5 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite 200 (August 2 - Review)

Downs…

5. Chris Jericho & Konosuke Takeshita Vs Sammy Guevara & Daniel Garcia

Konosuke Takeshita Chris Jericho

AEW

There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with Chris Jericho becoming a card-carrying member of Don Callis’ new Family, but the cloying and unconvincing acting makes it feel that way, and framed against rumours of the All In match likely to spin out from it, the upcoming swerve scans as all the more stupid.

A throwback of a fashion, the hot opening tag team match was all three of those things, with urgency constantly shown from Konosuke Takeshita alongside some violent and witty exchanges between Jericho and his stablemates. But the more Daniel Garcia danced to the tune of a receptive crowd and Sammy Guevara basked in some earned glory, the more ‘The Ocho’ felt redundant in their lives.

They are - or in Garcia’s case will be - absolutely fine without him, and Jericho’s not a good enough actor to pull off conflict or turmoil or whatever he was going for claiming the ill-gotten win. A Wembley showdown with Will Ospreay surely has to position the Canadian as a heel, but why does all of this feel like booking towards the opposite? A trademark carny/corny Jericho Appreciation Segment segment next week promises answers, but the questions just aren’t that captivating.

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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 over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, 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