5 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (June 22)
2. Rough Stuff
Marina Shafir is trapped in a troubling loop in AEW at the moment.
Her style lends itself to rough-looking contests that seem so focussed on protecting her ex-MMA style that they forget to be pro wrestling matches. Against both Thunder Rosa and now Toni Storm, she's been given the bulk of offence to try and get the idea over but the matches not being much to write home about have undermined the whole point.
Back in reality, her and Rosa literally broke bread to calm claims of sandbagging and backstage bad blood, but that can't be happening every week. The formula hasn't worked in elevating Rosa and Storm as gutsy winners nor Shafir as hard-hitting in defeat. Instead, a division that needs bangers has inadvertently served up a couple of near-duds.
Lots of good intentions here, even if the perpetual problems - same penultimate quarter hour death slot, women's stuff all batched together, staring at a belt is now more AEW NXT than HHH NXT - remain.