AEW Dynamite Workrate Report 2/12/20
This had a really rough start, but it ended up being a pretty dang good television wrestling show.
What Didn't Work
-Opening a show with a twenty minute tag featuring Frankie Kazarian and Hangman Page made me feel like Eric was pranking me by asking me to review this show. They are two of the worst guys on this show, and watching them try to do gogo AEW tag style (a style I don't like when it is done by athletic guys) is painful. Kazarian spends a lot of this match obviously placing himself in position for SCU's moves and the crowd chanting "Cowboy Shit" for Page's gentle corner clotheslines and kip ups is painful. What fucking Cowboy is that? Sam Houston or Scott Casey would be ashamed to land stuff with such tenderness, much less Barry Windham or Stan Hansen. Omega is a goof but at least he throws really nasty knees. Post match tag brawl was pretty lame too, there was a side of the screen Page and Angelico punch out which was as embarrassing as the Dark Order gif that got passed around.
- Most of the women's match was pretty good, but Rhio effortlessly throwing snap dragon suplexes on a 200 pound plus woman is pretty ridiculous. She looks like an indoor kid 11 year old, and should remove all throws from her offense, much less force Nyla Rose to leap into suplexes like she is Taz. I liked the match though, and Rose does have some big time offense, that leaping knee was devastating.
What Worked
- That was a really good promo by Santana, kind of makes me wish they would just sign Eddie Kingston, but if you are going to borrow, borrow from the best.
-Britt Baker has been a total miss so far, but I enjoyed her heel promo. Condescending to Schiavone, talking about how she extracted the tooth for free and was never thanked, calling the fans fat Whataburge faces. If they keep her out of the ring and keep doing this it will work
-Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevera are two of my favorite guys in this fed, and while they haven't had the classic they have in them, I really enjoyed this match. Dustin does all the small things perfectly and Sammy is a super entertaining big bumper. Did Dustin ever do a house show tour with green Jack Swagger? I have some real high expectations for their PPV match.
- Jungle Boy vs. MJF was good too. They have good chemistry with each other and I could easily see this being a feud they run back over the years. I am an MJF low voter, but I thought he was good here, and really gave Perry moments to shine, before a classy shit heel finish.
-I liked Santana vs. Moxley OK, although it could have used more eye gouging and less athletic workrate exchanges. You blinded me with a car key, and I shall frog splash and enzigiri you. The eye gouging parts were cool though, and since Moxley dumped the rebound part he is killing people with lariats.
-Jeff Cobb is a great addition, but bringing in every heavyweight as muscle for a small guy is a weird AEW trope. We already have Wardlow and Jake Hager, didn't need another guy filling the same roll.
Labels: AEW Dynamite, Dustin Rhodes, Jon Moxley, Jungle Boy, Kenny Omega, MJF, Nyla Rose, Sammy Guevara, Santana
posted by Phil @ 11:00 PM
2 Comments:
I'm not sure what it is you see in Guevara. He's a dime a dozen flippy Jr. with one of the worst haircuts in the history of pro-wrestling. What is that even supposed to be? It looks like he copied Ronaldo's haircut from the 2002 World Cup.
I'm not entirely sold on MJF either. A lot of his heel mannerism seem unnatural. He only stands out now because of how bad the other supposed heels in wrestling actually are.
There are a lot of guys on AEW who either have no role, or wrestle with no kind of role. So you have a roster filled with people who are going out with that Kurt Angle "match of the year" mentality. Guevara stands out in an environment where he works matches within his character of "smallest and lowest man on the totem pole in the top heel stable". I like characters like Lodi in the Flock or Virgil in the nWo. And Sammy bumps big like the best flunkie, and the flippy offense you reference gets him into trouble more often than not, which is a more effective use of it. Also, he's supposed to have annoying hair. He's a twerpy little loud mouthed heel that has annoying hair and gets frequently put in his place, and I think does it very well.
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