John Pollock and Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite with the continuation of the TNT Championship tournament.
The TNT Championship quarterfinals continued with Dustin Rhodes putting his career on the line against Kip Sabian, along with a rematch between Sammy Guevara and Darby Allin.
The show also featured another edition of The Bubbly Bunch, a new member of the Dark Order, matches involving Kenny Omega, Wardlow, Brodie Lee, and Orange Cassidy takes on Jimmy Havoc in his first singles match on Dynamite.
And, John & Wai share their thoughts on the first two episodes of The Last Dance.
Michael Landon - oh yes, some of us will show our age, as we remember him as … Little Joe in Bonanza. Landon passed for what was a TV sex symbol in that golden era way back then. Jericho referencing Landon about his later work in Highway to Heaven stood out to me as it’s not a reference I expected at all on a wrestling show.
Just taking up the Dark Order cause here on Dark Order Island, where real estate prices look like oil prices and I’m very socially distanced…
…Is the entire Dark Order gimick suppose to spoof what is actually happening in WWE. One guy at the head, doing all the Vince-isms, and everyone under his orbit is just a guy, in a crowded bunch, with vignettes produced doing the corniest storylines. They are a heel group, we should not like them - whether it’s because they are dastardly or just exactly what we don’t want in AEW…which kind of mirrors WWE as a heel company giving fans exactly what they don’t want. So Dark Order is like the vehicle in which they poke fun at how bad things are “over there”. It’s a way better and more subtle way to take their shots. It’s also cringe, so it works as something fans will not like, fufilling the heel role.
As John ran down the group I kept thinking, yup, WWE, WWE, WWE. I think that is the point of the gimmick. Totally get why people are never going to get into it. Also kinda the point, it’s hard to get into something like that (or many wwe storylines).
I’m pretty sure a lot about the Dark Order gimmick has been mutating as a result of the current Covid19 situation. Both Uno and Grayson are stuck in Canada for the foreseeable future, and aside from being there for Brodie’s debut, have yet to do anything with the whole group.
I was more in line with Wai with not feeling as much with this week’s episode. After opting to watch AEW first and NXT afterward, I switched it up this week after last week’s interminable Moxley-Hager match, and because (while I prefer NO empty arena shows in general from either side), I appreciated the deeper, more eclectic roster from NXT, as they’re all based in in the Orlando area and a lot are appearing on TV for the first time, so it’s been feeling fresher to me. I appreciated AEW continuing to do more filmed content these past few weeks to supplement the empty arena wrestling.
Jericho could stand to find some new material. It’s one thing to use the same joke over and over (calling Omega a pumpkin head and Suge D “Pineapple Pete”), it’s another to repeat the same line about Orange Cassidy over and over.
Regarding this TNT Title Tournament, I think it’s a waste to do Cody VS Archer in the Final because I believe that it’s a match that doesn’t need a title. Also I believe that it’s not good for Darby Allin to lose to Cody again. What they could do is:
Have Archer absolutely destroy Dustin Rhodes in the 1st Semi-Final and that could lead to Cody being distracted and not on his game and Darby capitalizes.
I remember Sammy Guevara making advances towards Brandi so he could get involved which costs Cody.
This can lead to Darby VS Archer and Cody VS Guevara at Double Or Nothing.