Announced for the debut on Oct 2nd:
Cody Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara
AEW Women's Championship -- Nyla Rose vs. Riho
Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Chris Jericho & two mystery partners
Adam "Hangman" Page vs. PAC
MJF vs. Brandon Cutler
plus Jon Moxley Live appearance
Of that list, I think Page vs PAC is the match I'm most curious about. None of them have enough story going on for me to dive into, but where Page and PAC go from their matches at All Out is interesting. It's hard not to picture Page not becoming the top homegrown talent of the promotion, much like AJ Styles was for TNA back in 2002.
I also think MJF will be a HUGE star with his mic skills and charisma. So that match has my interest as well, though I know next to nothing about Brandon Cutler.
I still hope for more "Road To" type segments for the Dynamite. Not a lot of attention has been spent on the rest of the women's roster, so seeing a title defense on the Oct 16th show will need some sort of pump for whoever becomes the top contender. Unless it's a rematch, I guess, but all AEW hype has indicated not being into too many rematches. I'm guessing the Oct 9th episode will have a way to determine the number 1 contenders for each title for the defenses on Oct 16th, but there should be some way to set that up on the debut.
With title defenses booked on Oct 16th, I am disappointed with the apparent usage of the top names. One thing I was selfishly REALLY hoping AEW to do was showcase a weekly program where they didn't over use the top talent. I really hate the current expectation of weekly matches for the top champion of a brand, and monthly title defenses. AEW has set themselves up in a way where I think they could accomplish this. Now, I understand with the NXT push, I get why AEW doesn't want to take chances on losing viewership to the other program at the same time. And thankfully, it looks like they are balancing out the rest of the roster enough that it'll likely work out. But I hope whatever method they take going forward, they are able to have a different main event weekly. I was doing my best not to bring WWE comparisons into this, but I think the proper way for a promotion to succeed long term with their TV/PPV balance is to have less main event champions matches on TV, and more on PPV. I think back to my childhood, and I can't remember ever seeing Hulk Hogan wrestle. I know it had to happen, but those shows usually had Hogan in a recap, or a promo, or with Brother Love. But he would rarely wrestle, and it made matches like teaming with Savage vs the Mega Bucks a bigger deal. This meant that the TV main event was usually a midcard match. Obviously we won't be returning to that exact style any time soon, but I see no reason why 2-3 months down the line, the AEW champion would only have interviews, or be in tag matches (like in NJPW) and save the singles and title matches for PPV and very special events. TV main events would be for establishing new contenders, or for the tag titles...etc.
I also want to see more of the win/loss record stuff mattering. I can't get into NJPW, but I appreciate how the title reigns aren't just measured in days, but in defenses. I don't know if this will translate to a wider audience, but I hope AEW really puts a focus on that to test it out.
I've already warned my S/O that this week will involve me being very involved with all the wrestling we are getting, so while I doubt I'll watch this live, I'm sure I'll have watched it by the time I go to bed Wednesday night. And if it does reach the hype, it's entirely possible that this becomes my Wednesday night viewing every week. I've personally been hard on AEW for missing the mark too many times in the last year, but I've always said that I'll save final judgment for the TV show. It's really unfair to judge the entire promotion based on less than a handful of events and youtube clips. But this week, Dynamite really gives us our first real look into what AEW will be about.
Here's hoping they are starting something that will last a while.
Cody Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara
AEW Women's Championship -- Nyla Rose vs. Riho
Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Chris Jericho & two mystery partners
Adam "Hangman" Page vs. PAC
MJF vs. Brandon Cutler
plus Jon Moxley Live appearance
Of that list, I think Page vs PAC is the match I'm most curious about. None of them have enough story going on for me to dive into, but where Page and PAC go from their matches at All Out is interesting. It's hard not to picture Page not becoming the top homegrown talent of the promotion, much like AJ Styles was for TNA back in 2002.
I also think MJF will be a HUGE star with his mic skills and charisma. So that match has my interest as well, though I know next to nothing about Brandon Cutler.
I still hope for more "Road To" type segments for the Dynamite. Not a lot of attention has been spent on the rest of the women's roster, so seeing a title defense on the Oct 16th show will need some sort of pump for whoever becomes the top contender. Unless it's a rematch, I guess, but all AEW hype has indicated not being into too many rematches. I'm guessing the Oct 9th episode will have a way to determine the number 1 contenders for each title for the defenses on Oct 16th, but there should be some way to set that up on the debut.
With title defenses booked on Oct 16th, I am disappointed with the apparent usage of the top names. One thing I was selfishly REALLY hoping AEW to do was showcase a weekly program where they didn't over use the top talent. I really hate the current expectation of weekly matches for the top champion of a brand, and monthly title defenses. AEW has set themselves up in a way where I think they could accomplish this. Now, I understand with the NXT push, I get why AEW doesn't want to take chances on losing viewership to the other program at the same time. And thankfully, it looks like they are balancing out the rest of the roster enough that it'll likely work out. But I hope whatever method they take going forward, they are able to have a different main event weekly. I was doing my best not to bring WWE comparisons into this, but I think the proper way for a promotion to succeed long term with their TV/PPV balance is to have less main event champions matches on TV, and more on PPV. I think back to my childhood, and I can't remember ever seeing Hulk Hogan wrestle. I know it had to happen, but those shows usually had Hogan in a recap, or a promo, or with Brother Love. But he would rarely wrestle, and it made matches like teaming with Savage vs the Mega Bucks a bigger deal. This meant that the TV main event was usually a midcard match. Obviously we won't be returning to that exact style any time soon, but I see no reason why 2-3 months down the line, the AEW champion would only have interviews, or be in tag matches (like in NJPW) and save the singles and title matches for PPV and very special events. TV main events would be for establishing new contenders, or for the tag titles...etc.
I also want to see more of the win/loss record stuff mattering. I can't get into NJPW, but I appreciate how the title reigns aren't just measured in days, but in defenses. I don't know if this will translate to a wider audience, but I hope AEW really puts a focus on that to test it out.
I've already warned my S/O that this week will involve me being very involved with all the wrestling we are getting, so while I doubt I'll watch this live, I'm sure I'll have watched it by the time I go to bed Wednesday night. And if it does reach the hype, it's entirely possible that this becomes my Wednesday night viewing every week. I've personally been hard on AEW for missing the mark too many times in the last year, but I've always said that I'll save final judgment for the TV show. It's really unfair to judge the entire promotion based on less than a handful of events and youtube clips. But this week, Dynamite really gives us our first real look into what AEW will be about.
Here's hoping they are starting something that will last a while.
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