6 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (10 April - Results & Review)
Ups...
6. The Video
After CM Punk’s public comments regarding what happened backstage at All In: London with Jack Perry, AEW as an organisation were placed in something of an in-the-bubble lose/lose situation. Attempt to ignore it and potentially allow Punk’s retelling to be amplified as the complete truth. Acknowledge it like this or something similar, and be rightfully called out for being petty at the expense of the television product. They chose the latter, and only time will tell if it was the lesser of the evils after all.
The clear, silent footage was undeniably captivating, making this edition of Dynamite one of the most talked-about in 2024, but what really is the value of that when we look deeper into why it’s been such a hot topic of conversation?
The clip itself was must-see in the same way some of those accounts are that rock up on Twitter/X’s “For You” section. You haven’t chosen to follow them, but the dark horror or comedy within those MP4s captures your attention and keeps you watching if only due to grisly human instincts when it comes to line-crossing physical transgressions. But they don’t hold longstanding value beyond corrupting your in-the-moment experience. And that was realistically the case here.
The best pro-wrestling is fiction that feels real, not reality being woven into fiction. Punk explained as much elsewhere in the Helwani interview, and has proceeded to prove it with his gripping Drew McIntyre feud. The Young Bucks’ promo ahead of airing the tape was a sensational blend of their current characters and evidently how they really feel, and FTR’s supposedly off-the-cuff rebuttal was at least spirited, but between these words and the physical angle later, has the pay-per-view match between the two sides honestly been enhanced that much further by the tape seeing the light of day? Of course not, and anybody that thinks so is being as intentionally blind to the truth as CM Punk was when he played down the scuffle during his MMA Hour re-telling.It was a petty response to a petty account of a petty blow-up that revealed, ultimately, a petty squabble. Pettiness in bursts from the rich idiots on both sides that desperately don’t want to be owned is a lot of fun for us mere mortals to gaze upon, but let it end here.
An Up becomes a Down the second any of this feels like a boring backfire, and if Matthew and Nicholas Jackson generate “CM Punk” chants next week like they did tonight, the whole sordid mess will yet again overshadow something earnestly great they are trying to accomplish.
For now? Grisly and grainy gold.