AEW

Pops & Botches: AEW Dynamite – 09.01.21

AEW Dynamite Pops & Botches Recaps & Reviews

 

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

Heya folks! We’re just four days away from All Out and boyyyy, is that card looking good! Remember last week, when Orange Cassidy busted the literal face of the Hardy Family Office? The Wingmen and Brock Anderson foolishly took matches with dudes that could literally kill them. CM Punk even stopped by to check out Dynamite, though he somehow didn’t interact with Darby Allin at all. But he said hi to AJ-pril and hinted about a wild American Dragon so that really got the crowd riled up! We are celebrating Dynamite’s 100th show and it’s the last one until the big event on Sunday so here goes nothing! Come to think of it, whatever happened to the Repo Man?

POP: Bloody Rivalry

Well holy shit. We’re starting right off with the uber-delayed grudge match between FTR and Pride & Powerful. If you’ll remember correctly, the last time the two of these teams were in the ring together, shit got real serious real quick. I hope the other three guys help protect Cash next time he decides to fuck with a SteelRingPost. Heh.

I love watching these four go against each other. Such a contrast in styles but their independent styles mesh insanely well that the matches flow so smoothly. I’m a big fan of Santana and Ortiz also and I need them in the tag title picture sooner rather than later. I don’t know if their face paint was supposed to be skulls or Phantom of the Opera but it looked fantastic! Unfortunately, as we all know, it’s not the makeup that makes up the man…or something like that. Luckily, Pride & Powerful are pretty competent in a wrestling ring and after this sick combo, they get the 1-2-3 on Cash.

This match was the best of tag team wrestling. It was fast-paced, violent, innovative and any other superlative you want to come up with. I don’t know how to get a best 11 out of 21 series between the two but let’s throw it out there and hope it sticks. I really thought FTR would go over here but I think going with Pride & Powerful was the right call. It feels like they’ve lost more than they’ve won and FTR has enough ring cred that they can afford the loss. Now feed them the Bucks!

We have another CM Punk sighting here in Chicago!:

I don’t know whose call it was to have Daniel Garcia and 2.0 interrupt Punk but man, they’re really biting off a lot, aren’t they? The key point to this whole thing was for Punk and Darby to share a ring together for a few minutes. I have to admit, it was pretty crazy to also see Sting and CM Punk in the same ring. I’m not sure why it got me, but I saw that and was like, huh. Look at that. The other key point in this segment was for the Stinger to bow out of All Out and let Punk and Darby go at it, man to man. I didn’t need this segment to get, be or stay hype for this match but now that I’ve seen Darby and CM Punk literally face to face, I can’t wait for Sunday.

BOTCH: Hit the Road, Jack

After a short interview with MJF, we cut to the ring to find Jack Evans and Matt Hardy in the ring already, waiting for Orange Cassidy. We see Matt Hardy immediately lose his cool and attack Orange Cassidy before the match even starts.

Now that he’s been sent to the back, we get a perfectly cromulent wrestling match. For the first time I recall, the match ended during the commercial break when Orange Cassidy hit the dreaded small package to get the win. This led to Matt Hardy attacking Cassidy again, which THEN led to a Hardy Family Office beatdown. Thank God the Jurassic Express was standing in gorilla so they could come out and make the save. My god, the crowd is infatuated with Jurassic Express’ theme song. That was insane.

POP: Hoss, Fight

Sometimes, you really need two large men in their tight little underwear just throwing fists at each other. That’s exactly what we get in this Powerhouse Hobbs and Brian Cage match. Shoutout to Taz on commentary for lambasting Cage for jumping Hobbs during the intro, saying it’s such a Brian Cage move. Where do you think he learned it, Taz?!?

We get a commercial break in the middle of this match but the match didn’t end during it so that was a positive. I know this was supposed to be a grudge match because of how Cage was unceremoniously beaten out of Team Taz but it didn’t have the gravitas of the tag team grudge match earlier. That being said, I really enjoyed this match. I’m still not sure what Hook does or can do but when you have hair like that and a one size too small shirt, I guess you can strut around on the outside. Oh. And seeing this move was just awesome to watch:

Unfortunately for Cage, that would be his last shining moment. Hook answers my earlier question and distracts the ref just long enough for Ricky Starks to come down and hit Cage in the face with the FTW title, leading to the three count for Powerhouse Hobbs. This was a solid hoss fight. It was exactly what it should have been. Having Starks crush Cage in the face keeps their rivalry going and lets Team Taz still have the bragging rights until Cage and Starks fight!

However, I don’t understand the point in any of this:

POP: The Damned Backfire Game

Penelope Ford and her new best friend, The Bunny, are out for Penelope’s match with Tay Conti. It’s an opportunity for a small piece of revenge for Conti after being assaulted last week by the other two. Both of these women can go, although a slight botch to Penelope early for just waiting around while Tay completed her moves. Other than that,  both girls looked strong heading into the Battle Royale. They even got a “This is awesome!” chant from the fans. Tay was able to counter a Bunny distraction and get a rollup win. Of course, the two bullies jump her after the bell. Tay Conti’s best friend is back though and she chases off Bunny and Penelope!

POP: SHUT THE DAMN DOOR!

Oh man, The Lucha Brothers and Jurassic Express (Lucha Express Party?) against The Young Bucks and Good Brothers. No! Not Gallows and Anderson again! Can someone teach Jon Moxley how to shut the door behind him when he goes through the Forbidden Door? I want to lock these guys out and throw away the key. Please!

I know I’ve said in the past that I want Jungle Boy to have a great singles run but holy cow, is he just amazing in tag team wrestling. I think it’s because you can legitimately see him being undersized. He just seems to thrive on flying around though. Is there some sort of way we can get him and Rey Fenix to team up full time? The action in a match with them as a tag team would have more action than a Michael Bay blockbuster.

Speaking of Fenix, his high-flying actually cost his team this match. He definitely can’t afford to be reckless on Sunday if they want to win inside the steel cage. Speaking of a cage:

Things go absolutely haywire from there as Kenny Omega instructs Don Callis to lower the cage. The Elite beats the ever-loving hell out of Christian and the Lucha Brothers. It’s a nice touch to keep everyone out of the cage while they demolish those three. I love Ringleader Kenny though. Telling Nick to calm down and look in his eyes before attacking Christian was also a great, subtle touch. The three-man BTE Trigger on Christian sealed his fate. I just can’t see him beating Kenny Omega on Sunday.

That card for All Out is looking awfully good! Dynamite tonight moved all of the stories forward and I am PUMPED for this Sunday. I find that even though there’s parts of this show that just don’t do it for me (looking DIRECTLY at you, Gallows and Anderson), it plays a role in the greater goals of the show. I’m always blown away at how everything seems to make sense and by the time you’re at the end, you can appreciate the little nuances of AEW that you don’t get anywhere else. That’s it for this week, you guys. Don’t miss Rampage on Friday and make sure you join the Discord (see below) on Sunday for All Out!

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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