7 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (January 17 - Results & Review)

Samoa Joe Vs. HOOK was the main selling point of Dynamite last night.

That had nothing to do with the hysterical tribalist nonsense on X over whether HOOK was a better wrestler than Jinder Mahal or a more worthy title challenger than Jinder Mahal. It had everything to do with HOOK and what he can do and how far he can go. Wrestling isn't (or shouldn't) be a relentlessly tedious pissing contest. It is a star-creation enterprise, and HOOK is both a star and not.

A prodigy, the most youthful presence in all of wrestling in late 2021, his career has stuttered since. An incredibly unique and enigmatic character with a captivating judo-inspired style and frightening agility, AEW was his to inherit, it seemed - but that overloaded roster manifested with yet another problem. There was nowhere for HOOK to really go, and where he should have gone on excursion somewhere, Tony Khan instead booked him to buddy up with various babyfaces in irreverent side quests. HOOKhausen was meant to be a fun exercise in juxtaposition, but it was very lightweight, and HOOK didn't quite have the aura to withstand it. He became everybody's moody, reluctant mate, which defeated the purpose by the end. It was no longer special, getting the rub from the cool loner, since Khan ran that device into the ground.

It was much too early in his career for his first World title match for it to act as a referendum on HOOK - but it was a test of his main event credentials, all the same...