AEW Dynamite Workrate Report 10/9/19

What Worked

ER: Bucks might be the only team out there that I hate when I like them. And I liked big chunks of that opening tag. Matt plays a great "bully version of his mirror image" against teams like Private Party, and his dropkick through the ropes and running powerbomb on Kassidy on the ramp were cool as hell. They could have layered things differently, as Nick Jackson was already running back up on the apron moments after taking a Gin & Juice. It's a move I don't always love as it breaks wrestling physics, but they snapped the best version of it that I've seen, yet because of when they hit it Nick basically had to shrug it off. Quen's shooting star looked fantastic and made a great false finish, and PP's win came off really well.

ER: I've been hit and miss on Jericho for some time, but that was a major league promo. He threw in shoot stuff without stopping for breath or waiting for reaction or acting like he was cool for the sake of throwing in shoot comments, he cut down the genuinely puzzling We The People chants with a quick pro takedown as good as I've ever seen anyone shut down a crowd, and was getting the whole crowd to eat out of the palm of his hand. The promo was quick, it had impact, he made his point and then got the hell out of there. Not many people could have handled that, and a short attacking promo like that is so much more valuable than a neverending slow talking WWE promo.

ER: Excalibur namedropped Terriers, which is not a thing I expect on a wrestling show. Let's get that Terriers blu ray already!

ER: Darby Allin is awesome, managed to look good against uber goof Havoc, and this guy deserves it all.

ER: Emi Sakura's vinyl overalls just made me want a Sakura/Chico Che team. I don't like most of Britt Baker's offense, but I liked her bump into the railing and I do like a dentist ripping at someone's incisors for a finish.

ER: Pac's running chairshot to the back of Omega's head looked really good.

ER: I really wish we could have gotten a Dustin/Sammy match. Jericho wasn't in much, and while Page's offense didn't look as bad as I've seen it look, his mannerisms are downright awful. What the hell was he even doing on the mat after hitting his rolling lariat? Guevara was bumping big, Dustin looked great, would have loved to see what they could do with a singles.


What Didn't Work

ER: Can we not have JR doing the "could Private Party score what many would consider a MAJOR upset?" stuff? He was a negative almost the entire show, with Schiavone hanging back WAY too much. Last week I thought the trio worked really well be limiting JR's contributions, this week JR took the bulk of commentary and Schiavone was left in the Beth Phoenix awkwardly wedged in soundbite role. The balance is all off.

ER: I still cannot believe people getting this excited for fucking Jake Hager. Again, we have at least 600 recorded matches of this guy. Bring in Nathan Jones. I'd be excited for Nathan Jones. I'm not excited for Jake Hager.

ER: Jimmy Havoc is a freaking dweeb. One of the weakest guys in a major American fed. Marvel at badly he misses offense that is supposed to miss, stare in wonder at how unnaturally he moves into position for opponent's offense, watch him  kill his own offense by throwing out a dangerous Tiger Driver that gets kicked out of, he just stinks.

ER: Can the onscreen graphics not float? It looks ridiculous to have the specters of the women's tag bobbing and floating there. It is Halloween season, I suppose. They all float in AEW.

ER: I'm pretty sure Shawn Spears' entrance was about as long as Jericho's promo. Dude is a total tuna can. But whatever agent decided that Spears should take 80% of a match against Moxley does NOT have this company's best interests at heart. Nobody needs to see Spears throwing out sub-Rollins topes and it's great that this man who is actually older than I am  is no longer burdened by the shackles of WWE, but this match needed to be 5 minutes, with Moxley busting him open and coming off like a sadist. Instead they worked this like HHH giving someone a house show rub in their home town before escaping with the win.

ER: Kenny looked like such a goof with his barbed wire stick. There's a greater chance of that rat's nest hair getting tangled in the wire than of him using that barbed wire in a cool way

ER: I like the WCW vibes of Schiavone, but I like the "knock off Jimmy Hart knocking off 90s alternative rock" themes a lot less. Darby has bad Manson music, Dustin has Green Day's "Brain Stew", I'm sure one of the ladies had a Seven Mary Three riff that I missed.

ER: You give me a TV Dustin match...that is also a TV Hangman Page match? Fuck you guys.