BRM Reviews the 11/5/2020 Dynamite (bad, aside from Adam Page's promo, which is the best thing AEW has ever done)

[Big Red Machine]

MJF INTERRUPTS AN INNER CIRCLE INTERVIEW- Holy crap an MJF and Jericho segment that was actually useful! I didn’t even mind them starting off by talking up Swagger’s MMA win because it played into the point Jericho made later.


MJF & WARDLOW vs. THE INNER CIRCLE (Sammy Guevara & Ortiz)- 4/10
Jericho’s commentary was so over the top it fell down the other side. They spent a lot of effort making Sammy Guevara feel like the big babyface here… and then reminded us that he’s still a heel by having babyface Matt Hardy interfere and take him out (with MJF making Ortiz tap soon afterwards). Given the story, I think a MUCH better finish would have been MJF cheating to beat Sammy. You can build the Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara match up by having Matt cut a promo telling us how much he wants to get revenge on Sammy, which is going to be a lot more effective at making people want to buy the PPV than giving away Matt getting some revenge on Sammy on free TV.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
MJF charged at Jericho and speared him through the pipe-and-drape set-up behind the announcers. He punched Jericho until Aubrey Edwards pulled him off Santana was angry about this, but Jericho was kind of smirking in that “yeah, that’s what I need to see out of you” way.

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS KENNY OMEGA- They did a good job of keeping this kayfabe, but it’s hard to hear this interview as not trying to respond to critics of the booking.
His kayfabe way of addressing the criticism that the finals match-up was “obvious” was to say that he thought big, bad Wardlow would advance instead of Page. This is a fine kayfabe answer and also works as a subtle shot at Page (although I must point out that if you look at their records and quality of opponents, I don’t think people should be too shocked that Page beat Wardlow, consider Wardlow has very few wins over non-jobbers). (And I will also say that I don’t think the booking feeling predictable is such a bad thing, and especially in such a short tournament).
The comments about AEW being “sports-based” and being where “wins and losses matter” completely misses the mark, though. Kenny said that in sports, he would have just gotten a bye to the finals because his originally-scheduled opponents were unable to compete, citing the NFL as an example. A whole team (or even a significant amount of the players) being unable to compete in a playoff round is pretty much unheard of in major team sports, so I don’t think it’s fair of Kenny to make assumptions about what the NFL would or wouldn’t do. More importantly, though, in combat sports, there are often alternates ready for the tournament, and usually, to keep things fair, there are two possible alternates who have to fight each other to earn the spot. And it’s not like this idea is foreign to pro wrestling, either. wXw usually does this for their annual 16 Carat Gold tournament, and Ring Honor did it for their Pure Title tournament that just ended (NO SPOILERS! I’m only half way through it. I’m hoping to binge the end this weekend), so I don’t think that the idea that it felt to me that Kenny was trying to get across here- that by doing things in the supposedly less sports-like manner of throwing in replacements- AEW was able to give us a better wrestling product.
It also, of course, doesn’t address the many other complains that those of us who got excited when Tony Khan promised us a “sports-based” product have. Like I have noted over the past few weeks, if the wins and losses really mattered, then people like Janela would have never been in the tournament to begin with, and Shawn Spears should have been in instead of Wardlow. And that’s just this tournament. That’s not even getting into other aspects of the presentation (which it admittedly wouldn’t make sense for Kenny to get into here because they’re mostly non-kayfabe). I just hope that anyone inclined to repeat Kenny’s points as a defense of AEW’s non-sports-based presentation understands that they don’t even come close to addressing the full list of major complaints on that subject.

Also, what the f*ck was that look on Tony’ face at the end? He looked like Kenny had scolded him and he was acknowledging that he had done wrong, but Kenny did nothing of the sort.

MIRO (w/Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford) vs. TRENT BARETTA (w/Orange Cassidy & Chuck Taylor)- 4.5/10
I really hated the little interview they showed where they both acknowledged that Miro had been Trent’s “young-boy in FCW.” Any history between them that you’re alluding to needs to make sense with the characters you’re alluding to, and being anything but the big dominant monster we saw him as feels completely out of character for the Alexander Rusev we saw in FCW. Unless, of course, you’re playing the “the other company is fake, but we’re real” card, which is something you shouldn’t do because no one buys that crap.
Miro started to cut a promo on Trent and Trent was apparently sent into a rage by being told that his mother didn’t teach him any manners. He was perfectly willing to stand their patiently and wait for the intros to be over to get revenge for being physically assaulted last week, but a mild insult to his mother’s parenting ability sets him off. Also, I love how they only do the big intros with both guys in the ring for title matches and main events… and also for this match, for no adequately explained reason. Any time you deviate from your normal format with no explanation so that you can set up an angle, it makes the show feel more fake by damaging immersion.
They had a match where the story was Miro’s power. Jericho was nice enough to confirm for me that I didn’t hallucinate the Dark Order coming out during the commercial. Apparently has booked Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver for the Full Gear. Once again, we see that the way to get attention in AEW is to be a clown. Silver has been by far the biggest clown in their little troupe over the past few months, so of course he’s the one who gets booked on the PPV.
Miro dominated most of the match and won cleanly.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- bad
Miro wouldn’t let the hold go. Chuck Taylor ran out to make the save. He was closely followed by Kip Sabian, who he had brawled to the back with. The heels won the brawl, and Miro picked up a mic and started talking about- you guessed it- Trent’s mother! He once again said that she didn’t teach him any manners. Because everything has to come back to Trent’s mother, because he’s not a real character so much as a two-note goof. This show has been on the air for over a year now, and all I know about Trent is that he likes to hug his friend Chuck and that he is close with his mother to the odd point where she drives him and his friend to work.
Orange Cassidy climbed up onto a post and dove onto the heel goofs., saving the babyface goofs from further… um… mildly mean things being said about one of their mothers. Why, exactly, am I supposed to care?

