5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (8 Feb - Review)
3. Details At The Death
AEW
A "you-have-to-fight-X-people-to-get-to-me" story is just about the most predictable in AEW outside of indentured servitude or climbing up ladders to grab sh*t, but expectations have been raised enough elsewhere over the last four years that it's okay to want more than the inevitable babyface triumph from the run of matches.
Between the match and the last angle that built to it, Dynamite provided a perfect and memorable finale.
Having saved Konosuke Takeshita from a further beating earlier in the night, Bryan Danielson was being interviewed by Renee Young in the trainers room when they were locked in from the inside. As cameras rolled on the three, Rush's music could be heard playing in the building, and the challenger was clearly in trouble.
In the arena, MJF returned and hassled Aubrey Edwards into trying to count down Danielson before he was able to get to the ring after barging down the door with his injured shoulder, but her deliberately pace paid off the referees' longstanding dislike of the 'Salt Of The Earth' and added yet more drama to the upcoming encounter.
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
