Official AEW Dynamite Thread: 12/11/19-Mox-a-Mania

Time to call Chavo Guerrero & Shawn’s hair guy

Another solid episode minus the women's match.

I don't get the hate on the women's matches here. I really liked Swole/Emi. They had some clever interactions, Swole has some swagger, and I was thoroughly entertained. (Now granted Swole's Chrons story hits home for family and friends of mine so I might be a little more into her character than most)  I get it's not on NXT's level, and we're incredibly spoiled with the caliber of that division, but it's improving every single week. Granted I know I'm coming in with a chip on my shoulder. I coach like 95% female athletes (I might have 2 boys a season), so I get a pretty biased perspective in a hurry. Representation matters though. On that note I get goosebumps when I hear the crowd start chanting for Aubrey.

I loved the episode overall, but the glitches on TSN were getting really, really annoying. So many audio cut-outs. (I actually have no idea what the end of MJF's promo was when he started talking about stipulations. Audio cut straight out. Anyone able to fill me in?? Screen went black multiple times in first 20 minutes. Super frustrating. Don't know if it was TSN or AEW's glitch, but it was really aggravating.

I thought the commentary crew did a pretty good job putting over Butcher and Blade. I liked how JR handled it. I'm really enjoying these dark order promo's. Was glad to see Reynold's taking the bait, and setting he and Silver up to actually do things in the company. I'm not expecting them (or B&B) to be main eventers, but it's nice to see them setting up for a larger role.

This was a week that very much left me excited to see how some of the more long term stories play out, and this was the week where I felt like I understood their booking strategy better with regards to who appears what week. I knew it was the plan, but seeing it start to unfold is nice. Having not seen private party wrestle in a few weeks, I'm really really excited to see them again. Conversely, I was ok not having Penta & Rey this week, since I've seen them a lot lately, and they're proving they are going to see stories though, and just because someone is off t.v. a few weeks doesn't mean their storyline is abandoned.

I know I come across as a huge AEW stan, and it's because I am. It came into my life at a very critical time, and to some extent saved it. I don't want to say completely but waiting in anticipation for DON or Fyter fest, etc, was really what kept me going during a very, very, very difficult six months. I get goosebumps every time I hear Omega's music hits or Cody's hits, and it's such a surreal feeling realizing I'm watching these guys on mainstream television rather than on internet streams from across the globe. Crazy cool and just blows me away. Like FFS Moxley/Omega is a real thing that actually freaking happened. How goddamn cool is that.

See I hate the “representation” argument. No where in my criticism of the women’s division is that I don’t think women should be wrestling. It’s just that it’s not good. There were several moments in that match last night where you could easily see they were lost and had to figure out where they were or that they were waiting for Swole to hit her spot on get in position. The AEW women’s division is just so damn far behind NXT, WWE, and Impact. Honestly they didn’t even get the best available talent on the indie scene. There are still women’s wrestlers like Brittney Blake, Ava Everett, Mercedes Martinez, Solo Darling, and Allie Kat who are better than most of the talent in the women’s division currently. My argument is that week after week they put these women out there to die with no build, no character development, to have bad sloppy matches. If they keep doing this it will have an impact that will take them years to come back from. I want them to have another great division and a place for more wrestlers to work. You can be a big AEW fan and have criticisms of the product, they can go hand in hand. It’s ok!

Part of the problem is they dont have anyone in the back with the knowledge on how to build up a character. Since they dont have any writers, the wrestlers are in charge of their own character. Problem is, imo, there should be 1 guy, like a Dutch Mantell for example, to help these guys on a certain direction. The Dark Order and Brandi for example. They pretty much have almost the same concept in characters. There should be someone saying, "Hm, we gotta come up with something different to differentiate from the other".

I did read a really interesting theory on r/SC that talked about this.  Basically implied that Dark Order and Nightmare Collective were different branches of a particular organization devoted to Villain's, and that it was leading to a very long term arc about a certain someone being upset with all of his friends being dead.  I doubt that's what is really going on, but it was a pretty cool take!  

They don't have a Dutch, but they do have a few resources. With how much Dustin did with Goldust, I would expect Brandi, D.O., etc could definitely benefit from some conversations with him about developing bizarre character's in unique ways.  He got a hell of a lot more life out of Goldust than anyone should have been able to. 

I doubt it's true as well, I just thought it was a really neat idea, and if anyone was planning that far ahead it's the guys who did three big shows before their tv program started and had ages to come up with a long term story.

The funniest things happen after the last Dark match. Cody came and talked to the crowd. The Best Friend and Orange stayed in the ring. They brought 3 little kids in the ring and one was dressed just like Orange. Asked them their names and the second kids name was Brody. Cody was like,Brody, aren’t you a free agent now? Do I need to run to the back and get the paperwork. A good amount of people laughed. But the kid dressed as Orange was the best part. Cody looked at him and something about putting his record on the line and laid down so the kid could pin him. Little dude went over there and started hitting him. The other guys in the ring told him you have to pin him. So the kid hit Cody some more. They put the kid on Cody for the pin and then did the group hug.

Im talking like a Dutch Mantell type writer. Someone whos not a wrestler, but has experience in the wrestling business, aka someone not on the roster who knows what the hell they're doing