5 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (3 Nov)

1. Waiting For the Inevitable

There was plenty of good, solid work in Cody Rhodes vs. Andrade El Idolo. Both wrestlers had clearly done their homework on each other, which formed much of the story as they countered and prepared for each other's signature spots, preventing early footholds from being established. This led to the match unravelling into something more competitive, with Cody selling the knee as they worked through the gears and built to a reversed Figure Four spot.

The problem was that AEW told you earlier in the show that the match was just an appetiser for an inevitable interference. Banned from ringside, Malakai Black said that the problem with AEW's ruling was that when Julius Caesar was assassinated, it wasn't only Marcus who betrayed him. Interference was guaranteed after that, and it came in the form of FTR.

Strategically, this makes no sense. Why would Black give his entire game plan away ahead of time? On top of this, it was another run-in finish in a promotion that has indulged in such things to a tiresome degree in 2021.

Wrestling isn't as much fun when you know exactly how a match is going to play out. FTR assisting Andrade following El Idolo's help in their heist of the AAA World Tag Team Titles makes storyline sense, at least, but AEW's creative team is stronger than this.