5 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dynamite (May 15 - Results & Review)
Ups...
5. The Big Summer Story Heats Up
The days of the Young Bucks automatically entering a wrestling ring and working a four star or above match are over, but this was an effective bit of business all the same. Matthew and Nicholas Jackson defeated Matt Sydal and Christopher Daniels in a serviceable match that was lacking in the heart-pounding twist-heavy electricity of old but wasn't without the odd highlight.
Daniels was very popular in the arena, and while he stumbled or otherwise didn't look crisp in the match, it was almost better for it. What a flailing Daniels did in there was driven by pure sentiment. Well, not his Death Valley driver. That just looked wicked.
In the end, defeated (in anticlimactic fashion), Daniels was "fired" by Matthew Jackson. It wasn't all bad news: he was allowed a 30-day severance package!
Daniels' pained gait actually lent the post-match angle a sense of pathos. It felt like AEW was his last chance to do anything else in wrestling.
This remains a fake-feeling pro wrestling angle, and can only be measured via that limited curve - Daniels has not in fact been fired - but the idea was clever and the performances effective. Matthew's attempts to get an "AE-dub!" chant going as a devastated Daniels processed losing everything was a gloriously cruel juxtaposition.
If you can look past the questionable logic - Tony Khan isn't helpless in a coma as the Bucks abuse the company's succession plan, he's simply working remotely as many people do these days - the ongoing umbrella programme worked on a more important emotional level last night.
Also, Jack Perry - an entertaining douchebag performing guest commentary duties - doused the beloved Tony Schiavone in water. That was inspired.
Tony should give the little bastard a receipt in Las Vegas.
That would bring the house down.