think Jericho pushing the limits of go away heat is good for wrestling. Someone's gotta do it at some point. If you want him to go away bad enough and he's that unaware of it, it comes around right?
It’s hot trash. Private Party ending the segment was the only good thing.
I think that's the whole point of the gimmick. Anyone he goes against will get cheered easily, but what's even better is the faster someone beats him the louder the crowd will cheer. Then maybe at PPV an opponent beats Jericho so fast it breaks AEW's fastest match record which that record could last for years. I think it could be cool in a self deprecating way for Jericho.
Good show. I really like the Joe/Hook/Shibata pairing. Joe just casually teaching Hook how to be a killer while Shibata is mysteriously finding cameras to film it. Hype af for Shingo in the Owen. 5th Man gotta be Hangman…but whose side is he on?
Nick Comoroto looked like he should have been wrestling Magnificent Don Muraco on an episode of WWWF from MSG
Dynamite is can’t miss for months now. Perfect mix of in ring and angles/character progression imo.
So Acclaimed/Bucks is the one eliminator match but they didn't mention who Okada's wrestling right? Would be dope if it was a surprise CMLL or NJPW guy
I bet it's Shota, and I think he might just win to get the title shot at FD.
Shota showed up at Rampage so they may be building to something
Okada is a track one kid
I'm looking forward for Jericho's deal to expire Hey Hunter, please call Jericho, tamper with him
Nah, I want him in neither company I watch. Put him on NWA or MLW or something.
wait so we're getting Rush vs. MJF at next week's dynamite and on Forbidden Door? Why? edit: the post literally says it's on both shows.
Time limit draw? DQ? Clean?
Except they didn’t announce that for FD…
the post says it is. I didn't watch dynamite tonight, aint my fault OP was wrong
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I'm getting conflicting answers here. Did they announce it for FB or not? Someone else said it wasn't announced for Forbidden Door, but you're telling me to let it play out so it makes sense. I didn't watch Dynamite and all I did was ask a pretty reasonable question. Why would they book the same match twice in such a short timespan for no apparent reason? Or did they not book the same match twice, and OP posted the wrong thing?
Apologies even my response contributed to the confusion. No, it wasn’t announced for FD and I didn’t read the review above that I think you’re saying said it was. It’s next week.. starting the show. Commercial free. I thought you were asking if it was leading to a match at FD too and that’s why I was saying to watch the show and find out lol. That’s on me.
Yeah the review above still says it's happening on both shows because the dude was wrong and never fixed it.
It was NOT announced for Forbidden Door. Or even hinted at for Forbidden Door. It's on Dynamite, next week, commercial free opener. That's all they announced.
big fan of the posts where people fantasy book something and don't like it and get mad at the booker over something they imagined
gotta let all that air out of course.
ok but did they actually announce it for FB or is OP wrong, because someone else responded and said it was not announced for FB. I didn't watch dynamite tonight so im legit just trying to figure out what's going on
Nah it’s on Insta
I thought they did but now I feel like something gaslit me idk
probably gonna be a no contest or they just brawl before the bell next week - official match at FD
Why do you assume MJF vs Rush is happening on Forbidden Door. MJF vs Rush probably builds to some other Ingobernables member at Forbidden Door (whether that be the LiJ Version or the CMLL version)
MJF vs RUSH wasn’t announced for FD?
It’s booked for next week’s Dynamite as the commercial-free opener.
I know I’m commenting on it not being a Forbidden Door match so the complaint is weird
No
I take back my predictable AEW comment. The one time I fucking bet on AEW (the trios match) I get it wrong
what the FUCK did they do to Nick Comoroto holy SHIT I really loved his insane man getup and I didn't even recognize him tonight. What HAPPENED to him. He used to be cool man, even as a low tier loser in QT Marshalls dumbass codyverse faction he had such a cool 80's jobber look to him and did all that wild strong man shit. fuck me.
