7 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (May 22 - Results & Review)
Downs...
2. Chris Jericho Remains At Large
In three-way/Triple Threat matches, you'll often see a spot in which two of the wrestlers each apply a submission hold to the third.
What happens if they tap out? What happens if they tap out in a title match? Do the two wrestlers become co-champions? Three-way matches are fundamentally stupid; they've just been normalised.
Last night, AEW answered a question that shouldn't have been asked in the first place: both Katsuyori Shibata and HOOK made Bryan Keith tap out. The match was a lethargic exchange of suplexes and little more before this bad finish. Watching Shibata do bad TV wrestling miscommunication spots is a little soul-destroying.
Chris Jericho - who provided guest commentary here - is very often criticised by default these days. And rightly so: he hasn't earned his ever-present status in a long time and people want him to go away. Sometimes he's not actively atrocious, just profoundly over-exposed and slow in the ring. He was actively atrocious last night, Jesus Christ.
He said, in that disingenuous new cadence, that he loves being on TV. Isn't that the wrong way 'round? If he's doing an insincere playing dumb bit, shouldn't he be saying something along the lines of "Well, you know I don't like to steal focus from the young guys, but I was asked by the Young Bucks to come out and do commentary, and since I'm a pro..."
That way, the character would both make sense and it would feel as though the Young Bucks are actually interested in taking over the show beyond their own segments.
Jericho hopped on a live mic after the match to explain the finish, but was so caught up in getting his new bad bit over that he ran out of time. He had to "shut the hell up" as his music played as a cue to get him out of there.
Woeful look for the guy whose entire reason for hanging around is his level of experience.