5 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (25 May)

2. A Fun, Creative Three-Way

Jungle Boy Ricky Starks
AEW

Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee won last night's Tag Team Title preview ahead of Double Or Nothing, with Strickland hitting his Swerve Stomp on Ricky Starks to defeat the Team Taz representative and Jurassic Express' Jungle Boy. This came after Jungle Boy had come within a hair of submitting Starks via Snare Trap - and was one of many creative spots in a fun, action-packed match.

The trio opted against settling into the usual three-way format of one wrestler chilling outside the ring for an unnaturally long time while the other two wrestle. There were moments of immobilisation, sure, but none felt contrived. Instead, this match was mostly about the trio interacting in unique, interesting ways, often all at the same time, with lightning-fast momentum changes appropriate to the format.

Starks was particularly great here, imparting effective heel work into a bout primarily based on action. He remains one of the most underrated wrestlers in North America and although he took the defeat, AEW may end up rewarding his efforts at the pay-per-view.

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.