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

1. The Golden Jets, Ricky Starks & Big Bill And Whatever The Hell That Was

Kenny Omega
AEW

At NXT’s recent “Deadline” Premium Live Event, the show opened with a Shawn Michaels/CM Punk promo that was mostly a total car crash.

It felt as if two veterans assumed they could just call it in the ring brother, but as they then proceeded to awkwardly prove, it’s not as easy as that. That, at least, was realistically just to give the live crowd a pop and drop a returning Punk into NXT canon for future reference. The Golden Jets’ Dynamite disaster-piece with Big Bill and Ricky Starks was to sell a brutal beatdown and upcoming Tag Team Title match.

What a mess.

Kenny Omega got The Golden Jets’ team name wrong but that sort of thing happens and was about the least offensive element of this sub-WWE exchange of insults. Did you know the titleholders don’t even have a team name? Chris Jericho does, and he’s got a tight five on it! No jokes, mind, but he’ll take the minutes anyway! “Big Billy Starks?” Go away mate. Bless Excalibur for trying to sell an ROH show off the back of that too.

In order for the Champions to stay credible, Starks had to bury the dying gags. In response, the Challengers got pettier, dumber, and in Omega’s case all the more disinterested. All four of them may as well have been saying “I’m not owned, I’m not owned” at the same time before transforming into corncobs.

$50 for the match at the end of the most expense month of the year. See you there.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 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 over 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 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana 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