6 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Dynamite (February 7 - Results & Review)

Downs...

1. The Chris Jericho Problem Isn't Going Away

Chris Jericho used to get it, but he doesn't anymore. He used to know when to go away, and now he won't go away at all. He is the definition of the inability to let go, a midlife crisis writ large.

He can't let go of hairstyle that no longer flatters him, the "rockstar" lifestyle, and there's a third clause to this sentence and you should be able to work out what it is. He lost to Konosuke Takeshita, but only after first establishing himself as the toughest man on the planet.

He withstood a quite ridiculous amount of punishment - real and storyline - en route to the finish. If the takeaway is how much of a carny Jericho is and not how much of a killer Takeshita is, something went wrong. A lot of things went wrong in a rough-as-arses match almost defined by poor or even dangerous education.

Jericho can't go at Takeshita's level and is too much of a narcissist to accept that. The way his head bounced back up from the canvas when taking an avalanche Blue Thunder Bomb was terrifying, a reminder that he can no longer protect himself from moves of such ambition. He can't catch a dive to save his public image these days, either, and nor is he athletic enough to play his role in Take's Crunchy/wheelbarrow German suplex signature. This failed, and dragged down an otherwise euphoric night.

Jericho can't even get the banter showmanship right these days; he wore a demon mask before launching into a dive, but made a t*t of himself by almost missing it altogether.

Jercho working a straight shoot-out against Takeshita was a terrible choice. It was impossible to suspend one's disbelief. He looked miles and miles off the pace. Across his last two matches, he has taken two bumps that could have gone horrifically wrong. He's obviously trying to over-correct. He knows what people think of him. He wants to wrestle bangers to get out of it. It's not working. He needs to work smarter.

Or, alternatively, go away for a long time.