AEW Booms and Duds: WTF was Jake Roberts doing?!

Without the hook of TNT Championship Tournament matches, AEW advertised a number of top stars for the show. With AEW also returning to a live show last night, were they able to keep the momentum going strong as we head towards Double or Nothing?

With states like Florida reopening during this pandemic, AEW decided to hold a live show last night at Daily’s Place (their veritable home base) as restrictions were loosened by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The most concerning is his allowance of businesses operating at 25 percent capacity. Many have questioned whether this means WWE and AEW will seek to fill 25 percent of the stands with fans. While there weren’t enough fans/wrestlers to fill 25 percent of the stands last night, we did see during the entrance of a certain World Champion that there were people in the stands. 

Then again, 25 percent capacity doesn’t just mean customer occupancy; it also means the number of employees present.

(This is amid reports that the deaths from coronavirus “soared” in the state and Palm Beach County, specifically.)

AEW, smartly letting WWE take the negative public relations hit first, announced they would also return to airing live, starting with last night’s show. There is an expectation that AEW will tape an episode, leading to a staggered schedule of a live show last night and a taped show next week.

Let’s see if that pattern holds true.

However, at least we know AEW is taking as many precautions as possible (aside from, you know, cancelling shows). They worked with local chapter 115 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) to test every stagehand, crew member, venue staff, and talent. They also had other safety measures in place.

Heading into last night’s episode of Dynamite, AEW advertised the presence of many top stars, including AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, Cody, Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, Matt Hardy, and Lance Archer. They also hyped the first singles match in AEW for SCU member Frankie Kazarian (against Moxley).

Was the presence of these wrestlers enough to garner interest lost with no matches in the TNT Championship Tournament?

(Ratings and viewership for both Wednesday shows, as well as wrestling in general, has suffered during this pandemic.)

As a reminder of my criteria, I’m not going to run through each match/segment. Rather, I will identify a couple of segments that either worked (“boom”) or didn’t for whatever reason (“dud”).

My criteria includes quality of match/segment and how it starts and/or builds stories. After all, we watch partly to be caught up in the stories. If a great work-rate match happens with no context or bearing on the stories, it’s going to be a miss.

Also, just because something is a hit/miss doesn’t mean it was an overwhelming choice. The selection could be 51 percent hit, 75 percent miss, and so on.

There are other subtleties to my criteria, but those are pretty much the parameters.

To begin, let’s analyze the main event segment.

Boom: a unique street fight with some shenanigans

Dud: consecutive weeks of tag street fights, and maybe the shenanigans were too cute

I was concerned this match between Le Sex Gods and Omega/Hardy would be a bit redundant after the street fight between Best Friends and the team of Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc last week. Well, AEW found a way to make it completely different from last week.

Whereas the previous match took place entirely at ringside, last night’s match shifted from ringside to the concourse and backstage area of Daily’s Place. That alone helped keep me interested as it didn’t seem like a repeat.

Still, it may have been a bit just a bit too much.

We knew there was going to be at least one spot each where Omega and Sammy Guevara perform a fearless stunt. The most memorable moments for each would be when Omega moonsaulted off of a lift onto the other three competitors (though they stood around waiting too long for Omega).

For Guevara, it’s the video above where he skillfully makes it appear his head is struck by the windshield of the golf cart as his body whips around after. Guevara, as I’ve said before, is superb at taking bumps.

Were these spots necessary though? Considering the other two competitors, Jericho and Hardy, are in their 40s, it was probably on the younger two wrestlers to bring the energy and high spots to the match.

It also didn’t help that “Broken” Matt, who started the match in black and blue gear, emerged from an ice cooler as “Damascus” and wearing the red robe more akin to his gear as “Woken” Matt in WWE. For those already on the fence or against the “Broken” universe, this just adds more fuel to their arguments.

Further, did you see how much trouble Damascus had in starting the golf cart? For a being that’s lived thousands of years, you would think he would have the knowledge to start the ignition.

The involvement of the other Inner Circle members was predictable, but these types of matches always make me wonder why they didn’t just come out to help beat up the opposition from the beginning.

It was a nice shot at the end seeing Inner Circle stand tall with the video board in the stadium behind them (in the distance) lit up with their logo.

I understand needing some tricks when Jericho and (especially) the “Broken” Matt character are involved, but it seemed a little too cute, a little too forced in their attempt to go viral.

With Omega and Hardy teaming together next week, I wonder if we will have more of a traditional tag match or if we’ll also have some escapades during the match.

Boom: Nyla Rose continues to impress, and a definitive path forward for the women’s division

First, this was another great video produced by AEW. These types of videos should have aired six months ago, but maybe they needed to find their footing first to produce these stellar videos.

