10 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Dynamite (Apr 28)

1. Advantage Pinnacle

Everything about the Pinnacle/Inner Circle parley was great. All of it. Every wrestler spoke confidently, clearly, and assertively, from Shawn Spears all the way up to Chris Jericho, and it was impossible not to leave it feeling even more excited for what's to come at Blood & Guts.

Sammy Guevara stepping up to take the first spot in the match was a ballsy touch that could come back to bite him. Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood felt like they were summoning Tully Blanchard, particularly when Dax spoke about Santana and Ortiz's kids at home. Spears felt sure of himself and the duality of Santana and Ortiz came into play, with Ortiz talking his hot-blooded partner down.

But MJF and Jericho, the two leaders, were on a different level entirely. These were two 10/10 promos from a couple of the absolute best talkers in the game.

MJF spoke of taking Jericho's heavy crown off Chris' exhausted head, putting it on his own, and relieving him of the pressure of carrying AEW on his back. In response, Jericho was fired up, dispensing with last week's off-base comedy to shred his former protege, outlining his path of respect from 25 years old to today, saying The Pinnacle would have to kill The Inner Circle to make them surrender.

A hot, hot, hot face-to-face here, with the stables observing the rules of the parley by not throwing hands. MJF and Jericho have cut a lot of killer promos in AEW and these were amongst the best. Promos are supposed to promote, after all, and how fired up for Blood & Guts are you now?

Exactly.