AEW Booms and Duds: Brodie Lee and Matt Hardy debut

https://twitter.com/AEWonTNT/status/1240449555277025280

Boom: I can’t believe I actually typed “Murderhawk Monster”

While I thought the debut of Archer just jauntily making his way to some ringside seats with Jake “The Snake” Roberts was a bit inauspicious, this package seemed to hype a lot of fans for Archer’s in-ring debut.

From the standpoint of an AEW-only viewer who only knows of Archer through what they’ve seen on Dynamite, I think it would have been nice for Archer to just lay out one line for his mission statement: “I’m here to Kill The Elite.” I mean, he already intimated as much on Twitter when he signed.

Since all wrestling promotions should be trying to gain more and new viewers, a simple line might have been nice. Roberts’ ring-side interview did help, but I do want to hear from Archer soon.

Still, it did portray Archer as a ruthless, aggressive heathen who lives to fight and, well, “murder” people. He is the “Murderhawk Monster” after all. His favorite saying seems to be “Everybody dies.” Basically, he’s a sociopath-turned-wrestler (kayfabe); seems like the perfect hire for a mercenary.

I also assume that most AEW viewers are aware of Archer’s time in New Japan Pro Wrestling. I’ve said before that his showing in last year’s G1 event was a revelation for those who saw his ceiling as what he showed in WWE and Impact Wrestling. His Texas Death Match against Jon Moxley is one you should watch as well.

As with Lee, his size and style will bring a much needed diversity in size and in-ring work to AEW men’s singles roster. He also tends to inflict as much brutality as he can (again, “Muderhawk”), equipped with a devastating chokeslam and iron claw. Particularly with the claw, the look on Archer’s face makes it seem like he’s actually trying to crush his opponent’s skull.

There is one aspect in the macro to keep an eye out for with AEW. In six months of television, this is already the third hired mercenary angle. The first was the aforementioned “hiring” of The Butcher and The Blade by MJF. The second was Jericho “paying” Jeff Cobb for his one-off match with Moxley. Roberts with Archer is the third. I don’t think it would stand out as much if it was more spaced out, but three times in six months does seem a bit much.

There we have it! This is my second booms/duds piece with no duds involved, and not necessarily something I expected considering the pandemic and changes to live sporting events. This was also a great bounce-back from what I thought was an average show last week.

While I still think they should change the name of “Blood & Guts” to something a little less…topical, I’m looking forward to what AEW has in store for us next week, and how that builds towards Double or Nothing, that is, if there is a show next week.

See you (hopefully) next week!