Guys like Swagger though are the guys AEW could really use. The guys that showed a shit ton of potential in WWE but WWE just couldn't use right, couldn't find the right gimmick/program for, or guys that were just a victim of such a massive roster.
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Guys like Swagger though are the guys AEW could really use. The guys that showed a shit ton of potential in WWE but WWE just couldn't use right, couldn't find the right gimmick/program for, or guys that were just a victim of such a massive roster.
Solid debut. Pretty fun stuff.
Dynamite
Date: October 2, 2019
Location: Capitol One Arena, Washington DC
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur
We’re finally here. It almost feels weird to imagine that it’s actually happening but here we are. This is the debut episode of the much ballyhooed weekly series from AEW and the hype seems to be real. The show is going head to head live with NXT as the Wednesday Night Wars begin. I’m actually excited for this so let’s get to it.
Click on the link below for the full review.
As Eliteish As You Can Get
Fine first episode. Few things here and there, but overall decent.
I already posted this in the NXT section but figured, what the hell:
After having watched both shows, I watched NXT first and then saw the replay of AEW, and I have to give the edge to NXT tonight but that's not to say AEW put on a bad show. Nobody could watch either show tonight and objectively say that either one was bad; one show may have had someone you liked better on at a certain time or you may have liked a certain match better but, in the grand scheme of things, just about everything worked on both shows. The only way I can see anyone saying that either show sucked is if they're just being trolls because if you didn't enjoy tonight's shows, then you just may as well stop watching wrestling altogether because I have absolutely no earthly idea what it is that's going to entertain you. If you're looking for two shows where there's little to no filler, where they can use vignettes and promos that last no more than 7 to 10 minutes to tell you what's going on & who the wrestlers are rather than meander about for 15 to 20 minutes and physical, athletic in-ring action then you should've been tickled pink tonight. Otherwise, just go and watch your garbage wrestling deathmatches in your best friend's backyard or some condemned gas station where the wrestlers beat each other with fluorescent light tubes and you run risk of catching Hepatitis due to them bleeding all over you.
For NXT, it's mostly what we've become used to over the last 5.5 years: a brand that knows how to deliver a quality wrestling product while making the best possible use of the time they have available to them
For AEW, it's mostly what I think most were expecting: an overall solid introduction to a brand new wrestling promotion featuring only a few familiar faces that also made good use of the time they had.
The biggest complaint I had regarding AEW was the commentary, I don't know the frig this Excalibur guy is but he just really, really kept getting off the mark sometimes. For instance, he started talking about how one of the wrestlers was into Dungeons & Dragons and sort of assigning strength stats to said wrestler or whatever. Anyway, he just really, really seemed like the odd man out in there with two veterans like Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone. While it's always nice to hear Jim Ross, he seems so subdued now, he doesn't have nearly the sort of spark that he once had. While Mauro may go a bit over the top sometimes, Beth Phoenix and Nigel McGuinness act as a good counter balance to that.
Overall, I thought NXT put on the stronger matches in most cases though, again, there weren't really any bad matches on the card but I felt AEW's main event was far weaker as they telegraphed too much having Moxley interfere and take Omega out of the match. Also, and this isn't any sort of major complaint or anything of that nature, I had to laugh at AEW's Women's World Championship belt as I had no idea it was so tiny. I mean, this was my first really good look at it and it looked really small even with Riho holding it and it would've looked like some toy belt that comes with a wrestling action figure if a woman of any physical size gets hold of it. It looked like it wouldn't even fit around Nyla Rose's arm.
As cliché as this might sound, due to wrestling journalists, wrestlers themselves and executives saying it, wrestling fans were the winners tonight. Not every show will be as loaded as this, that goes for both shows, especially NXT as there's literally dozens of wrestlers who can be pulled from all over WWE to work NXT on USA some weeks, but that's okay as you can't just leave it all out there every single week. With that being said, however, you're pretty much guaranteed to get overall more wrestling content on these shows than Raw or SmackDown because neither AEW or NXT have monthly PPV events to sell. The last I heard, AEW only wants to run four PPVs next year and, unless things change, NXT only has five TakeOver specials, or that's been the case for the past few years, so don't be at all surprised to see a lot of PPV worthy matches pop up a lot on both NXT and AEW.
I had a lot of fun with AEW Dynamite. It kinda sucked because I watched with my Dad and he's only familiar with WWE wrestlers so just about everyone that came out I had to explain who they were and why the crowd was cheering or booing them. After the show, though, to my Dad's credit, he spent a few hours on YouTube becoming aware of all the people that caught his interest that he didn't know. He kept calling the old WWE wrestlers by their WWE names. I kept having to explain that, "No, he's Jon Moxley", or "That's not Goldust, that's Dustin Rhodes, that's not Jack Swagger, etc etc". We had a ball though.
It was a good first show and I'm definitely hooked for next week, however, I do think that they need a little more focus on storylines. I liked all the wrestling, but we can't have match after match after match like that every week because the crowd will get bored and burned out quickly. I think they could use a few more promos here and there, but it was still a good first show. I'm not talking about spending the first 20 min of the show talking and what not like WWE, but I would've just liked to see more focus on storylines and a couple more promos. I loved the ending and are those heels officially a stable now? That'd be cool. I love stables, but god I hope they don't try to do a nWo or Aces and Eights thing. Please don't do that. Future is bright for AEW though and I think they're going to be legit competition for the WWE. They have some smart people organizing them and they have a billionaire writing checks. They're already bigger than TNA and RoH. Dynamite was a WWE level show and hopefully this will ignite the next boom period in the business because let's be honest, we're overdue for one of those. It's been 20 years since the last ended.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SSJPhenom
I think both AEW and NXT will incorporate some longer promo segments here and there, nothing extreme but a 7 to 10 minute segment each hour on some episodes. Right now, both brands are more into showing off their differences from Raw and SmackDown by putting emphasis on the wrestling action and/or these loaded cards. Both shows have come out of the gate on TV strong but some adjustments may have to be made considering NXT drew just under 900,000 viewers last night while AEW's premiere garnered 1.4 million. AEW had the advantage and novelty of being brand new, a brand new promotion totally separate from WWE and brand new to TV, that was different than Raw or SmackDown. That newness in and of itself, like NXT, is partially responsible for a strong debut. Next week's show could be just slightly more telling in the long run if AEW's viewership increases or decreases, and by how much, or remains in the same general area.
Anyone watching AEW dark on YouTube? Holy shit is it full of botches, Excalibur especially.