6 Ups & 6 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Dec 16)
Kenny Omega vs. Rey Fenix announcement highlights the flattest Dynamite in weeks.
Two white-hot shows in a row have made All Elite Wrestling the most buzz-worthy promotion in the game this month, to the extent that last week's Dynamite achieved the remarkable feat of outdoing Monday's WWE Raw in ratings.
True enough, the "balance of power" doesn't shift until such things become a trend, but for AEW to do this after little over one year of weekly television production, operating on around a tenth of WWE's budget, against a company with a headstart spanning the best part of three decades, is huge. Optimistic pundits predicted something like this happening sometime around August 2021: turns out AEW is eight months ahead of schedule.
It's unfortunate, then, that AEW followed this with such a flaccid episode of Dynamite.
While not an outright bad show, last night curbed the momentum built over the past fortnight. That AEW stands on the brink of three consecutive specials (Holiday Bash and the New Year's Smash double-header) makes this recoverable, but this was the weakest Dynamite since before Full Gear, and a real comedown.
Kenny Omega defended his AEW World Title against Joey Janela in the main event, Sting was in the house, and The Acclaimed punched their tickets for a Tag Team Title shot.
Let's light the fuse.