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Dynamite (03.24.2021)
Hoo boy, what a night! Started my period (on the one hand, it's annoying and stressful to have to deal with it on top of going back to work, but on the other, I kinda like that it has synced to the start of my every other shift so my weeks off remain free of the hassle), so I plan on spending the day as whacked out on pain killers as possible while still being mostly able to get my work done! Mostly. Also it's real cold out again and my brother's still in the hospital and our COVID numbers are making me nauseous. ALSO I'M FULL OF FEELINGS ABOUT WRESTLE BOYS HAHAHA FUCK EVERYTHING
The theme this week (as it is a lot of weeks, but here it was particularly laid out) is FRIENDSHIP. And the ways it can change and evolve over time and through circumstances, for better or for worse. In this essay, I will KIDDING LOL I'M JUST GONNA LOOK AT THE CARD
Kenny Omega vs. Matt Sydal in a World Championship Eliminator Match: A solid banger to open the show, love to see it. A great showing from Sydal here, poor pawn in Kenny's bullshit mind games that he is (he absolutely picked that fight with the Sydals on Elevation as a weird proxy for doing it with the Bucks in the midst of all their mounting tensions). Also having the match be FOR a title shot instead of an actual title shot was a really easy, clever way of raising the stakes; obviously Kenny isn't losing the belt any time soon, but this meant that a Sydal win actually could have been possible, making all those near-falls a LOT more interesting (it also furthers Kenny's character development as a petty, bitchy coward unwilling to ever put his title on the line unless he has something to gain for it, like in the upcoming match with Rich).
And then we go from Kenny self-destructing and taking all of his closest relationships with him to his erstwhile tag partner who has already been through all that shit (just from a career low point as opposed to a high) and is doing a hell of a lot better now, Hangman just quietly dressing for his match in the background of the Dark Order clubhouse and smiling fondly at their shenanigans, man! MAN! And then confidently assuring Silver that his friends will have his back and be proud of him no matter the outcome of his big title match later, OH NO. Now whether he would be able to believe such a thing about himself remains to be seen, but his pure confidence in the strength of unconditional* friendship is NEW and VERY PROMISING.
*Which is not to imply that his friendship with the other members of the Elite WAS ever actually conditional, they never stopped loving him (even now!), he was just so caught up in his own self-loathing that he couldn't help** but see it that way.
**Which is ALSO not to say that the Bucks were blameless in the breakdown of their relationship, Adam was very clearly in crisis mode for a VERY long time before it got to that breaking point and they were just too distracted with their own drama*** to really notice.
***TO SAY NOTHING OF KENNY'S INVOLVEMENT, okay I'll stop
"Hangman" Adam Page vs. Cezar Bononi: A quick squash against a very large man, I'm guessing because Hangman hasn't actually fought since Revolution and he needs to hang on to that #2 ranking (though he could be close to claiming the top spot with PAC still out and more focused on tagging anyway). Good stuff, and after finding out about the awful shit he's going through in his personal life, I'm happy for Cezar being given these shots, too.
I liked Lance's promo, but it didn't do a lot to convince me he's not about to be stuck in a Team Tazesque forever feud with Sting. Get in the ring, murder man, I love you!
Britt's bit with Tony was very smartly deployed here; after the amazing, beautiful insanity of last week, I think there was a very real risk of people just... forgetting they're supposed to hate her? And she was very hateable here, really well done. She's totally gonna be the next champion.
Kaz for Christian's first proper match in years! Looking forward to it! I will pregame by watching them fight in TNA in like 2007 and laugh at Kaz's hair forever.
FTR and Shawn Spears vs. Varsity Blonds and Dante Martin: I am trying really hard to care about the Pinnacle, I'm just not quite getting there. This was a fine match! I wished they had used Varsity Blonds' music instead of Top Flight's, because it's so silly and fun, but with the post-match angle of Darius showing back up, it made sense to give the titantron to the baby. Then Dax and MJF cut promos for eight more hours and blaaaaaaaaaaah. At least they took a running start at the FTR/PnP feud I want out of this whole thing. Wardlow update: Still handsome. This is the extent of my thoughts.
