Source: AEW

Pops & Botches: AEW Dynamite – 11.18.2020

AEW Dynamite Pops & Botches

 

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POP: Young Bucks vs. young bucks

Making their debut are the Martin brothers, Dante and Darius, Top Flight, debuting on AEW at the age of 21 and 19. We get a nice little video package introducing the Martins, who are mirroring the Young Bucks career trajectory as two brothers making their way into wrestling. They took a long shot and reached out to the Bucks about maybe coming on Dynamite and got lucky. They were trained by Mr. Ken Kennedy (Andy) Anderson.

The Martins make quite an impact here. I’ve never even heard of them before, but they really made the most of this, busting their asses for the entire run time. They’re quick, crisp, motivated, etc. Lots of showoff twin doubles magic, Darius gets some SICK height on a tope to the outside.. They honestly had me wondering if they were gonna get a 1-2-3 kid style underdog delivery with a nearfall at the end, before the Jackson’s finish them off.

The post-match involves TH2 beating down Top Flight for…reasons? Does AEW have a post-match beatdown problem? Because it really does seem to happen in like half the matches. I get it, it’s a quick motivation builder for the next match, and that’s important in this non-WWE environment. (Where feuds aren’t built with 8 matches of 50/50 booking leading to a 9th match at a bi-monthly PPV we’re suddenly supposed to be SUPER pumped for!)

 

POP: The Inner Circle Takes Las Vegas!

AEW took a little bit of shit online for sending the IC to LV for NR (no reason) in a time of national pandemic where nobody wore masks. They probably deserved it. But hey, who’s got time for endemic pathogens when we got BLACKJACK BABY!

As you may recall, this trip is on MJF’s dime as a kind of “team morale retreat” to get the Inner Circle on the same page. And it seems to be working! Already we’re seeing Santana (but not Ortiz) seems to be taking a little shine to the plucky scarf boy and his silent golem. I love the small detail of Wardlow and Hager constantly eyeballing each other in the background of every shot.

Obviously indicates tension between two big-men now stuck in the same group together, but it also looks like they just may start tongueing each other any moment. Even at the strip club they can’t take their eyes off of each other! (Granted they seem to be in a strip club that’s touting, “THE MOST CLOTHED STRIPPERS IN VEGAS”! Mormons gotta gamble too, I guess…) “Whats happens in Vegas”, fellas. Let’s explore our bodies together, brah. We’re already ignoring travel advisories, let us not ignore our passions.

Well well well, look who’s making a cameo! Why if it isn’t the grim spectre of death in a hoodie, I mean a scary homeless Uncle Grandpa, I mean WCW star and TNA kinda-star Konnan! He shows up to get the boys high, clearly on medicinal weed for whatever disease is rotting this man before our very eyes. (I really hope he isn’t actually sick and just looks shitty, I don’t need that on my conscience. But even Perry Saturn would be like, “Konnan, what happened, man?”)

Later in the night (after adding new member, Elvis Presley, to the fold), MJF plagiarizes the “lone wolf” speech from the Hangover. When he gets to the “blood brothers” part, Sammy chimes in and… guys, I’m just transcribing at this point. Watch the video, it’s hilarious. When you need an Elvis impersonator to talk you off the ledge, you’re doing Vegas right, baby!

Elvis: Don’t be cruel, Sammy.

We also get our 2nd cameo of the segment!

Still looking far better than Konnan.

POP(pa): Mox

Haircut Jon Moxley has some words about his father. Renee must’ve gave Mox enough shit to get the weird balding Misfits devil-lock trimmed back. Mox talks about his brawler Dad. No matter what, remember, we’re the good guys.

They can say shit but not goddamn on TNT? That’s weird. Oh, also they’re having a kid. Good for them.

Yeah, Jon really did just announce he and his wife’s first child in a throwaway line in a wrestling promo! Congrats to the happy couple! Crazy to believe, there’s really only one other instance of announcing a pregnancy via wrestling promo (Becky Lynch…and Kharma I guess). We need more! Just think of all the lost opportunities that’ve been missed.

“Talking about HARD TIMES daddy! Also, I’m gonna be a daddy again. The injury was upsetting, but the time off has been great for my marriage, we’re very excited. Where was I? Oh yeah…RIC FLAIR, I’m coming for you!”

Fun little side note, but it appears this pregnancy may have lead to our first AEW/WWE interpromotional angle via Bayley here.

Dawwwwww. Adorable. And great to know haircut Bayley is still a big softie deep down.

 

POP: Orange Cassidy vs. That video game guy. No, the foreign one. No, the unimpressive one. No, the…

Rusev takes a week off from disappointing me to leave his arcade pal to take on Orange Cassidy. You want headlocks? We got headlocks. Interestingly enough, they stick to chain wrestling for a lot of the match which keeps things interesting.

Putting his hands in his pockets is has always been OC’s taunt, but now it seems straight up Cassidy’s “Hulking up” super power that sets him in motion. Enough so that Kip tries to prevent the pocket play more than a counselor at a summer camp for disturbed kids.

