7 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (May 22 - Results & Review)
Darby Allin introduces an insane weapon on a silly but effective Double Or Nothing go-home episode.
Much discourse surfaced over the weekend about AEW Collision and, chiefly, why it actually exists.
Consider the match between Nick Wayne and Jack Cartwheel which, one delightfully unhinged bump on the part of the latter aside, was a bit of a piss-take. Last week's Collision was a barely glorified episode of Dark: Elevation. That show, hardly must-see, once functioned as a means of "building" wrestlers ahead of a key match on Dynamite. Collision has now supplanted that thin purpose. Had Wayne featured prominently on television, and wasn't one of the countless wrestlers that have no space through which to progress, there'd have been nothing wrong with a quick squash win - but he's barely on TV. That woefully predictable match was borderline insulting, reeking of last-minute homework. Who says Nick Wayne, who we don't care about enough to book consistently, can't beat World champion Swerve Strickland?
He just beat another guy we don't care about enough to book consistently - in two minutes!
Yes, there's some nice continuity to the Swerve Vs. Wayne subplot, a bit of thought, but the patterned booking is really showing its age five years in.
All of which is to state that this was AEW's last chance to hard-sell Double Or Nothing 2024.
It's already happening. Double Or Nothing has crept up on fans - is it this weekend already? - without much in the way of feeling. A great, well-built show is meant to feel like it's ages away. The expanded pay-per-view schedule is undermining the crucial sense of anticipation.
Did AEW disprove this creeping cynicism on Dynamite...?