IN LAIMAN’S TERMS #464 – Thoughts on AEW: Dynamite – January 17th, 2024
1. There may be more columns like this one for the weekly shows. Trying to both stay up late and write after having been at work since the early hours of the morning has been more difficult than I thought it would be. That likely means that I may be reviewing things not as I watch them, but the morning after I have. The PPVs will likely remain livestream thoughts. I’m doing the best I can to adjust to this new schedule.
2. Another thing to which I continue to adjust? Not being online. Maybe it‘s because I’m older now, maybe it’s because years of bad faith criticism, wrestling and otherwise, have just ground me down to not giving a shit at all, but the moire I hear secondhand, the more I’m glad to not be engaging in this shit at all anymore. I enjoy the world so much more when I’m not bogged down by people screaming at each other online.
3. I fully admit that I used to be knee-deep in the camp of the bad faith criticism. I was a young adult in the era where it was all the rage, where the early famous YouTubers were mostly known for tearing things apart, whether it was movies, video games, or any other kind of media. I think a lot of us had it in our heads at the time that it was somehow lesser than to like something. Many still act as if they’re better than people because they hate a thing and bitch about it all the time. This is not to inherently say that if you don’t like a match or a character or a company that you’re engaging in this kind of behavior; bad faith criticism implies the existence of good faith criticism. Genuine thoughts are not the same thing as ripping things apart for the sake of it. Hating things doesn’t make you smarter than anyone else. Do I still not watch the other company? Mostly, no. I still find the presentation unwatchable, though hopefully that’s changing with a turn of recent employment events. But the idea that everything that’s not in the company I prefer is bad, or that everything in the company I like is good and untouchable, both of these camps are equally ridiculous.
4. Social media and the Internat have made it easier to pile on, and this is often reflected by content creators who present both positive and negative reviews or criticisms of things. Travel YouTuber “The World According to Briggs” used to do mirroring Top 10 lists of cities, states, and other things like that, and would always talk about how the negative lists would far exceed the positive ones in view counts.
5. There are things I don’t like and I will point them out, but I think hating things for the sake of it, to feel superior to the “marks” or whoever else you’re looking down on for liking a thing, it’s just tiring and exhausting to deal with. I’m not interested in being any part of that culture anymore.
6. Speaking of that culture though, even some of the bad faith criticisms that have made their way to my awareness have been present in the last week or so of content. I again acknowledge this may be from years of overhearing people bitch and complain, but I’m really starting to think it’s for the sake of bitching, complaining, and tribalism. For how long have we heard that the young stars don’t get put over, that it’s the same people on top all the time. Then when Adam Copeland works with young guys, you hear “why is he working with them? That’s not believable.” First, which is it? Do we want the vets helping the young kids learn and get over or not? And second, go back and watch RAW in 1999. While Edge was often working with the tag division, he also had singles matches with The Rock, Kane, Undertaker, and other established names of the time. Why wouldn’t we want someone with that level of experience to work with young people on their way up? Isn’t that what we wanted? Didn’t we get sick of the names on top staying there while the glass ceiling was never shattered? Or do we just like to bitch because we can’t like a thing because that makes us less intelligent or because it’s cooler to hate it? I don’t know. I’m tired of trying to figure it out.
7. Dustin Rhodes and Christian Cage was a really good opening match. To think 20 years ago if we heard that those two were facing each other, and that it would be that good…
8. I get the crafty vet doesn’t fall for the same old tricks, but even when he’s countering the interference from the other two, he fell for it in the first place so that contradicts it a bit. Maybe.
9. I had to laugh my ass off when I think Dustin was supposed to be thrown into the exposed turnbuckle, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t exposed, and Dustin’s head didn’t come anywhere near it, but he’s a pro and did it well. We had a finisher kickout, which was good but would be outdone later.
10. I’m so over face Chris Jericho, and I have been since the nonsensical “he’s the face” moment last summer. I do guess we’re headed to more interactions with he and the DC Family, so… okay. Sydal came over like “oh hey, didn’t see you come in, is this my spot? I saw the Jericho signal in the sky and came as quickly as I could!” Long term memories are a thing though, and once upon a different name and company, that did happen.
11. Swerve and Hangman are both so compelling right now, and while I’m firmly behind Swerve being pushed to the moon, Hangman has been revitalized in a way that he hadn’t been for a while. They’re such a stark contrast of personality.
12. Orange Cassidy with an entrance video is just wrong. Yes, it’s the Best Friends’, I think, but it’s way too much effort by association. It’d be like if he had a full pyro or gave a fan a full high-five.
