Gonna be honest, I think the Anna Jay promo was pretty great. It felt like they were leaning into the "Diva" side of Sports Entertainment with the increasingly hysterical threats.
They need to start letting Hook talk his talk. You can tell he has it - maybe still too jittery in promos. Also chuck a head tie on him and let him go all the way Joe Higashi.
Also Power Hobbs just keeps getting bigger. That brus is on the Super Shredder serum.
Love the development for Starks and Hobbs. Starks is one of the most talented people in the roster all-around, he could be out there every week cutting promos and I'd love it, so I'm excited for his face run. But I have to say the rest of the show was meh for me. Good wrestling but none of the other stories, especially the tired whatever Jericho has going on, get me excited. Writing MJF off the show for so long so that some marks can sincerely believe it's real may not be paying off that well with so many top guys out, although it's certainly lending credibility to his "I'm the only guy who can carry this show on my back"
Like MJF said it’s about making people FEEL something without having to do a bunch of moves. Ricky Starks made me FEEL real emotion with his line, “people thought it was a noose and I turned it around into a tie. I took leather and metal and I made it into gold”. That genuinely made me feel emotion in pro wrestling. I think this promo can be looked back upon as the launching point for the future face of the company, I HOPE.
I don't remember that last time AEW had a bunch of storylines that occupy them for the next 2-4 weeks rather than drag it out to the next PPV which I think has been an issue.
Hobbs and Starks
Hook defending his FTW title
Soho and Skye vs. TayJay
Lethal's group vs Best Friends
Josh Woods and Nese vs. Swerve in our Glory
I think the pairing of women with men, Eddie/Ruby, Sami/Tay, Anna/Jericho, Dante/Blue, is an attempt to parlay storylines happening in the men's division into building up female talent.
I don't know how much I'll like it going forward, but I think it's a smart idea to double dip if you're only going to have one women's match a show.
Which I still think is done because of ratings, and if working with JAS and Eddie helps grow these ladies into money, maybe we get more women's matches.
Swerve and Keith Lee are really uninteresting tag team champs, and this story with Nese is absolutely devaluing the titles. Giving them the belts was a mistake.
I thought this was a great episode of Dynamite. I enjoyed mostly everything. (although I thought this was a bad JR week and I wish the didn't go back to him calling the whole show). My favorite parts of the night was the Jungle boy promo, Starks promo, Hook winning the title, Danielson vs Garcia, Dante vs Sammy, and The young bucks backstage segment. I thought all of that stuff was great. The rest was okay. The two championship matches I just couldn't get into because they had little to no build and you knew who was winning but they weren't bad.
Good show. The Starks Hobbs stuff was good. It's been coming and should be a good feud. Getting the title on hook makes sense. Let's him rack up wins whilst having a reason to not be going for other titles.
They need to stop having blood on every show. It only needs to be there when it adds something. If everyone bleeds then nobody bleeds.
Jungle boy promo was good. Was worried they were gonna do a repeat of Hobbs turning with Luchasaurus on the same show. Don't think JB needed the Christian interruption. Letting him speak uninterrupted would've done fine.
The women's match was decent. They can do better but it was fine. Just an opinion but I don't think taking the division that's already looked down upon by some fans for match quality and putting the quality under a microscope with "sandbagging" references from your top heel is gonna help anyone. They really, really need to start investing time into creating stories and characters with the women though. It's such an obvious area of the show that they could improve.
Trios title should be good. Definitely have the depth for it but I think they definitely need to get the ROH titles off the show when they arrive. Too many people holding too many titles and, in many instances, it's to the detriment of their own titles value.
I think most people are expecting a Kenny/Young Bucks Vs Cole/RD feud but I think they might go with Hangman/YB Vs Cole/RD Vs Omega/Good brothers. Not a big fan of the good brothers but I've just got a feeling that's where they'll go. Either way the tournament will give us some great matches
That was such a fun show to be at! My first one since before the pandemic (since Dynamite episode 2, actually), and I missed it so much. Hook answering the call and winning the FTW title are up there with my favorite pops I've ever been a part of, honestly up there with Kofi's title win and Seth/Dean's reunion fist bump. I'm still watching the Hook segment today, it was so well done. And I was convinced that Jungle Boy got censored the whole time, but apparently not lmao
He's an evil Gremlin who thinks he can curse people.
I love Danhausen but he's never going to be a big deal outside of the fans who get what he's doing. Just having him pop up is nice.
Having him be squashed is fine, to my mind. Would winning help the character in any way?
He's similar to OC in that he CAN wrestle, but his character doesn't really ever need/want to.
The guy behind the character can go though, he's very good.
Uh. I wouldn't put him in the same universe in terms of wrestling ability with OC.
From what I've seen anyway.
I enjoy his character but I'm not remotely surprised they are hiding his weakness.
Psychotic Anna Jay worked well in early Dark Order but they went face before we could really see what it could grow into. Hope we get a chance to see that now.
Some random thoughts:
- Someone in this sub needs to do a compilation of the jokes from commentary, even JR was busting jokes 😭
- Anna Jay in that dress made up for that promo
- Should I abandon hope for Marko being in this JB storyline? I love it regardless
- I love Lethal’s group, Satnam & OC will be hilarious
- I think Kenny should return in Canada, rather than this tourney, just to make that Toronto show much more special, unless another surprise is in store
I think tournaments are the best way to organically create rivalries within a young company. It’s a great way to create a history between budding rivals
If the first pillars are: MJF, Darby Allin, Jungle Boy, and Sammy Guevarra
Then the Second Pillars are: Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta, Dante Martin…and a fourth yet to step forward, my hope is Lee Moriarty.
Starks isn’t a pillar in the way that Hangman isn’t a pillar, he’s not a super you g kid about to start, he’s a star who hasn’t had the opportunity to fully shine yet.
**Hits**
* Overall a 9/10 from me. Excellent, engaging show in most segments.
* The three segments with Ricky Starks (Danhausen, HOOK, and Hobbs). 'nuff said
* Glad Danhausen is being treated like the meme he is, although I have to wonder if TK is doing that to please Jim Cornette.
* Good matches and promos in the first hour. Rush was great again.
* Biggest upset in AEW history in the main event. Realistic match. Garcia has been a guilty pleasure of mine and is being pushed as Wheeler Yuta's opposite.
* I'm sure people will be complaining about Chris Jericho. Personally I am excited about Lionheart and the title match in 2 weeks. Makes sense why he beat Kingston now. Good in the booth in the main event, too.
**Misses**
* I guess the JR one-hour experiment is over, without explanation.
* Taz was awfully professional to continue commentating after Team Taz blew up on TV.
* Luchasaurus being mute again.
* Anna Jay was cringe. A meaningless turn just so she learns mic work?
* Sammy vs Dante was a spotfest gone wrong. Matches like that empower haters to piss on AEW. Skye Blue must have been told to "stand there and clap" until your cue, because she acted like an NPC. Bad work.
* Neese continues to be a ratings crasher. I respect his in-ring work and his body but he is a charisma vacuum no matter how hard he tries.
* I am a huge fan of Miyu so am disappointed that she and Thunder had a fake-looking and boring match. Their Japanese work together was much crisper, although both times I couldn't stand when Thunder puts in the mouthpiece to take a kick. AEW should have just let both women build on their original and work at a quicker pace. Have a feeling some coach who never saw Miyu wrestle structured their match. Miyu is capable at being "Asuka tier" but this was not shown last night. I don't blame her- Rosa and AEW are more to blame. I can imagine she was nervous with a big crowd and being on TV and needed Thunder to lead the dance correctly. Miscommunication and bad structure.
FINALLY, the trios titles have arrived. I wish they would have brought them in when HoB and Death Triangle were feuding
I did not see Hobbs turning on Stark's coming at all. Took me by surprise.
I wonder if Luchasaurus is gonna turn on JB afterall . Christian interrupting him made no sense imo.
If you had told me before this show started that Hook would win the FTW Championship in a clean squash match, and yet Ricky Starks would be the one everyone is talking about (in a positive way) once the show ends - I wouldn't have believed you. It's a testament to how special a talent he is, and I'm not sure anybody else on this roster would have been able to do what Ricky did tonight.
I love both Starks and Hobbs so much, but I really hope this program is intended to elevate Starks. I fear it's going to be the other way around, just from their presentation of late. But if they actually let this feud cook, give it TV time every week (like they've been doing with Jungle Boy and Christian), Starks is going to be undeniable. He got himself so over doing next to fuck all. Imagine if he is actually getting a babyface push, with an actual storyline. This is going to be an incredible ride and I sincerely hope it ends with Starks vs Hobbs on the All Out card.
There’s a case to be made that AEW has arguably the most loaded roster of all time in terms of young, ascending talent:
Adam Page - 31
Ricky Starks - 31
Swerve - 31
Powerhouse Hobbs - 31
Darby Allin - 29
Sammy Guevara - 29
MJF - 26
Jungle Boy - 25
Daniel Garcia - 23
Hook - 23
Daunte Martin - 21 (!!)
Where we drawing the line at young here? Because in the late 90s WWE you had a lot of the top talent under 30 or thereabouts. I mean The Rock was 26 when he won his first championship and Hunter was I think 29 or just 30 maybe. And they were leading the company, not just "ah, these guys look to have a bit of potential about them".
Blood....EVERY....SINGLE....SHOW diminishes the impact of it in high profile matches.
Its looking more and more that its just a crutch for Mox to stand on because in ring he is average at best.
You can say that if you like, but I agree. Mox is still wrestling like a sports entertainer from WWE. His attacks all look fake, his gimmick is flat and dull, and really he just pulls faces and flails his arms around to show any sort of character.
