IN LAIMAN’S TERMS #439
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Thoughts on AEW Dynamite – July 26th, 2023
1. It’s Wednesday night, etc. We see a Simon Miller sign before a wrestler. It makes me happy to see it every time.
2. The series of films featuring Darby and/or Nick continue, this time with more Washington shots, so that’s immediately awesome. This is a very sweet story about AR Fox, though I can’t help but think “maybe we could’ve aired something like this when he debuted?”
3. It’s been a while since we’ve opened the show with “Jane.” Like an old friend coming back. His opponent had a very sympathetic video airing right before the match, but he’s facing one of the most over faces in the company. That should create an interesting dynamic. To pepper it in even more, we see a video of him going over Shane Taylor. They’re really laying the foundation here, aren’t they?
4. Did they make the Pac vs. Gravity match just for the pun on the nickname? Because if they did, I’m okay with it.
5. OC took a lesson from Daniel Garcia, because he’s in a leg lock, puts his hands in his pockets, and then does the pelvic thrust. Who knew it both really drives you insayayayayayane AND enables wriggling out of submission holds?
6. AR Fox is really fun to watch. His match against Swerve when I was at Dynamite in January was amazing to see live.
7. Multiple cutters in this match. Tension, at ease!
8. Win or lose, what a showcase this is for AR Fox so far. OC has gone past desperation and is in full survival mode, so it makes you wonder. How many more joints could he injure, after all?
9. We end up with double big boots into each other’s faces and… somehow… a double neckbreaker. It’s creative, I’ll give them that.
10. What a spike DDT by Orange Cassidy, I swear Fox was upright selling that for a solid five seconds. A Beach Break gets a nearfall, and Orange Cassidy: Fighting Champion/Opening match tonesetter has yet another hit to its list.
11. OC does the roll away, but it’s so slow that you know how exhausted he is. Fox doesn’t have 26 title defenses to his name, so he’s spry and just adapts to the situation.
12. Orange Cassidy retains after another complete act of desperation to retain, albeit a lot better than the one at Battle of the Belts. Great match, and OC shows the respect with giving him the aviators. Fox then smashes the glasses and turns on Orange Cassidy? That’s an interesting turn to take after the opening video we saw.
13. Fox sells it like it was an accident, and Darby runs out all WTF? Very good point, he went from sympathetic underdog with a chance to win the championship against an injured opponent, and then he turns heel against his own will?
14. Because Orange Cassidy hasn’t been beaten up enough, Mox comes out of nowhere and beats the shit out of him too. But damn, OC can’t catch a break today. But they must’ve ran overtime because they’re already in segue mode about half a second later.
15. Recap of Blood and Guts. Amazing match but I’ve already stated how I felt about how that feud went in terms of results.
16. Renee is backstage with Jericho, Callis, and the shirt Jericho made out of 12 Hot Topic stud belts in 2005. Callis gets him a tag match against… Danny and Sammy? Oopsie, there’s some regret in his voice now. Callis even commissioned a painting of the two of them, because one of the all time HAmmys, the Festival of Friendship, is alive and well.
17. Meanwhile in the subway, Hook is… there. Then, Claudio and Wheeler are all like don’t mess with the BCC, and Mox is being Mox. I guess it’s good that they’re working what happens on Rampage into the storylines more?
18. Beethoven’s 5th just doesn’t strike me as an entrance theme. I like how JP has been handling the heel turn, but that part didn’t hit for me.
19. “I am that damn good.” Well, all right then. JP takes the bragadocious to a new level by saying he’d beat Taz and ECW back in the day too. LOLno. But before Taz can come say some things, Jerry Lynn comes out to call it out. Lynn trying to intervene hasn’t gone well for him in the past, so I wonder if this will go any better. Jerry does a full mic drop too, and JP starts to back down. The cowardly thing is working for Jack. I wasn’t expecting a Jerry Lynn match on AEW, but here we are. Beethoven’s 5th then suddenly goes up in volume like someone accidentally turned the wrong dial or something. That whole segment felt… weird.