13. It’s good to see Fenix back, even if my autocorrect is now even further out of control and tried to change that to Felix. Autocorrect changes articles and conjunctions from the correct one to the wrong one so often that I almost want to turn it off completely. Yes, I am writing this on my phone, but I now have a Bluetooth keyboard to do so. I’m not used to autocorrect and keyboards being a thing at the same time. Not a fan.
14. Joe as champion is a JBLdamn vibe. It permeates the whole show in a way that Max hadn’t in a while.
15. It’s been a year since the tragedy of Jay Briscoe, and while they’ve had so many different references and dedications to him, this was something else. Bringing out the family, followed by a lovely tribute video, it’s good to have those moments in wrestling shows.
16. Matthew and Nicholas Jackson, talk about a rebrand. They’re leaning into the EVP thing, and to say they’re throwing some shade would be like calling the Pipebomb a grievance. And yet they made everything they said sound so righteous and justified, it’s compelling. It’s like the legend killer approach but from a different direction. I’m curious to see where it goes.
17. Please just keep the ROH titles on ROH, especially since the CC didn’t merge anything but added another. There are too many and it’s diluted things too much. That being said, two trios with gold possibly uniting together is a unique situation. The non-Swerve members of the Mogul Embassy manage to lose. Again. Except on Saturday where they faced someone else who lost. Again.
18. Even with all that, the HAM potential of BCG and the Acclaimed is perhaps even better than it was the first time around with the Acclaimed and the Juniors Ass. I also really like the new music, much more than the Switchblade theme. The Gunns’ vaporwave western vibe though, I can still always use more of that.
19. Adam Cole and Wardlow are now a thing, and Wardlow is not going to have a redux of his turn on MJF. Just like not-Luchasaurus, that’s definitely not being set up to happen three or four years from now. Generously.
20. At this point, I wonder if I should rename the Large HAM to the Timeless award, because she somehow keeps outdoing herself. Giving her entourage chocolates, her ridiculous expressions… She’s untouchable.
21. I only heard it mentioned off-hand, but people were apparently body-shaming Deanna. Sometimes we think we’ve moved on from this garbage, but some just have to keep reminding us why the flying saucers aren’t landing. Get into the sea.
22. So, Private Party is back, does that mean the Top Flight push is over? I hope not. Even if Private Party cheated to win by almost grabbing the top rope, they’d been on fire lately. Which I guess is why Action feels the need for speed hydration. But hey, it’s worked better than anything else to get him on the screen.
23. Can we please stop referencing Dante’s leg injury? At least they didn’t make us watch it again. I’m spared that bit of mercy.
24. Was there a point where Zay was like “I’m not a Hardy anymore!” Or did they just start teaming with Briscoe and pretend like nothing happened?
25. Darby and Sting are maybe going to be tag champions? Does that match need a belt? I don’t know, but the Bucks promo did make the match itself more intriguing.
26. The main event, I’m sure some people hated it because it wasn’t the thing they wanted or on the company they prefer, but I loved every second of it. It had a bit of Jeff Hardy/Undertaker 2002 vibes, where you don’t think Hook has a chance in hell to actually win the title, but you forget that for a few seconds.
27. Hook’s table bump was absolutely sick, and right in front of his dad on top of it. Taz’s commentary made this match even better, and I’m surprised that he didn’t even leave the commentary table in the aftermath. For some reason, I kept hearing a random segment in my head involving Crash Holly and the APA on Smackdown back in the day, JBL yelling “he’s just a boy!” Before Crash shook his beer up.
28. That pop for the Musclebuster kickout at one. Holy shit. What a moment, Hook just leveled up.
29. A lot of people have never seen a Musclebuster kickout at one, but I’ve seen this exact match ending once. 2007, Samoa Joe vs. Ray Rowe, and I thought it was awesome then, even if people I was with at the time were bitching about it. It worked then and it worked now. Again, we can’t both have new stars being made and not have them work with established names getting them over, even in defeat. That’s kinda the whole point of wrestling, or so I thought.
30. “You haven’t broke me, Joe! I’m still standing!” Again, those Taker/Jeff vibes, but hopefully without the completely failed follow-up. I would’ve liked the second going back in to have some little moment of respect like that aforementioned moment rather than Hangman coming in, but it worked well enough.
31. I enjoyed this show, even in my exhausted state. The rhetoric surrounding everything just makes me want to be on the internet even less than I already am, but I’ve covered that. If there are any typos or weird corrections in here, I apologize in advance.
LARGE HAM
It’s Toni. She’s the Greatest Moment in HAM going right now.