Hi folks! The 9th week of the Wednesday Night War has landed. This week sees the fallout from WWE Survivor Series, along with AEW Dynamite building towards their first Bash At The Beach events. I’m sure we’re eagerly awaiting the numbers for the TV ratings, to see if NXT can get another victory over their competitors without the use of Raw/SD crossovers.
Wednesday Night War – Week #9
AEW Dynamite
After losing out in the ratings for the first time last week, can Cody, Le Champion and company right the wrong by getting back to winning ways?
The Good
- The whole “Celebrashon” was classic Jericho doing what he does best. Way more entertaining than most the NXT roster celebrating something they weren’t apart of. Also his Dad & Sammy Guevara are pure heat magnets and I love it. The fact we can actually buy “A Little Bit Of The Bubbly”.. is icing on the cake.
- I feel like The Lucha Brothers are super popular, but AEW don’t want to pull the trigger on ’em too soon. In saying that, at least we got more Orange Cassidy antics as he flew through the air like only a turkey can.
- Not sure what the point was of Emi Sakura and Bea Priestley winning was, but at least we got to witness Kris Statlander in action; she’s definitely a future star.
- Odd way to debut them, but I do like the look of The Blade & The Butcher (w/ heel Allie, the best kind). Impact Wrestling fans will remember The Blade as Brandon Cutler, the boyfriend of Allie after dumping Laurel Van Ness at their wedding. The Butcher is Andy Williams, known as the rhythm guitarist of Every Time I Die.
- Pac vs. Kenny Omega could main event any show in the world, so naturally they did the job of getting Kenny back on the right track. Pac’s had a few losses now, so he needs to pick up some victories so he’s not relegated to mid-carder status.
- I really enjoyed Hangman Page’s intensity in this match; I’ve never seen him take it to someone so bad. Further developing the dynamic of MJF and Wardlow by injecting some DDP is a smart idea, although we really wanna’ see DDP take one of these guys out now.
- The more Dark Order promos there are, the more I want to join them. Someone get me an application form! Oh wait.. I already joined last week.
- There was a point in the main event where some of us may have thought Scorpio Sky would become AEW World Champion. That’s how good AEW is, they like to make everyone look like a possible threat. Speaking of which, we’re finally getting Mox vs. Jericho in AEW.
The Bad
- So let me get this straight, they said Chris Jericho vs. Scorpio Sky would be one-on-one? No interference allowed? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m sure the announcers told us this. Even with that added stipulation, Jake Hager and SCU went out there anyways. C’mon guys, let us have a main event without any interference for a change.
- What’s the point in having #1 contenders if they are just gonna’ get beat by #5 contenders a week later? That was the trend of this episode, you don’t want to be in the dreaded #1 spot.
- Who the hell was that AEW fleet guy on commentary? Sounded like a random fan they pulled off the street, and he added nothing to the mix. Looking forward to hearing Tony again.
WWE NXT
With a massive win at Survivor Series, along with the ratings victory from last week, can the NXT talent produce a show with enough quality to prove they are the best in the world?
The Good
- Anything involving The Undisputed Era, Keith Lee and Dominick Dijakovic is automatically great. Crazy that they just slotted Roderick Strong in there mid-match due to Bobby Fish’s injury; I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. Keith Lee’s pounce on Adam Cole in to the crowd was another amazing moment; even if those he landed on were clearly plants.
- Finally turning Dakota Kai heel so she doesn’t go the way of Bayley, by being too nice to the point of becoming stale.
- Lio Rush has been killing it lately, and having watched all of 205 Live’s episodes, Tozawa giving him a good match is not surprising.
- Finn Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa could be a PPV match anywhere. Having Balor win throws the #1 contender spot in to the air. I bet it will end up as a triple threat with Cole facing Balor & Ciampa.
The Bad
- Mansoor vs. Shane Thorne, and Xia Li vs. Vanessa Borne were house show matches which I struggled to get into.
- How many times do they need to tease Baszler vs. Ripley for the title? Get it done already. They were already building to it long before WarGames hit.
The Winner
Neither of these shows got close to what they accomplished the week before. And on first glance, as I talked about who the winner was with someone else, we both agreed they were pretty mediocre and probably deserved to draw. That was til I wrote this up, and noticed how much I enjoyed AEW Dynamite compared to WWE’s NXT. And the difference this week.. was that I watched NXT today (instead of directly after Dynamite) while I’m more awake; so it’s still fresh in the mind.
I’m not sure what it was about AEW & NXT this week. It feels like they are in a transition period where they’re trying to figure out which direction to head in. AEW’s got more of a clue, which could be why I enjoyed it over NXT spinning its wheels. I understand how tough it can be for NXT to move on from such a historic win, and it makes sense to give many talents a well deserved break. AEW didn’t need to give anyone a break as their schedule is far less taxing on the mind & body.
So with that said, I’m giving it to AEW Dynamite this week. But that doesn’t mean I’m overly impressed, as they all need to step it up over the next few weeks if they don’t want the Wednesday Night War to fizzle out. We’re only in to the 9th week, and I’m hoping the 10th gets them back on track. That puts my personal tally to 4-3-2 in Dynamite’s favour, but as we’ve seen many times now.. NXT has what it takes to even the score. See you next week! Thank you.
Wednesday Night War – WWE NXT vs AEW Dynamite