TEAM TAZ IS FINE. My god, the expressions on everyone's faces in that whole segment were amazing. Like an uncomfortable family photo. The Brian Cage face turn is coming, I feel it.
QT's whole thing was... a thing. Kinda weird that they made his wife AEW canon after he spent the summer seemingly dating and getting played by Allie? My new headcanon is that his wife was into it. Could be a good match with Cody, though Arn as guest referee is the most interesting part of it to me.
Young Bucks and Brandon Cutler vs. Lucha Brothers and Laredo Kid: Hoo boy. Hoooooo boy. I KNEW IT WAS GONNA BE BAD, BUT I WAS STILL NOT PREPARED. Kenny is just in full jealous meltdown ultimatum mode, the Bucks are finally fed up with it (Nick more so I think, Matt's heart is fully breaking in two over this while Nick is just pissed the fuck off), and everyone else is left to either pick up the pieces (Brandon, caught in the crossfire) or seize upon them (the Lucha Bros getting the jump on Kenny post-match AND HOW HARD WAS IT TO SEE THE BUCKS TURN BACK, SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING, AND KEEP LEAVING, MY GOD). All of the Kenny stans acting like he was 100% right have me RAGING, he has been treating the Bucks like hot garbage for MONTHS now, they have been DESPERATELY trying to catch him in private to actually talk through their issues for WEEKS now while Kenny just keeps forcing public confrontations and humiliations on them, you can't just throw up the clip of him choosing Matt over the IWGP belt years ago and act like that means they're just supposed to stand there and take it indefinitely! That's not how friendship works! They have chosen Kenny over other people TIME and TIME again, he is SO full of shit, and yeah, it's all down to his own abandonment issues while Don just constantly Iagos away in his ear, but at some point, you have to put your foot down. Or at least put it up to superkick someone in the fucking face to teach them a lesson.
I wonder what the overlap is between people who think Kenny is blameless and those who were all YOU GET WHAT YOU FUCKING DESERVE at Matt angsting over Hangman successfully moving on from them earlier in the week. These conflicts go all the way back to Japan, to Bullet Club civil wars and Golden Lovers showdowns and rifts that were never remotely fixed, just hastily papered over while they went and started their own company, and it was only a matter of time before it all fell apart spectacularly. It's the fault of every single person involved. That's what makes this shit so compelling, damn it!
Jade promo. Feuding with Red Velvet. Could be good for both of them. Want to see where this heel faction with Nyla is (finally, hopefully) going. Maybe a Swole heel turn on the way after that weird tag team and confrontation on Dark?
Oh, and Brandi and Cody are getting their own reality show so maybe I should just give up on the Cody Have An Interesting Character Again Challenge 2021 right now, sigh. I mean, good on him for continuing to build his brand! I wish them nothing but happiness! I just don't care.
The Mox and Eddie power minute continues to be one of my favourite bits every week. The way they went from bitter blood feud to old marrieds in the span of like five minutes is just... chef's kiss. Because FRIENDSHIP. It's funny like that! So how DOES friendship work, anyway? Re-enter Dark Order.
Nyla Rose vs. Tay Conti: By coming out as a group to support the best friend of your absent member, even though she's not technically part of saidcult group. It doesn't matter! Dark Order cares! And because Anna (and -1, that kid's got such a crush) love Tay, they're ALL gonna be there for her, even when one of them has one of the biggest matches of his AEW career up next. And that's BEAUTIFUL. Match was also quite good, am very happy for Tay and fully expect her to be the last person to challenge Shida for her belt before Britt finally swoops in and takes it, and while I don't love the women being shunted back into this late ratings death slot again, the other angles for the division that the night provided made up for it in this case. KEEP MOVING FORWARD, PLEASE.
