7 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (2 Mar)
1. A Muddled Casino Tag Team Royale
The last few minutes of the Casino Tag Team Royale were excellent. Once the ring had cleared out and the match boiled down to The Young Bucks, FTR, and Darius Martin, everything was on-point, including a pulse-pounding closing stretch that teased the returning Darius overcoming both Bucks before he was stooged out of it by Matt Jackson and his various associates. Good, quality stuff, and other fun moments like Max Caster's rap ("We the reason for the people in the seats, y'all less popular than Glenn Jacobs' tweets") get props too.
But the Casino's other 22 minutes suffered from familiar problems. A cluttered, overcrowded stramash of a bout, this was a big spoonful of nothing until it got down to business. Wrestlers hit the ring on 90-second interviews, brawled with each other and worked a couple of spots, then disappeared into the background for the next arrival. More a series of ring entrances towards a writhing mass of humanity than a match, it was lacking in hooks and excitement.
Such is the format, though. It's difficult to craft something meaningful or memorable with so many bodies in the way.
Though predictable, the Bucks made for good winners - and the reDRagon teases were well-handled too. The destination, as usual, was on point.
It's just a shame about the journey.