What did you think of AEW Dynamite?
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Great show beginning to end. Great women’s match, and Jericho continues to be the best. While it worked this time without as crowd, MJF/Spears was fun, I’ll try not to wonder about the reactions it would have got…
Addie from Australia
Jesus, it is amazing to me what AEW pulled off today, WWE’s empty arena shows have bored me to tears, this show blew me away, they did everything amazingly from Brodie to Matt to everything else, I am gobsmacked what they did with no crowd.
Also Sammy singing Jericho’s entrance was one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time.
Jeremy from the suite
I’m not sure what kind of curve you have to grade this show on, but it was sure nice to be entertained for two hours.
I thought the wrestlers acting as the crowd was great, and made it much better than a standard empty arena show.
They seemed to keep saying “next Dynamite” instead of “next week.” I wonder if a hiatus is planned or if they’re just hedging their bets.
Most importantly, I hope you guys and your families/loved ones are remaining safe. Take care you guys.
That was an amazing episode, Crowd or not. Although I’m still disappointed they are still running shows even with the risk of the virus, however I thought tonight’s was fantastic. Great idea having the wrestlers in the crowd, MJF was hysterical all night. 2 incredible debuts and a bunch of good to great matches and some good promos/vignettes the womens 4 way was my favourite. With all that’s going on in the world and in my current situation due to the virus’ effect, I’m happy they were able to take my mind off of things for 2 hours. 9/10 show.
Sean from Toronto
All things considered, this is probably the best way to pull off an empty arena show and the lack of fans actually helped during the final moments before Matt Hardy’s reveal, as you just see Vanguard One appear out of nowhere.
That said, I am concerned by the fact that show wasn’t really careful about social distancing, particularly when it came to having wrestlers in the audience, and AEW might not be able to get away with this type of show if and when the coronavirus pandemic worsens.
Finally, I just shrugged by shoulders at the Brodie Lee exalted one reveal. The former Luke Harper has just moved from one cult to another.
Alexander from Portland
I can only imagine how big the pops would have been for Matt Hardy and Brodie Lee if there was an actual crowd. For the crowd we got, stellar. Wrestling isn’t wrestling unless there’s a crowd, and tonight we got a crowd that is arguably better than that seen in other independent promotions. While WWE has been unwilling to say Corona Virus, COVID, or anything of the kind, AEW is willing to make jokes about the situation. WWE as of late has been putting on shows because they have to, while AEW put tonight on because they wanted to. Lance Archer’s video was tremendous. I wanted to make a note of WrestleMania too. With it having been in the strange limbo for the past few weeks, I’m glad WWE is making it two nights. If it’s being altered so much because of COVID-19, why not make additional tweaks to see if they work? It’s hard to really care about specifics like who the host is or it being two nights when the more important fact is that it’s taking place in an empty arena. My question about this, how soon do you think we’ll know which matches take place on which Mania night?
Much more entertaining to have other wrestlers at ringside as opposed to absolute silence. And it looked like they were having some fun with it ( the betting between Spears and MJF, the banter and insults)
And enjoyable show, with some nice debuts. So, is Vanguard 1 part of the Elite, too?
Paul from the UK What a great show in difficult circumstances. The wrestlers surrounding the ring added a little bit of noise which helped things not feel so strange, the Jurassic Express match was a little botched but those guys bust their asses off. Most impressive of all was the continuation of the storylines and, while the two debuts would have obviosly been better in front of a crowd I feel dragging them out further would have only hurt. Finally I’m all in on weirdo killer Lance Archer.Bring on blood and guts
I love AEW, but I was so uncomfortable watching the show tonight. I understand, “the show much go on” but I think they way overdid it.
Did every match need to be a multi-man match? Did we need a woman’s 4 way? Did we need 68 year old JR, 61 year old Arn, Tony, Tully, Jake or, for fucks sake, Billy Gunn on the show? I think if one of those guys end up being sick, this show looks like a really, really bad decision. I get that the guys were there voluntarily, but sometimes I think the boss has to make a smarter call, especially in an industry where you’re taught to NEVER miss a booking.
Even worse, they announced a Lumberjack match for next week! I guess that could mean a lot of things, but to me that means there are going to be 20 guys around the ring who really don’t need to be there.