Great back and forth action. I give Kip a lot of shit, but it’s only because his character annoys the hell out of me. Dude can go though, and there are far worse ways to spend a wrestling show than two lanky guys reversing suplexes for 20 minutes.

OC gets the win and of course Miro makes a run in to continue the tedium. Can we get this guy a tank and a wooden board and a blonde valet again? How is this the man of “Dog Ziggler” fame?

 

Winter is Coming

We have the contract signing between Omega and Papa Mox next, dubbed “Winter is Coming”. It’s a small promotional touch, but I like it. Even just the color choice and the branding make it feel different than a simple wrestling rematch for the belt. This is important when the story is lacking, or just different.

So far, the heat from this match has almost zero animosity built into it. The story isn’t that Moxley keyed Omega’s car, or that Omega announced the Renee’s pregnancy on Facebook despite Moxley telling him that in confidence. (Cradle on a pole match?) It’s more to do with the two individuals than any beef between them. Kenny is seeking to reclaim his singles wrestling dominance, and Mox is a working champion taking on all challengers. That’s it. Real Japanese wrestling style pure competition. Throw on some Mountain Dew Voltage Raz Blue © filter on it, boom, we’re good to go.

Kenny’s intro accolades are getting better every time. Let’s go down the list for this week:

  1. Like Jon Moxley, he is undefeated in 2020 singles matches.
  2. Like Jon Moxley, he has been ranked #1 in the PWI 500.
  3. UNLIKE Jon Moxley, he is a Wrestling Observer Hall of Famer.
  4. UNLIKE Jon Moxley, he tips 30% every time, except in Japan, where tipping is not a part of the their beautiful culture.
  5. UNLIKE Jon Moxley, he has NOT been audited on his income taxes.
  6. UNLIKE Jon Moxley, he takes spoiler warnings SERIOUSLY.
  7. Also unlike Jon Moxley something something NORTH CAROLINA!

Wonderful work. Also, for a moment this was dangerously close to a botch, when It appear my beloved Cleaner Gals would not be making an appearance. Thankfully they arrived, slightly off their marks and out of sync with their dance moves, just the way I love em.

Unfortunately, there’s shenanigans afoot, when Moxley doesn’t appear. We cut backstage to an unconscious Moxley being attended to, no doubt a result of fainting after contemplating the enormity of fatherhood. Moxley shrugs it off and signs the contract anyway (bizarrely having trouble getting the pen to work).

Well, I guess either this backstage stuff is evidence that, A) I’m totally off my mark about that “No heat” part of my analysis. Or B) We’re gonna get some weird 2 week feud with…Oh, let’s say…Dr. Luther.

Meh Match, POP post: The Bastard Lil Pac

His first match in 252 days! Ye Gods, he’s been gone from TV almost as long as when he asked Uncle Vinny for an early release.

(Also, to the jerk on reddit who hurt my feelings for not knowing the beef between Pac and Eddie Kingston…you’re right, I probably, should’ve known that. Still, Kingston has had so much going on, I must’ve just dang missed him dissing Pac months ago, before I even started writing this column.)

Pac takes on the Blade (of Butcher and Bunny fame). Blade, despite looking sharp in his leather pants, comes up a bit dull against the returning Bastard.

SPEAKING OF PANTS, Butcher and Bunny are outside and have a little interference here and there. Guys, I try not to objectify women whenever possible, but GODDAMN THEM PANTS BUNNY BABY. (insert Animaniacs “Helloooo Nurse”) Things look like they’re held together with electrical tape and children’s prayers. She keeps up these fashion choices, the only thing she’ll be running on interference on will by MY HEART.

I’m gonna give this a BOTCH despite being a pretty engaging match. Pac just made a big return, he shouldn’t be having a hard fought win against the Blade to make a big statement upon his return. He should’ve been some fed some easy jobber to ravage and throw into the sun. Blade is too strong a competitor, despite being the 3rd most charismatic player on his team. (4th behind the slit pants tonight. SLIT PANTS FOR THE TNT BELT PLEASE.) Add in the weird DDT botch (explained away by commentary as “ring rust”) and the downright confusion of finishing with a Shooting Star Press after commentary repeatedly called for the Black Arrow.

Pac has words for Kingston, but not before the Butcher interjects like all debate clubs should: with a forearm to the back of the neck. Kingston barely gets a few words out before Rey Fenix comes out to take on his former head of the family. Penta comes out in his lounging Lucha Bros. hoodie (available now on AEW SHOP!) and a chair, teasing for a second whom he’ll hit, only to go after the family. THE DEATH TRIANGLE HAS RETURNED. A2 + B2 = PAIn!

MEANWHILE BACKSTAGE

Jade stomps on a chair breaking brandy’s hand. It was about 30 seconds and AEW didn’t even both to upload a clip. Therefore, I will spend just as much time on it as AEW did. Moving on…

POP: Deebs Nutz

(That title refers to nothing specific. It’s just very hard to not type, every single week, forever and ever, world without end.)