I saw the Dark results on the bottom of the screen. Leyla Hirsch gets great reviews on last week’s show… so of course instead of putting her over, they have her team lose to Brandi’s.

JIM ROSS INTERVIEWS ADAM PAGE- EXCELLENT!
Jim Ross’ voice sounded like it was echoing over the PA system for what was supposedly a normal sit-down interview not in front of a crowd. This is the second straight week that AEW has had a problem with this.
Ross calling anyone “the greatest team in AEW history” seems like a premature thing to be saying for a promotion that hasn’t even existed for two years yet.”
Anyway, this interview might have been the best thing AEW has done in a very long time. Maybe even ever. In one short, concise interview, Adam Page used his words to explain to us why winning this match is so important to him, and through his acting, hinted at the potential consequences for him if he fails. I now want to see Adam Page beat Kenny Omega and earn a title shot both because I want to see him do well be rewarded for his faith in himself, and also because I don’t want to see this nice man slide into a drunken depression.

YOUNG BUCKS VS. FTR VIDEO PACKAGE- meh
The first half of this would have been great if they had gone with straight “dream match” build. The second half of it was a painful reminder of how badly they’ve f*cked this up.

TEAM TAZ PROMO- great, but…
You can add Ricky Starks to the list of people with ridiculous records that we hadn’t heard about until now (he is apparently 10-1 in his last eleven matches). Also, Brian Cage is ranked #1 right now. He has wrestled a grant total of ONE match on Dynamite in the past three months. His only PPV appearance in that timeframe was in a battle royale that he didn’t win. Shouldn’t a guy climbing the rankings like that be featured on TV more?
Taz cut a promo about how the rankings system and records and that stuff has turned out to be “horse sh*t” (those were his exact words). He then took some shots at Cody as an EVP for claiming to live by the motto “do the work” but not taking steps to reward others (like Team Taz) who have also “done the work.” He vowed that his guys would make their presence felt at the PPV, so they’re either going to ruin the Cody vs. Darby match or attack after. This was a great promo… but Taz is also completely right in everything he says here, and it’s really not a good thing to have your much-hyped record and ranking systems exposed as bullsh*t and your EVP and one of your top babyfaces exposed as a hypocrite.

Continuing his terrible over the top commentary, Jericho alleged that Schiavone was a “kiss-ass,” prompting J.R. to ask if you could say that on TV. This came at most two minutes after Taz said the word “sh*t” and no one batted an eyelash.

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. PRIVATE PARTY (w/Matt Hardy)- 7/10
Sammy Guevara jumped Matt Hardy before the match and hit him with a Twist of Fate.
Let me get this straight… it was a “coin flip” as to whether Matt Jackson will be able to compete in the dream match tag title match at PPV on Sunday… but AEW is going to book him in a meaningless match tonight? How dumb are they!?
And yup… the moment Matt gets into the ring, he’s already selling it like walking is painful. Again… You could book this match at any point and no one would bat an eyelash, so why would AEW book this match?
And what is even gained out of doing this? Are you going to beat the Bucks, or even have them win by have Matt’s injury worsen, to show vulnerability? You could have done the same thing with a video package. Or what are you really going to have the Bucks go over strong and away the sympathy on the closest thing you have to babyfaces in this match (along with making Private Party look bad for losing to the Young Bucks when once of them is only at 50%)?
Anyway, they did the stuff you’d expect, with the flips and yet also Matt selling. I’m not going to tell you it was bad or anything, but I think I did a pretty good job of laying out exactly why this was a poor idea.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- bad
Of course, FTR attack the Bucks again and they’re going to do the Pillmanizer again but the mere sight of Adam Page far away on the ramp causes them to flee even though Cash was already on the top rope and could have easily jumped down well before Page got to the ring. Omega showed up also, and he and Page did a fist-bump and everyone was on the same page. Then Page decided to grab Omega from behind and spin him around so they could argue and have a tense stare-down approximately one minute after having made peace because who cares if it doesn’t make sense? THERE. MUST. BE. CONFLICT. AND. TENSION.