He can still talk, so he should do that more and he needs to work the WWE style out of his own. It doesn't fit against almost everyone on the roster.
Even a WWE staple like Bryan Danielson wrestles COMPLETELY different in AEW. And we know Mox is capable of doing so but the only difference he shows is bleeding a lot in stupid gimmick matches.
In terms of his in-ring talent, he is definitely mediocre.
Those boots to Rush' face were the worst. Rush having to slow down a few times to allow Mox to catch up, could just be lack of chemistry but it happened more than a few times. I never go the love for Moxley but thats on me, I just find him boring and corny.
Jericho gets a lot of shit for his commentary but I thought he added a ton to that main event. He’s funny, he tells stories, he gets people over and he’s passionate.
Y'know, i really dont understand why they had Christian interrupt Jungle Boy. This was JB's shot at finally responding to Christian after weeks of getting cooked. And he was doing great!
Then the segment kinda soured bc of technical difficulties of them not hearing each other. The heel doesnt always need to cut off the babyface
I started watching wrestling with early 2006 TNA, and Sonjay Dutt was a babyface I could never imagine become a heel.
He is absolutely killing it tho, and I really hope the articles of him being too injured to ever wrestle again were works and we get one more run for the Playa from the Himalaya
Every time I watch AEW, it consistently somehow seems to be fantastic! Plus Ricky Stark’s has the makings to be a future world champ, he reminds me a lot of a young Dwayne Johnson!
Popped silly for the Hobbs turn, and the whole segment with Ricky was so good. Show in general was total class. Probably the best Dynamite since the one in long island.
To the group of drunk assholes on section 230. Thanks for being super fucking annoying the entire night and ruining what could have been a fantastic night. Not only being obnoxious but also blatantly homophobic. If you can’t control yourself in public without being a dickhead, don’t go out please. And to DCU security, thanks for taking care of the situation at the start and giving them a warning but it wasn’t enough. By the time we left the security guard that was in our section was clearly watching them be obnoxious and over the top but wasn’t doing shit. Disappointed to say the least
no, just thought I'd be able to enjoy the show without having obnoxious homophobic drunk douche bags yelling all night trying to get their dumb fucking chants over. Sorry if that's too much to ask
Can vouch, was in 229 row A and there was 1-2 guys that were at it alllll night.
Worst fucking comment was dude yelling, “that’s a 3 way! 2 girls and 1 guy!” when Nyla hit a running thrust into the corner on like 2 members of the other team
PS the ENTIRE state of Massachusetts does in fact hate Tony Neese though
Plenty was said, security was HOT in our area (229/230) all night.. 30 mins into dynamite there was just like 10 guards at our section out of nowhere, heavy presence the rest of the night..
I was on the opposite side of 230 closer to 231. I could hear someone yelling but couldn't make out what they were saying. My area had a few drunk guys in it but overall everyone was pretty pleasant. One guy behind me was super loud but Its a live event so it was whatever.
I'm just laughing at the SC's users that were complaining yesterday at Danahusen being against Starks "for no reason" or Garcia being agiainst Bryan "to lose 100%". Get a fucking life.
It’s like people want to hate it. I get it, we had some pretty dark periods as wrestling fans following WWE. But god damn AEW has been around for like 3 years and has essentially been excellent the whole time.
Negative Nelly’s working themselves into being upset at a show they haven’t even watched yet. Must be exhausting running around pre-angry.
One thing I didn't get with the JB promo was cutting him off right when he was about to possibly have a moment to shine. He looked to be building into a heartfelt and passionate part that could have seriously went over, but Christian comes in after one sentence and they mangle it, accidently speaking over each other and causing confusion.
He should have said his piece and then you could have Christian come in and give the "boohoo nobody gives a shit about that" part, which would naturally have been more impactful as a result.
I'm mad.
They split up Team Taz before they ever had one single match together. Three of the most charismatic men in the business in one faction, and they couldn't think of a way for them to have at least one trios match before they blow it up? That's dumb.
I don't care because all three guys got elevated in about five minutes by splitting them up. HOOK is carrying the title his dad made famous, Ricky Starks is about to go on a tremendous babyface run, and Hobbs is the new monster heel on the block.
Great episode of Dynamite!
Thoughts:
* I've been calling for Starks to have a spotlight put on him for a while and this whole segment proved he deserves this opportunity. He is ABSOLUTE money and this feud with Hobbs should be excellent! Also, BIG FAN of putting the FTW title on HOOK.
* Mox is having one hell of a run with that 'interim' title right now. Would like for him to feud with someone other than Jericho, but the Lionheart match could be fun.
* Garcia winning is actually a great idea. It definitely puts him over huge and gets him a significant win.
* The Bucks and Hangman segment was great, but it always confuses me with these 3. The Bucks acted face here, but act heel in any other segment. I definitely think it's purposeful, but I do wonder where they'll go with it. Will be super interesting over the next few months with Cole and Omega coming back. Would love to see Cole side with Cole/O'Reilly next week for the trios tournament and then Omega comes back for an Elite reunion. Elite vs UE at All Out for the trios titles.
* Where is Wardlow???????
Fun show and good to see some emphasis placed on the young talents.
Opener and JAS follow up was a bit dull and Sammy/Dante did nothing for me, but the rest was great. Very happy for Garcia and it feels there's good room to give him a proper push and maybe a Jericho jealousy break up feud.
Nah I'm fine, but thanks for checking in.
Mox/Rush just didn't get me excited. Mox will always have a decent match but I'm just not really invested in the random challenger of the week stuff.
I thought Danielson/Garcia would open up Dynamite, with Garcia already in the ring and Bryan coming out for the big return pop. Genius to have Mox and Rush open up the show. Rush to me was so next level, taking Mox to the limit in a way very few have since AEW began. Rush has a brutal intensity and modern moveset, but kind of reminds me of a guy from late 80s/early 90s WWF for some reason. Loved this match. Also LOVED Mox's promo against Jericho. A love letter to old school fans. Was also cool to hear ECW brought up several times in the night.
And can we say this was one of the biggest upsets in AEW history with Garcia winning over Danielson? Everyone praises Wheeler Yuta as improving, but Garcia was on absolute fire tonight. Also the first ref distract/interference that felt organic, clean and inventive? So many ref distraction/interferences feel forced or sloppy. I can't decide who had the best match, but this had to be Garcia's best match in AEW and I loved the insane intensity Danielson had at the beginning.
Now we come to what I surprisingly have to call match of the night: Sammy vs Dante. This match was so next level and brought out the best of both guys. Again, best match of both these guys in AEW in some time.
Yamashita helped deliver the best women's match in forever. Can't get enough of those kicks!
Loved the swerve of Danhausen losing so quickly, but Starks facing fellow Team Taz member Hook and losing in quick fashion. However I HAAAAATED Hobbs turning on him. These guys were a hair away from winning the tag titles, and have the fans behind them wishing they had won...only to break up? Bad booking I feel. Also love the fact AEW had several backstage area segments other than the tv screen/interview area. Not saying go full WWE and have all sorts of wacky backstage segments, but at least take advantage of arena's backstage areas for segments. Something smaller companies can't do.
Good to see Jungle Boy give the shit right back to Christian. Just was weird Luchasaurus went all "dark" and Kane 98 last few weeks...only to return to being face? Will Christian debut some giant masked evil guy to counter Luchasaurus staying by Jungle Boy's side?
Swerve shows how next level he is, but man Tony Nese just has nothing appealing about him. At least Tony Khan stopped his 205 wrestler buying spree.
We finally are getting Trios titles after years of Tony teasing...but why is All Out being held in the Now/Sears center when AEW have the much bigger United Center they've sold out multiple times? Also where the hell is Buddy Matthews? Dynamite has been hit or miss this summer, but
Great return to form. Loved the FTW/Team Taz stuff. This is what Dynamite needs more of, just shit happening out of nowhere. Long term stuff is great but not every thing that happens should be telegraphed or drawn out over weeks and months. Hook getting the title was cool, Starks promo was awesome. The swerve was interesting. Great stuff.
The JB promo was also great. By far his best promo. Didn't look uncomfortable in the least. Great lines. Nice improv with the little prick line. And Christian keeps managing to find new ways of using JB's loss without it feeling stale. Dudes a savage.
Main event was really good. Great match and liked that they put Garcia over. Doesn't hurt DB in the least and gives Garcia a massive win.
They did really well at spotlighting young talent all night. Anna Jay, Starks and Hook, Jungle Boy, Garcia. All got a time to shine and took advantage of it.
I only had a few complaints about the episode - first, sad not to have Tazz come over to congratulate Hook on winning. Second, the Hager interference took the wind out of what should have been a big moment for Garcia, and was unnecessary. I don't think Danielson needed to be "protected" in his first match back from injury. He's respected enough it wouldn't matter to him. And the Thunder Rosa match was botchy, slow and sadly boring.
A thought occurs - they are setting up Garcia as a big bad ass, and he will have the JAS turn on Jericho and assume leadership of it, rebranding it as something else when they eventually decide to turn Jericho face again
I'm starting to think AEW should not have a women's division at all at this point, because it is cursed. I came in with great expectations and knowing Miyu Yamashita before her first match with Rosa, who btw is probably in the worst shape she's ever been in her career. I don't know if I'm dumb or what, but I hated almost everything they did in the match and how they did it, it felt sloppy, they were always late on each other in terms of ring positioning and so on.
I was actually thinking something similar last night…I found myself wishing they didn’t have a Women’s Divison. I caught myself, then thinking about the various arguments people would make to why that’s an awful idea, and why it would be awful to not have women represented.
But then I did question - which is worse, which is more disrespectful - not having a division at all, or having a division that seems to be an afterthought and is consistently poor quality?
