4 Ups & 6 Downs From AEW Dynamite (12 Jan)

1. How Many Interruptions Can One Show Handle?

A complete list of every interruption spot from last night's AEW Dynamite, be it backstage, in the ring, or during an actual match:-

1. The Young Bucks interrupting Adam Cole and co. in the opening segment.

2. Best Friends interrupting the heels when name-dropped.

3. Britt Baker saving Cole from Kris Statlander.

4. MJF interrupting the CM Punk vs. Wardlow match.

5. Shawn Spears hitting the ring to get between Wardlow and MJF after the bell.

6. Ricky Starks' interruptions during Dante Martin vs. Powerhouse Hobbs.

7. Jay Lethal's random interjection in the Hobbs/Martin bout.

8. Eddie Kingston interrupting The Inner Circle backstage.

9. Dan Lambert accosting Hangman Page.

10. Lance Archer accosting both of the above.

11. FTR and Tully Blanchard interrupting Arn Anderson, Brock Anderson, and Lee Johnson backstage.

12. Alex Reynolds and John Silver interrupting Jurassic Express and Christian Cage backstage.

13. Malakai Black hitting the lights on Penta.

14. Varsity Blonds making the save.

15. Brody King hitting the lights on everybody.

16. Sting and Darby Allin attacking The Acclaimed.

17. Andrade El Idolo approaching Matt Hardy backstage.

18. 2point0 interrupting the main event, with Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston already stationed at ringside.

Some of these worked, some of them were good, and the vast majority served ongoing storylines. This is how episodic weekly pro wrestling storyline weeks. Parties cross paths, interact with one another, and often appear out of nowhere.

But when you lean on the same tropes over and over, to the extent outlined above, it becomes mundane. It loses effectiveness. It becomes lazy.

Three out of the night's five matches were afflicted, as was almost every backstage segment. A problem that started during last year's dreary Friday Night Dynamite almost descended to parody here, and if you had "X interrupts Y" down as a rule in your drinking game, you'd have been hammered by the second or third commercial break.

Promo trains, run-ins, and distractions are fine when used in moderation. Here, they were spammed - and Dynamite suffered greatly for it.