6 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Dec 23)
Great tag wrestling is a gift, but there's a few lumps of coal in AEW's stuffed Christmas stocking.
The last AEW Dynamite before Christmas had the inconvenience of being delayed by basketball, with no set start time for the show available ahead of the night itself. This will almost certainly impact the show's total viewership, but the broadcast itself pointedly no-sold the creative challenge completely.
It was - as has become the norm in recent months - a stacked show, with several angles forwarded in an effort to include and feature as many wrestlers as possible from AEW's loaded roster. Truthfully, and more on this in the review itself, this is becoming a problem. Certain segments are beginning to feel overloaded, while others here upset the flow of an episode bookended by company-branded bangers. This has all taken up so much time that AAA/Impact invader, belt collector and AEW World Champion Kenny Omega was rendered a bit of an afterthought on Wednesday after making Tuesdays - Tuesdays - hot again.
In many ways, it's a good problem to have, but there might be a New Year's resolution in acknowledging that it is a problem. Dynamite's sagged a touch since Winter Is Coming, and much can probably be tied to that feeling of bloat on the shows themselves.
Even on fairly fun broadcasts such as this one, the issue was still all too apparent...