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

2. Aussie Open Vs Vikingo & Komander

Triple H kicked up a bit of fuss this week with a line in the Cody Rhodes documentary far more creative and clever than just about everything he’s fed to his main characters over the last few months.

He classified AEW as “secondary”, which was one of those smart jabs that is both objectively true yet brutally piercing all at once. He annoyed exactly who he wanted to annoy while also solidifying his base of WWE hardcores with a line that - in other terms - Tony Khan has used himself. AEW is the "challenger brand" and thus doesn't get to be Number One, but if all of this is true, Ring Of Honor is tertiary at best and even then it sometimes feels of lesser importance than countless other wrestling products throughout the world. Its USP isn't unique - it promises great wrestling in an era where fans are spoilt for choice on where to find it.

Aussie Open Vs Vikingo & Komander was, at points, great wrestling. At others, it was merely good. It's impossible to not go wild for the latter pair's aerials in person, but the where and why of the spots has been evident with both for several months now, and a wider lack of investment in the stakes hurt this otherwise-decent bout. Time on Dynamite is premium, and the action should be too - by virtue of the titles on the line, this never could be, and there were better ways to make the most of the flagship's 200th edition than this.