Biased Thoughts: AEW Dynamite #171
2 Hours. +9k Tickets Sold. January 11th 2023
Hangman Page vs Jon Moxley (****1/4) Stiff match between two of the top heroes in AEW, this was great and a perfect way to continue this feud and Hangman winning clean makes so much sense, hopefully we get some singles and tag matches between Hangman, Top Flight and the Blackpool Combat Club. Great.
Adam Cole is back BAY BAY, tremendous promo that I think turned him babyface and that´s great to see.
Big Bill & Lee Moriarty vs Jack Perry & Hook (***1/4) What a fun match that served his purpose while keeping things for later, give me that Big Bill vs Hook singles match please.
Bryan Danielson vs Konosuke Takeshita (****1/2) Before we talk about this AMAZING match we have to talk about the MJF promo, I have been a huge fan of MJF and I was kind of sad when he had that fallout with AEW during DoN and I was so happy when I saw him back in my TV after All Out but his work as the World Champion an to get heat in every possible way have lead to very weak stuff been the only real good ones his promos vs Starks where he build his promos in a way Starks always got the upperhand. The first promo vs Bryan was fine but this one yeah, it soured me a lot and maybe because I´m a HUGE fan of Takeshita and he approved the things that MJF said to him I shouldn´t be this mad but at this point they shouldn´t be using this kind of “jokes” to get cheap heat when we have seen MJF use much better material in other feuds. Maybe I´m a hypocrite that didn´t see that level of bad on his promos vs Brian Pillman Jr in 2021 were in hindsight, the issue here is that even if it was to make a joke out of Disco Inferno for his twitt I think it was just a waste of time.
And even thinking that all was well founded it didn´t worked at all, Takeshita was mocked and even if he answered MJF with the “I said kiss my ass” he still looked like a geek because they didn´t let him punch him and the most important part there is no a follow up because it doesn´t make kayfabe sense to book Takeshita vs MJF because he just lost vs Danielson and MJF is making Danielson run through hoops for months until Revolution to get a Championship match so this was a miss. But Diego, did this shitty promo buried Takeshita to the point nobody will take him seriously? No, ABSOLUTELY NOT. Bryan vs Takeshita is one of the best Dynamite matches of all time, tremendous stiff sequences with two generational talents going at it that added more credibility to Takeshita and Danielson and in kayfabe proofed that Takeshita is a bad ass that took Bryan to the limit, someone that MJF is cowardly running from.
Jamie Hayter & Britt Baker vs Saraya & Toni Storm (**3/4) This match was really good when Toni and Jamie where on the ring but this one really got hit by a not appearence of Mercedes that was teased and I bite the bait but at the end nothing happened. Fine match.
The Elite vs Triángulo de la Muerte in the Final match of the Best of 7 Series in a Escalera de la Muerte match (****1/2) Great final of the best of 7 series that deliver the goods with insane bumps, great sequences and even some comedic spots. Basically all the things we ask were delivered.
Rating of the show: 9/10
Extra Notes:
- Tremendous show, just the MJF promo and the pointless Starks vs Jericho segment were the only real negative, outside of that is tremendous TV wrestling.
- MJF needs to go back to the level he had in the Punk feud and his confrontations with Regal because this cheap shit is not good.
- Great to see Adam Cole back and a tremendous promo.
- Just stop the bullshit and book Hayter vs Storm 2 with a stip.