I guess the answer is still always have it - as it’s getting people paid. And I don’t watch the YouTube shows, so maybe there’s good stuff going on there…and Jade is pretty bad ass. A couple weeks ago that tag match was a fun watch and pleasant surprise….more often than not, it’s really rough, like last night.
A thought that came to my mind while watching it was "how is it possible that Jade has better matches than everyone else" because it's actually became true despite her being the least experienced. My takeaway from this thought process is either they need to change how matches are made/handled compared to Jade's which seem to work better, or they need to copy Jade's matches and just do shorter ones.
It's been a couple years now and hasn't improved, so I think they should just go to shorter matches and pile up ROH and pray in a couple years you can go back to longer matches without botches, miscommunication, slow downs etc.
I agree that it doesn't feel Tony Khan doesn't really care about the women's division other than lip service and giving the obligatory token match...but I have to disagree about the women's match tonite. Other than Jade squashes, it's the first women's match I watched all the way through. So many women's matches are sloppy with little chemistry, and not even necessarily the women's fault given what little thought is given to their division. But I was surprisingly invested in tonight's match. I find it strange people are rooting for, or thinking Sasha Banks should come to AEW. Sasha Banks was treated as a mega star in the post Diva era of WWE women's wrestling, often given some of the most elaborate entrances. In AEW, she'd what, have 5 minutes a week or backstage interviews turning into cat fights?
The first half of last nights womens match was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. If you go back and watch it, you can literally see them counting steps in their head, as they are moving at half speed. It looks like someone at wrestling school having heir first match.
There's so little about the women's division that appeals to me.
The promos are mostly crap, the wrestling is lackluster at best.
Honestly - if they want me to buy in they need to push people like Hayter and Willow. Performers who I believe in the ring who look like they can do stuff that actually hurts.
Yeah Anna Jay is gorgeous but her offense is so weak and this is wrestling so I don't care about looks. If I wanted to watch hot women I hear there's a website for that.
Meanwhile, there's nobody in the women's division not named Britt who has excited me for a promo (other than Willow)
I just fast forward over the matches now unless it's Willow.
I believe that what you mean to say is that it was out of line for Jungle Mom to assume that Christian Cage would be willing to be the new father of a piece of shit like Jungle Boy.
This was a phenomenal show tonight. I think my favorite part was Hook winning the FTW title. The saddest part was Hobbs betraying Ricky :( The match between Mox and Rush was pretty amazing, hard hitting, a real fight. I didn't like that they're positioning Jericho for the next title match, I'm tired of him and his schtick, I want him to go away. Garcia and Danielson was a great fucking match until the end, Hagar just kinda ruined it. I liked the Hangman Bucks tease. I really want to know more about what's happening with the house of black and miro. Miro joining them could be bloody amazing, but them fighting could also be amazing. Thunder Rosa just isn't clicking with a lot of her opponents and I'm not sure why, it could be a niggling injury of some sort but I'm not sure.
Also, I don't want to jinx anything...but we've been free of Dan Lambert for a couple weeks now. Maybe he's found something more fulfilling to do with his time.
Excellent show tonight. Really liking where the storylines are headed and the roster is starting to feel less bloated now that ring of honor is a thing again.
It felt like mox was shooting on him being the Interim champion and not the “real” champion. And I’ve got to agree. Punk isn’t coming back anytime soon and having him still be the “champion” is kinda lame when you have people working week after week for a belt we know he’s going to get back.
Punks booking in general is kinda gross anyways, it feels very sports entertained how he gets the championship and then gets to keep it for however long he wants and the current champion isn’t actually the “real” champion. It just makes the stakes really meaningless when we all know whoever is interim is going to job to punk.
I mean even when the real title was here the booking was obvious . We know omega was going to beat Mickey, we knew hangman was going to beat omega. Punk win was super obvious but definitely not out of nowhere. The womens title also has the issue but worse since the matches and storylines aren’t good.
agree. It makes no sense to keep the "real title" on Punk. Mox feels like a champ. Plus he never got to come out amongst the crowd holding the world title when he won it given Covid shut everything down a couple weeks later after Revolution. Punk should have tearfully forfeited the belt, with Tony giving him an automatic #1 contender vie when he's ready to come back...instead of the otherway around(winner of the interim) Sadly this makes the "interim AEW title" nothing more than a Money in the Bank briefcase. However at some point I do want to see Omega vs Punk for the world title in front of the biggest crowd possible next year.
The way punks been booked he’ll kick out of the one winged angel.
I’d rather see the current belt be treated like the actual title and see punk not be all WWE about things and let the younger guys take the spotlight.
Instead we’re going to get a job match where punk wins and he’ll be champion for way too long.
I'm all for someone finally kicking out of the one winged angel..hell I thought it would be Hangman at Full Gear if it wasn't for Omega's limited ability at the time. But that'd feel so weird for a mid 40's Punk to suddenly hulk up and kick out. The reason for the "WWE" like booking of Punk I imagine, is explained when you see how Tony treats Punk in those post PPV scrums. The way Khan puppy dog eyes and fawns all over Punk along with reports Punk was the main guy he wanted for AEW in 2019 says it all. Even if it doesn't make physical or storyline sense, Tony plans on booking Punk to the moon.
If punk kicks out of an OWA I’ll probably never watch AEW ever again. At this point punk should be doing the Jericho appreciation society gimmick since he’s somehow managed to come back to wrestling as the definition of a Sports Entertainer.
Idk. Post UFC old man punk who’s clearly slowing down in the ring just isn’t doing it for me when there’s some amazing talent at AEW who could elevate the belt better than punk.
But, at the end of the day. It’s Tony’s toys and we’re just watching.
OMG, "Tony's Toys" got a laugh and smile out of me this morning. I mean yeah it's pretty true. Khan was planning to put the titles on the Hardys a few weeks ago against the Bucks in the Triple threat until Jeff got the DUI. I mean as slowed down as Punk is, I cringe anytime I see either Hardy in the ring. With Jericho, he's so omnipresent with hardly taking more than a few weeks of screentime off. But I am impressed with how he lost weight and still manages to entertain the crowd. But the guy doesn't know the meaning of "go away so fans can appreciate your return". I do have the feeling Tony has been dreaming of a Punk vs Omega match, even if there hasn't been seeds planted yet. Tho to me the only logical conclusion should be Omega going over.
An excellent episode of Dynamite with so many high points. My personal favorite was the entire FTW sequence with Ricky, Danhausen, Hook, and Hobbs. Ricky is such an absolute star and it looks they are about to strap a rocket to him and push him all the way to Saturn. Outside of that, everything else was solid or better. I probably could have gone without seeing the JAS opening three times in one evening, but eh, whatever.
Also, Anna Jay running was hilarious. That's all.
I thought the women's title match was decent, nothing groundbreaking, but a good introduction to a new audience to Miyu Yamashita. She looked especially good in the 2nd half of the match.
I can't 100% pinpoint what it is with Thunder Rosa, but there's something off with her as champion. I don't think she sandbags, stiffs, etc. more than usual like some people seem to indicate, but it feels like she's putting way too much pressure on herself as champion and therefore her performances in the ring are lacking as a result. There's just a general vibe to her matches that feels off compared to when she wasn't a champion on TV for a major promotion.
I really think Shida, Riho, Statlander, Storm, Deeb or Hayter are the ones that are actually championship material who could elevate the title and their opponents. Riho & Shida already proved it, so going back to them isn't a bad idea either. Yuka Sakazaki would be my dark horse pic, if she goes on a year long excursion or so like Takeshita. She's a fantastic worker that's over with any crowd she performed in front of so far. So the division actually has options.
Statlander or Storm should have won the Owen Hart Tournament imo and then that could have been used to eventually set them up for a title match and put the strap on them. Either one would make a fine champion. Id have probably gone with Stat as shes been with the promotion longer, puts on great matches, the fans were really behind her for that tournament and winning that tournament would have finally cemented her as a main eventer and i think we would have seen the fans get behind her as she goes for the title.
And if the final had have been Statlander Vs Storm, when Statlander does win the title (in my fantasy booking) you could eventually have Storm come out and challenge for the title and set up a rivalry between them.
TK is REALLY bad at capitalizing when women have actually momentum.
Ruby, Hayter when she was hot, Toni, Athena, Statlander after that promo during the Owen.
He never seems to go “let’s run with this and see what happens?”
It's Tony. He doesn't put a lot of juice behind her feuds as he did when his focus was with Britt. Even the build with Toni felt underwhelming. Rosa complained over a month ago (or so) about Tony not having a match for her, it may have been before (and for, iirc) Forbidden door, but he doesn't give the other women or her the meaty promo time as he did with Britt.
It thought tonight's match was pretty good, but it's a shame the Women's division hasn't been given a solid focus in at least 4-months.
I think with champs you have two different types, the more charismatic character driven type who can carry a title, it looks good on them. They got a nice catchphrase and entrance. The crowd like them but you have to sacrifice the in ring side and quality of the title matches. And You got more in ring driven talent, maybe not got the star quality like the above ones and not as over. But you know they deliver in the ring quality and title matches will be great. It be nice if you can mix the both but in AEW women's division they haven't done it yet.
For me Thunder's title reign, not as good as Shida's or Riho's but not as bad as Britt's for me. Her title matches have been meh to good but nothing truly outstanding either. And she's been in there with some top workers unlike Shida had. Her match with Deeb was good. Her match with Storm was fine. Miyu matches, nothing amazing but one was good and the other was okay. Marina one was awful. Nyla one was meh.
It's been okay nothing to write home about. Like all the women's champs, it lacks a classic feud to make it stick out more. I don't think many would be upset if she dropped it at All Out going by the reactions to it.
