It was hard to articulate why the first meeting of Bryan Danielson and Kazuchika Okada since Forbidden Door wasn't quite as buzz-worthy as it should have been going into Dynamite, but it was much easier in the aftermath to work out how Claudio Castagnoli and Orange Cassidy stole the headlines in the aftermath.
A very very good tag team match got great when the International Champion and his next Challenger were mixing it up. Castagnoli countering the Orange Punch with Sharpshooters and Giant Swings was a tantalising teaser into what they'll get to do together, even if the 'Swiss Superman' will ultimately end up as a set-up guy for Jon Moxley. It was exhilarating.
The same couldn't quite be said for Danielson and Okada hooking back up, but an explosive conclusion resulted in Bryan selling his face like his jaw had been knocked clean off, creating convincing stakes for their Wrestle Kingdom rematch and a brutal Rainmaker finale.
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.
