AEW Dynamite Workrate Report 2/5/20
What Worked
-The tooth visual looked great. The usage of the tooth thing is down below.
-8 man was good, if underwhelming. Fenix had some typical Fenix impressive rope work, and I don't think I could ever tire of the way he leaps up to hit swantons or his great springboard dropkicks. The dive spots all came off big, Omega's snap suplexes looked good, this was all fine.
-I was not looking forward to the main event whipping, still think that MJF comes off like a tertiary bully from Boy Meets World. But Cody made this segment, and he made this segment pretty great. This segment wasn't going to work in the slightest with pulled belt shots. Those shots needed to land, Cody's body was going to need to show damage, and Cody's selling was going to need to be off the charts. And Cody made this work tremendously. It's weird, because if I was there live, and knew this was the final segment of the evening, I honestly probably would have just aimed to beat traffic. But I thought it came across as very compelling on TV. I especially loved the twist of handing a belt shot off to Wardlow, and how he delivered an absolute thundering shot for the 9th of 10 belt shots. MJF ending the segment with a nut shot and a hasty retreat through the crowd was icing, but this was all easily my favorite segment of the show.
What Didn't Work
-Best Friends and SCU are just not the teams I want to see featured. I've seen what they have to offer, I've been seeing it for years. It is hollow, it is empty, it gets This is Awesome chants and that's all that matters. Big moves happen as a way to lead immediately to a different big move, to be performed by someone who just took a big move. Rinse, repeat. Nothing ever comes off natural, it all comes off like a dance recital without dancers. There are always individual things that look good, here I liked Trent's spear after getting thrown into the guardrail, and Sky's dropkick into the sunset flip for the finish looked good, but the bulk of this stuff has not motive or meaning for me. It's all just movement.
-I was hoping they would bring in another tiny joshi worker who can't work well with Britt Baker, and this is a fed that gives me what I want. Sakazaki's diving lariat looked good, and the crucifix she won with looked like something that would be tough to get out of, but this was another Baker match with no flow and some ugly moments.
-Britt Baker knocking Sakazaki's teeth out of her mouth should have been played way bigger, it should have come off like a much bigger deal, and it should have been reserved for a much bigger moment. Sakazaki was the wrong person to put something like that over, as just sitting by the ropes holding your teeth in your open palm so the camera can zoom in and out on it with NYPD Blue camera work, just the complete wrong kind of energy and reaction for something that should have been a much bigger deal. Unless they're going to have Baker knock people's teeth out every week, this was a major wasted visual.
-Kip Sabian looked better this week than last, but this storyline has no chemistry from any of the participants. That's the way these love triangle storylines always seem to go, but this one feels especially blank. The kiss between Sabian and Penelope started out with a little bit of heat, but Sabian spoiled even that by constantly peeking at when Janela was going to get up.
Labels: AEW Dynamite, Cody Rhodes, Fenix, Kenny Omega, MJF, Young Bucks
posted by EricR @ 10:00 PM
2 Comments:
I thought the strapping segment was ridiculously melodramatic.
Why was everybody literally crying in horror as if wrestlers don't routinely take worse beatings in regular matches? I thought the entire thing was oversold by Cody and by everybody else involved.
Being whipped with a belt is simply not painful or dangerous enough to warrant such an exaggerated response. Who falls over themselves, unable to get back to their feet, because they got hit in the back with a belt? Why was everybody at ringside acting as if Cody was at risk of permanent injury as opposed to just a few welts on his back?
Somebody got a damn tooth knocked out of their face an hour prior to borderline zero reaction from anybody, but a few belt shots to the safest location on your body and Brandi and Cody are crying and expressing their love for each other as if Cody has just been diagnosed with cancer? Ridiculous.
It just didn't feel like a big enough deal to earn any of the response anybody involved was giving it. It all fell very flat for me. I am surprised so many people loved it.
Your points are valid and I agree. It was ridiculous and melodramatic and the worst thing that will happen to him is he will sit and lie down uncomfortably for a couple days. I know that. But they picked a stupid stipulation, and I like that they attempted to make it seem like a big deal. I continue to be wholly unimpressed by MJF's act, and completely uninterested in the match that results. But I place that firmly on my total lack of interest in any MJF match. He's not an interesting character for me, and in that segment Cody actually gave MJF his most interesting personality moment, by overselling what was happening. Cody treated it like a big deal, and I thought it came off like a big deal because of that.
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