All that said, Sammy is an absolute treasure. When he started singing with MFJ, I laughed the hardest I’ve laughed in weeks.
Alex
What a show! For me AEW has done in one night what WWE has failed to do in three. For two hours I forgot about the world and I took in some amazing and compelling pro wrestling. Keeping the camera focused in the entrance and having talent in the crowed made the show feel more organic. Cody addressing the reality of the situation off the top was refreshing glad it wasn’t ignored. MJF and Spears work really well together also MJF as always was gold tonight. The matches where solid and the debutes of Lee and Hardy where awesome! After Lee was revealed to be the exalted one the Hardy reveal was surprising. Given the competitions attempt under current the situation this was a solid 8.5 out of 10 for me. Also when jungle boy spit that water all I could think about was Wai saying Droplets
Andrew from Cape Breton
9 out of 10 show. This show was excellent, and the whole concept of wins and losses mattering really helps AEW. WWE’s lack of care to who wins and who loses makes things awkward. With a crowd, at least you have the people wanting Wrestler A to win and Wrestler B to lose, or enjoying the destruction in a jobber match, or feeling bad for someone. When you strip that away, the only thing that remains is the competition and the idea of wanting to win. When winning or losing is meaningless, the matches are meaningless. AEW in the end were smart to attach itself to that concept. I also enjoyed the heel and babyface locker rooms coming out to cheer their respective friends. I’m not sure how that will work with large gatherings, but tonight, it really helped to show. Special shout out goes to MJF and Shawn Spears gambling on the matches and stealing the BDE’s Wine Wednesday gimmick.
great show just a great show not sure how safe it was but man I needed this , 9 out of 10
Jay from Colorado
My degree is in film theory. It was a waste of four years and thousands of dollars, but it gives me the ability every once in awhile to look deep into the relationship between the audience and the screen.
Wrestling has always intrigued me because it’s truly more like theater in the round. It’s a live stage play that can live or die based on how the crowd reacts. But unlike theater it’s entirely dependent on crowd interaction as well as reaction.
I was convinced after watching how the crowd behaved at the first WWE Saudi show years ago, that in order for a show to really get over the crowd had to be absolutely hot for the action in the ring to get over. It was a hot card, and the crowd wasn’t there. SmackDown and Raw this week further proved that to me as those shows were awkward and the wrestling suffered.
Tonight’s episode of Dynamite completely threw my ideas out the window. They pulled off something tonight WWE couldn’'t and it somehow translated into a fantastic episode of Dynamite. I’m intrigued in how they’ll navigate the next couple of weeks. 8/10
Matt O
Wai, did you get a WCW Nitro vibe from the way the show was shot?
Will from Toronto
Thank you AEW!!! MJF/Spears in the crowd made this show entertaining from start to finish and way more successful than Smackdown/RAW. This is probably as good as it can get without a crowd.
Side note, thanks to John/Wai for all the content to keep fans busy and informed during the madness in the world.
David from Vaughan
I thought AEW put together a hell of a show tonight. They basically put on the type of show they would have anyways with a full audience. The contrast to the shows that wwe put on is night and day. I thought Brodie Lee and Matt Hardy’s debuts were both excellent. I personally found Sammy singing along to Jericho’s song hilarious. My only negative was the Butcher and Blade vs Jurrasic Express match. I found it very sloppy. Not sure what was happening at the end there but I assume their was some miscommunication between the Butcher and Jungle Boy. Also I hate to be that guy but don’t know how safe this show was for the talent involved. I have no idea what the point was to have so many people sit in the crowd all night, especially someone like Jake Roberts or Tully Blanchard. I personally did feel some stuff on this show was a bit irresponsible and uneccesary on AEW’s part given our current situation. Regardless I was still thoroughly impressed with what they were able to put on without a crowd. 8/10
Raymond from Sacramento.
Given the circumstances that would lead you to believe that everything in the world was working against then, they still found a well to put on a great show and the limitations to their advantage. I truly believe it was a great effort from everyone involved and i appreciate the real world distraction for 2 hours on a Wednesday night.
Thank you AEW.
9/10
Yes, but less safe, I think. There was a lot of people around the ring.