((Amen.))

So, a little background in case you haven’t been paying attention…

  1. Thunder Rosa was NWA Women’s Champion and was actively building feuds on AEW TV.
  2. It was suddenly rumored that she was being wooed and would sign to WWE.
  3. She suddenlier lost the championship to Serena Deeb, seemingly confirming she was leaving for the E.
  4. Weeks later, Rosa is suddenliest back and challenging Deeb for the title again.
  5. ?
  6. Profit

(That “Profit” joke never gets old, except for two weeks after South Park did it in 1998, and every single time since for 22 years. I’m bringing it back now for a “one night only” return to greatness! Yeah! BEEFCAKE!)

So yeah…slightly convoluted storytelling, but what else would you expect from an interpromotional angle NOT involving a pregnancy announcement? The good news is Deeb and Rosa are two of the best in the business at the moment. Rosa wastes no time getting back to business with stiff shots, suplexes, and a few instances of baiting the champ with her back turned, and absolutely shitkicking Deeb when she takes the bait.

Rebel (hilarious misidentified by commentary as “Rebel, I mean Reby…I MEAN REBEL!”) interferes just long enough to Britt Baker to jack up Rosa’s sh*it, but it’s not enough to keep her down as she kicks out of a Deeb powerbomb. The gals keep throwing shots and reversing reversals for another five minutes before Deeb finally gets the win.

Rosa catches Baker at ringside, (like, why? Did she not think she’d be recognized? Does she somehow think Thunder Rosa can’t see through facepaint? Did she think the skull side was just a sunken orbital socket?) and beats the hell out of her to wrap it up.

Meanwhile Backstage

John 4 Silver gives a pep talk to number 99 Anna Jay who challenges Hikaru Shida to a match next week. How do these numberings work exactly? Is it like football? Is Anna Jay a linebacker? How quick until Dark Order gets their own “HEHATEME” to break the mold?

POP: Triad de Taz

We get another student film from Darby, skateboarding in a church to a synth soundtrack. Oh, also, he’s on fire. Guys, I don’t think this Steve-O character is a good role model for our Lil’ Darby. This week it’s fire, last week he was getting hit by a car, he’s gonna be shoving toy cars up his butt before we know it. TNT doesn’t allow “goddamn”, they ain’t gonna like that.

(If we ever get intergender tag matches, Darby and Thunder Rosa better complete those skull halves at least once.)

Taz leaves commentary mid-match and waddles over to ringside. He interferes a little, grabbing Cody’s ankle at one point. In grand manager tradition, Arn explodes and throws a chair in the ring in frustration and is promptly ejected from ringside.

(Real talk; as a young mark-y child, I may or may not have said I wanted to grow up to be a wrestling referee, because I was disgusted with the level of unprofessional sloppy work on my TV every Monday night. Truly, I missed my calling.)

Overall, a pretty tepid but competent main event. Cody is great at pathos, but his style is vanilla enough that it doesn’t really pop unless he has a true motivation and is bleeding from the forehead. The only real selling point is that Darby recently beat him for the belt. But there ain’t much heat behind, “Will he be able to coexist with Darby, WHOM HE RESPECTS AS A COMPETITOR AND WISHES WELL? TUNE IN WEDNESDAY TO FIND OUT!”

Darby is the star of the match, using every tag as an opportunity to fly like a pinball like his life depends on it. The last 5 or so minutes really bring everything together as the urgency picks up. Cage and Starks turn up the heat and double-team to great effect, Cody ducks and Darby ends up eating a blow, and Cage drops his ass from the top turnbuckle for the pin.

After the match, Team Taz bone the picks of Cody and Darby. Will Hobbs runs out hilariously late as always to help (This guy have IBS or something? He only ever shows up when it’s too late).

Guess what, baby? We got a swerve going! Hobbs holds up the FTW belt after clearing house, teasing a challenge to Cage, only to bash Cody over the skull with it. HOBBS IS THE 3RD MAN! Ya know, I never considered until now, but one coach and two players is a rather shoddy idea of a “team”. Beefing up the numbers might be just the thing Team Taz needs.

Damn, so in one night, this squared circle has seen three new triple threats added to the company. Team Taz is now Triad Taz, the Kingston Pentagon lost Rey and…Pentagon…to bring his family down to three, and the Lucha Bros. and Pac reformed Death Triangle. AEW: where the Deltas come to play! Abandon your octagons, trash your tetrahedrons, and most of all, FUCK RHOMBUSES. There’s a new dominant shape in town. Here’s hoping these future triple threat tri-angles don’t become too….

…obtuse…

………………………………………

…Profit?

Follow Jesse @jessedraham on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit. Check out his podcast I Hate Infinite Jest for a begrudging book club about the 1996 David Foster Wallace novel. Niche as hell, ain’t it?

     

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