5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (8 Feb - Review)
3. Brand New Time Slot, Same Old Problems
AEW
50% of Jaime Hayter and The Bunny was gobbled up by adverts unless you were watching on Fite, and that felt particularly frustrating when the return from break brought about the finish almost immediately.
A second exploder suplex from Champion to Challenger went badly wrong, and though The Bunny was able to recover enough to take Hayter’s ripcord lariat for the finish, she didn’t seem to be able to throw herself into it with much gusto.Rushed when it looked like it had to be, this was pedestrian stuff when it actually had time.
The picture-in-picture portion may have felt frustrating for those watching on TBS, but the really bad news was that nothing happened in the break anyway. And undercooked and underserved viewer experience overall, the placement of the match in the first hour betrayed the eventual outcome.
Saraya and Toni Storm’s attack on Leva Bates was cheesy and forced too. Just because the story is clear and focussed, it doesn’t mean it’s all that good at the moment. The tale could do with some development at this point, and precedence within the company’s history doesn’t suggest we’ll get any.
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
