Hi everyone it’s Justin C. For those of you that listen to The Hot Tag Wrestling Podcast and Watching Rasslin Podcast, you know that I attended AEW Dynamite and Rampage this week in Buffalo.
This is the 4th AEW Dynamite/Rampage taping I attended. I went to the previous two in Rochester as well as one in Pittsburgh. Buffalo is my hometown so I was very happy not to have to travel to get to a taping this time around. The arena is a full size hockey arena so it can hold up to 18,600. Obviously it was not set up for that. The 100 level and half of the 200 level were mostly full. About 6000 tickets were sold. I think it would have done more if not for a few factors.
First off, the Buffalo Bills were opening the season the next night on Thursday night football. I know people that went to LA for the game and would have attended if not for that. I also know people who spent money on a big party and didn’t want to spend money two nights in a row. It was also the first week of school for kids in Buffalo, so it is very possible some parents did not want their kids out late. And with the Toronto show in a month, that also probably stopped some Canadians from coming that already bought tickets to that show.
With that out of the way, I can once again tell you that I had a fun time at the show. Now I won’t lie, I usually have a decent amount of beer in me at these shows. Not fall down/fall asleep kind of drinking, but enough to give you a bit more energy in the show. The AEW Dark tapings were fine. Nothing too crazy on them. One thing I will say is that a lot of the matches were just short squash matches. The crowd is still filing in at this point for all of the tapings I went too, and it was not any different here. But you can tell for all of these that the crowd just wants the show to start.
Tony Khan was booed when they showed him on the screens. The last three shows I attended, he was always cheered when he came out. He was booed even louder when he came out in between Dynamite and Rampage. I don’t think that is a good sign for someone who built up so much goodwill with the fans over these first few years of AEW. As far as all the backstage drama and chaos, I can honestly tell you I did not hear it talked about much. I didn’t see any pro CM Punk signs. There weren’t many CM Punk shirts and no one started any CM Punk chants. It makes me think a good amount of AEW fans know that Punk is the problem here and are ready to move on.
MJF probably got the loudest pop of the night. Of course it helped that he was wearing a Josh Allen jersey. The fake good guy schtick was funny, but I didn’t like how quickly they dropped it and he went back to old MJF after one insult from Jon Moxley, who also got a good response. I did come within a few feet of being able to grab the Josh Allen jersey when MJF threw it into the air (it landed on the mats ringside right before the guardrail). I think the WWE name drops are getting a bit worn out from MJF but the crowd liked it. Moxley’s promo was great too.
The trios title match was a good way to start the show. As a big Penta fan, it was nice to see him finally win a big match in person. I have been stressing for awhile now that Penta just seems like a bigger name that they are using to lose big matches. I’ve been a fan of his since seeing him on Lucha Underground so seeing him get a big win was awesome.
I know it is a constant topic of discussion but Tony Khan really needs to find a way to get more time for his women’s division. Toni Storm/Penelope Ford was fine but I think it continues to be a problem that AEW has trained the crowd to only care about Dr. Britt Baker and anything else is second fiddle, even if it involves the AEW Women’s title.
The Wardlow TNT Title match was whatever. Just a way to get him on TV. Now the real meat of the show. Bryan Danielson vs Hangman Adam Page was awesome. It might crack the Top 5 of best matches I have ever seen in person. My top 3 are:
Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano NXT Takeover Brooklyn Wrestlemania 35 weekend
Cody Rhodes and Goldust vs Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins Battleground 2013
CM Punk vs Undertaker Wrestlemania 29
After that I would have to do some more thinking. But the match was great and the crowd showed its appreciation for it. I would say it was about 60/40 in favor of Danielson. FYI I was cheering for him and my Watching Rasslin co-host Heather was cheering for Page, so it is obvious I pick winners (except when it comes to gambling on NFL games). I don’t know what they are doing with Page but they are not doing him any favors with his booking. His star is wearing off a bit. The crowd wants to cheer him, you can tell, but the way they are making him come off is anything but a star.
It is always fun to see a hometown guy fighting for the title in the main event. And since it isn’t a Vince McMahon WWE show you know he had a good shot of winning. I kind of figured he would win, but it was spoiled for me when they brought a confetti shooter right in front of me before the end of the match and told us not to stand up when the match was over. It didn’t take any enjoyment out of the match and I am glad Garcia got the respect he deserved. It is also nice to see Garcia becoming a star in AEW after watching him at small local independent shows throughout the years.
When it comes to the Rampage tapings, you can feel that everyone in the crowd is worn out by the time they start. As I mentioned earlier Tony Khan was booed as they were setting up for Rampage. The Darby Allin/Sammy Guevara and Dax/Claudio matches were both good, but it is quite the task asking the crowd to get into the matches when they have already watched 3 hours of wrestling. AEW needs to figure out something with these tapings. Even if it is eliminating the Dark tapings beforehand I think that helps. But Claudio and Dax were putting on a good match but the crowd is so worn down it doesn’t get the respect it deserves.
Overall, as with all of the other AEW events I went too, they are a fun experience. At WWE shows it feels like you are a studio audience trying to be told how to react. At AEW shows, it feels like you are an actual crowd like at a sporting event being allowed to boo and cheer how you please. They are long, so prepare yourself, but I have never really left an AEW show not satisfied.
