12 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Feb 5)

3. Page Costs The Elite

The eight-man tag pitting The Elite against The Butcher, The Blade, and The Lucha Brothers was like drinking five Monster energy cans in a row, snorting a line of instant coffee, licking a battery, then punching yourself in the face.

Everything you'd expect it to be, then.

Wild, crazy, all-action, and bags of fun, this thing ruled. Jim Ross was on the money when he said it'd be like the NBA All-Star Game, with loads of dudes throwing up threes but playing very little defence, though writing it off as a total spotfest would do it a disservice. There were plenty of moments where it slowed down and more conventional psychology was observed, like the early stages with The Elite isolating and controlling The Blade, who worked most of the bout. Kenny Omega, meanwhile, did a tremendous job in making The Butcher look like a monster during their exchanges together.

But the best thing about this whole scrap was Hangman Page's character work. He was a total grump throughout, refusing to join in as his stablemates hit triple-team moves and ran through their taunts. On top of this, Omega was the only person he conventionally tagged into the match, playing on recent tensions - and it cost him in the end. The Young Bucks were screaming for a tag. The match was theirs if Page could just slap the hand, but no: Hangman refused, and Pentagon's Fear Factor ended his team's night.

Storytelling, baby. These guys get it.