Speaking of FRIENDSHIP YES ONCE AGAIN, SOME MORE, I TOLD YOU IT'S THE THEME, Best Friends promo! The tag team currently consisting of a guy (who can rarely be bothered to do much of anything) stepping up to fill in the void left by one of his injured pals, whose whole gimmick is being tough, weird, non-toxic guys who just like each other a whole bunch. This feud with Kip and Miro (ALSO FRIENDS, though probably not for much longer) has more than run its course, but I'm hoping this nonsense arcade match will be a fun kiss-off. After the amazing parking lot brawl that ended their feud with Santana & Ortiz, there's a lot to live up to!
Scorpio is still trying out being a dick for a change. We'll see. MAIN EVENT TIME.
Darby Allin (c) vs. John Silver for the AEW TNT Championship: Okay, first a quick digression to gush about how wild a main event this is. Darby is a totally home-grown AEW star, and a year ago, Silver (with Reynolds) was a local talent jobber who lucked into joining a potentially up-and-coming heel stable. And here we are. Goddamn. Anyway.
As the Elite continue to fall apart, what Dark Order has become shines even brighter in comparison (and you are meant to compare them, Hangman is RIGHT THERE as the point of entry to both). Over here, you have one group of people, friends first and foremost, love binding them together, being slowly poisoned by the passage of time, growing ever more toxic until even that love can't keep them together. While over HERE, you have another group of people, brought together through manipulation and insecurities and depersonalization into a literal EVIL CULT, but who, over time, grew into a strange little family and who, when rocked by real-life tragedy, only banded even tighter together, going all in on supporting each other above all else, eventually coming to realize that there's more to life than spreading their influence; that it's just nice to have friends. Before, when Dark Order would all come out for a member's match, their presence at ringside was a silent threat to the other guy; now, they're all just there for Johnny, and Johnny's fighting for them. The former was there in Reynolds hopping the barricade to check on Silver after that bad bump (which I am legit worried about, I think he might have dislocated his arm) and in 5 eating Darby's suicide dive for him like he was jumping in front of a bullet. The latter was there in the Brodie shout-out near the end, and in Silver locking in the Queenslayer for Anna (and how fucking cool is it to see a man using a woman's move, one with a feminine name to boot, and having it be no big deal? just a tribute to his injured friend? I love it). Of course Hangman was right in the end. Of course they'll still be proud of Silver, no matter how the match ended. Because he knows how it feels to be in a group of people who love you while feeling like you're letting them down (while they're too distracted by their own shit to ever convince you otherwise), and that's not in the cards for these lovable weirdos, not any more.
FRIENDSHIP.
Oh, and then everyone got beat up because of fucking Matt Hardy inserting himself into everyone's shit THE END.
The theme this week (as it is a lot of weeks, but here it was particularly laid out) is FRIENDSHIP. And the ways it can change and evolve over time and through circumstances, for better or for worse. In this essay, I will KIDDING LOL I'M JUST GONNA LOOK AT THE CARD
Kenny Omega vs. Matt Sydal in a World Championship Eliminator Match: A solid banger to open the show, love to see it. A great showing from Sydal here, poor pawn in Kenny's bullshit mind games that he is (he absolutely picked that fight with the Sydals on Elevation as a weird proxy for doing it with the Bucks in the midst of all their mounting tensions). Also having the match be FOR a title shot instead of an actual title shot was a really easy, clever way of raising the stakes; obviously Kenny isn't losing the belt any time soon, but this meant that a Sydal win actually could have been possible, making all those near-falls a LOT more interesting (it also furthers Kenny's character development as a petty, bitchy coward unwilling to ever put his title on the line unless he has something to gain for it, like in the upcoming match with Rich).
And then we go from Kenny self-destructing and taking all of his closest relationships with him to his erstwhile tag partner who has already been through all that shit (just from a career low point as opposed to a high) and is doing a hell of a lot better now, Hangman just quietly dressing for his match in the background of the Dark Order clubhouse and smiling fondly at their shenanigans, man! MAN! And then confidently assuring Silver that his friends will have his back and be proud of him no matter the outcome of his big title match later, OH NO. Now whether he would be able to believe such a thing about himself remains to be seen, but his pure confidence in the strength of unconditional* friendship is NEW and VERY PROMISING.
