5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Blood & Guts 2023 (Review)

Downs...

4. Better In The Ring, Bay-Bay

Adam Cole
AEW

The Better Than You Bay-Bay material worked exponentially more in the ring last night, and even then, their antics were...subjectively received online.

In this week's pre-taped skit, the team bonded at a Chinese restaurant, in which Adam Cole encouraged MJF to overcome his fear of spicy food. This was thin pretext to do some gags, which weren't as funny as in previous weeks as a result. They got drunk, mistook the waiter for Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia, and hit him with the double clothesline, which was cut right before the actual move, obviously. The skit, again, was jarring in the context of AEW. The camera was acknowledged, thank the lord, but visible or no, it had no reason to be there. This is have cake, eat it stuff, and the various post-production effects - the slo-mo, the music cues, the laugh track that might as well be on there - render it all the more weird. Ultimately, if a bit bends the rules of the fictional world, it had better be really good. This skit simply wasn't very funny.

Later on, however...

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!