7 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (January 10 - Results & Review)
Downs...
2. A Non-Starter Of A Faction
The Undisputed Kingdom doesn't feel like a main event concern.
They are fighting a difficult challenge. They are taking the flack for AEW's infuriating sports entertainment misadventure of autumn 2023. They formed in retaliation to MJF. They lack true agency and feel like a contrivance - which is incredibly suboptimal, since the thin reason why they exist, MJF, no longer exists himself. They're now talking about winning championships and taking over and the like, which while generic is good and necessary, but it's all a lot closer to the Firm than the Four Horsemen. They don't feel like a threat, and for the second week in a row, in a promo cut after Roderick Strong beat Bryan Keith, Adam Cole's exercise in over-correction fell flat. His promo was tell-don't-show, near-identical to last week, and the guy is on crutches.
He badly needed a heel masterplan to compensate for the fact that he isn't a physical threat, and "I pretended to be annoyed by Roderick Strong in horrifically lame comedy skits to throw MJF off the scent" was hardly the work of a cerebral genius. The stable isn't a bad idea in theory. Cole has thrived in this role before. Perhaps a few more weeks are needed to disassociate fans from the ruinous trappings of "the Devil".
The troubling thing here, though, is that Cole promised the Undisputed Kingdom aren't going away, and few would be too bothered if they did.