20. Now for the “luchador has a great match but loses” portion of the show. Let’s see what Pac can do. We’re intertwining BCC, Death Triangle, and BFFs here, so that’s a thing. They have a battle of gesticulating before the moves start. Pac bails out of the ring in disbelief, either about Gravity’s opening moves, or that no matter what you do on the Road to Elite, you can’t join Death Triangle, and then also have to fight all three of them at once. Could be anything.
21. Gravity takes us into the commercial break with a slow-motion strut as if the theme from Chariots of Fire is playing but only he can hear it.
22. Taz explaining Gravity’s gimmick and the multiple uses of his name is why picture-in-picture on FITE is one of my favorite things. It’s nice to be back after a week of sitting through the atrocious ads last week.
23. The two of them end up in a suplex position on the top rope. Excalibur: “avalanche… something.” Pac then wins almost immediately, but he is a Jon Snow after all so he won’t let go. This show feels like they’re rushing through everything. Nothing is bad but it does seem like a bunch of quick cuts and segues.
24. Five seconds later, MJF and Adam Cole last week with Renee. MJF turns up the HAM and lets loose with a Dax impression, and a CMFTR burn too. Adam Cole nods knowingly along, and says that this has all become about friendship. Multiple festivals’ worth, even! They’ve become BFFs, supposedly, but Roderick Strong does not approve. Adam Cole’s messing with him too, right? He has to be.
25. DeFY represented again, we’re running back Darby vs. Swerve. Darby’s got a Renee-like schedule tonight, doesn’t he?
26. FTR gets their last Wednesday promo too, and they’re feeling some sympy for Adam Cole getting dragged into things. Adam Cole is just too smart to get blindsided by MJF, I hope. A double ruse, perhaps. It’d be refreshing if someone else didn’t become a complete idiot once they’re face. Both of them keep apologizing to Adam while insulting MJF, I love it.
27. Darby’s theme always reminds me of a Cruxshadows song. Which, to be fair, would also fit as an entrance theme for him.
28. Nick Wayne is out with Darby to balance out the Nana shenanigans. That’s good to see, at least some faces aren’t coming out against someone who literally always has someone interfere. I’m looking at you, Originals fighting the Outcasts…
29. Either Excalibur or Tony, I couldn’t tell because it was really low and my hearing sucks, explains that the blind shots are the ones you never see coming. Who knew? PiP commentary continues to be something else.
30. Darby does a cannonball dive to the outside and Swerve kicks him right in the fuck. Damn that looked devastating, and since it’s Darby, it very well could’ve been. Somehow Darby kicks out after that and a Swerve Stomp. He’s got the anger of AR Fox spoiling his favor fueling him.
31. Not to be outdone, Swerve hits a devastating DVD to the ring apron from the top turnbuckle. Wow! Then a hooded figure attacks Darby in a hoodie, but… I mean, the pants make it so obvious that it’s AR Fox. That was as subtle as a trainwreck. Nick Wayne gets involved but AR Fox takes him out too. Looks like there’s a new Mogul Embassy, so I can’t wait to see how they never win tag matches now!
32. Oh, the JAS is still around to be disgruntled, and I suppose if anyone could find them, it’d be Renee. 2.0, Anna, and Tay meet them in a room with one decoration. Luke won’t quite give up his hat equivalent comb, and while at the same time we have people worrying about Adam Cole and MJF, we also have the part of the JAS that’s never on TV talking about how they’re never appreciated when all they did was appreciate him. I thought we had something. I thought we had friendship! Now I’m starting to think we’re having… Not Friendship!
33. A lot more recaps than usual this episode of Dynamite, starting to give me mid-2010s RAW vibes. At least it’s not an every week thing, and at least it’s not a three hour damn show.
34. It’s the one women’s match we’re allowed per show, and Taya won one match so clearly she should be challenging DMD. Failing upwards, what can ya say?
35. Some guy walks through the ringside area flipping a double bird. Wow, I bet he’s a real badass.
36. Taya hits the Valhalla… sort of. “Didn’t get all of it” is a generous way to put it.
37. Okay, the commentary team sounds like they’ve lost their notes, and the show has felt rushed and filled with recaps. Did something happen on the way to Albany? What’s going on?
38. Taya taps before the Lockjaw is even lockedjawed in. Britt was once in the Homegrown vs. Outcasts feud but no mention of that anywhere. Is this whole thing really just on hold until Jamie gets back, like the TBS title and Kris?
