Posts
Good Morning!
My wrestling buddy Adam, lovely wife Mo, new-to-the-sport friend Gabe, and I went to Loveland for this week's AEW Dynamite! I’ll try not to recap every single thing because, well, I wasn’t privy to a lot of backstage segments, and without commentary all I can tell you from the matches is how the crowd reacted. I should mention that this show was the fourth time AEW has come to Colorado, and the third venue they have used. I’ve been to every show, from the first in 2020 at First Bank Center, just before the pandemic. Since then, we saw another AEW show at First Bank in December of 2022 and got to drive home in a legit blizzard, then a show in Colorado Springs during a pretty powerful rainstorm last June. September of 2023 brought us the final event of any kind at the First Bank Center, and this one was up in Loveland, about 50 miles north of Denver. I imagine it’s one of those things where WWE has rights to the Ball Arena in downtown Denver locked up, but I’m surprised AEW doesn’t try for the Denver Coliseum (a really big, really old arena used for the annual Stock Show) or another, smaller downtown arena.
We had a good crowd, too, with some fans peppered in on the hard camera side and the stands filled for ⅔ of the barn. I’ve attended a couple of Colorado Eagles hockey games here, and it’s a great arena with some good food and a cozy, loud atmosphere. Cow bells are a big thing for the Eagles too, I was kinda surprised that nobody had one for this show. Although security may have prohibited that – who’s to say? Our seat neighbors were all fantastic, aside from the loud younger group a few rows back who felt the need to speak for all of us with screams of NOBODY CARES during the Mercedes Mone video. And even then, they were younger folks with booze, it’s fine.
Special mention should be made to the granny who my buddy spotted before my wife and I arrived, and who was featured at the end of the broadcast dancing with Swerve and Price Nana. She seemed delighted with the whole event. We also had a kid in front of us with a JARRING voice – that voice that says “I just hit puberty and immediately got a job in a mine or something.” He was great, and with a little encouragement from our group he went and got scissored by both Bowens and Caster, and started a few crowd chants too.
The show began with an MJF promo, although to be fair Mo and I had to watch that after we got home. Construction and rush hour traffic between our place and Loveland were pretty lousy, and a few accidents along the way turned what should have been a 90 minute drive into nearly 2 ½ hours. We got in as Friedman’s music hit, but figured we shouldn’t rush, as our friends were already seated, and hit the washrooms and grabbed some adult beverages.
After watching the promo, I thought it was a good re-establishment of MJF as “our scumbag” – a good guy who isn’t too good. While I’ll be the first to admit that AEW has a problem with faces and heels, I think Max is a good example of how to be a guy we root for while tempering his cheesier instincts.
We found our way to our seats just as the first match of the night began, and the crowd was UP for that one. In hindsight it was basically a fight between three guys to pin Jay Lethal, and our friends were unaware of the stipulation that the winner would go on to fight Will Ospreay next week. If we’d have known that, I think the outcome would have been even more obvious. But the match itself was a blast, the crowd had fun, and the best spots all got a pretty great response. Orange Cassidy was confronted by former Best Friend Trent after the match, and Kris Statlander made the most of her recent heel turn by laying Cassidy out before Willow Nightingale made the save. The promo Willow cut later in the night was really good, and I’m looking forward to seeing Nightingale and Cassidy team up!
The first of several Chris Jericho spots was shown on the big screen next, much to the dismay of the crowd. There were some vocal supporters, but you could just feel the overall energy of the group fizzle as folks headed to the bathrooms and concessions. This happened during many of the pre taped segments, but it was definitely more noticeable for the Jericho ones.
I will admit that I like the unnecessary intensity of Bounty Hunter Bryan Keith, and I’ll always support Big Bill, but I really don’t need several Jericho spots during the show. I don’t need any at all for a while, if we’re being honest.
We were told that Tony Khan came out to say hello before the show, so I don’t really understand the kayfabe logic of Christopher Daniels’ existence, short of “we wanted to rehire the nice man that the evil Young Bucks fired.” Regardless, Daniels announced another qualifying match for the Forbidden Door TNT Ladder Match – Ring of Honor champ Mark Briscoe taking on Bryan Cage.
I mean, this is another obvious one, right? Briscoe is a champion, which makes it a little odd that he’s going after another, theoretically lower-tier belt in a second promotion, and Cage does nothing but lose matches with any stakes. It was still fun, with Cage tossing Briscoe around for the most part, but it wasn’t exactly unpredictable. Briscoe in a ladder match is a great addition to the lineup, and Konosuke Takeshita and Don Callis looked on during the match from the crowd to scout the competition, and the Loveland crowd was not having it, booing them whenever they popped out to watch.
