The logistics are still (quite very understandably) having some growing pains for AEW.
The Liacouras Center of Temple University fame is fantastic arena but not an ideal venue. Great sightlines and acoustics gave a sell-out crowd of roughly 10,000 screaming Elitamaniacs (brother!) one hell of a night of wrestling. The parking and traffic for that time of day and section of Philadelphia made it difficult to get to the arena and in your seats on time for the opening bell. I don’t know if it showed on TV but there were still plenty coming into the build at 8:30-8:45PM. That aside, there was a lot to take in on this show that had a lot of people talking in wrestling journalism and social media.
SCU vs Best Friends was part of the wild affair that the AEW inaugural Tag Team Championship tournament is shaping up to be (e.g. The Young Bucks lost to Private Party in the opening bracket and now). When Daniels & Kazarian, the Red Hot Chili Peppers of pro wrestling, come out for their match, The Lucha Bros strike, causing Daniels to be injured and replaced by an unready Scorpio Sky. By the time the bell rings, he’s only got one shoe on but puts on an absolute clinic out there, gaining a ton of respect fro the fans in attendance as they chant “He’s! Got! No Shoes!” when the one comes off during a tope con helo.
Santana & Ortiz do the jobber squash match thing (on John Silver and Alex Reynolds) ending with The Street Sweeper (a tandem move I imagined as kid but dismissed as being impossible!) Jericho gets on the Jumbotron afterwards and challenges The Young Bucks to face The Inner Circles thug representatives at Full Gear to an excited pop.
The Cody/Full Gear package was well done and helped hype the PPV. More importantly, it was done at the perfect time to cool down the crowd. One of the things that I noticed about AEW that night was how well it’s paced and planned. With butts in seats from 8-11PM and there were no “bathroom breaks” of note. There was no checking of the watch to make sure “it’s about time for _____ segment to come on.” Everything had a purpose and a placement. I don’t know if it’s all Dustin, Dean, Arn, and Cody or whether there’s some teleconferencing with some booking legends down in Florida but these shows have flowed very well. Also, it was fun to see signs in the crowd but not a beach ball in sight.
Riho defending her title against Dr. Britt Baker was a mixed bag. AEW’s women’s division has been pointed to as a weak point and it is what is; no more, no less. The tiny Riho did a lot of the heavy lifting with the licensed dentist being a little flat-footed out there. That said, both women went all out selling for each other and the near falls got strong crowd reactions throughout. These folks came to see wrestling and understood their part in the show. Riho being a gutsy little fighter that hit a rollup pin out of a counter keeps her as sympathetic champ.
Private Party made their way to the front rows to watch Jurassic Express vs The Lucha Bros and that level of intimacy was not lost on the fans. These guys were made into stars last week and, now, it’s time to let them shine.
Kayfabe or legit, Luchasaurus’ hamstring injury [Editor’s Note: It’s a confirmed injury] changed the complexion of the match and, for some, the night, and even their perception of AEW. Pentagon got on the mic and expressed his confusion. What is going to happen here without Luchasaurus … unless … no. Yes. Pentagon, the scourge of Lucha Underground, and the otherworldly Rey Fenix were going to compete against Jungle Boy … and Marko Stunt. All of a sudden, Nyla Rose was not the most controversial figure in the company.
Since Wednesday night, people have been debating whether Marko and any partner but Luchasaurus (or possibly Awesome Kong) should have been allowed to have a competitive match with The Lucha Bros. But I will tell you this: The live crowd was loving it. From Pentagon treating Marko like a child in the pre-match promo segments (“Babysaurus,” indeed) to the other three men using him as a human football to the hot tag for Jungle Boy. I’m a bit of a wrestling cynic. I read from the Book of Kevin Nash often. The biggest issue I had with Kofi Kingston getting squashed by Brock Lesnar in less time than it take to earn points at the rodeo was that Kofi going over Randy Orton was a huge waste of Randy’s mystique. But, outside of Marko playing Ricky Morton a bit too long and even kicking out of the pump handle driver, I was loving this bit. You want real heat? Have a guy that looks like cell block Skeletor beat on a guy with a growth hormone deficiency so bad that it reminds you of a very special episode of Law & Order: SVU. They made the little guy a big deal that night.
PAC. Jon Moxley. Kenny Omega. “Hangman” Adam Page. Four big stars anywhere but Stamford. Adam Page’s music and graphics fit his ring persona: a modern-day gunslinger who rides in, cleans up the town and is into the sunset. Dusty was huge fan of Westerns and I can only imagine that Cody is thinking of this while turning Page into their “Sting.” It got confusing towards the finish as Kenny was the first to grab a barbed wire broom and then, when Moxley grabbed a bat, PAC stopped his own partner to a cacophony of boos. Who’s the heel, here? Kenny grabbed a weapon. Moxley started the fight in the first place. The heat was on PAC. Huge pop when Mox turned on his partner with a Death Rider and left him lying in the ring to be put away by Page and Omega.