Oh my G-d can someone tell that old fogey to stop saying “restaurant quality?”

EDDIE KINGSTON AND JON MOXLEY GO FACE TO FACE- mixed
We were told earlier that Tony Khan told them that if they put their hands on each other tonight, the PPV match would be off. And right away they’re literally nose to nose, so I guess they didn’t get the memo.
Some of this was really great but I’m just tired of hearing Kingston rant and rave at this point. I also HATED the spot towards the end where it felt like Moxley, the babyface, was trying to goad Kingston into hitting him and thus losing out o the title shot.

PAC PROMO- snore
He’s gone “crazy” in “isolation.” If he’s so isolated, who filed those far-away shots of him walking around. Also, someone with the wherewithal to craft a video package designed to tell everyone “I’ve gone crazy!” probably isn’t actually crazy. This wasn’t someone being crazy. This was someone trying to show me how artsy he can be in his attempts to play a crazy person on TV.

ALEX MARVEZ INTERVIEWS THE NATURAL NIGHTMARES- Or not
Before they can talk, Allie/The Bunny shows up to taunt Q.T. Marshall that she maxed out his credit cards and to distract them so The Butcher & The Blade could attack them from behind.
1. This seems like it’s giving Q.T, some solid evidence he can use to say that these purchases were made without his consent.
2. I love how we’re only interviewing them- and Allie is only showing up to taunt Q.T.- about this now, two weeks after it happened. It feels like they were told “sorry guys, you’ll have to keep your angry inside of you for two weeks so we have time to put it on the show.

Also, this was AEW doing the horrible WWE thing where someone has made their entrance for a match, then we cut an interview with someone totally unrelated, and only after that interview does the second competitor come out.

RED VELVET (w/Brandi Rhodes) vs. NYLA ROSE (w/Vickie Guerrero)- no rating, GREAT segment
Brandi’s good buddy has betrayed her and her family… and Brandi already has a new sidekick, having never even acknowledged the betrayal on-screen. Because that’s how you tell stories, apparently.
Red Velvet got to look good in the moments where she wasn’t getting totally annihilated. Nyla hit her finisher, but then pulled Red Velvet up to hit Shida’s finisher before getting the pin.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- mostly great
Vickie Guerrero starts off by cutting a promo on Shida, her charge’s opponent at the PPV for the world title. JUST KIDDING! She starts by cutting a promo on BRANDI first because Cody isn’t the only one in the family with a giant f*cking ego.
She then went over to Shida and actually did a cut GREAT heel promo. Shida got to get her hands on Vickie a little bit, but Nyla pulled Vickie safety.

KENNY OMEGA VS. ADAM PAGE VIDEO PACKAGE- We’ve already done three things on this show to build this match up. This time could have gone to a match. Or to explaining to us what an “Elite Deletion” match is. Or to building up Cody vs. Darby.

DARBY ALLIN VIDEO PACKAGE- okay… these are just dumb and wacky at this point. He dressed up like Cody and filmed himself getting hit with a car that he was also driving.

THE DARK ORDER (Colt Cabana, John Silver, & Ten) (w/the Dark Order) vs. GUNN CLUB & CODY RHODES (w/Arn Anderson)- 3.75/10
Why a match where five out of the six wrestlers are lower than midcarders in the main event over the Bucks vs. Private Party match whose segment ended in a stare-down between Page and Omega? Because the six wrestler in this match was CODY. That’s why! Like I said: Big f*cking ego.
Cody’s team won a dull match that mostly happened during a commercial. We got a lame post-match stare-down that only happened so Orange Cassidy could stop John Silver from using a chair on the babyfaces.

CODY PROMO- TERRIBLE!
Oh yes. The real main event is Cody talking. He starts off by telling us that Darby has been telling people that “TNT doesn’t want him as the face of the network” because “he’s too reckless.” When has Darby ever said that?
Cody then goes on to tell us how he was the one who got Darby signed to AEW because only he among the EVPs was wise enough to see Darby’s potential. He takes a shot at WWE so he can tell Darby to stop living a lie. Dude… you’re the one who appears to be living in a fantasy land here, not Darby! (And if Darby has been saying these things, that AEW’s fault for not SHOWING US!)
Cody then concluded this promo by claiming to be the “ace” of AEW. Yes really. After what… ONE great match in a year? Where was “ace” Cody” when he sh*t the bed nearly every time he went out there as the main event or world title match in ROH?


I’m done at this point. This was another bad show from AEW. They continue to be incapable to tell stories properly, with the new glimmers of hope constantly getting erased by something happening later in the same show.