8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (January 3 - Results & Review)
The first AEW Dynamite of 2024 has a new stable, new stories and a new star making a big debut!
December 30th's World's End pay-per-view (and elements of its controversial press conference) was 2023 All Elite Wrestling distilled.
Flashes of a generally well-received in-ring product were undone and/or compromised by excess, tired booking tropes and a feeling that everything that could be done with this massive roster now...has been. Stars on the rise held their ground, but by association they felt colder on a less-than-electric evening on Long Island. Meanwhile, reality was proving more powerful than any fiction AEW could hope to craft, with some deeply unpleasant allegations (and a lack of much direction about how they might be dealt with going forward) overwhelming one match in particular and understandably casting a hefty shadow over the rest of the night.
How any of that shakes out remains to be seen, but following the crowning of a brand new World Heavyweight Champion, the conclusion of an absorbing Continental Classic tournament and the wrapping up of the divisive "Devil" mystery, AEW had an opportunity to move quickly into January with the (storyline) pitfalls confined to another era entirely.
New Year, New AEW?
Let's light the fuse...