5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (8 Feb - Review)

2. Throwing Down The Gauntlet

Jericho Appreciation Society
AEW

Count the ways this sucked, and don't even include the hack alliteration that plagues the very worst of wrestling since Vince McMahon fooled generations of fans into thinking it was artful.

The positive first, because it's hard to see obscured by all the muck; Ricky Starks at long last has believable motivation to fight Chris Jericho at Revolution in the storylines. His bullsh*t insult exchanges alongside Absent Andretti weren't doing the job, and defeat here now becomes the reason for the pay-per-view match. But ahead of time, you could read that bit like a book. And not a very good book. Certainly not Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab. Which, unlike a Chris Jericho storyline treatment, actually improves with every read.

Daniel Garcia is supposed to be getting over within the body of this story, providing Jericho his next breakout star to dampen the enthusiasm for when he's finished with 'Absolute'. Getting this victory should have put him over as the real threat within the JAS, but a masked Jericho helping him win with the Judas Effect...undermined that completely?!

This felt like it was booked by AI - the majority of it looked right in theory but it still required a genuine human being to finish the job. With Jericho in charge, that's one of the many things this storyline is short of.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 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 almost 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 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL 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