39. A series of mini-tag team title promos, including… Jeff Hardy doing a Rock line. That was… random.
40. Main event is gonna be the possible foundation of the triple Triple Threat feud. Obviously the Best Friends are going to win this one. I mean, the BCC was in Blood and Guts, the Lucha Brothers were recently ROH tag team champions, and the Best Friends are also there.
41. Forget the curveball, Ricky. Give ’em the consolation prize!
42. The commentators explain Yuta not giving up and Mox surrendering to protect him way better than the camera caught. I didn’t even realize that until Fightful was talking about it in the post-show. With this almost inevitably turning into Mox/Claudio/Yuta vs. Death Triangle vs. Best Friends and OC, does it happen at All Out or All In?
43. Front row double bird this time. They’re really flying everywhere from that section tonight. What’s everybody so mad about?
44. I feel like the mentioning of ECW earlier in the show is very apropos with the energy of this three-way dance here tonight. It’s absolute chaos, in a good way. Unlike other things about this show.
45. Is that a “Best Friends” chant? Don’t hear those very often.
46. Claudio hits Chuck with the most lethargic powerbomb I’ve ever seen this side of Orange Cassidy. Oh hey, speaking of whom, he comes out and goes after the BCC. He takes out Wheeler immediately but then Mox immediately puts a stop to that. Trent gets a nearfall, but the ref didn’t suffer from Legal Man Syndrome. He then immediately loses to Penta, so it’s just Wednesday night at the office for them.
47. There was something really badass about Orange Cassidy being in the position of angrily seeking vengeance, but it didn’t last very long. The brawling continues outside, and through Tony Khan, another triple threat for next week involving these three in an anything goes match. Okay then.
48. This show felt like it was put together last minute and they still got some good stuff out of it. Too many matches with an obvious winner, but the focus is finally on All In, which will be in front of a massive crowd. It’s not that this was a bad show, it just felt… I don’t know, off?
1/4/23 – The Gunns
1/11/23 – Daddy Magic
1/13/23 – Danhausen
1/18/23 – Sonjay Dutt
1/20/23 – Stokely Hathaway
1/25/23 – Tony Schiavone
1/27/23 – Danhausen
2/1/23 – Jade Cargill
2/3/23 – Ethan Page
2/8/23 – MJF
2/10/23 – STIIIIIIING
2/15/23 – Ruby Soho
2/17/23 – Dustin Rhodes
2/22/23 – Chris Jericho
2/24/23 – Matt Hardy
3/1/23 – Big Bill
3/3/23 – Jungle Boy
3/5/23 – MJF
3/8/23 – Anthony Bowens
3/10/23 – Riho
3/15/23 – MJF/Darby Allin/Jungle Boy/Sammy Guevara
3/22/23 – STIIIIIING
3/29/23 – Juice Robinson
3/31/23 – Eddie Kingston
4/5/23 – MJF
4/7/23 – Darby Allin/Julia Hart
4/12/23 – STIIIIIIIIING
4/14/23 – 2.0/Biff Hager
4/19/23 – Sammy Guevara
4/26/23 – MJF
5/3/23 – Triple J/Mark Briscoe
5/5/23 – The Firm Deletion – All of it
5/10/23 – Chuck Taylor and Trent Baretta
5/17/23 – Toni Storm
5/24/23 – Jay White
5/28/23 – Darby Allin
5/31/23 – Juice Robinson
6/7/23 – MJF
6/9/23 – Ethan Page
6/14/23 – The cardboard cutout of Saraya
6/17/23 – CM Punk
6/21/23 – Adam Cole/MJF
6/23/23 – Anthony Bowens
6/24/23 – Powerhouse Hobbs
6/25/23 – Will Ospreay
6/28/23 – Keith Lee
7/1/23 – Andrade
7/5/23 – Adam Cole/MJF
7/7/23 – Daniel Garcia
7/8/23 – Samoa Joe
7/12/23 – Jack Perry
7/17/23 – Ricky Starks
7/19/23 – MJF and Adam Cole (not even close)
7/22/23 – Ricky Starks
7/26/23 – Jeff Hardy