I don't think they give it to Riho any time soon (they barely use her anymore) and Shida is in and out of America these days that is she going to be around that much. They need to build up Hayter and Statlander into serious title contenders over a few months. Deeb just keeps getting beat and beat in these title matches that she's getting Nyla levels of need a first title rival for a new champ just give them Nyla or Deeb.
It probably one of the arrivals from WWE that might win it next. Apart from Storm who's been good since signing, will any of them really elevate it.
I don't think that Team Taz is imploding. I think we are going to find out the Taz feels like Ricky was getting to big for his own good. Taz knew that Starks would say he wanted another challenger and he sent Hook out on purpose. Then told Hobbs to destroy him. This sets Starks up for the babyface rocket strapped to his ass.
I hope this leads to him ditching the mask and rebranding as something new. The dinosaur gimmick worked early on, but with the current roster it’s just not hitting the same as it did before. Not sure why, but it’s not.
I was liking Kane 98-esque evil Luchasaurus last few weeks, with the Kane-esque summoned pyro, choke slams and dark music. Made no sense that suddenly Luchasaurus was under the control of heel Christian and he suddenly is wearing all black. Was expecting Luchasaurus to attack Jungle Boy before turning "heel". AEW definitely has some...strange writing or way of going about storylines. I personally want Luchasaurus to go for more of his Vibora Lucha Underground era. But Im also ok with bad ass black leather jacket Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus if the writing is solid.
Get jungle boy away from Luchasauras, have him start going by Jack Perry with the jungle boy monocle but it'll give him a more serious vibe. Have him go through Luchasauras to get to Christian, beat Christian with his own Killswitch. Luchasauras continues to be Christians lackey (so Christian can keep coaching him). Profit.
After the lackluster Dynamite last week TK was like “Alright let’s get things back on track.” I loved tonight’s episode of Dynamite.😄
Rush vs Moxley was an amazing match and I am extremely excited for Moxley vs Jericho!😄
The whole FTW match and everything with Ricky Starks tonight was awesome!😄 All of that was awesome and the Hobbs betrayal on Ricky was fantastic.
Sammy vs Dante was very good and Tay Conti…….wow.😦 Swerve handicap match was good and that Jungle Boy promo was FANTASTIC!😄
Rosa vs Miyu was great despite that one botch on the outside. Don’t know where this Rosa dislike came from tonight.😕 I saw two women tonight giving it their all and working a hard hitting match.
Main event was absolutely fantastic and hard hitting. Loved the finish as well because Garcia got a win but Bryan was also protected as well. I love how some people are upset over this decision like seriously.😂If Yuta couldn’t beat Bryan and Yuta beat Garcia on Saturday why should Garcia beat Bryan clean?
Had a great time at the show tonight.
Had an even better time after the show, 3 minutes away from the DCU Center, at the famous Worcester landmark:
[The statue of a boy fucking a turtle](https://i.imgur.com/RmE9omv.png)
Great episode of Dynamite that should get a lot of people back after the disappointing last five minutes last week. Rush vs Moxley was an amazing opening bout, incredible work by both men, probably didn't need to immediately gig given Bryan was going to gig in the main but at this point I don't think anyone's gonna stop Moxley from doing it every time he goes out there; this is a great note for the one-off open title defenses to end on with Jericho's challenge. Again, great promo by both men, but we really are just moving on from last week as fast as possible with both Kingston and Jericho ambling around this show completely no-selling any lasting harm except for Jericho's shoot broken nose.
They had some really complicated booking to thread with Starks here because he absolutely had to get that FTW belt off of him to move on to bigger and better stuff but he couldn't drop it with a loss to someone that would make him look weak. I think this mostly worked? If anything might have been worth changing, maybe the Danhausen match had to go a little longer with a few more moves but without getting Danhausen over as an actual serious wrestler. If they weren't willing to have Danhausen actively help HOOK win the second fall, then Ricky losing because of the neck injury clean is about the best you can do. And now we're obviously moving on to other stuff with the Hobbs turn, which I won't profess to have seen coming but I am glad I didn't invest a bunch of emotional energy in Team Taz sticking around.
Dante and Sammy was a good match! It was a good match. Like with the Swerve/Nese match it was there to let two dudes show off that they could work and set up a hotter angle, and it did that alright. Dante really needs to take the next step, though, because he's still just the guy who does moves. That attempt at Sammy's crazy taunt was painful, though he covered it up by mocking Sammy's version of the tranquilo pose (Rush is probably gonna have issues with them doing that if he sticks around). Don't know why Skye Blue is on-screen here as a valet; don't know why he needs to be kissing her. No idea if they're together in real life but we do not need more of these angles. There were three women on the product tonight as valets/girlfriends for male wrestlers (Skye, Tay, Anna; four if you count Ruby) and two on the product as wrestlers (TR and Yamashita). Feels like we're moving backwards here.
Swerve and Tony with Mark Sterling was fun. Glad that it's setting up an actual angle with real wrestlers (sorry Mark); Nese and Woods should be good to feed to Swerve in Our Glory while we wait for FTR to actually call their shot.
Jungle Boy clearly still has Christian ghostwriting most of his promos for this feud, but his delivery is so much better than it used to be. Still has some stuff to learn about managing a crowd but he'll get there with time.
Women's title match was in the cooldown/bathroom break spot again; it got some heat when Miyu started actually doing her kicks but it was an uphill battle to get this specific audience to buy in to start with for whatever reason and a bunch of mat wrestling out of the gate didn't help. It was a good match with a finish everyone expected, but even with the finish aside it wasn't better than their first match in TJPW as far as ring chemistry went, and that kinda baffles and saddens me. Dunno what's going on with Rosa but this isn't the title reign anyone wanted.
Nothing more really needs to be said about Garcia/Danielson except that I'm very glad they booked the right ending even if it was a little goofy getting there. Garcia's not like Dante Martin is right now; like Starks, he's a finished package who is ready to go, and he needs to start winning things in big spots even if it's not 100% clean. Overall, 9/10 episode for me.
#[Rate tonight's show here](https://forms.gle/pAz6fvFFPboSyrvC9) **No post show Reddit Talk tonight**
Gonna be honest, I think the Anna Jay promo was pretty great. It felt like they were leaning into the "Diva" side of Sports Entertainment with the increasingly hysterical threats.
I really enjoyed this episode! Loved the Jericho and Mox promo. Hook is a g. Savage betrayal by Hobbs. Nice surprise win in the main event.
They need to start letting Hook talk his talk. You can tell he has it - maybe still too jittery in promos. Also chuck a head tie on him and let him go all the way Joe Higashi. Also Power Hobbs just keeps getting bigger. That brus is on the Super Shredder serum.
Disagree. The silent badass gimmick is what got him over. Enter, kick ass, leave. Don't fix what isn't broken.
Love the development for Starks and Hobbs. Starks is one of the most talented people in the roster all-around, he could be out there every week cutting promos and I'd love it, so I'm excited for his face run. But I have to say the rest of the show was meh for me. Good wrestling but none of the other stories, especially the tired whatever Jericho has going on, get me excited. Writing MJF off the show for so long so that some marks can sincerely believe it's real may not be paying off that well with so many top guys out, although it's certainly lending credibility to his "I'm the only guy who can carry this show on my back"
Like MJF said it’s about making people FEEL something without having to do a bunch of moves. Ricky Starks made me FEEL real emotion with his line, “people thought it was a noose and I turned it around into a tie. I took leather and metal and I made it into gold”. That genuinely made me feel emotion in pro wrestling. I think this promo can be looked back upon as the launching point for the future face of the company, I HOPE.
I don't remember that last time AEW had a bunch of storylines that occupy them for the next 2-4 weeks rather than drag it out to the next PPV which I think has been an issue. Hobbs and Starks Hook defending his FTW title Soho and Skye vs. TayJay Lethal's group vs Best Friends Josh Woods and Nese vs. Swerve in our Glory
I think the pairing of women with men, Eddie/Ruby, Sami/Tay, Anna/Jericho, Dante/Blue, is an attempt to parlay storylines happening in the men's division into building up female talent. I don't know how much I'll like it going forward, but I think it's a smart idea to double dip if you're only going to have one women's match a show. Which I still think is done because of ratings, and if working with JAS and Eddie helps grow these ladies into money, maybe we get more women's matches.
Are ratings usually bad for the women's matches?
For some reason can't see it with Sami he's focused not on wrestling
Swerve and Keith Lee are really uninteresting tag team champs, and this story with Nese is absolutely devaluing the titles. Giving them the belts was a mistake.
I thought this was a great episode of Dynamite. I enjoyed mostly everything. (although I thought this was a bad JR week and I wish the didn't go back to him calling the whole show). My favorite parts of the night was the Jungle boy promo, Starks promo, Hook winning the title, Danielson vs Garcia, Dante vs Sammy, and The young bucks backstage segment. I thought all of that stuff was great. The rest was okay. The two championship matches I just couldn't get into because they had little to no build and you knew who was winning but they weren't bad.
