8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (November 29 - Results & Review)
Eddie Kingston brings the sport, MJF goes back to basics on a quietly encouraging Dynamite.
The Continental Classic didn't fail to launch, exactly - God bless Eddie Kingston and Brody King for grasping the do-or-die importance of tournament wrestling in their fabulous Collision main event - but last week's round of Dynamite fixtures was hardly great.
Is that pedantic, fickle?
AEW dreamt up a major tournament in a format that fans have requested since 2019, mandated clean finishes, and generally went with the sports-oriented presentation that critics have missed in recent months. Still, the execution was lacking.
Swerve Strickland Vs. Jay Lethal was fine, but opening the broadcast and tournament with the most obvious pin-eater in the field was uninspiring. Jay White went over Rush in a better match that still wouldn't trouble TV Match of the Year rankings. It was only easy to feel something when Mark Briscoe threatened to survive Jon Moxley, but Tony Khan didn't opt for Gedo's tone-setting early twist.
What was special, exactly, about watching some very good if predictable matches, each resulting in the expected outcome? Beyond the sports entertainmentification of AEW, that is still the quintessential Dynamite experience most weeks.
Was last night's Gold League a little more glittering...?