AEW

Pops & Botches: AEW Dynamite – 08.18.21

AEW Dynamite News Pops & Botches Recaps & Reviews

 

IT’S WEDNESDAY NIGHT. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!

Heya folks! It’s me, your favorite Irish blade, Irishblade, back for another riveting episode of AEW Dynamite! After last week, when Kris Statlander beat Nyla Rose’s ass and Chris Jericho survived a fourth labour of … uh, himself, we’ve built a couple little stories for this week. Okay, so the Jericho vs. MJF showdown can probably be filed under “something bigger than a little story” but it’s a story, damnit and I’m all about that. Hey, wait. Whatever happened to Bastion Booger?

Sorry. If you think that was a teaser that the Boog was returning this week, you’re sorely mistaken. Well, I assume you are. I guess we’ll find out together!

Welp, this show is off to an inauspicious start. Check this shit out:

I’m not sure if the first ting I would do to make an…ahem, impact, is attack a guy who some say is on the fringe of being an actual lunatic, and his best friend. Bold move, boys. Bold move. That leads us straight into our first match, which is 2.0 going against Darby and Sting.  For those keeping track at home (probably Jericho for his next book), this is Sting’s first match on TNT in 20 years. If his opponent in that 2001 match shows up (Ric Flair), I just may shit my pants. WOOOOO!

POP: Kerry von Erich Match

I love a good Texas Tornado tag. I remember when this match came out in one of the WWE video games of my youth. It was so fascinating that we could do a tag team match with ALL FOUR COMBATANTS IN THE RING AT THE SAME TIME. Chills, you guys. Chills. I love Sting doing these gimmick matches that completely protect him . I also just love Darby Allin. His creative little emo mind comes up with the best moves, although being suplexed straight onto the bottom of a skateboard seems less than ideal.

Speaking of moves that make a viewer physically cringe, did anybody else recoil when Sting took that double powerbomb through the table? I thought so. Maybe we should start a support group of dudes and dudettes that struggle with Sting taking big bumps! Either way, he brushes it off (as one is wont to do), hits a double Scorpion Death Drop and then gets BOTH members of 2.0 to tap out to a double Scorpion Deathlock. Whew, that was a heck of a finish!

POP: Chairmen of the Blood

Nobody is as surprised as me that I am enjoying a Shawn Spears feud. This animosity and hatred he and Sammy Guevara have toward each other is a beautiful thing. They have built up this rivalry through tag team matches, ten man tag matches, Stampedes and a myriad of other ways. The storytelling in this feud alone has made this particular match a must-see. Sorry, Miz. These two damn near kill each other too.

If there was a kitchen sink anywhere near the ring, someone would’ve gotten hit with it. I did find it refreshing that nobody from the Inner Circle or The Pinnacle got involved (other than Tully before the match started but he got kicked out so it works). For the second match in a row tonight, we even got some blood! This match shouldn’t have ended UNTIL someone bled. When Sammy hits the JTH on a bloodied Spears, it ended the match AND closed out the feud definitively (I think). Well done!

Dan Lambert showed up again (with company this time) just to end up with Lance Archer getting jumped.

The biggest takeaway I had from this segment, however, is how great Dan Lambert is on the microphone. I’m a loose follower of MMA (and definitely knew who Arlovski and dos Santos were) but I wasn’t too familiar with Lambert outside his first appearance on AEW. I was extremely impressed with his promo but not only that, he was able to recruit the Men of the Year. Another budding story. I love you, AEW. I really do.

BOTCH: AEW Dinomyte….or Might Not

I’ve really enjoyed the fact that championship titles get defended regularly on TV. It definitely gives the show a big fight feel. I know I mentioned it a little bit last week or maybe it was the week before, or maybe it’s literally every week, but I’m tired of seeing Gallows and Anderson. It’s to the point that it’s cheapening the Young Bucks’ reign. If they always have to use these goons to win but Gallows and Anderson don’t need the Young Bucks to retain their titles, does that make the Good Brothers the best tag team in the world? Probably.

Another thing that genuinely hurts this match were all the false finishes. It never felt like Jurassic Express was going to win because every time they hit an AMAZING move combo, the Bucks would somehow escape. Hitting the BTE Trigger for the win was just annoying after the Express almost pulled it out so many times. I’m not a complete pessimist over here though. After MONTHS, I think the Young Bucks being so cocky and smug is really starting to do it for me. Like, I…I think I’m enjoying the Young Bucks!

BOTCH: What Happened to the Wrestling?!?

Seriously, we went TWENTY SIX minutes between matches. What the hell just happened?

POP: Wrestling!

Well now that we have THAT bullshit out of the way, let’s get back to it. I love seeing Thunder Rosa in the ring. She is a very entertaining wrestler so when she’s on screen, I’m paying attention. And check out her all-Texas outfit:

Okay, I admit, I love both of these women so I loved this match. It went much longer than I’d expected, though … I shouldn’t have been surprised since we literally just went TWENTY SIX MINUTES between bells. I’m not bitter, you’re bitter. Rosa countering the Indian Deathlock into her own submission maneuver for the win is the right call. She has a ton of momentum right now and unfortunately, Penelope has been lost since Kip went out. She has proven to be formidable and (very) competent in the ring so hopefully, she gets a run sooner rather than later.

NOW. GIVE THIS TO ME NOW, TONY!

BOTCH: My Memory is a Little Fozzy

Finally! We’ve arrived at the fifth and final Labour of Jericho. He’s already outlasted Shawn Spears, Nick Gage(!), Juventud Guerrera and Wardlow himself. Now it’s time to conquer not only MJF but also conquer the streak of LOSING to MJF. I have to admit, I love the crowd singing along to Judas much better when the music is playing in the background. Clearly, they only studied the chorus and not the first verse!

Jericho and MJF have just as good of a feud brewing as Sammy and Spears did. No matter what happens in this match, it’ll be interesting to see what each member of The Pinnacle and Inner Circle does once these feuds are dead. Fight forever, probably but I’m hoping to see them all shine in different ways.

I swear, a Chris Jericho match always finds ways to incorporate abnormal things into a wrestling setting. In this case, it was MJF and Jericho finding unique ways to give us a new point of view. The camera panning to Jericho is pure Jerigold. Yes, I said it. Jerigold. This leads me into his next t-shirt catchphrase – Behold the Jerigold! —

Honestly, this is what I want the new TikTok challenge to be. Folks just walking around and flipping people off exactly like that….and see if they get punched in the face. Sure beats the hell out of falling off some tall-ass milk crates, doesn’t it? Also, I don’t have TikTok so I’m not 100% sure how it works or if I just challenged a ton of people to do something to get arrested. I’m cool, you guys. Trust me.

I have to admit, of all the Jericho and MJF matches, this is my least favorite. The good news is, it felt like a match you’d put on free TV. Unfortunately, because it is the culmination of a blood rivalry, it feels like it should have had a bigger setting. All Out, maybe? Perhaps the undercard of the Woodley/Paul fight? Hell, maybe even at halftime of the opening night NFL game in a couple weeks? I don’t know. What I do know is that MJF SHOULD have won this match with a vicious Judas Effect. Him tapping out Jericho with the Salt of the Earth was….anti-climactic.

I’m not sure why this didn’t appeal to me at all but I just …. expected MORE out of it. As I stated above, hopefully we can see the main players in this multi-wrestler feud go onto bigger and better things. Pride & Powerful for the tag straps, Sammy for the AEW title and hell, because I apparently want to see someone die, send MJF into the lion’s den with Miro. You know, for the title, of course! Ahhh, just spitballing here….I guess.

Well folks, that’s all she (well, I, I guess) wrote for this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite. It appears I didn’t have a great time but quite the contrary actually. Even though I botched a bunch (seriously, TWENTY SIX minutes?!?), I was highly entertained by this show. It was a lot of fun and the Houston crowd – the real MVP tonight – brought it for the most part. Can’t wait to see what happens next week!

I hope you enjoy your week, everyone! Feel free to leave a comment below (good or bad, I’ll answer them all!) and share the column with your friends, family and followers. And seriously, join the Discord for good talk with good people. You can find me on there, Instagram or Twitter (all are @robbywardshow). Please hit me up with what you liked, what you hated, what you think I can change. I’m all ears! Wrestling united!

     

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