Hello and welcome back to the Wednesday Night War series! This week promised a ton of potential, but who would come out the winner? If you’re looking for the ratings post? You can find it here. Feel free to check out all the previous editions of the Wednesday Night War series via the expanding list of links below.
#1 – #2 – #3 – #4 – #5 – #6 – #7 – #8 – #9
#10 – #11 – #12 – #13 – #14 – #15 – #16
Wednesday Night War – Week #17
-AEW Dynamite-
After what looked like an enjoyable AEW Dark (I didn’t watch it.. I just heard it was good; and The Nightmare Collective got rid of Awesome Kong), could they be redeemed in the Wednesday Night War by putting an end to the downward spiral?
The Good
– When ‘Le Champion’ Chris Jericho makes his presence known on commentary, you know we’re in for some entertainment. I love it when they kick off with a match which lights up the crowd, and Moxley vs. Ortiz accomplished that. While it was a probably a little too easy for Mox, it makes sense given Ortiz is a tag team guy. And the car keys to the eye to Santana! Ouch.. but an eye for an eye, as they say.
Enjoyed how they played on the phrase later, and I got a good laugh out of Jericho hypocritically saying “who spikes someone in the eye!?”. Even Santana got the opportunity to cut a decent promo. The rivalry gelled better this week, and the fans were totally in to it. Mission accomplished guys! You got the feud back on the right track.
– ‘Freshly Squeezed’ Orange Cassidy needs his own segment each week. He’s completely stealing the show, although I have to praise SCU & Best Friends for keeping the action going. It was a surprisingly competitive match with some comedic value thrown in. And the post match antics of The Dark Order is exactly what they needed. If there’s anyone you beat up to get heat? It’s Cassidy. And they leave us wondering who this “Exalted One” is. Could it be Vince McMahon?? “It’s me Austin! It was me .. all along Austin!”. Seriously though, I bet it’s Daniels.
– Some slight overselling of the “Ten Lashes” main event, but if you’re going for it you might as well go the full hog. Back to that later.
– During the break, Britt Baker berated the fans for their bad dental hygiene; especially a large man in the front row who could pay off her student loans. She’s got some way to go on promos, but at least they’re letting her do it during breaks so she can gain experience. Also I really like Yuka Sakazaki, she reminds me of Yuna from Final Fantasy X for some reason. The match was probably the lowest point of the show, but the spot with Britt knocking out one of Yuka’s teeth was great! I couldn’t tell if it was an accident at first, til Yuka literally held her tooth to the camera and gave it away.
– While I hate the fact the Lucha Brothers aren’t in the top five tag teams (they should never be outside the top three.. they are that good!), I’m glad we’re seeing them on Dynamite. And wow, this match was PPV quality. The chemistry (or lack of) between Hangman Page & The Young Bucks added another element to what was a well-worked match. Even The Butcher and The Blade worked their butts off to keep up. The result was due to weeks of tension within The Elite, and it resulted in a hilarious segment later in the night.. where the hell did Page get that pitcher from!?
– Pac finally got his match! All it takes is to threaten little Riho to get Omega’s attention. Not sure how this will fit in-between what’s going on with Page, but surely we need Pac to get a win over Kenny after weeks of literally begging for a rematch? I say, let ‘The Bastard’ have his day.
– Darby Allin with a monster flamethrower? I’m sold. Give me more vignettes like this.
– Another low point of the show while not being considered a negative, was the encounter between Joey Janela and Kip Sabian. I guess it depends how much you care for these guys and the build, but at least it makes sense and has a story! They worked a decent match and the fans got in to it; which is all you can ask for from a mid-card rivalry.
– I think the ‘Ten Lashes’ transpired as well as it could. Honestly, when it was announced I figured it would be a gigantic flop and no one would care. But in the end, the way it was worked, especially with Wardlow getting that nasty shot in as well? I actually got invested. And that’s surprising.. because I was critical of the idea and said it was desperate of Cody’s character to accept such a stipulation. But yet, it was a memorable finish to a great show of quality wrestling, so it’s not like I can complain. Which makes a change! Dynamite has been tough to review lately.
The Bad
– The only negative thing I can say is the ‘Ten Lashes’ segment isn’t for everyone. What does whipping a man to the point he can post a picture of the marks he suffered on Twitter.. have to do with wrestling? It doesn’t really. And it’s a little silly for someone like Cody to accept MJF’s ridiculous stipulation, but it also shows he’s a leader willing to do anything. Not just to get revenge in storyline, but for the sake of entertainment.
It might not have been logical, but people will remember the time when Cody got lashed on Dynamite. Whether you enjoyed it or not is another story. And it’s definitely not something to show the kids.. the last thing you want is for them to start whipping each other with belts because they are “just wrestling”. Then again, they probably shouldn’t be doing piledrivers or Canadian Destroyer’s either.
-WWE NXT–
After a disappointing week in the ratings, could Triple H & company show some urgency by showing the world that “We.. Are.. NXT!”. Something’s been missing from the product for a while, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. They need to do something drastic if they don’t want to be left behind in the Wednesday Night War.
The Good
– Everything about The Broserweights makes me smile. Riddle’s stoney references, Dunne’s calm (yet intense) nature, and a Broserweight golf cart? I can’t put in to words how cool this team is. Also yeah bro.. try figure out Riddle’s riddle. “How much fish could Bobby Fish fry if Bobby Fish could fry fish?”. That’s the most entertaining thing ever involving Bobby Fish; and I’ll be damned if they don’t turn it in to a t-shirt!
