BRM Reviews the 2/19/2020 Dynamite

[Big Red Machine]

TAG TEAM BATTLE ROYALE FOR A TITLE SHOT AT REVOLUTION- 6/10
Tony Schiavone is absolutely right that it’s idiotic that LAX was allowed to just stand on the outside the for half of the match. When they finally got into the ring Santana wrestled just fine despite his eye injury. Glad to see that AEW has made so much of this serious injury.
SCU getting eliminated via distraction when Dark Order started talking to them from ringside was face-palmingly WWE, but at least they broke from that a little bit by having Scorpio Sky run up and dive over the barricade onto them.
Dark Order trying to recruit CIMA is an interesting twist (he took a mask but never put it on), especially because I had totally forgotten that Stronghearts existed until I saw CIMA and T-Hawk in this match, and now it looks like something might actually happen with them.
Orange Cassidy and Trent did the same f*cking moronic spot that Otis Dozovic and Mandy Rose did a the Royal Rumble where Cassidy was hiding under the ring for some inexplicable reason and equally inexplicably knew the exact moment to come out to save his friend from behind eliminated via a technicality that everyone hates. WHY WOULD YOU COPY THAT SPOT?!
Also, if you hated that spot in the Royal Rumble but liked it here, you are a hypocrite. That’s just the truth.
In other news, The Bunny turned babyface by walking up to Orange Goofington and kicking him in the nads. This should be the standard practice for anyone who comes across Mr. McGoof.
In summary: Stuff happened. Some of it was fine, some of it was dumb, and one or two things were legitimately interesting. The Bucks won.

SHANNA vs. KRIS STATLANDER- 5.5/10
Dr. Britt Baker, DMD is on commentary. She has suddenly stopped being much of a bully, and thus came across as completely bland. Statlander won a match that was fine for what it was.

Is that the same weirdo in the Scooby Doo costume in the front row from last week?

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS NYLA ROSE- bad
This started off was WAY too cartoony, got better, then got worse again, then got a bit better at the end.

VARIOUS OTHER WOMEN INTERRUPT NYLA ROSE’S INTERVIEW- First Statlander got in her face and did her stupid boop. Then Big Swole came out and got in her face. Then security finally showed up to pull people apart.

JEFF COBB vs. JON MOXLEY- 6/10
Jericho and the Inner Circle are watching from the front row, because apparently this week they need tickets to watch the show and can’t just be at ringside or in their skybox. It’s nice to see that AEW does not learn from their previous logic mistakes. That sure fills me with confidence.
A good match (with excellent guest commentary by Taz) is cut short when Moxley wins via roll-up. The Inner Circle then jumped the barricade to attack Moxley. Dustin ran out to try to make the save but got beaten up four on one. Where is that security from the previous segment?
The arena gets dark all of a sudden, but rather than the expected Cody magically appearing via teleportation, instead Darby Allin walks about and does his entrance. And I do mean walks. He even paced around in a f*cking circle on the stage. Dude… you’re hated enemies are in the ring right now, beating up potential allies. QUIT DAWDLING AND GO FIGHT!
Darby waits a while, then finally rides his skaeteboard down to the ramp and beats the Inner Circle up with it. He helped Moxley take Cobb down, then went to the outside to bear up Sammy, leaving Moxley alone in the ring with Jericho. Moxley gets some shots in but Jericho bails. Darby and Moxley just let him and Sammy go. At least Moxley was smart enough to sell his stomach to give us a reason for why he wasn’t going after his hated enemy.

AEW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Adam Page & Kenny Omega(c) vs. Lucha Bros.- 8/10
This, too, was a moves match, but this one worked. I think the reason for that is that they’ve done such a good job of building up cache in the idea of miscues between Page and Omega that any one feels like it could be the one that results in them losing the titles and thus kicking off a feud between them, and they did a great job of putting those miscues at big moments in this match.
The Bucks came out to congratulate Page and Omega but Page went off to take a fan’s drink instead.

Advertised for next week is Pac vs. Omega in a 30-minute Ironman match and Butcher & Blade vs. Best Friends