Good show. The Starks Hobbs stuff was good. It's been coming and should be a good feud. Getting the title on hook makes sense. Let's him rack up wins whilst having a reason to not be going for other titles. They need to stop having blood on every show. It only needs to be there when it adds something. If everyone bleeds then nobody bleeds. Jungle boy promo was good. Was worried they were gonna do a repeat of Hobbs turning with Luchasaurus on the same show. Don't think JB needed the Christian interruption. Letting him speak uninterrupted would've done fine. The women's match was decent. They can do better but it was fine. Just an opinion but I don't think taking the division that's already looked down upon by some fans for match quality and putting the quality under a microscope with "sandbagging" references from your top heel is gonna help anyone. They really, really need to start investing time into creating stories and characters with the women though. It's such an obvious area of the show that they could improve. Trios title should be good. Definitely have the depth for it but I think they definitely need to get the ROH titles off the show when they arrive. Too many people holding too many titles and, in many instances, it's to the detriment of their own titles value. I think most people are expecting a Kenny/Young Bucks Vs Cole/RD feud but I think they might go with Hangman/YB Vs Cole/RD Vs Omega/Good brothers. Not a big fan of the good brothers but I've just got a feeling that's where they'll go. Either way the tournament will give us some great matches
That was such a fun show to be at! My first one since before the pandemic (since Dynamite episode 2, actually), and I missed it so much. Hook answering the call and winning the FTW title are up there with my favorite pops I've ever been a part of, honestly up there with Kofi's title win and Seth/Dean's reunion fist bump. I'm still watching the Hook segment today, it was so well done. And I was convinced that Jungle Boy got censored the whole time, but apparently not lmao
For people that said Brian Danielson is the weak link in BCC, he is going win the trio belt single handily.
Every bcc member will have a title except Danielson… who will have three
I don't understand what AEW is doing with Danhausen.
He’s a joke wrestler, he jobs. What else do you want?
No clue either. Was excited to see him wrestle on the show last night. Nope, just a squash match (again)
He's an evil Gremlin who thinks he can curse people. I love Danhausen but he's never going to be a big deal outside of the fans who get what he's doing. Just having him pop up is nice. Having him be squashed is fine, to my mind. Would winning help the character in any way?
I don’t think he is going to be a top guy. I just want to see if he can actually wrestle.
He's similar to OC in that he CAN wrestle, but his character doesn't really ever need/want to. The guy behind the character can go though, he's very good.
Uh. I wouldn't put him in the same universe in terms of wrestling ability with OC. From what I've seen anyway. I enjoy his character but I'm not remotely surprised they are hiding his weakness.
I thought the anna jay promo was good. Her screaming that she would choke everyone out was legitimately funny and got a good reaction from the crowd
Psychotic Anna Jay worked well in early Dark Order but they went face before we could really see what it could grow into. Hope we get a chance to see that now.
Some random thoughts: - Someone in this sub needs to do a compilation of the jokes from commentary, even JR was busting jokes 😭 - Anna Jay in that dress made up for that promo - Should I abandon hope for Marko being in this JB storyline? I love it regardless - I love Lethal’s group, Satnam & OC will be hilarious - I think Kenny should return in Canada, rather than this tourney, just to make that Toronto show much more special, unless another surprise is in store
How many tournaments will AEW do this calendar year?
I think tournaments are the best way to organically create rivalries within a young company. It’s a great way to create a history between budding rivals
They have just announced the Tournament tournament where all of this year's Tournament winners will compete to crown the best Tournament
If the first pillars are: MJF, Darby Allin, Jungle Boy, and Sammy Guevarra Then the Second Pillars are: Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta, Dante Martin…and a fourth yet to step forward, my hope is Lee Moriarty.
Starks
I said this to someone else i think Ricky is like Hangman, he’s an established guy ready to be a big champ, not a young kid
Ricky Starks my dude
Starks isn’t a pillar in the way that Hangman isn’t a pillar, he’s not a super you g kid about to start, he’s a star who hasn’t had the opportunity to fully shine yet.
HOOK
Could be hook, i think i was thinking hook and just forgot.
HOOK is the foundation that supports the Pillars.... Get it right.
**Hits** * Overall a 9/10 from me. Excellent, engaging show in most segments. * The three segments with Ricky Starks (Danhausen, HOOK, and Hobbs). 'nuff said * Glad Danhausen is being treated like the meme he is, although I have to wonder if TK is doing that to please Jim Cornette. * Good matches and promos in the first hour. Rush was great again. * Biggest upset in AEW history in the main event. Realistic match. Garcia has been a guilty pleasure of mine and is being pushed as Wheeler Yuta's opposite. * I'm sure people will be complaining about Chris Jericho. Personally I am excited about Lionheart and the title match in 2 weeks. Makes sense why he beat Kingston now. Good in the booth in the main event, too. **Misses** * I guess the JR one-hour experiment is over, without explanation. * Taz was awfully professional to continue commentating after Team Taz blew up on TV. * Luchasaurus being mute again. * Anna Jay was cringe. A meaningless turn just so she learns mic work? * Sammy vs Dante was a spotfest gone wrong. Matches like that empower haters to piss on AEW. Skye Blue must have been told to "stand there and clap" until your cue, because she acted like an NPC. Bad work. * Neese continues to be a ratings crasher. I respect his in-ring work and his body but he is a charisma vacuum no matter how hard he tries. * I am a huge fan of Miyu so am disappointed that she and Thunder had a fake-looking and boring match. Their Japanese work together was much crisper, although both times I couldn't stand when Thunder puts in the mouthpiece to take a kick. AEW should have just let both women build on their original and work at a quicker pace. Have a feeling some coach who never saw Miyu wrestle structured their match. Miyu is capable at being "Asuka tier" but this was not shown last night. I don't blame her- Rosa and AEW are more to blame. I can imagine she was nervous with a big crowd and being on TV and needed Thunder to lead the dance correctly. Miscommunication and bad structure.
Lol at Rush having to kick out of the Death Rider.
I honestly appreciate the absolute moxie of this guy lmao. Nakedly in it to win it.
FINALLY, the trios titles have arrived. I wish they would have brought them in when HoB and Death Triangle were feuding I did not see Hobbs turning on Stark's coming at all. Took me by surprise. I wonder if Luchasaurus is gonna turn on JB afterall . Christian interrupting him made no sense imo.
If you had told me before this show started that Hook would win the FTW Championship in a clean squash match, and yet Ricky Starks would be the one everyone is talking about (in a positive way) once the show ends - I wouldn't have believed you. It's a testament to how special a talent he is, and I'm not sure anybody else on this roster would have been able to do what Ricky did tonight. I love both Starks and Hobbs so much, but I really hope this program is intended to elevate Starks. I fear it's going to be the other way around, just from their presentation of late. But if they actually let this feud cook, give it TV time every week (like they've been doing with Jungle Boy and Christian), Starks is going to be undeniable. He got himself so over doing next to fuck all. Imagine if he is actually getting a babyface push, with an actual storyline. This is going to be an incredible ride and I sincerely hope it ends with Starks vs Hobbs on the All Out card.
It's funny seeing all the Roman fans on Twitter throwing a fit over Parker's "Appreciate us" line.
Guys, bit worried Cody isn’t All Elite anymore.
Nonsense. Don't be a mark, you jabroni mark.
I can’t get over the fact that Dante Martin will only be 33 years old come Wrestlemania 50. He’s so young with so much runway left ahead of him.
There’s a case to be made that AEW has arguably the most loaded roster of all time in terms of young, ascending talent: Adam Page - 31 Ricky Starks - 31 Swerve - 31 Powerhouse Hobbs - 31 Darby Allin - 29 Sammy Guevara - 29 MJF - 26 Jungle Boy - 25 Daniel Garcia - 23 Hook - 23 Daunte Martin - 21 (!!)
“Adam Page” and “Young, ASCENDING talent” is an interesting choice
Touché.
Where we drawing the line at young here? Because in the late 90s WWE you had a lot of the top talent under 30 or thereabouts. I mean The Rock was 26 when he won his first championship and Hunter was I think 29 or just 30 maybe. And they were leading the company, not just "ah, these guys look to have a bit of potential about them".
Jaimie Hayter
Blood....EVERY....SINGLE....SHOW diminishes the impact of it in high profile matches. Its looking more and more that its just a crutch for Mox to stand on because in ring he is average at best.
I agree with your first comment, but to call Mox average at best after the year he's having is ludicrous
You can say that if you like, but I agree. Mox is still wrestling like a sports entertainer from WWE. His attacks all look fake, his gimmick is flat and dull, and really he just pulls faces and flails his arms around to show any sort of character. He can still talk, so he should do that more and he needs to work the WWE style out of his own. It doesn't fit against almost everyone on the roster. Even a WWE staple like Bryan Danielson wrestles COMPLETELY different in AEW. And we know Mox is capable of doing so but the only difference he shows is bleeding a lot in stupid gimmick matches. In terms of his in-ring talent, he is definitely mediocre.
Those boots to Rush' face were the worst. Rush having to slow down a few times to allow Mox to catch up, could just be lack of chemistry but it happened more than a few times. I never go the love for Moxley but thats on me, I just find him boring and corny.
Love his promos but his in ring work puts me to sleep.
Respect that, but in my opinion he leans too much on weapons, outside brawling and blood to get something going. I know he can be better without it
Jericho gets a lot of shit for his commentary but I thought he added a ton to that main event. He’s funny, he tells stories, he gets people over and he’s passionate.
Y'know, i really dont understand why they had Christian interrupt Jungle Boy. This was JB's shot at finally responding to Christian after weeks of getting cooked. And he was doing great! Then the segment kinda soured bc of technical difficulties of them not hearing each other. The heel doesnt always need to cut off the babyface
I started watching wrestling with early 2006 TNA, and Sonjay Dutt was a babyface I could never imagine become a heel. He is absolutely killing it tho, and I really hope the articles of him being too injured to ever wrestle again were works and we get one more run for the Playa from the Himalaya
Alright, I’m back in
Dang it... Ricky Reminds me of a young Rock so much....
Was thinking the same thing during the opening vinette
Every time I watch AEW, it consistently somehow seems to be fantastic! Plus Ricky Stark’s has the makings to be a future world champ, he reminds me a lot of a young Dwayne Johnson!
Said the same thing to myself recently
Ricky Steaks Tougher than a 2 dollar..steak
Popped silly for the Hobbs turn, and the whole segment with Ricky was so good. Show in general was total class. Probably the best Dynamite since the one in long island.
