6 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (13 April)
1. Oops, They Did It Again
There's no real excuse for how last night's episode of AEW Dynamite ended. The Dark Order, The Butcher and The Blade, Luther: Tony Khan's promotion has had a long, long time to learn from situations like this, and yet here we are.
Dynamite closed on a dud of an angle. After Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt gifted Samoa Joe a prop middle finger popping out of a box, the lights cut familiarity. All 7'3" of Satnam Singh was standing in the ring when they came back on, with the big man subduing Joe, holding him in place with a vice grip before the Lethal Injection, then standing tall with his new allies as the credits rolled.
This was reportedly done to pop the Indian market following WarnerMedia's acquisition by Discovery.
It was still brutal television.
Singh may yet get over, but not like this. Live crowds do not react well when the big reveal is somebody they are entirely unfamiliar with. We've seen it before with the aforementioned examples and last night was no different. A big, deflating ball of confusion took over in New Orleans, closing the show on the flattest of flat notes.