4 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (December 13 - Results & Review)

Downs…

5. Rush Vs Jay Lethal

Jay Lethal Rush
AEW

Rush Vs Jay Lethal was pro wrestling happening in front of you, and while the Continental Classic has been well calculated to result in a zero-pointer between the former best friends, but Rush wasn't quite as impressive extracting his win from Lethal as Jay White was from Mark Briscoe elsewhere on this show.

Not quite a squash or flash win but not long enough to be viewed as a particularly even-handed fight, Rush believably portrayed the anger and shame he felt over getting choked all the way out last week, but as sprints go, this was weirdly lethargic.

Upon the announcement of the Continental Classic, the brackets obscured matches or weeks that were destined to be a little on the dry side. This was that despite the agenting at least attempting to make something relatively meaningless a little more exciting. Ultimately, this was as New Normal as wrestling gets in 2023 - we're spoiled as a fanbase, but understandably over-fed on "well-worked". The fans in Arlington were quiet for this, but they've seen everything more times than Patrick Stewart in Extras. What could AEW or the wrestlers themselves have expected?

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett