7 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Quake By The Lake (10 Aug)

3. Backstage Melodrama

Fundamentally, this was a good idea.

The Young Bucks need a third man for the Trios Tournament. 'Hangman' Adam Page saved them last week and Matt Jackson had been trying to leap the mental hurdle of trying to reach out to their former stablemate before that anyway. This is one of the most detail-rich long-running stories that AEW has ever told on, many, many levels, and the Bucks swallowing their pride, apologising for how they'd treated Page over the years, and extending their olive branch was always happening.

Page's way of saying "no" was what it needed to be, too. The Dark Order were there for him in his attempts at becoming World Champion, so he was going to be there for them in the tournament. Sorry, Bucks.

All of this sets up Kenny Omega's return. He'll be the Bucks' third man in the tournament leading to a potential finals clash with the Dark Order, which will play heavily on incredibly complex character dynamics. The storytelling is fantastic, genuinely.

But the execution? Not so good.

After last week's Undisputed Elite breakup landed with around half the heft it should have, this backstage segment featured a wrestler who isn't comfortable delivering lengthy exposition doing just that. Matt Jackson is not a backstage actor. He's part of a phenomenal modern wrestling storyline and has been pivotal to that, but this segment opposed the idea of hiding weaknesses and highlighting strengths. Shaky in his delivery and seemingly nervous beyond his character, this performance, unfortunately, made for an amateurish segment.

Most wrestlers can't act. But if Elite-brand melodrama is coming back, the segments must be of a higher calibre.