*Which is not to imply that his friendship with the other members of the Elite WAS ever actually conditional, they never stopped loving him (even now!), he was just so caught up in his own self-loathing that he couldn't help** but see it that way.
**Which is ALSO not to say that the Bucks were blameless in the breakdown of their relationship, Adam was very clearly in crisis mode for a VERY long time before it got to that breaking point and they were just too distracted with their own drama*** to really notice.
***TO SAY NOTHING OF KENNY'S INVOLVEMENT, okay I'll stop
"Hangman" Adam Page vs. Cezar Bononi: A quick squash against a very large man, I'm guessing because Hangman hasn't actually fought since Revolution and he needs to hang on to that #2 ranking (though he could be close to claiming the top spot with PAC still out and more focused on tagging anyway). Good stuff, and after finding out about the awful shit he's going through in his personal life, I'm happy for Cezar being given these shots, too.
I liked Lance's promo, but it didn't do a lot to convince me he's not about to be stuck in a Team Tazesque forever feud with Sting. Get in the ring, murder man, I love you!
Britt's bit with Tony was very smartly deployed here; after the amazing, beautiful insanity of last week, I think there was a very real risk of people just... forgetting they're supposed to hate her? And she was very hateable here, really well done. She's totally gonna be the next champion.
Kaz for Christian's first proper match in years! Looking forward to it! I will pregame by watching them fight in TNA in like 2007 and laugh at Kaz's hair forever.
FTR and Shawn Spears vs. Varsity Blonds and Dante Martin: I am trying really hard to care about the Pinnacle, I'm just not quite getting there. This was a fine match! I wished they had used Varsity Blonds' music instead of Top Flight's, because it's so silly and fun, but with the post-match angle of Darius showing back up, it made sense to give the titantron to the baby. Then Dax and MJF cut promos for eight more hours and blaaaaaaaaaaah. At least they took a running start at the FTR/PnP feud I want out of this whole thing. Wardlow update: Still handsome. This is the extent of my thoughts.
TEAM TAZ IS FINE. My god, the expressions on everyone's faces in that whole segment were amazing. Like an uncomfortable family photo. The Brian Cage face turn is coming, I feel it.
QT's whole thing was... a thing. Kinda weird that they made his wife AEW canon after he spent the summer seemingly dating and getting played by Allie? My new headcanon is that his wife was into it. Could be a good match with Cody, though Arn as guest referee is the most interesting part of it to me.
Young Bucks and Brandon Cutler vs. Lucha Brothers and Laredo Kid: Hoo boy. Hoooooo boy. I KNEW IT WAS GONNA BE BAD, BUT I WAS STILL NOT PREPARED. Kenny is just in full jealous meltdown ultimatum mode, the Bucks are finally fed up with it (Nick more so I think, Matt's heart is fully breaking in two over this while Nick is just pissed the fuck off), and everyone else is left to either pick up the pieces (Brandon, caught in the crossfire) or seize upon them (the Lucha Bros getting the jump on Kenny post-match AND HOW HARD WAS IT TO SEE THE BUCKS TURN BACK, SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING, AND KEEP LEAVING, MY GOD). All of the Kenny stans acting like he was 100% right have me RAGING, he has been treating the Bucks like hot garbage for MONTHS now, they have been DESPERATELY trying to catch him in private to actually talk through their issues for WEEKS now while Kenny just keeps forcing public confrontations and humiliations on them, you can't just throw up the clip of him choosing Matt over the IWGP belt years ago and act like that means they're just supposed to stand there and take it indefinitely! That's not how friendship works! They have chosen Kenny over other people TIME and TIME again, he is SO full of shit, and yeah, it's all down to his own abandonment issues while Don just constantly Iagos away in his ear, but at some point, you have to put your foot down. Or at least put it up to superkick someone in the fucking face to teach them a lesson.
I wonder what the overlap is between people who think Kenny is blameless and those who were all YOU GET WHAT YOU FUCKING DESERVE at Matt angsting over Hangman successfully moving on from them earlier in the week. These conflicts go all the way back to Japan, to Bullet Club civil wars and Golden Lovers showdowns and rifts that were never remotely fixed, just hastily papered over while they went and started their own company, and it was only a matter of time before it all fell apart spectacularly. It's the fault of every single person involved. That's what makes this shit so compelling, damn it!
Jade promo. Feuding with Red Velvet. Could be good for both of them. Want to see where this heel faction with Nyla is (finally, hopefully) going. Maybe a Swole heel turn on the way after that weird tag team and confrontation on Dark?
Oh, and Brandi and Cody are getting their own reality show so maybe I should just give up on the Cody Have An Interesting Character Again Challenge 2021 right now, sigh. I mean, good on him for continuing to build his brand! I wish them nothing but happiness! I just don't care.
The Mox and Eddie power minute continues to be one of my favourite bits every week. The way they went from bitter blood feud to old marrieds in the span of like five minutes is just... chef's kiss. Because FRIENDSHIP. It's funny like that! So how DOES friendship work, anyway? Re-enter Dark Order.
Nyla Rose vs. Tay Conti: By coming out as a group to support the best friend of your absent member, even though she's not technically part of said
Speaking of FRIENDSHIP YES ONCE AGAIN, SOME MORE, I TOLD YOU IT'S THE THEME, Best Friends promo! The tag team currently consisting of a guy (who can rarely be bothered to do much of anything) stepping up to fill in the void left by one of his injured pals, whose whole gimmick is being tough, weird, non-toxic guys who just like each other a whole bunch. This feud with Kip and Miro (ALSO FRIENDS, though probably not for much longer) has more than run its course, but I'm hoping this nonsense arcade match will be a fun kiss-off. After the amazing parking lot brawl that ended their feud with Santana & Ortiz, there's a lot to live up to!
Scorpio is still trying out being a dick for a change. We'll see. MAIN EVENT TIME.
Darby Allin (c) vs. John Silver for the AEW TNT Championship: Okay, first a quick digression to gush about how wild a main event this is. Darby is a totally home-grown AEW star, and a year ago, Silver (with Reynolds) was a local talent jobber who lucked into joining a potentially up-and-coming heel stable. And here we are. Goddamn. Anyway.
As the Elite continue to fall apart, what Dark Order has become shines even brighter in comparison (and you are meant to compare them, Hangman is RIGHT THERE as the point of entry to both). Over here, you have one group of people, friends first and foremost, love binding them together, being slowly poisoned by the passage of time, growing ever more toxic until even that love can't keep them together. While over HERE, you have another group of people, brought together through manipulation and insecurities and depersonalization into a literal EVIL CULT, but who, over time, grew into a strange little family and who, when rocked by real-life tragedy, only banded even tighter together, going all in on supporting each other above all else, eventually coming to realize that there's more to life than spreading their influence; that it's just nice to have friends. Before, when Dark Order would all come out for a member's match, their presence at ringside was a silent threat to the other guy; now, they're all just there for Johnny, and Johnny's fighting for them. The former was there in Reynolds hopping the barricade to check on Silver after that bad bump (which I am legit worried about, I think he might have dislocated his arm) and in 5 eating Darby's suicide dive for him like he was jumping in front of a bullet. The latter was there in the Brodie shout-out near the end, and in Silver locking in the Queenslayer for Anna (and how fucking cool is it to see a man using a woman's move, one with a feminine name to boot, and having it be no big deal? just a tribute to his injured friend? I love it). Of course Hangman was right in the end. Of course they'll still be proud of Silver, no matter how the match ended. Because he knows how it feels to be in a group of people who love you while feeling like you're letting them down (while they're too distracted by their own shit to ever convince you otherwise), and that's not in the cards for these lovable weirdos, not any more.
FRIENDSHIP.
Oh, and then everyone got beat up because of fucking Matt Hardy inserting himself into everyone's shit THE END.