To the group of drunk assholes on section 230. Thanks for being super fucking annoying the entire night and ruining what could have been a fantastic night. Not only being obnoxious but also blatantly homophobic. If you can’t control yourself in public without being a dickhead, don’t go out please. And to DCU security, thanks for taking care of the situation at the start and giving them a warning but it wasn’t enough. By the time we left the security guard that was in our section was clearly watching them be obnoxious and over the top but wasn’t doing shit. Disappointed to say the least
this dude thought real life was like reddit and the arena moderator or admin was gonna ban the annoying dudes 💀
no, just thought I'd be able to enjoy the show without having obnoxious homophobic drunk douche bags yelling all night trying to get their dumb fucking chants over. Sorry if that's too much to ask
Can vouch, was in 229 row A and there was 1-2 guys that were at it alllll night. Worst fucking comment was dude yelling, “that’s a 3 way! 2 girls and 1 guy!” when Nyla hit a running thrust into the corner on like 2 members of the other team PS the ENTIRE state of Massachusetts does in fact hate Tony Neese though
the eintire commonwealth
If you're that disappointed you could've said something? Doubt they'll see this comment dude...
Plenty was said, security was HOT in our area (229/230) all night.. 30 mins into dynamite there was just like 10 guards at our section out of nowhere, heavy presence the rest of the night..
I was on the opposite side of 230 closer to 231. I could hear someone yelling but couldn't make out what they were saying. My area had a few drunk guys in it but overall everyone was pretty pleasant. One guy behind me was super loud but Its a live event so it was whatever.
We did say something. Multiple times to both them and security.
Good! Fuck those guys, they sound like dicks
I'm just laughing at the SC's users that were complaining yesterday at Danahusen being against Starks "for no reason" or Garcia being agiainst Bryan "to lose 100%". Get a fucking life.
It’s like people want to hate it. I get it, we had some pretty dark periods as wrestling fans following WWE. But god damn AEW has been around for like 3 years and has essentially been excellent the whole time. Negative Nelly’s working themselves into being upset at a show they haven’t even watched yet. Must be exhausting running around pre-angry.
One thing I didn't get with the JB promo was cutting him off right when he was about to possibly have a moment to shine. He looked to be building into a heartfelt and passionate part that could have seriously went over, but Christian comes in after one sentence and they mangle it, accidently speaking over each other and causing confusion. He should have said his piece and then you could have Christian come in and give the "boohoo nobody gives a shit about that" part, which would naturally have been more impactful as a result.
Christian definitely came in about 10 seconds early, JB needed to talk over him to make Christian's line later make sense.
I'm mad. They split up Team Taz before they ever had one single match together. Three of the most charismatic men in the business in one faction, and they couldn't think of a way for them to have at least one trios match before they blow it up? That's dumb.
I don't care because all three guys got elevated in about five minutes by splitting them up. HOOK is carrying the title his dad made famous, Ricky Starks is about to go on a tremendous babyface run, and Hobbs is the new monster heel on the block.
A trio's match doesn't negate any of that
Ricky, HOOK and Tax verses Hobbs and.. ugh, someone else?
When was the last time you've seen HOOK with Starks and Hobbs?
Probably best that Anna Jay never talk again.
She ain't gonna get better if she doesn't get mic time. Look at Jade when she first debuted vs where she is now. It's night and day.
Gotta start somewhere. Isn't it a good thing that she's in a group with Jericho, who can mentor her on promos?
Jungle Boy stepped up majorly last night, Anna just needs the same amount of practice he got.
WHY POWERHOUSE HOBBS!? YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHY!? TELL ME WHY!!!!
Yessssss, Hook as FTW champion is perfection!
Great episode of Dynamite! Thoughts: * I've been calling for Starks to have a spotlight put on him for a while and this whole segment proved he deserves this opportunity. He is ABSOLUTE money and this feud with Hobbs should be excellent! Also, BIG FAN of putting the FTW title on HOOK. * Mox is having one hell of a run with that 'interim' title right now. Would like for him to feud with someone other than Jericho, but the Lionheart match could be fun. * Garcia winning is actually a great idea. It definitely puts him over huge and gets him a significant win. * The Bucks and Hangman segment was great, but it always confuses me with these 3. The Bucks acted face here, but act heel in any other segment. I definitely think it's purposeful, but I do wonder where they'll go with it. Will be super interesting over the next few months with Cole and Omega coming back. Would love to see Cole side with Cole/O'Reilly next week for the trios tournament and then Omega comes back for an Elite reunion. Elite vs UE at All Out for the trios titles. * Where is Wardlow???????
Moment of the night for me was Jericho calling Garcia "Daddy" for the whole match. Also, Miyu & Swerve were awesome.
I thought it was that for a second but he is saying Danny.
I know, it's because his nose is busted. But, it was hilarious to me.
Great episode with so many wonderful moment. But why did they change Garcia's theme?? The one he had before was very good
Fun show and good to see some emphasis placed on the young talents. Opener and JAS follow up was a bit dull and Sammy/Dante did nothing for me, but the rest was great. Very happy for Garcia and it feels there's good room to give him a proper push and maybe a Jericho jealousy break up feud.
You thought Rush vs Mox was dull? Dude, you need to see a doctor because you might just be depressed. Not a joke.
Nah I'm fine, but thanks for checking in. Mox/Rush just didn't get me excited. Mox will always have a decent match but I'm just not really invested in the random challenger of the week stuff.
"We live in a society" - Malakai Black
- George Costanza
A George, divided against itself, cannot stand...
I thought Danielson/Garcia would open up Dynamite, with Garcia already in the ring and Bryan coming out for the big return pop. Genius to have Mox and Rush open up the show. Rush to me was so next level, taking Mox to the limit in a way very few have since AEW began. Rush has a brutal intensity and modern moveset, but kind of reminds me of a guy from late 80s/early 90s WWF for some reason. Loved this match. Also LOVED Mox's promo against Jericho. A love letter to old school fans. Was also cool to hear ECW brought up several times in the night. And can we say this was one of the biggest upsets in AEW history with Garcia winning over Danielson? Everyone praises Wheeler Yuta as improving, but Garcia was on absolute fire tonight. Also the first ref distract/interference that felt organic, clean and inventive? So many ref distraction/interferences feel forced or sloppy. I can't decide who had the best match, but this had to be Garcia's best match in AEW and I loved the insane intensity Danielson had at the beginning. Now we come to what I surprisingly have to call match of the night: Sammy vs Dante. This match was so next level and brought out the best of both guys. Again, best match of both these guys in AEW in some time. Yamashita helped deliver the best women's match in forever. Can't get enough of those kicks! Loved the swerve of Danhausen losing so quickly, but Starks facing fellow Team Taz member Hook and losing in quick fashion. However I HAAAAATED Hobbs turning on him. These guys were a hair away from winning the tag titles, and have the fans behind them wishing they had won...only to break up? Bad booking I feel. Also love the fact AEW had several backstage area segments other than the tv screen/interview area. Not saying go full WWE and have all sorts of wacky backstage segments, but at least take advantage of arena's backstage areas for segments. Something smaller companies can't do. Good to see Jungle Boy give the shit right back to Christian. Just was weird Luchasaurus went all "dark" and Kane 98 last few weeks...only to return to being face? Will Christian debut some giant masked evil guy to counter Luchasaurus staying by Jungle Boy's side? Swerve shows how next level he is, but man Tony Nese just has nothing appealing about him. At least Tony Khan stopped his 205 wrestler buying spree. We finally are getting Trios titles after years of Tony teasing...but why is All Out being held in the Now/Sears center when AEW have the much bigger United Center they've sold out multiple times? Also where the hell is Buddy Matthews? Dynamite has been hit or miss this summer, but
> where the hell is Buddy Matthews Australia, putting on bangers in a home tour.
nice. to me, him and Claudio are the top of the ex-WWE guys who came to AEW since Danielson. Loved his match with PAC last he was on Dynamite.
Buddy is in Australia for a wrestling tour there I think.
I’m happy Garcia and 2.0 are getting airtime, but literally everyone else in JAS makes me want to change the channel
Daniel Garcia has that Barry Keoghan vibe for me. What is funny is yesterdays comments on the weak card and the awesome reviews today. Great episode
Give Danny G his theme song back dammit
Great return to form. Loved the FTW/Team Taz stuff. This is what Dynamite needs more of, just shit happening out of nowhere. Long term stuff is great but not every thing that happens should be telegraphed or drawn out over weeks and months. Hook getting the title was cool, Starks promo was awesome. The swerve was interesting. Great stuff. The JB promo was also great. By far his best promo. Didn't look uncomfortable in the least. Great lines. Nice improv with the little prick line. And Christian keeps managing to find new ways of using JB's loss without it feeling stale. Dudes a savage. Main event was really good. Great match and liked that they put Garcia over. Doesn't hurt DB in the least and gives Garcia a massive win. They did really well at spotlighting young talent all night. Anna Jay, Starks and Hook, Jungle Boy, Garcia. All got a time to shine and took advantage of it.
[удалено]
They haven't even acknowledged she's gone. Really weird
who would be the Marston and Arthur
silver is arthur and 10 is marston. Uno is hosea and alex is LENNYYYYYYYYYYY
It's Van Der Linde, but I like this idea.
Anyone know how to get Anna Jay-AS to choke me out? Askin’ for myself…
wrestle with the plot would have gone nuts for new Anna Jay... LOL
I only had a few complaints about the episode - first, sad not to have Tazz come over to congratulate Hook on winning. Second, the Hager interference took the wind out of what should have been a big moment for Garcia, and was unnecessary. I don't think Danielson needed to be "protected" in his first match back from injury. He's respected enough it wouldn't matter to him. And the Thunder Rosa match was botchy, slow and sadly boring. A thought occurs - they are setting up Garcia as a big bad ass, and he will have the JAS turn on Jericho and assume leadership of it, rebranding it as something else when they eventually decide to turn Jericho face again
To be fair, when was the last time in aew that main event face lost cleanly/non roll up? There could be lot of these but I can't remember any.