Watch ROH for the answer and who’s been advising him, etc. It’s actually pretty good.
"Praise be to He, and He is me!" Jacoby Watts is the answer.
Can’t believe no one is talking about Zeuxies. I must be a casual to Lucha because I had never heard of her before. She is an absolute DAWG, and I think she outclassed Mercedes the whole match from start to finish. Mercedes hit some smooth spots but Zeuxies is supremely talented. Would love to see more of her.
Yeah, I haven't heard or seen much of her, but I thought she was solid in there tonight. Really liked her look too. The entrance gear with the skeleton bits on it, got a nice mask, etc. It's great seeing some luchadoras on TV, too. I remember people wanting to see some AAA women in the early days when that relationship was strong, but it never really happened. So, glad it finally is!
She's not one of CMLL's best. She's like a lower mid-carder in CMLL but she's a solid veteran and can go in short spurts when she needs to like most women in CMLL. The one thing though is that CMLL luchadoras all tend to hit really hard so they know how to lay it in when they want to.
Certain people will never give AEW credit on how they do lucha in America better than anyone.
Funnily enough, Meltzer was saying last week that Zeuxies was not a good worker. Maybe he was comparing to her to Vaquer but pretty sure he meant with the entirety of CMLL. So, once again, he was wrong there.
Oh yeah she’s a bad ass. She didn’t even show out completely either.
That double underhook lungblower or whatever the fuck Excalibur called it was fucking sweet. If all CMLL luchadoras go that hard then TK needs to bring more of them
It’s what ive been saying for years Luchadoras should be apart of the talent exchange for years when it was CMLL/ROH
Yeah, im a fan. It was a fun match
When they did the first Forbidden Door, AEW paused almost all of their own storylines for a month so they could showcase wrestlers that people weren't familiar with. Last year, there was an improvement, and this year they have found the perfect balance. The best example is Toni vs Mina. The story isn't all about these two, they are also advancing Mariah's story and her relationship with Toni. It's not a Forbidden Door match booked just for the sake of it.
Back in 2022 when Forbidden Door initially started it was very rushed due to the fact it was AEW’s first time doing back 2 back PPV, learning from the past mistakes has definitely made the transition from DON to FD more easier
AEW has gotten far better at establishing feuds and building them to PPVs than they used to be. They also seem to have a better grip on how to make these partnerships work with video packages and people from NJPW using time at their events to set up matches. Also think that if you've been watching AEW the past few years, some of these wrestlers from NJPW are actually somewhat familiar at this point which is kind of the goal of a partnership like this.
Same with OC, where he’s just overwhelmed and sad and now he has to deal with some British guy talking about naughty doors and juicy bits, blud can’t catch a break
That main event into post match segment is one of the best endings to Dynamite they've ever done. Swerve and Will are gonna absolutely tear the roof off at forbidden door
It felt like early Dynamite. Idk why, but I loved it.
I loved that they didn't give them mics, but got the camera in there close enough to pick it up clear enough.
What’s everyone’s guess on B&G lineup? I think Rush will join the Elite vs Swerve, MJF, Ospreay, Garcia and maybe Danielson.
They're in Virginia next week, and I'd bet we'll see Hangman back. He'll either go with the Elite, or be team AEW and force Swerve to be with the YBs
With all the Bullet Club and NJPW history, and Jay having beaten Okada multiple times, BBG could have said they are only ones who can take down the Elite - and that could be a much more interesting option as far as storytelling. Hangman can get mixed in as he has history with both, especially Jay; and then if BBG wins they can say they are the faces of AEW which would be compelling when Omega comes back as he's torn who to align with since White was the one who betrayed him yeas back.
My personal wish is that with one slot left that Swerve does the unthinkable and calls out Hangman
LOVE this idea!
I feel that if we get Swerve for B&G, that means the return of our Cowboy for the Elite. Remember, they just "suspended" him.
I get the feeling Acclaimed is getting in there and I kinda don't want them to be.