8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite: The Crossroads (Mar 3)
Shaq, Jade Cargill, Paul Wight, and surprising legends highlight the most fun Dynamite of 2021.
Rest in peace to the great Jim Crockett Jr., who has just passed away at 76 years old.
One of the most influential wrestling promoters of all time, and the last true bastion of defence against the WWF's national expansion in the 1980s, Crockett headed perhaps the National Wrestling Alliance's most popular territory for 15 years from 1973. His output laid the blueprint for many, many promotions to follow, including AEW, and with Jim's fingerprints all over the All Elite product, it's fitting that four of his old regulars (Tony Schiavone, Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon, and Arn Anderson) all played prominent roles last night.
Our thoughts and condolences go out to Crockett's friends and family.
As for the show? The Crossroads was comfortably the most fun Dynamite of 2021 thus far.
This was no state-of-the-art workrate show, but a wild, energetic night until the final half-hour, when it gradually ran out of steam. Nonetheless, a successful Revolution warm-up that could have gone horribly wrong, given the X factors, but soared instead.
Over 1,000 people were in Daily's Place to watch NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal teaming with debutant Jade Cargill, 67-year-old Tully Blanchard coming out of retirement, Paul Wight's first televised appearance, and more. This show was a riot, and over-delivered to a big degree.
Let's light the fuse...