AEW Dynamite On TNT - 20/01/2021

[Jim]

Honestly, that's because it's like everyone forgot who Sting is and what his gimmick is. Some people think he's like an Undertaker style character, and many think he's still a dark, mysterious character when the truth of the matter is Sting isn't that character. He hasn't been since May 98 (unless you count some of Sting's TNA stuff, if he did any of that). Sting is more like his Surfer Sting days, just in black and white paint. He's not a brooding silent character because his company turned its back on him. Sting isn't a Crow enigma, and he hasn't been for over 20 years.

This is the flaw of Sting minus Wolfpac Sting and even the awful Joker Sting - even Sting doesn't know what the Sting character is supposed to be since 1998. In a lot of ways, he's still the broody Crow character, but he's a little more lively like Surfer Sting. It's all because that one version of Sting, Crow Sting, was so legendary and everyone remembers, that he's seemingly incapable of truly stepping away from it to figure out what he wants Sting to be now.

I can't blame Ed for thinking that Darby/Sting have nothing in common because even I don't know what Sting has supposed to be in the last 20+ years.

[Ed]

Surfer sting seems even further away from having things in common with Darby.

[Jim]

Surfer sting seems even further away from having things in common with Darby.

When I see Darby, which is admittedly limited, I can see a cross between Surfer Sting and Crow Sting. He has the whole youth movement complete with the skateboard that Surfer Sting had going for himself while being all dark, broody, and silent like Crow Sting.

[Shawn]

Because Peter Avalon's running a narcissistic prettyboy gimmick and it helps further establish Avalon's current gimmick as a classic Rick Martel-eqsue coward. He looks like a bitch because it's in-line with his character, when threatened with a slap to the face, to immediately plead for mercy.

He should've been selling the Figure-Four a little bit more, but as a character-based finish I don't mind it.

Ah ok, this makes sense. See I don't watch Dark so this is the first I've seen of him.

So it's still shitty for Cody, but it makes sense for Peter.

Cheers!

[Marketh]

It does make sense when you know that, but I never like when AEW assumes everyone watches Dark and BTE. The YouTube views for those shows are usually, what, a couple hundred thousand whereas a good Dynamite is near a million? Commentary were talking more about Avalon’s losing streak than getting this “Pretty” gimmick over, so I think there’s probably a lot of people the finish didn’t work for either. Plus, it’s a comedic finish to a fairly serious match.

[Postman Dave]

More on this show I disliked than liked, but enough positives to not be a complete waste.

The Hardy Party stuff is moving along nicely, Ford/Hirsch was a step up from the usual Women's stuff, and the Sammy Hagar endorsement was a funny touch.

It felt like the Cody/Shaq/Jade stuff was over a month ago, it's reanimation is an unwelcome return. AEW also really need to get their squashes in better. I appreciate not wanting to damage anyone, but Cody should not being going 10 with Peter Avalon.

The main really exposed Jericho as not being able to keep up with the kids now. No shame, but wrestle/book smarter yeh?

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[Marketh]

In small, reluctant defence of Jericho the show ended quite suddenly so I think they had to rush that match a bit and get through their end sequence a bit hastily so he mis-stepped rather than now being incapable of the Lionsault.

You know how they could’ve avoided rushing? Not having Peter Avalon go 10 minutes...

And yes, the last appearance of Shaq was over a month ago and only now does Cody have a response. Cody’s booking has been a mess without MJF, tbh. And I include the Brodie feud in that, since we know Brodie didn’t know he was sick until after he’d already dropped the belt back to Cody.

[Looking Glass]

I’m a little bit confused by Private Party’s booking given that the Good Brothers are supposed to be the heels both on AEW and Impact, it also seems a really odd team to push for the tag titles but I’m assuming they’re just going to take the fall and pave the way for a Bucks vs Good Brothers match at some point?

The Cody stuff just needs to be left, it felt like Shaq was the MVP but it’s just been used as a platform to introduce Jade but no one can sit through her promos and Brandi is now off TV (I assume) so they’re just trying to put Red Velvet in that spot without actually giving her much of an introduction to fans who don’t watch Dark.

I’m not a massive Jericho fan as of late, however I don’t think he’s any less capable of working a match to some who keep getting dragged back to the biz. I just think Jericho needs to adapt his style, he doesn’t need to do a Lionsault anymore, even if that was just a misstep. Jericho is supposed to be the king of reinvention, so I’m hoping 2021 sees another one.

Slightly off topic but is Tama Tonga actually annoyed at the ‘Bullet Club’ reunion or is it just a work?

[Mandalorian]

It does make sense when you know that, but I never like when AEW assumes everyone watches Dark and BTE. The YouTube views for those shows are usually, what, a couple hundred thousand whereas a good Dynamite is near a million? Commentary were talking more about Avalon’s losing streak than getting this “Pretty” gimmick over, so I think there’s probably a lot of people the finish didn’t work for either. Plus, it’s a comedic finish to a fairly serious match.

It’s why the match doesn’t sit right with me. Why have them go 10 minutes and then do THAT finish? Why was protecting Avalon’s gimmick more important than making Cody look strong. Taking ten minutes to put away someone who is regarded as a jobber to those fans that don’t watch Dark very often doesn’t make Cody look good at all. Plus, the comedy finish plays into Avalon’s gimmick - but surely it undoes anything he’d just earned from hanging with Cody for 10 minutes?

I really think Cody needs to take a step back at the moment and actually think about what he wants to do. His booking since things closed off with MJF has been all over the place and it just seems that he wants to be involved in everything at the moment and have all these long matches with everyone on the roster. Which is ironic, because the one storyline that you’d think he SHOULD be involved in (Omega etc.) because of his history with all of those involved, he isn’t.