AEW 10.16

[smarkmouth]

Hot start! Scorpio Sky is a made-man in waiting! He needs to be a priority for AEW.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

I have no idea who these guys are.

[smarkmouth]

I'm irrationally angry at the ref for discarding Scorpio's shoe.

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Little behind. Had to pause after the first commercial break.

[Fire Marshall Bill]

A problem Iâ??m sure will be alleviated with time is, right now, the fans in attendance are such marks for the company, itâ??s hard to establish heels. I think only MJF has really been able to get heat so far. Even Jericho, whoâ??s a maestro with the crowd usually, canâ??t seem to get much.

[smarkmouth]

A problem I’m sure will be alleviated with time is, right now, the fans in attendance are such marks for the company, it’s hard to establish heels. I think only MJF has really been able to get heat so far. Even Jericho, who’s a maestro with the crowd usually, can’t seem to get much. Hard to argue this. If they're able to alleviate this it will be a huge leg up over NXT.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

Hard to argue this. If they're able to alleviate this it will be a huge leg up over NXT.

Should not be an issue. NXT is a developmental brand.

[smarkmouth]

Pentagon's Perro mask. <3

[smarkmouth]

Should not be an issue. NXT is a developmental brand.
Debatable now that it's live. Would you say Finm Balor was called down or is it a lateral move?

[#AbsoluteUnit]

Debatable now that it's live. Would you say Finm Balor was called down or is it a lateral move?


I see your point. You can make a solid case in your case. Honestly though, do you see Rollins, Reigns, Lesnar, down in NXT?

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I love the name A boy and his dinosaur, but I had no idea the boy was so small. I understand the dinosaur is out injured.

[smarkmouth]

Also a good point. Either way, as NXT wants to change how they are perceived, the vocabulary for such things like developmental and calling up are going to evolve.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

^never said you were wrong sir.

[smarkmouth]

^never said you were wrong sir.

Didn't take it as such. It's conversation.

[klunderbunker]

Dynamite
Date: October 16, 2019
Location: Liacouras Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

We are in for a big night here as the AEW World Title is going to be defended for the first time as Chris Jericho defends against Darby Allin in a street fight. Odds are the winner will face Cody for the title at Full Gear so there is certainly a lot on the line. Other than that, we are likely to get more in the Tag Team Title tournament so let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

The Improvement Begins (https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/10/16/dynamite-october-16-2019-the-improvement-begins/)

[Jack-Hammer]

As far as which was better between AEW and NXT this week, I felt it was too close to call. I thought both put on really good, quality shows. I felt both put on quality wrestling and continued build towards the future: AEW towards Full Gear and I get the feeling we're seeing more stuff set up in NXT for WarGames.

NXT had a few more matches on their card than AEW but they were mostly squash matches used to position the stars, set things up for the near future or rebound from recent losses: Tommaso Ciampa looked great in his return and while it may not have been a full blown squash, it didn't need to be as Angel Garza has too much talent and potential to be totally buried. Io Shirai looked great and a future bout with Rhea Ripley? Yes please. Matt Riddle looked impressive against Bronson Reed, including some impressive power displays, it's nice to see Tegan Nox back and hopefully her knee continues to hold up and Killian Dain decimated Boa just at he should have.

As for the rest of NXT: Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Imperium was a really fun, physical 3.5 star outing that was mostly about 9 minutes of two teams just beating the crap out of each other. Both teams looked good and either could be potential title contenders. Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic was another strong, 3.75 star outing for the two big men. The match was a little different from their previous ones, which was fine as it's never a bad thing to show you can be different from what people expect, which has been part of the point of the series of matches between them. I also thought Dijakovic did a really good job of selling his left arm throughout. The interference from Roderick Strong to set up a triple threat match for his NA Championship felt a little hackneyed as we've seen it so often in various companies but it worked. Pete Dunne vs. Damien Priest was a strong main event, a 3.75 to 4 star outing for me as it was 14.5 minutes of the big, athletic powerhouse vs. the smaller, savage scrapper. This was Priest's best outing in NXT to date, which is no surprise as it's hard to have a bad match against Dunne, but Priest held his own and looked like a star. The ending involving the "Ballseye", to quote Mauro, was a nice touch and the execution with the ref legitimately not being able to see it due to literally having just squeezed herself out from between the two in the corner not a second before was nicely done. It protected Dunne and kept Priest undefeated.

Over on AEW, I basically had only a couple of complaints about much of anything and it's pretty minor: The Cody video package was nicely done as a while, though I found myself not really caring for the most part as I've no real interest in Cody as AEW World Champion. I mean, Cody is essentially in a Triple H type of position and none of us were excited when Trips won the WWE Championship again a few years back. It was cool seeing DDP in the video, guy looks essentially the same now as he did 20+ years ago and is probably as healthy as healthy as anybody half his age in AEW or WWE, but the little comment about this possibly being Cody's first World Championship didn't sit well with me. I don't know if DDP just forgot about it, or was unaware of it, but Cody did hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for 50 days last year and spent roughly 6 months of 2017 as ROH World Champion. I can understand if it was a mistake from DDP but if he was told not to bring those runs up, then it's the sort of revisionist bullcrap people always give Vince grief over.

As for the wrestling action: SCU vs. the Best Friends was a good 3.25 star bout, though I'm not overly fond of either team. I kinda like the BFs hugging gimmick as it reminds me fondly of Team Hell No. All in all, just a good 10 minute bout with the more established team of Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian moving on in the AEW tag title tourney semi-finals. Santana & Ortiz looked dominant in their squash match debut, as they should have. The AEW Women's World Championship match between Riho & Britt Baker was, for me about 2.75 stars. It was pretty decent, but I'm just not feeling Riho. I just feel there are much more interesting women who could've been the company's first champ and I can't get over the notion that a big reason why she's the champ is because of Kenny Omega, who is said to be very hands on with AEW's women's division, as she's a protégé of his. The Lucha Bros. vs. the Jurassic Express was only about 2.5 stars for me as I just look at the JE as a joke more than anything else, especially Marko Stunt as the guy looks like he's about 12 years old while Jungle Boy, AKA Luke Perry, kinda sorta looks like he might be 16. The Lucha Bros. looked strong, as expected, but I just didn't buy into Stunt and...well...Boy as viable challengers for them, certainly not guys that had to struggle for 11.5 minutes to beat. Jon Moxley & Pac vs. Kenny Omega & Adam Page was a great bout, a very strong 3.75 star to 4 star outing as it was a fun, fast pace, physical bout that continues the inevitable meeting of Moxley and Omega, which I have a feeling Uncle Dave is just waiting to spray his shorts over. The barbed wire stuff was a little goofy, but I like that it was set up for Moxley to turn on Pac and leave him and dry to take the loss. The AEW World Championship Philadelphia Street fight between Chric Jericho & Darby Allin I felt was about 3.25 stars, a good match but it never got into high gear as I never bought into Darby as a serious challenger. As of right now in his career, Darby just doesn't feel like he has the grapes to be at this level and this is a good example of why AEW needs a mid-card title at some point. They made good overall use of the stipulation, though I think they're already overdoing stuff with Jericho needing to be saved by Hager. To me, it didn't make Allin look strong so much as it made Jericho look weak.

All in all though, both shows delivered and continue to be an overall joy to watch. I gave NXT a B while AEW also got a B, MAYBE, just MAYBE a B-, but, to me, it was a little too close to call as to who I thought was better this week.