4 Ups & 6 Downs From AEW Dynamite (1 Mar - Review)

2. A Dumb, Fun Spectacle

Konosuke Takeshita Powerhouse Hobbs
AEW

The Face of the Revolution ladder match fell into the trap of most genre offerings. At times, with its assembly of ladder bridges and noticeable lack of climbing attempts, it felt contrived, like a transparent attempt to facilitate action set-pieces - but those set-pieces were mostly spectacular.

The new king of the Twitter mp4, Komander, wowed the crowd with his impossible rope run. His running shooting star press onto a suspended ladder bridge was awesome, too. Sammy Guevara and Action Andretti brought the death-defying dumb jock sh*t, and while Eddie Kingston continues to build his promotional malpractice case against Tony Khan, the match didn't always need the ladder to pop the crowd. Konosuke Takeshita directly built a singles dream match with Powerhouse Hobbs with a tremendous dead-lift German suplex (and indirectly built towards something else).

Take's Blue Thunder Bomb off the ladder to Komander was also amazing, but what wasn't was Hobbs' over-selling on the outside. This tends to happen in three-way matches, multi-man ladder matches and the like, but it was particularly glaring here. Hobbs is a machine, so it was harder to take seriously than usual. He should have taken something massive to justify how long he spent on the outside. His absence from much of the match also telegraphed his win.

Some good (and worrying) storytelling lurked beyond the contrivance of it all.

Intriguingly, Konosuke Takeshita's narrow loss brings him closer to the carny manipulation of Don Callis, which brings him closer to an actual dream match with Kenny Omega. Daniel Garcia however screwing over Action Andretti threatens an "If you can't beat them, join them" deal with the Jericho Appreciation Society, which brings everyone closer to the unbearable prospect of Chris Jericho Vs. Ricky Starks Must Continue.

Powerhouse Hobbs winning creates a dramatic match versus whomever wins between Samoa Joe and Wardlow at Revolution; Hobbs absolutely doesn't feel like he's there to pad out somebody's win/loss record.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!