– Some good wrestling between Angel Garza and Isaiah Scott, although it kinda’ runs together and I’m still not a fan of the Wing Clipper finisher (you just .. fall on your backside?). The post-match promo was surprising. Not because of anything Garza said, but because the crowd popped for him like a babyface. That’s a good sign for his future.
– Some amusing antics backstage by The Undisputed Era! Especially buzzing that guy’s quiff clean off.
– Makes sense to put Dominic Dijakovic over and get him to confront Keith Lee, but that’s all I can say about it.
– Ohh! So this Johnny Gargano vs. Finn Balor feud is back on? Ok. It was amusing when Gargano took the piss out of Balor for losing to Bobby Lashley a million times on Raw. Balor’s intensity is welcome, as is his dig at 5-star matches.
– Solid way to set up the main event, with The Broserweights coming out to the ring to help Tommaso Ciampa. The rare William Regal cameo was nice.
– Jordan Devlin and Tyler Breeze prove how great they are as workers with their long, non-title match. Of course, anything other than Devlin winning would’ve been a travesty.
– It’s funny when Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley show more character than Charlotte Flair. Also the ‘We Are NXT’ line was awesome, it reminded me of how NXT used to be. Belair was hilariously overselling this segment.
– In typical fashion, we got a decent six-man tag match main event, with all involved doing what they do best. And Velveteen Dream returns!
The Bad
– Ok, so The Undisputed Era continue the trend of being so weak they can’t take out a small guy like Ciampa by themselves? And even when they’re 4-on-3 they still can’t dominate? Also, they can’t win the main event despite being a unit against a randomly thrown together team? I’m tired of Adam Cole too, he’s done nothing for me in months outside his singles matches.
– Don’t treat Kushida like that! They’ve got billions of jobbers back there.. don’t do that to him. He’s one of the biggest exports from New Japan ever, yet he’s become a joke.
– What the hell!? Why have Killian Dain lose so easily to Dijakovic? If anything, Dain, Priest and Dijakovic should be so even their matches last well over twenty minutes. Why relegate Priest and Dain for no reason? After showing potential the past couple of months. It wasn’t needed because anyone who watched NXT last year.. knows how much of a threat Dijakovic is when he faces Keith Lee.
– Hardly any (believable) heat between Gargano and Balor. I can’t remember what happened to start this feud, and Worlds Collide hurt the build a ton. Still doesn’t feel like a good fit to me, but I’m hoping they can prove me wrong eventually.
– While I do love a competitive match, Jordan Devlin desperately needed to show how strong he is by quickly putting away Tyler Breeze. Who has Tyler beat lately to deserve such a close contest with the newly crowned Cruiserweight Champion? Nobody.. he never wins! Yeah yeah, we got some great action, there’s no doubting that. But the one thing you need to do with a brand new champion is make him look strong, and Devlin struggling to put Breeze away does not accomplish this goal.
– There’s far too much telegraphing going on with the Ripley/Flair/Belair dynamic. Basically, the Belair vs. Ripley match is a formality and we know the result because Charlotte came to NXT to confront Ripley; while ignoring Belair. This is why Bianca could do nothing but oversell like a HBK/Hogan match. She’s just there.. playing the spare tire nobody wants. It almost undoes everything she accomplished at the Royal Rumble. The only way they can save this mess.. is if there’s some kind of Dusty Finish at TakeOver and the title needs to be vacated; so the match can become a triple threat between them.
– Some may strongly disagree because they wanted Velveteen Dream’s return, but I have a major gripe. Why? Because it was hot-shot booking. What I mean by this, is that WWE knew AEW was doing the ten lashes segment and needed to end the show on a high note. Because they had nothing interesting to close with.. they brought back Velveteen Dream for the sake of it.
Why didn’t they bring him back at the Royal Rumble? Or at the next TakeOver? Why wait til this episode specifically? And how does this help Ciampa in his feud against The Undisputed Era? Does this mean Velveteen’s going to worm his way in to the NXT Championship match? Because he sure ain’t interested in a match with Roderick Strong. It makes sense if Tommaso Ciampa is injured like rumors suggest.. but if he’s not? Then it was underwhelming and not the best timing to bring back one of NXT’s most beloved characters.
Conclusion
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Dynamite completely nailed it this week. The pendulum has tipped the other way, as it seems NXT has lost some of its focus. Looking at the ratings, it seems fans are tuning out of WWE’s third brand to watch the rising star of AEW. Honestly, the only thing AEW needs to do, is keep producing shows like this. NXT will struggle to have an answer without bringing over Raw/SmackDown talents.
After several weeks of average shows, Dynamite finally figured it out. The show clicked to the point I can’t say anything overly negative. And what’s funny? Is that some of what we enjoyed are products of things we previously criticized. Sometimes, when something is allowed to grow.. it becomes a flower. And Dynamite is beginning to bloom as we head towards Spring, while the once beautiful petals of NXT are wilting. Consistency has kept NXT afloat, but sometimes you need to take a risk by hitting the reset button. NXT is in danger of being too consistent, too predictable, to the point it becomes a shadow of what it was.
Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not saying this week’s episode was bad! But the rating is very shocking. There’s only so many ‘good’ NXT shows you can see before it becomes pedestrian. The talent aren’t to blame either! It’s purely down to booking, which isn’t as great as it used to be. Wow. For the first time in months, I can finally say AEW has tied things up. My personal score is 6-6-5, which shows how much I have enjoyed this back-and-forth. It’s never a given who will win, and some weeks are harder to decide than others. For a while it looked like NXT could run away with the Wednesday Night War.. but Dynamite has fought back hard and renewed my motivation for this. As always, I thank you very much for reading! And hope to see you again next week.
Wednesday Night War – WWE NXT vs AEW Dynamite
