5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (8 Feb - Review)
Ups…
5. The Heavyweight Champion Of The World
Maxwell Jacob Friedman doesn’t miss.
The most brilliant detail about AEW’s most brilliant character remains the fact that he can go as hard - if not harder - than 90% of the roster and simply chooses not to.The AEW World Heavyweight Champion was in sublime form again here - the type that could be taken for granted (more on that later) if he wasn’t so smart and heavily limited how often we even get to see it. Konosuke Takeshita has a hit rate on par with the challenger and yet again worked a contest that positioned him as a video game wrestler with all attributes set to 99.
Pivoting from sympathetic to sh*t-kicker as and when MJF’s thuggish intent required, Takeshita’s inability to build on the momentum of his win last week didn’t scan as weak but bold. Particularly at the finish - MJF pounced on a slip by his opponent with ruthless efficiency, earning a Salt Of The Earth tap-out having already worked the arm exactly as he will against Bryan Danielson at Revolution. Beyond the moments he was a dirty cheating rat b*stard, there was yet again zero to fault from a performance that was as ruthless as it was flawless.
And his night was only just getting started.