5 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dynamite (December 6 - Results & Review)

4. Battle Of The Jays Was Less Boring Than It Could Have Been

Jay White Vs. Jay Lethal was better than expected, though eliminating a second wrestler from the Continental Classic with two rounds of fixtures left was hardly good storytelling. It's as if Tony Khan's almost feckless booking sensibilities have clashed with the format. You'd expect or even hope that Lethal's next matches are bound for Rampage. Happily, this was actually his best tournament offering yet.

Where sometimes his counter-driven matches can feel dry, almost too intricate for their own good, this was a quite exciting chess match that developed a different tenor deeper into the last third. Watching two heels poke each other in the eye in an attempt to win was a neat departure from the episodic TV norm: a funny byproduct of the round-robin format and how it necessitates the sort of all-heel matches that rarely occur beyond it. There's good reason for that, but every now and then, they work. This worked.

Two conniving bastards threatening to screw the other over: this was very well-worked technically, as you'd expect, and had a bit more personality to it than most Jay Lethal matches. It wasn't relentlessly compelling, or outright great - the fans amused themselves by chanting for "Jay Forever" before the pace accelerated towards the finish - but it was significantly less boring than the worst version of itself threatened to be.

Still, it was the third consecutive Continental Classic match that went heavy on the chop battles. in general, the agents should collaborate and intervene. This sequence is losing its potency. It shouldn't be happening in every bloody match, even if Rush and Jay White are exceptional at the art.

Every tournament match was good to excellent, but were all a bit too similar on the night.

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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!