12 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite (23 Nov - Review)

1. Kenny Omega & The Elite Troll CM Punk In Chicago

One of the best wrestling works of the year unfolded this week, involving The Elite, CM Punk, and the city of Chicago.

It began with The Young Bucks changing their Twitter bio to "Chicago. This will be interesting." early in the week. Then, around 12 hours before Dynamite, a Sports Illustrated interview with Kenny Omega was released. In it, Omega called for fans to let go of the All Out situation:-

“There are things no one can talk about, so I’d encourage people to let it go. It doesn’t change that we want a team effort in AEW. I don’t even mean implicitly myself and my opponent. It also means the referee, the fans, the people who set up the ring, everyone–even a technical error can ruin the memory of a match. I can refer back to the exploding barbed wire death match. So I encourage people to move away from it because there is no information to be released."

This was a calculated move. Kenny Omega is smart, extremely so, and knew exactly what he was doing in calling for peace one second, and then inciting war the next.

When Being The Elite's audio dropped for Full Gear's "F*** CM Punk!" chants to shine, the trio's intention was likely for Chicago to chant the opposite back at them when they faced Death Triangle. Which is exactly what happened.

When Kenny enraptured Chicago by building up a Terminator dive before flipping into a Go To Sleep taunt, he wanted to turn their reaction on its head. Which is exactly what happened.

When Omega hit the Go To Sleep, then hit Twitter to insist he was paying tribute to KENTA, he wanted Punk diehards to be frothing with rage. Which is exactly what happened.

When Matt Jackson deliberately botched a Buckshot Lariat, openly mocking the move's worst execution in history as performed by Chicago's hero himself, it was to rile people up and draw them into their expert heel performance.

Which is exactly what happened.

The excellent trios match that unfolded around all this showmanship? That's what they wanted too.

The Elite vs. Death Triangle was wonderful theatre. Playing villains Punk's hometown, The Elite conducted the audience like pros, then ultimately ate sh*t. Matt Jackson was pinned when Penta struck him with the hammer, allowing PAC, whose broken nose was targeted all bout long, to score the victory. That's how it is supposed to work.

And Chicago were here for it. They didn't rebel, disrupt the show, or try to take over. They were 100% along for the ride, even when rooting for different parties. That the tribalism subsided for a "this is awesome!" chant towards the end spoke not only to the crowd's investment, but their understanding of the expert-tier work unfolding before their eyes.

CM Punk is never coming back.

The Elite are 0-2.

And this was the best Dynamite of 2022.