5 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (8 Mar - Review)

2. Wardlow Vs Powerhouse Hobbs

Powerhouse Hobbs
AEW

The headline is that Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Wardlow in a Falls Count Anywhere after QT Marshall interfered with a steel chair, allowing Challenger to powerbomb Champion through the stage for decisive technical knockout finish and win his first singles gold in AEW.

And the company will presumably hope nobody remembers anything other than that, because it was hard not to feel like Hobbs' maiden championship victory wasn't mishandled while watching it play out.

The brawl was only ever decent at best, which was problematic considering what a wild contest featuring the youngest, hungriest monsters should have looked like. With his life hitting the skids, Wardlow didn't fight with desperation anymore than Hobbs did with opportunism. This was spots - some exciting, some less so - until the wrestlers got to the stage so everybody could move into place for the finish.

As Marshall struck, Excalibur rushed to remind viewers of a long-forgotten agreement between the two that QT one day "owed" Hobbs one, and that this plan apparently was acting as payment and the start of a union between the former Factory boss and the new Champion. Suddenly there wasn't any time left to contemplate that as Wardlow was being finished off with a deadly powerbomb...that then looked shoddy thanks to production revealing the cosy crash mats breaking Wardlow's fall.

It summed up a Dynamite where lots of things happened but so few registered the way they were supposed to. A blah win won't mark Hobbs' cards as Champion, but it remains perplexing how the booking fired wide whilst stood in front of an open and empty net.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 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 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, 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