With the return of the Women’s Champion, Nyla Rose, to AEW last night, we were all reminded of the budding star that is “The Native Beast.” She toyed with her opponent like a bored predator does to its prey, eventually decimating her with a senton from the top rope, not one but two vicious powerbombs, and a Beast Bomb that would make Batista exuberant.

During the match as she toyed with her opponent, she would look into the camera and remind fans that this is HER division, only reinforcing her beautiful line of being a “one-time champion because nobody out there can stack up to me.”

I would rather have one extended reign than 10 reigns of one month each, similar to what some wrestlers in WWE experience, so I wholeheartedly nodded in approval when I first heard Rose speak those words.

It’s difficult to see just who can “stack up” to her, but that was another beauty of the video: it set up distinct matches/feuds for the Champion.

Will it be Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., who has seen quite the rise as a heel the past four months, particularly during the no crowd/limited crowd shows of the past two months? Rose is a heel, but even against pure babyface champion Riho received a lot of cheers when she became champion, so a bonafide heel in Baker could prove a wonderful foil for Rose.

I also give props to AEW for not avoiding face/face and heel/heel matches. They work given a good story. I could see a great story developing between those two.

There’s also one of my favorites (and seemingly, a lot of AEW fans) in Hikaru Shida. One of the more experienced and talented wrestlers on the roster, I’m sure she and Rose would have one of the better matches on whatever card they’re scheduled. Shida is also a wrestler booked as a serious threat to anyone (they’re going to replay her breaking Baker’s nose for years), so her winning the title with all of her fan support would not be a shock.

The last wrestler mentioned in the video took me by surprise as I was expecting to see Big Swole, Shanna, or Kris Statlander (the latter two having histories with Rose). Instead, we see Penelope Ford, who I’ve said has “breakout” written all over her.

Ford may also be able to really show her mettle against someone like Rose who can take just enough punishment from the quickness and athleticism of Ford only to respond with her own athleticism and strength to ground the speedy Ford.

I’m glad Rose is back and that we have identifiable challengers for her championship. I’m intrigued to see who is the first challenger out of the three for Rose and hope to see the beginning of a feud next week.

If I had to bet, I would say Shida since I think Baker falls into the category of “doesn’t need the title” as a heel. Further, unlike Ford who is booked as a heel, Shida as a pure face would definitely garner the support of fans.

https://twitter.com/AEWonTNT/status/1258202881267601409

Boom: the interplay between Brodie Lee and Moxley

Dud: this is starting to resemble TNA a little too much

Brodie Lee’s first few weeks confused me as he was more Vince McMahon parody than serious leader of (creepy) men. The switch was made with the vignette showing him driving up and talking to a few Creepers, rewarding one for dressing nicely with a special assignment (that I don’t think we’ve seen any callback).

Since then, he has been portrayed both in and out of the ring as methodical and sadistic, but also charismatic enough to garner a group of 10 or so people to follow his every word. We’ve seen Lee utterly destroy opponents in the ring with his dynamic discus lariat and recently, a sit-down powerbomb.

The big question was what would be next for Dark Order and “The Exalted One” Lee?

Now we know: Lee will challenge Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing.

After Moxley defeated Frankie Kazarian in a non-title match (and Kaz’s first singles match in AEW), he was attacked by the members of Dark Order (sans Evil Uno and Stu Grayson), including the recently rechristened Preston Vance as “10.” Lee made his entrance from the tunnel wearing a snazzy suit and tie and proceeded to waylay Moxley with his discus lariat.

He grabbed a mic and told Moxley, “You have come into possession of something I want, something I need, something I desire.” He then picked up the AEW World Championship and challenged Moxley, shouting at a downed Moxley to answer.

Moxley responded in unison with my words as I was watching: “All you had to do was ask.” I expected it because that’s what this Moxley character would say, and the little grin he added to his words only reinforced that he doesn’t give a flying fart (shout out to Trace Johnson’s mom) about being jumped or the actions of Lee; rather, it’s like he’s AEW’s Fit Finlay in that his name is Moxley and he loves to fight.

They beat him down more, and Lee left with the championship; possession is nine-tenths of the law, right?

It should be a good match, and with two weeks for promos between Moxley and Lee, I think there is just enough time to garner the fan interest necessary for a World Championship main event match.

There was an added benefit to the angle: by having Dark Order attack SCU, it continues the story between the two groups that was put on hold due to the pandemic. With the testing measures in place last night, it seems more talent were comfortable in returning, including SCU.

When Lee made his entrance in that spiffy suit, he also struck Christopher Daniels in the face with a steel chair. The Creepers took out Scorpio Sky, who also tried to make the save.

I’m guessing this will lead to a tag rematch between Uno and Grayson, probably destined for another pre-show. It should still be a fairly fun match.

Now here’s where I’m starting to get a little worried: we have yet another formerly WWE-affiliated wrestler in a World Championship match. Sounds a little 2006-2011 TNAish, no?

