6 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (10 April - Results & Review)
3. LionHook Still Isn't Working...
AEW
...and not just within the realms of kayfabe.
Ahead of a poor and poorly-received trios match, Chris Jericho led the line in a promo laying out strategy for himself, Hook and partner Katsuyori Shibata. This existed to once again show Jericho as an overbearing douchebag, Hook as an affable apprentice running out of patience and Shibata getting to be above it all via translator app on his phone. Not without charm, that last gag, but LionHook was anything but.
We see them not really co-exist yet do so anyway. We see plans fall apart and seemingly have no real impact on them the following week. As viewers, we're asked to be suspicious of Jericho in a way that Hook...isn't? Does that make 'The Cold-Hearted Handsome Devil' stupid for sticking with him, or for that matter Shibata an idiot for getting drawn in too? All of this is putting the mid in midcard. Jericho can move on, up or away from this as he always does, but the damage might be done to the FTW Champion's aura before the pair even explode for their payoff match.
The minor positive from all of this was Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty and Anthony Ogogo getting their first major win as a group together, but this was far from a case of one team going over while another team got over. The opposite, in fact.
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, Fightful, POST Wrestling, 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
