6 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (March 27 - Results & Review)
Swerve Strickland shows his credentials; the Young Bucks advance; quiet Quebec crowd flattens vibe.
The momentum is with AEW right now. The PR onslaught - now that it has been substantiated with some superb television - has worked.
The feeling is back.
Swerve Strickland needed a great night. He is in a strange, less-than-ideal place. His path to the AEW World title is clear, in the fictional world of AEW, but in the real one, he is edging into the shadow of Will Ospreay. Two babyfaces can get over in one promotion at the same time, obviously, but one of those wrestlers feels like the World champion-elect, and they aren't fighting for the title at Dynasty.
This can be a good thing. Neither Swerve nor Ospreay is on the level of Steve Austin or the Rock, just to make that abundantly clear, but the latter pair credit one another with rising to the very top of the WWF. They couldn't slack. A couple of off weeks, and one would lap the other. Iron sharpened iron.
Swerve was positioned to succeed last night. He was paired against the incredible Konosuke Takeshita in a match with a great floor and an even better ceiling. Then again, Ospreay exceeded "great" with the exact same opponent at Revolution. Swerve Vs. Takeshita threatened to become another exercise in comparison.
Ospreay was also scheduled for action on Dynamite, in a match against Katsuyori Shibata, in a bid to best Bryan Danielson, who only narrowly survived his match with Shibata on Collision. Did the comparison deepen?
The World title picture is B- in a promotion on A form. Perhaps the above scans as fickle - Swerve's excellent work throughout 2023 shouldn't be forgotten - but that's the risk of bringing in the consensus best wrestler alive.
Did Swerve have his best night in a while...?