10 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite (April 14)

8. Dive Darby Dive

Darby Allin dive
AEW

Your mileage may vary on Dynamite's main event, which featured myriad interferences from The Dark Order, Hardy Family Office, Lance Archer, and Sting, furthering multiple storylines while Matt Hardy and Darby Allin wrestled for the TNT Title. Some will argue that this detracted from the action. A fair point, though this felt like a 1997/98 era Raw angle for the chaos it brought.

The opening and closing stretches were focused entirely on Allin and Hardy. Matt started this anything goes match by clobbering the TNT Champion with a chair and Allin ended it by leaping from the scaffolding with a Coffin Drop. Their competition was presented as the most important part of this, despite the mid-match distractions.

All in all, a fun, wild brawl that did enough to finish on the positive side of the ledger. Hardy and Allin worked in plenty of memorable plunder spots and while the usual "too many people onscreen" arguments will likely follow, wrestling isn't complicated. David Foster Wallace isn't writing this stuff. Hand-holding sucks, and viewers should be trusted to understand segment furthering multiple things simultaneously.

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.