6 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (17 May - Review)
1. Tony Khan "Elaborates"
AEW
On last week's Dynamite, Tony Khan's big announcement was that he had a big announcement this week. During this week's big announcement he left a big announcement on the table for next week and look - the lame joke has already written itself.
Something feels awry.
A beaming Khan was buzzing to reveal the Collision news and various dates either side of June's Forbidden Door in Canada, but Excalibur's early clarification that he'd be "elaborating" on big news felt like an attempt to get across a letdown before it aired.
The detail Khan left out was exactly where the show's June 17th debut would air from. This despite news already being out there that the United Centre in Chicago was booked for that specific Saturday. As rumours swirled that CM Punk's return might not be as nailed on as first thought, this delaying tactic had an uneasy and disappointing air about it. Next week should bring about an end to this run of public addresses too - if faith in their size and scale wasn't already shaken, it is now.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he 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 on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