STEEL CAGE MATCH IN WHICH IF CODY WINS, HE FACES MJF AT REVOLUTION: Cody Rhodes (w/Arn Anderson & Brandi Rhodes) vs. Wardlow (w/MJF)- 6.75
Props to AEW for making this match pinfalls or submissions only. Wardlow is undefeated, and I think most promotions would have taken the cowardly way out by allowing an escape the cage stipulation so that Cody could win without Wardlow having to be pinned/made to submit. Not only does that sort of thing make no sense because if Wardlow is so damn great and MJF is the one coming up with the stipulations why would he let Cody have this easier win condition, but it’s also a bad idea because to try to protect Wardlow by later telling people “he wasn’t pinned/made to submit,” all that really does is kill the value of future gimmick matches that don’t involve pinfalls, because you’re sending the message that no matter how violent and spectacular a cage/ladder/last person standing/tables/ etc. match is, it shouldn’t be looked at as a “real” win because no one was pinned or made to submit.
Can you argue that there was someone who would have benefited more from being the first man to beat Wardlow than Cody? Absolutely. But this is the way AEW decided to go, and if this is the way they were going to go, they’re at least doing it right. Also, it’s not like they’ve built up too much stock in Wardlow, as I don’t think he has wrestled a single match yet. He’s just large and scary.
This went exactly how we all expected it to: Cody got overpowered, thrown into the cage and bled a lot, made a comeback, did a big scary dive and got the win. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly dramatic or exciting, either. The dive itself was certainly something you can put in a highlight reel, but like with the Lee vs. Dijakovic match from TakeOver this weekend, it was a big spot that has been so watered down by similar (and even bigger) spots over the years that trying to sell it as something uniquely impressive comes off as either fake (in Mauro’s case, as I’m certain he watches indy matches) or completely ignorant (in Schiavone’s case here).
The two missteps here, in my opinion, were the spots involving the people on the outside. The “will Arn turn on Cody” spot was frustrating false drama, and I’d have much preferred them to establish that AEW cage doors aren’t cheap pieces of crap. The other spot, with MJF, Brandi, and Arn was a mistake because why the hell are people getting their hands on MJF before Cody gets to him at the PPV? It just kills the heat.

This was a good episode of Dynamite. Nothing was bad or stupid, we got one awesome match, and everything served a purpose, mostly to build to the upcoming PPV.

[XIV]

The fact you’ve got the tag title match as an 8 concerns me greatly.

Spotted that made no sense. Tag rules weren’t stuck to. There’s weren’t tags, there was a full minute or two with guys outside the ring and the reg didn’t count anyone out!

Two tag teams who ignored the rules of a tag match and no one got disqualified.?

That makes this match bullshit.

[Big Red Machine]

The fact you’ve got the tag title match as an 8 concerns me greatly.

Spotted that made no sense. Tag rules weren’t stuck to. There’s weren’t tags, there was a full minute or two with guys outside the ring and the reg didn’t count anyone out!

Two tag teams who ignored the rules of a tag match and no one got disqualified.?

That makes this match bullshit.

There is only so much I can deduct from a match for the same rule being ignored over and over again. I did take some off for it, but especially with the "one in at a time" rule, it's abandoned pretty much everywhere. I'd prefer that it be followed, but it's not a hill I feel the need to die on. It's one of those things that, when both teams are doing it, I consider it more of a low-order rules violation, like pulling hair, and thus isn't something I would expect to see a DQ for. I'll pop huge if a referee finally does get sick of this sh*t and call for the bell, but I'm not clamoring for it so long as both teams are doing it.

[XIV]

The fact you’ve got the tag title match as an 8 concerns me greatly.

Spotted that made no sense. Tag rules weren’t stuck to. There’s weren’t tags, there was a full minute or two with guys outside the ring and the reg didn’t count anyone out!

Two tag teams who ignored the rules of a tag match and no one got disqualified.?

That makes this match bullshit.

There is only so much I can deduct from a match for the same rule being ignored over and over again. I did take some off for it, but especially with the "one in at a time" rule, it's abandoned pretty much everywhere. I'd prefer that it be followed, but it's not a hill I feel the need to die on. It's one of those things that, when both teams are doing it, I consider it more of a low-order rules violation, like pulling hair, and thus isn't something I would expect to see a DQ for. I'll pop huge if a referee finally does get sick of this sh*t and call for the bell, but I'm not clamoring for it so long as both teams are doing it.

If the basic rules of the match are being ignored... then as far as I’m concerned it’s a dud.

Yes, everywhere is doing it, no one follows the rules of a tag match anymore. 5 second rules, count outs, back slaps instead of hand to hand tags, I get it.

But there were so many violations and mix that in with people doing shit for the sake of doing shit, this match wasn’t for me at all. It goes down as a dud.

Modern wrestling is the worst, because instead of big moves coming out for occasions and actually meaning something, the guys must get together and just say “you do all your shit, we’ll do all our shit, someone will win and the fans will be happy” which means stupid kick outs for all and spots that should match ending or leading into the finish end up meaning nothing. This match, like most AEW matches, fell seriously foul of this. It’s frustrating.

But back to the issue at hand.

The ref had no control, the wrestlers did what they liked, which made the company look like they can not enforce their own rules and ultimately the whole thing then comes crashing down and looks silly.
And that’s what happened here.

[Thelone]

This is the same promotion which had a 10-second rule for the illegal man to get out after a tag that was ignored during the very first tag match.