5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (January 24 - Results & Review)

by Michael Sidgwick

1. Surreal, Good Main Event

Adam Copeland Vs. Minoru Suzuki, a WrestleMania Weekend novelty match, ultimately, was surreal and well-worked - an interesting diversion that AEW can probably justify so many weeks removed from the next major destination event, even if this sort of mad scientist match graphic lost its charms years ago.

His aura is all but dead - he’s done too many jobs, which is fatal for his killer shoot artist character - but Suzuki remains a joy of a live act capable of turning it on. As difficult as it is to get that “You’ve f*cked up” feeling, when Suzuki no-sells a strike and does an unhinged facial - Suzuki doesn’t punish anybody anymore, undermining the whole thing - the main event still worked. Suzuki worked a lot harder than he usually does in his twilight years pantomime match, eating a spear through the railings in a wicked bump he doesn’t have to take at this stage of his career.

Copeland was on excellent individual form. His storytelling was astute, old pro stuff; having worked in the WWE system for 99.9% of his very long career, his character has never reckoned with the strong style approach, much less one of its mos credible practitioners, and without overdoing it - something he is often guilty of - he sold Suzuki’s offence as if actually hadn’t been hit that hard before.

Intelligently arranged to pull a reaction out of a crowd that Austin Gunn put to shame, with some shortcut work on the outside and a very well done count-out tease, Copeland and Suzuki drew on their ridiculously long combined experience in a very good match that told the story of Copeland almost regretting entering deadly and unfamiliar terrain.

This however would have played much better as an undercard bonus on a much better show which, shockingly light on genuinely significant storyline advancement, badly needed a cliffhanger or some sort of hook for the following week, which shouldn’t be dominated by WWE like this one.

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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 current Undisputed WWE 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!