6 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dynamite (16 Nov)
5. Don't Call It A Swerve Turn On Saturday...
...because The Acclaimed will have had this one coming.
A pre-match music video from the Tag Team Champions served multiple purposes ahead of Swerve Strickland's choice win over Anthony Bowens. It was a popper in places, and the crowd on this specific Dynamite came up for Captain Insano even if they didn't for much else. It framed the challengers as mentally over a hurdle they are still yet to physically scale. And it was very, very cruel at the expense of Keith Lee - a man that has tried throughout all of this to keep the fights fair and his wayward partner in check.
Hard not to justify him ripping Bowens' head clean off and pouncing Max Caster into Row Z after this.
And he may get the chance if the arm, shoulder and scissoring fingers of Bowens sit along side his bum knee as target practice for Swerve In Our Glory. Strickland confidently and ruthlessly flexed his range, experience and technical expertise over a Bowens booked to feel a little outmatched without The Acclaimed/Daddy Ass unit present as a whole. Saturday's Tag Title Match got even harder to call as a result of this committed booking - almost as if AEW never should have veered from the philosophy in the first place.