7 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (23 Feb)

5. A Functional Battle Royale

Santana Colten Gunn
AEW

Tag team battle royales are usually far too crowded to deliver any kind of hot action. It's difficult to work sequences when there are 20 different guys in the ring, but Dynamite's opener at least did a good job of highlighting multiple units, calling back to old storylines, and pushing its most important new one forward.

That Gunn Club got a big "Ass Boys" chant towards the beginning shows that Danhausen's schtick is working. The Butcher looked good in his power spots, running through multiple men at once, long after The Blade had been eliminated. Santana's thumbs-up behind Colten Gunn was immediately iconic. Speaking of the Inner Circle man, his face-off with Trent got a mega pop, harking back to the Parking Lot Brawl.

It ultimately boiled down to the escalating tension between reDRagon and The Young Bucks. While the bickering tandems did a good job of working together for the greater good throughout, this changed at the end. Kyle O'Reilly pretended he was too hurt to put John Silver out. Matt Jackson obliged - and was promptly double-crossed. KOR dumped him out of the ring as he was putting Silver over the top rope, securing reDRagon the win.

The Bucks winning next week's Casino Tag Team Royale to enter the Revolution title fight seems like the obvious move here, bringing this Adam Cole-infused storyline to pay-per-view with Jurassic Express in the middle.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.