11 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Dynamite (Jan 29)
Pirate Moxley, dynamic Darby, and p*ssy PAC highlight a flat episode of Dynamite.
AEW Dynamite was back to normal last night. This was no anniversary special, no homecoming, no beach party, and certainly no Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager At Sea, but a regular old episode of their Wednesday night flagship and while the aesthetics were familiar, the same can't be said about the quality.
Shows like this require a bit of dialogue on the Ups and Downs reviewing format. 11 Ups and 1 Down looks like a spectacular ratio, and it is, but the show itself was far from spectacular. It was fine and if we were to rate it out of 10, it'd probably be a 6. Regardless, if a match, segment, or angle is even a ball-hair better than "mediocre," it has to be considered an Up - hence this week's numbers. Most of Dynamite's content was solid, functional, but unspectacular, with only one major chunk outright bad.
The lineup promised an appearance from Jon Moxley in his home state, Chris Jericho's Inner Circle vs. Private Party and Darby Allin, Cody vs. Kip Sabian, and The Young Bucks vs. The Butcher and The Blade. On top of this, we were treated to previously unannounced contests pitting Nyla Rose against Big Swole and a potential rebound clash for SoCal Uncensored as they faced The Hybrid 2.
Let's break it down...