5 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (30 August - Review)
2. Big Match, Dire Build
While the All Out build was pelted with a Down, the go-home angle for Kenny Omega Vs. Konosuke Takeshita deserves one of its own.
Already put on the backburner through Chris Jericho's misadventures with Don Callis, this go-home promo needed so much more. In a run-of-the-mill backstage promo, Callis publicly revealed his strategy for Takeshita - which Omega should now know how to defend, which is hardly the work of a manipulative heel mastermind - by showing Take X-rays of Omega's broken down body.
Ordinarily, Omega does a bang-up job of being banged-up, but the use of props here rendered it cartoonish. The stakes are so low for a story that is essentially premised on a huge familial betrayal and the potential downfall of a top star and all-time great. You're meant to feel like your hero is nearing the end, and that a despicable killer is lurking and ready to take him out for good. The match will be incredible, but why does it feel so inessential?
This warranted a long, live heated in-ring promo at a minimum.