Even though Jericho fits this category, he was also enough removed from WWE through his work in New Japan that it didn’t seem so…questionable when he was made the initial champion. In hindsight, it was the right call considering it took months for Adam “Hangman” Page to connect with the audience.

Further, Jericho’s list of matches as champion include the likes of Sky, Darby Allin, and Jungle Boy, wrestlers with no affiliation to WWE, elevating their profiles. He had a similar effect on members of Inner Circle by teaming with them in matches (I wrote about his impact here). He also defeated Cody at Full Gear before eventually losing the title to Moxley.

Moxley has only had three matches since winning the championship (one on Dark), with one being a title defense against Jake Hager a few weeks ago and his match against Kazarian last night. Hager, like Moxley, has ties to WWE. People may also forget the brief stint Kazarian had in WWE in 2005.

It just seems so odd for a company that wants to market itself as anti-WWE to continually place former WWE wrestlers in such prominent positions.

Yes, I understand the three wrestlers ranked ahead of Lee are somewhat occupied and away from the World Championship picture. Cody (1) and Archer (2) face each other for the inaugural TNT Championship at Double or Nothing, and Omega (3) is locked into a tag team feud with Hardy against Le Sex Gods (and Inner Circle writ large). That makes Lee (4) the highest-ranked wrestler not already engaged in a story.

If Moxley retains, then hopefully we can move onto a new feud with a wrestler with no association to WWE. What about a rekindling of the feud with Darby Allin if Allin garners a few victories on the next couple of episodes? A rematch with Omega would also be wonderful, particularly if it’s a traditional one-on-one match as opposed to their ridiculous lights out match (which AEW was fined 10 thousand dollars).

However, if Lee wins the title, we’re probably getting a rematch between the two, further clogging up the World Championship picture between two former WWE wrestlers.

I just hope Moxley vs. Hager and Moxley vs. Lee doesn’t represent a larger pattern that doomed TNA from ever being serious competition (aside from their terrible name).

Dud: Jake Roberts’ antics taking away from another impressive performance by Archer

Look, I know: what Roberts did last night is straight out of his playbook from the 80s.

That’s the issue. Just because something worked in the 80s doesn’t mean it’s going to or should work 30-40 years later.

I’ve been saying all wrestling shows should be canceled, but since they’ve been running, I appreciated how AEW was able to utilize video segments from Roberts to keep his presence on the show. This means he didn’t really need to be present at Daily’s Place last night.

At least he wore a mask…that he lowered below his mouth shortly into the match.

He had the mask on when he brought the all-too-familiar sight of a snake into the ring. He, unfortunately, lowered the mask again as he was preparing to place the snake (and himself) on top of Brandi Rhodes.

(Rhodes was knocked out after being attacked and laid out with a DDT on the outside of the ring by Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., who was sitting ringside as part of the audience.)

We knew he was going to place the snake on Rhodes; the whole point of his snake was to gain a psychological edge over his opponents as the snake is long considered a terrifying creature.

Through his client, Archer, Roberts’ “opponent” is Cody, and great heels tend to target those around their objective as a means of gaining the upper hand.

This plays partly into the imagery I think AEW was trying to convey: the snake in the Garden of Eden, with The Rhodes’ playing Adam and Eve.

It came off more like an old man getting some excitement at the expense of an incapacitated woman. This gave me the proverbial heebie-jeebies.

We all should be more aware and conscious of what sexual harassment, assault, and rape look like and function after the events of the previous decade. An elderly man straddling an unconscious woman and gripping a snake like a phallus while it’s slithering on top of her was just unnecessary.

Beyond that, there are also the racial overtones of an old White man on top of a young Black woman. That’s for another article.

(Commentary also explained why there was no save: the locker rooms at Daily’s Place are spread all over and pretty far from the ringside area.)

The ending antics from Roberts helped erase what was another great performance for Archer. While QT Marshall has never really been built as someone to take seriously (even commentary mentioned how much they rib him for being a front office member), his lower third mentioned he had won three of his past four of five matches.

Marshall may have lasted as long or longer than Colt Cabana in his match with Archer, but seemed to do less with that time. Having to work through a commercial break, Archer basically took his time dismantling Marshall.

If they would have ended the segment with Archer’s victory, cool. It would have been great if Roberts would have just placed the snake on Rhodes rather than straddle her as well. While I’ve enjoyed Roberts’ contributions to AEW, last night left me scratching my head and wondering if Vince McMahon somehow had influence in that segment.

With two shows left before Double or Nothing, how will the rest of the card be filled by events on the next two episodes of Dynamite? Next week is also advertised as a stacked show, so at least we know AEW is working to build anticipation and excitement for their second quarterly PPV of the year.

Until then, please stay safe and healthy, readers!