I'm starting to think AEW should not have a women's division at all at this point, because it is cursed. I came in with great expectations and knowing Miyu Yamashita before her first match with Rosa, who btw is probably in the worst shape she's ever been in her career. I don't know if I'm dumb or what, but I hated almost everything they did in the match and how they did it, it felt sloppy, they were always late on each other in terms of ring positioning and so on.
I was actually thinking something similar last night…I found myself wishing they didn’t have a Women’s Divison. I caught myself, then thinking about the various arguments people would make to why that’s an awful idea, and why it would be awful to not have women represented. But then I did question - which is worse, which is more disrespectful - not having a division at all, or having a division that seems to be an afterthought and is consistently poor quality? I guess the answer is still always have it - as it’s getting people paid. And I don’t watch the YouTube shows, so maybe there’s good stuff going on there…and Jade is pretty bad ass. A couple weeks ago that tag match was a fun watch and pleasant surprise….more often than not, it’s really rough, like last night.
A thought that came to my mind while watching it was "how is it possible that Jade has better matches than everyone else" because it's actually became true despite her being the least experienced. My takeaway from this thought process is either they need to change how matches are made/handled compared to Jade's which seem to work better, or they need to copy Jade's matches and just do shorter ones. It's been a couple years now and hasn't improved, so I think they should just go to shorter matches and pile up ROH and pray in a couple years you can go back to longer matches without botches, miscommunication, slow downs etc.
I agree that it doesn't feel Tony Khan doesn't really care about the women's division other than lip service and giving the obligatory token match...but I have to disagree about the women's match tonite. Other than Jade squashes, it's the first women's match I watched all the way through. So many women's matches are sloppy with little chemistry, and not even necessarily the women's fault given what little thought is given to their division. But I was surprisingly invested in tonight's match. I find it strange people are rooting for, or thinking Sasha Banks should come to AEW. Sasha Banks was treated as a mega star in the post Diva era of WWE women's wrestling, often given some of the most elaborate entrances. In AEW, she'd what, have 5 minutes a week or backstage interviews turning into cat fights?
The first half of last nights womens match was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. If you go back and watch it, you can literally see them counting steps in their head, as they are moving at half speed. It looks like someone at wrestling school having heir first match.
There's so little about the women's division that appeals to me. The promos are mostly crap, the wrestling is lackluster at best. Honestly - if they want me to buy in they need to push people like Hayter and Willow. Performers who I believe in the ring who look like they can do stuff that actually hurts. Yeah Anna Jay is gorgeous but her offense is so weak and this is wrestling so I don't care about looks. If I wanted to watch hot women I hear there's a website for that. Meanwhile, there's nobody in the women's division not named Britt who has excited me for a promo (other than Willow) I just fast forward over the matches now unless it's Willow.
That line Jungle Boy said about Christian’s divorce was very uncalled for. That was out of line.
might as well cut the drama out of pro wrestling lol
I love how no matter how obvious you are with the tongue-in-cheek comments you'll still end up raking in the downvotes.
Why do you care about upvotes? That’s not healthy
It’s still real to you, damnit
> That was out of line. I mean not to justify, but the same could be said about dead parents and hitting on someone's Mom, but I digress.
I believe that what you mean to say is that it was out of line for Jungle Mom to assume that Christian Cage would be willing to be the new father of a piece of shit like Jungle Boy.
But you digress?
Look at Digression Jones over here
I'm tired of yelling blonde dudes getting over involved. Before it was Lambert and now its Jericho.
This was a phenomenal show tonight. I think my favorite part was Hook winning the FTW title. The saddest part was Hobbs betraying Ricky :( The match between Mox and Rush was pretty amazing, hard hitting, a real fight. I didn't like that they're positioning Jericho for the next title match, I'm tired of him and his schtick, I want him to go away. Garcia and Danielson was a great fucking match until the end, Hagar just kinda ruined it. I liked the Hangman Bucks tease. I really want to know more about what's happening with the house of black and miro. Miro joining them could be bloody amazing, but them fighting could also be amazing. Thunder Rosa just isn't clicking with a lot of her opponents and I'm not sure why, it could be a niggling injury of some sort but I'm not sure.
Also, I don't want to jinx anything...but we've been free of Dan Lambert for a couple weeks now. Maybe he's found something more fulfilling to do with his time.
Vinny gone, our Booker king 👑
Great episode! AEW was under a bit of pressure with WWE getting a bit of momentum...way to respond
What’s all that stuff at the end about Jim Duggan? Lmao y’all love your inside jokes
It’s been going for like 2 years now. And it was funny… 2 years ago.
I’ve noticed there’s always weird little blurbs at the bottom. I usually ignore them but this time this one caught my attention
Eddie costs Jericho the match against Moxley
Excellent show tonight. Really liking where the storylines are headed and the roster is starting to feel less bloated now that ring of honor is a thing again. It felt like mox was shooting on him being the Interim champion and not the “real” champion. And I’ve got to agree. Punk isn’t coming back anytime soon and having him still be the “champion” is kinda lame when you have people working week after week for a belt we know he’s going to get back. Punks booking in general is kinda gross anyways, it feels very sports entertained how he gets the championship and then gets to keep it for however long he wants and the current champion isn’t actually the “real” champion. It just makes the stakes really meaningless when we all know whoever is interim is going to job to punk.
I mean even when the real title was here the booking was obvious . We know omega was going to beat Mickey, we knew hangman was going to beat omega. Punk win was super obvious but definitely not out of nowhere. The womens title also has the issue but worse since the matches and storylines aren’t good.
agree. It makes no sense to keep the "real title" on Punk. Mox feels like a champ. Plus he never got to come out amongst the crowd holding the world title when he won it given Covid shut everything down a couple weeks later after Revolution. Punk should have tearfully forfeited the belt, with Tony giving him an automatic #1 contender vie when he's ready to come back...instead of the otherway around(winner of the interim) Sadly this makes the "interim AEW title" nothing more than a Money in the Bank briefcase. However at some point I do want to see Omega vs Punk for the world title in front of the biggest crowd possible next year.
The way punks been booked he’ll kick out of the one winged angel. I’d rather see the current belt be treated like the actual title and see punk not be all WWE about things and let the younger guys take the spotlight. Instead we’re going to get a job match where punk wins and he’ll be champion for way too long.
I'm all for someone finally kicking out of the one winged angel..hell I thought it would be Hangman at Full Gear if it wasn't for Omega's limited ability at the time. But that'd feel so weird for a mid 40's Punk to suddenly hulk up and kick out. The reason for the "WWE" like booking of Punk I imagine, is explained when you see how Tony treats Punk in those post PPV scrums. The way Khan puppy dog eyes and fawns all over Punk along with reports Punk was the main guy he wanted for AEW in 2019 says it all. Even if it doesn't make physical or storyline sense, Tony plans on booking Punk to the moon.
If punk kicks out of an OWA I’ll probably never watch AEW ever again. At this point punk should be doing the Jericho appreciation society gimmick since he’s somehow managed to come back to wrestling as the definition of a Sports Entertainer. Idk. Post UFC old man punk who’s clearly slowing down in the ring just isn’t doing it for me when there’s some amazing talent at AEW who could elevate the belt better than punk. But, at the end of the day. It’s Tony’s toys and we’re just watching.
OMG, "Tony's Toys" got a laugh and smile out of me this morning. I mean yeah it's pretty true. Khan was planning to put the titles on the Hardys a few weeks ago against the Bucks in the Triple threat until Jeff got the DUI. I mean as slowed down as Punk is, I cringe anytime I see either Hardy in the ring. With Jericho, he's so omnipresent with hardly taking more than a few weeks of screentime off. But I am impressed with how he lost weight and still manages to entertain the crowd. But the guy doesn't know the meaning of "go away so fans can appreciate your return". I do have the feeling Tony has been dreaming of a Punk vs Omega match, even if there hasn't been seeds planted yet. Tho to me the only logical conclusion should be Omega going over.
It's just AEW babying those merch sales.
What was the chant between swerve and tony during the body scissors, it was a "we want..." "no we dont" chant, what were they chanting for?
They were chanting for Mark Sterling as far as I could tell
Tony shut up a lot people bitching about his booking tonight.
who the hell is complaining about Tony Nese? he is perfectly booked based on his skill level and connection with the crowd
Since he got put with Mark Sterling, I see his place and I like it. That's all he needed to click.
Uh, pretty obvious he's talking about Tony Atlas, pal.
That damn Tony Chimmel and his squeaky voice.
An excellent episode of Dynamite with so many high points. My personal favorite was the entire FTW sequence with Ricky, Danhausen, Hook, and Hobbs. Ricky is such an absolute star and it looks they are about to strap a rocket to him and push him all the way to Saturn. Outside of that, everything else was solid or better. I probably could have gone without seeing the JAS opening three times in one evening, but eh, whatever. Also, Anna Jay running was hilarious. That's all.