The Dynamite main event was exactly what it needed to be to get the crowd going and to showcase Darby Allin. To be honest, I kept more of my focus on Jericho in his “Painmaker” regalia. One of those things that only comes from experience is keeping track of the cameras and sightlines and good ol’ Y2J made sure to improv something towards each side of the ring, even taking time out to scoot on Darby’s skateboard while the young upstart was writhing on the ground.
Though he is overlooked for being ridiculously smooth (like Bruce Lee “Be like water, my friend,” type of fluid,) Darby is a death match guy and they went about as far as a fledging show should without testing a TV-14 rating. He was getting battered around and stretched out in a way that, at times, it looked like a teenager that picked a fight with his drunken stepdad at a Halloween party. When the duct tape came out and Darby still showed no quit, it was like “Okay. This is who he is. This is the Mick Foley we haven’t been able to see on TV since.” Jake Hager’s interference brought the heat but, when the rest of The Inner Circle showed up with “a little bit of the bubbly” it popped and should absolutely be a regular thing.
When watching on TV, I liked how Dynamite reminded me of the old WCW Monday Nitro. The lighting. The black-and-gray ring. Old school guard rails. If it didn’t have Tony Schiavone’s voice to go with it, I’d have imagined it just the same. But watching it live was like a scaled-up version of the Ring of Honor crowds from 10 years ago. It seemed like nobody was there because their kid asked for it for their birthday. Not a lot of faces pointed down at their phones. They loved the product but, more so, they loved the talent and made it their mission to let them (and the cameras) know it. I expected a lot of “AEW fans” but what I saw was wrestling fans and wrestling fans that went home happy.
***SPOILERS FOR AEW DARK***
One of the more interesting aspects of AEW shows is that the “dark” matches not only get televised at a later date and time but they’re recorded after the main show. This is pretty smart as:
1.) It allows them to send the crowds home with something just for them
and
2.) Gives them ample opportunity to turn around the night if a main event or ending segment goes south.
One of the more talked about aspects of “start up” AEW is whether The Librarians are getting over. From being in live attendance, I’ll say that it works. Corny? Yup. But, throughout the years there have been characters like: The Genius, Damien Sandow, and even Disco Inferno or the original ECW’s FBI who are there to make you want to see them beat. This was not Roddy Piper or The Miz making an audience hang on every word, but more like “This Lionheart guy seems like a good kid. I really want him to at least be able to beat THIS loser.” And that’s where The Librarians come in. “Shhh!” a crowd that boos and they’ll boo louder. “Shhh!” a crowd that cheers and they’ll eventually boo. This helped in Leva Bates gets crushed by Nyla Rose despite some shenanigans and decent physical comedy by Peter Avalon. I will note that Nyla got a polite but placid reception live. I think that, in practice, she’ll be getting her cheers and boos off of character and competency alone and I don’t think anyone can have a problem with that.
The Philadelphia crowd had been pandered to a bit throughout the night. It’s a town known for tough crowds and rabid (and occasionally elitist) wrestling fans. But the second “dark” match was like getting something off a secret menu that any audience would go for: Private Party and The Strong Hearts vs The Young Bucks and The Rhodes Brothers (w/ Brandi and MJF, of course.) The Strong Hearts come out and are confused that they have to wait for Private Party to come out so the velvet rope can be lowered. It’s one prop and a security guard but it makes the whole gimmick and lets the crowd know what they’re in for. Cody comes out first. Dustin, being announced as “The Natural” once again is next. And the confetti cannons filled with “young bucks” go off last.
I’ve often been critical of The Young Bucks for the whole “spot monkey” thing. Watched them tear it down for forty minutes with The Briscoes years ago. Loved every minute and never felt the need to see them since but they’ve seemed to evolve (?) for this new AEW era. Their matches tell stories now. They sold the effects of the moves and the match itself during their loss to Private Party. “Young Buck fans” still love them but wrestling fans are going to, as well.
This match was a “thank you” to the live crowd with everyone getting in their usual spots (except maybe Cody) and tons of comedy both in and out of the ring with the competitors and with MJF. After it was over, Cody addressed the crowd to thank them for their support and to express his gratitude that he gets to do what he loves every night with his friends, his brother, and his wife.
It was a promo from the man, not the wrestler. After bringing a nine-year-old Orange Cassidy cosplayer into the ring (and doing the J-O-B for the little fella much to MJF’s chagrin) Cody stuck around to get selfies with damn near every person who mobbed the guardrails as the ring was being taken down. I don’t know if AEW is the best run company or if it’s the best product on the market but AEW and its executive vice resident sure seem the most eager to gain your loyalty right now.