The pairing of Samoa Joe and HOOK continues to interest me, much more so than Jericho and HOOK ever did. Joe is so much more in line with what HOOK could become that it only makes sense to have his former antagonist show him the way. HOOK is never going to be Chris Jericho – and thank God for that – but pairing him with the eloquent juggernaut that is Joe is a great call.
The BCC vs CMLL match was next, and the crowd was really great to a returning Wheeler Yuta. Supportive and welcoming, and loud throughout the match. It was a great exhibition, and while that kind of thing isn’t for everyone it is a great way to introduce a new fan (like the fourth member of our party, only watching his second ever wrestling show) some different styles of the sport.
The Mercedes Mone video I previously mentioned aired next, and I was honestly surprised that there wasn’t a CEO chant. I don’t want to say AEW is handling Mercedes wrong – she’s literally only had one match and won a championship – but one would at least hope for a hum of boos or cheers. Maybe it was just because she wasn’t there live, though.
Daniel Bryan Danielson (I cannot believe I still do that) had a passionate speech that really did resonate with the fans in the building, and I think it’s a real possibility that he could win the Owen Hart tournament and face Swerve at Wembley. I guess we’ll see!
I will admit here that I’ve been a fan of Saraya / Paige since NXT, so I’m not as harsh as some about her. The last time I saw her live was when she retired and became GM of Raw over Wrestlemania 38 weekend, so it was a delight to see her in the ring for this match against Mariah May, another performer I’m really high on. I think this match was better than I expected, and more competitive too – and I didn’t expect to see Saraya pick up the win, either. What I did expect was Toni Storm coming to her protege’s aid after the match. Mina Shirakawa and Toni Storm’s interactions were fantastic, and the crowd popped huge for the, ahem, double-breasted celebration of support those two found themselves in for May.
Oh! There was a Patriarchy segment cementing their relationship with the Young Bucks. But more importantly, I got to explain to my friend the lore of Luchasaurus after he grabbed me and screamed “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!”
Wrestling is the best.
The main event followed, and the crowd was HYPED for Swerve. The match itself was good, and the exhausted crowd managed to pull what little energy they had left out for this finale. The good guy got cheered, the baddies were booed, and I think everyone had a great time.
Rampage featured four matches, but it was easy to see that the crowd was burnt out by then. The opener of Penta el Zero Miedo was good, and the main event featuring Mina Shirakawa and Serena Deeb was way better than I expected – and longer, too – and the post-match angle was silly and delightful, a great way to send the crowd home happy.
I did think of one thing worth pointing out, and it’s something we probably don’t think about a lot when we claim a crowd is dead, or when one goes online to see “Never go back to X town they suck.” Even if one assumes that half the crowd managed to get off work Wednesday, or got a half-day, that’s still half an arena with people who likely woke up at 6am, went to their jobs, worked at least half a day or more, then (especially in this case) sat in traffic for at least an hour and a half. People are bound to be exhausted, and in many cases wouldn’t want to miss parts of the show to wait in line for food, so many were hangry and thirsty as well! I’m just saying, give people the benefit of the doubt.
It was a great night, and a fun show that started some wrestlers in new directions. Popular opinion seems to be that Danielson will face off with Swerve at All In now, and Ospreay may take on MJF. Ospreay losing to Swerve would be the right call for Forbidden Door, as Ospreay is gonna have to lose at some point. Why not do it to a guy we’re establishing as a worthy champion? A loss will also further the whole Don Callis family storyline, something I’m sure AEW is ready to move on from for babyface Will.
I had a blast and really like the setup at that arena – I don’t mind the drive if that’s where Tony Khan decides to set up shop, and it’s pretty cool that they come through a couple times a year. At the end of the show, he thanked fans for coming out and even hinted at a PPV in the years to come, which would be awesome and immediately got my wife and my buddy talking about getting entranceway seats if that comes to pass. I guess we’ll see!
Super Short NXT Battleground Preview!
I’ve got a weekend of hanging out with the wife planned, so I don’t think I’ll do a full NXT Battleground preview. I just wanted to relay my thoughts about the live AEW show. However, for prediction’s sake, I’ll list the matches below, with my picks in bold. We’ll go over them on Monday, assuming all goes well!
Jordynne Grace versus Roxanne Perez © for the NXT Women’s Championship
Ethan Page versus Trick Williams © for the NXT Championship
Lola Vice versus Shayna Baszler in an NXT Underground match
Nathan Frazier and Axiom © versus The Good Brothers for the NXT Tag Team Championship
Oba Femi © versus Joe Coffey versus Wes Lee for the NXT North American Championship
Lash Legend v Sol Ruca v Fallon Henley v Jaida Parker v Kelani Jordan v Michin for the vacant NXT Women’s North American Championship
Closing Up Shop
…in which I say goodbye for now
And that’s it! If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.
Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next time, dear reader. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!