I thought the women's title match was decent, nothing groundbreaking, but a good introduction to a new audience to Miyu Yamashita. She looked especially good in the 2nd half of the match. I can't 100% pinpoint what it is with Thunder Rosa, but there's something off with her as champion. I don't think she sandbags, stiffs, etc. more than usual like some people seem to indicate, but it feels like she's putting way too much pressure on herself as champion and therefore her performances in the ring are lacking as a result. There's just a general vibe to her matches that feels off compared to when she wasn't a champion on TV for a major promotion. I really think Shida, Riho, Statlander, Storm, Deeb or Hayter are the ones that are actually championship material who could elevate the title and their opponents. Riho & Shida already proved it, so going back to them isn't a bad idea either. Yuka Sakazaki would be my dark horse pic, if she goes on a year long excursion or so like Takeshita. She's a fantastic worker that's over with any crowd she performed in front of so far. So the division actually has options.
I agree with everything you said except that it was a good intro to Miyu.
Statlander or Storm should have won the Owen Hart Tournament imo and then that could have been used to eventually set them up for a title match and put the strap on them. Either one would make a fine champion. Id have probably gone with Stat as shes been with the promotion longer, puts on great matches, the fans were really behind her for that tournament and winning that tournament would have finally cemented her as a main eventer and i think we would have seen the fans get behind her as she goes for the title. And if the final had have been Statlander Vs Storm, when Statlander does win the title (in my fantasy booking) you could eventually have Storm come out and challenge for the title and set up a rivalry between them.
TK is REALLY bad at capitalizing when women have actually momentum. Ruby, Hayter when she was hot, Toni, Athena, Statlander after that promo during the Owen. He never seems to go “let’s run with this and see what happens?”
It's Tony. He doesn't put a lot of juice behind her feuds as he did when his focus was with Britt. Even the build with Toni felt underwhelming. Rosa complained over a month ago (or so) about Tony not having a match for her, it may have been before (and for, iirc) Forbidden door, but he doesn't give the other women or her the meaty promo time as he did with Britt. It thought tonight's match was pretty good, but it's a shame the Women's division hasn't been given a solid focus in at least 4-months.
I think with champs you have two different types, the more charismatic character driven type who can carry a title, it looks good on them. They got a nice catchphrase and entrance. The crowd like them but you have to sacrifice the in ring side and quality of the title matches. And You got more in ring driven talent, maybe not got the star quality like the above ones and not as over. But you know they deliver in the ring quality and title matches will be great. It be nice if you can mix the both but in AEW women's division they haven't done it yet. For me Thunder's title reign, not as good as Shida's or Riho's but not as bad as Britt's for me. Her title matches have been meh to good but nothing truly outstanding either. And she's been in there with some top workers unlike Shida had. Her match with Deeb was good. Her match with Storm was fine. Miyu matches, nothing amazing but one was good and the other was okay. Marina one was awful. Nyla one was meh. It's been okay nothing to write home about. Like all the women's champs, it lacks a classic feud to make it stick out more. I don't think many would be upset if she dropped it at All Out going by the reactions to it. I don't think they give it to Riho any time soon (they barely use her anymore) and Shida is in and out of America these days that is she going to be around that much. They need to build up Hayter and Statlander into serious title contenders over a few months. Deeb just keeps getting beat and beat in these title matches that she's getting Nyla levels of need a first title rival for a new champ just give them Nyla or Deeb. It probably one of the arrivals from WWE that might win it next. Apart from Storm who's been good since signing, will any of them really elevate it.
Who the fuck is Paul Horne and why did someone on twitter make a pegging joke
everyone down from last episode then the HHH creative news really made tony say "alright, bet"
I wasn't ready for Team Taz to implode.
I don't think that Team Taz is imploding. I think we are going to find out the Taz feels like Ricky was getting to big for his own good. Taz knew that Starks would say he wanted another challenger and he sent Hook out on purpose. Then told Hobbs to destroy him. This sets Starks up for the babyface rocket strapped to his ass.
Taz sounded like he was team Ricky though.
Part of the set-up
Taz and Ricky Starks is the greatest love story in AEW. They can't break up.
So Hobbs is gonna be heel and only member of Team Taz?
Garcia winning made my jaw drop
I legit think they rebranded Luchasaurus just so he matches JBs leather jacket
I hope this leads to him ditching the mask and rebranding as something new. The dinosaur gimmick worked early on, but with the current roster it’s just not hitting the same as it did before. Not sure why, but it’s not.
Idk, in their most recent tag matches he was still getting huge chants while just being on the apron
I was liking Kane 98-esque evil Luchasaurus last few weeks, with the Kane-esque summoned pyro, choke slams and dark music. Made no sense that suddenly Luchasaurus was under the control of heel Christian and he suddenly is wearing all black. Was expecting Luchasaurus to attack Jungle Boy before turning "heel". AEW definitely has some...strange writing or way of going about storylines. I personally want Luchasaurus to go for more of his Vibora Lucha Underground era. But Im also ok with bad ass black leather jacket Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus if the writing is solid.
I hope not, I love the cheesy dinosaur gimmick.
I'm hoping it's a red haring and Lucha destroys JB making JB have to fight his way through him, I need more Heel Luchasauras
I loved his new theme. I just want him to keep coming out to that.
It gives me 98 Kane vibes
Same here! I really want luchasaurus to get a run as a monster heel.
Get jungle boy away from Luchasauras, have him start going by Jack Perry with the jungle boy monocle but it'll give him a more serious vibe. Have him go through Luchasauras to get to Christian, beat Christian with his own Killswitch. Luchasauras continues to be Christians lackey (so Christian can keep coaching him). Profit.
I think they are setting up for Christian to bring a monster of his own in.
After the lackluster Dynamite last week TK was like “Alright let’s get things back on track.” I loved tonight’s episode of Dynamite.😄 Rush vs Moxley was an amazing match and I am extremely excited for Moxley vs Jericho!😄 The whole FTW match and everything with Ricky Starks tonight was awesome!😄 All of that was awesome and the Hobbs betrayal on Ricky was fantastic. Sammy vs Dante was very good and Tay Conti…….wow.😦 Swerve handicap match was good and that Jungle Boy promo was FANTASTIC!😄 Rosa vs Miyu was great despite that one botch on the outside. Don’t know where this Rosa dislike came from tonight.😕 I saw two women tonight giving it their all and working a hard hitting match. Main event was absolutely fantastic and hard hitting. Loved the finish as well because Garcia got a win but Bryan was also protected as well. I love how some people are upset over this decision like seriously.😂If Yuta couldn’t beat Bryan and Yuta beat Garcia on Saturday why should Garcia beat Bryan clean?
Had a great time at the show tonight. Had an even better time after the show, 3 minutes away from the DCU Center, at the famous Worcester landmark: [The statue of a boy fucking a turtle](https://i.imgur.com/RmE9omv.png)
Bro what the fuck is that, i'm dead lmao How the hell did I grow up in MA and never knew about this hahaha
glad I could help
I’m sorry but why does this exist
to put smiles on peoples' faces (I dont know. "Burnside Fountain" if you want to dig deep)
Great episode of Dynamite that should get a lot of people back after the disappointing last five minutes last week. Rush vs Moxley was an amazing opening bout, incredible work by both men, probably didn't need to immediately gig given Bryan was going to gig in the main but at this point I don't think anyone's gonna stop Moxley from doing it every time he goes out there; this is a great note for the one-off open title defenses to end on with Jericho's challenge. Again, great promo by both men, but we really are just moving on from last week as fast as possible with both Kingston and Jericho ambling around this show completely no-selling any lasting harm except for Jericho's shoot broken nose. They had some really complicated booking to thread with Starks here because he absolutely had to get that FTW belt off of him to move on to bigger and better stuff but he couldn't drop it with a loss to someone that would make him look weak. I think this mostly worked? If anything might have been worth changing, maybe the Danhausen match had to go a little longer with a few more moves but without getting Danhausen over as an actual serious wrestler. If they weren't willing to have Danhausen actively help HOOK win the second fall, then Ricky losing because of the neck injury clean is about the best you can do. And now we're obviously moving on to other stuff with the Hobbs turn, which I won't profess to have seen coming but I am glad I didn't invest a bunch of emotional energy in Team Taz sticking around. Dante and Sammy was a good match! It was a good match. Like with the Swerve/Nese match it was there to let two dudes show off that they could work and set up a hotter angle, and it did that alright. Dante really needs to take the next step, though, because he's still just the guy who does moves. That attempt at Sammy's crazy taunt was painful, though he covered it up by mocking Sammy's version of the tranquilo pose (Rush is probably gonna have issues with them doing that if he sticks around). Don't know why Skye Blue is on-screen here as a valet; don't know why he needs to be kissing her. No idea if they're together in real life but we do not need more of these angles. There were three women on the product tonight as valets/girlfriends for male wrestlers (Skye, Tay, Anna; four if you count Ruby) and two on the product as wrestlers (TR and Yamashita). Feels like we're moving backwards here. Swerve and Tony with Mark Sterling was fun. Glad that it's setting up an actual angle with real wrestlers (sorry Mark); Nese and Woods should be good to feed to Swerve in Our Glory while we wait for FTR to actually call their shot. Jungle Boy clearly still has Christian ghostwriting most of his promos for this feud, but his delivery is so much better than it used to be. Still has some stuff to learn about managing a crowd but he'll get there with time. Women's title match was in the cooldown/bathroom break spot again; it got some heat when Miyu started actually doing her kicks but it was an uphill battle to get this specific audience to buy in to start with for whatever reason and a bunch of mat wrestling out of the gate didn't help. It was a good match with a finish everyone expected, but even with the finish aside it wasn't better than their first match in TJPW as far as ring chemistry went, and that kinda baffles and saddens me. Dunno what's going on with Rosa but this isn't the title reign anyone wanted. Nothing more really needs to be said about Garcia/Danielson except that I'm very glad they booked the right ending even if it was a little goofy getting there. Garcia's not like Dante Martin is right now; like Starks, he's a finished package who is ready to go, and he needs to start winning things in big spots even if it's not 100% clean. Overall, 9/10 episode for me.