7 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (May 6)

1. Snake Stuff

Ugh.

Phallic imagery in a storyline that now features a Jake 'The Snake' Roberts effectively forcing himself on a helpless Brandi Rhodes? Any wrestling promotion should know better, but this falls straight into the canon established when Dustin Rhodes stole a kiss from Jake Hager's wife at Revolution.

This began with a promo in which Brandi told Roberts she wouldn't be backed until a corner like a damsel in distress, saying she was far from Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinski, and telling the legend to keep her name out of his dirty old mouth. Later, Jake brought the snake out. Brandi was dragged into the ring after Britt Baker had DDT'd her on the outside. Roberts, 64, mounted her, let the snake loose like he used to, and yeahhhh... not cool.

More than just Jake calling back to one of the gimmicks that made him famous (which would be fine in itself), the symbolism here was gross. That Jim Ross pointed the phallic, forceful symbolism out on commentary shows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this is the story AEW is trying to tell, and it's no good. No good at all.

The Cody vs. Lance Archer feud was already exciting enough, so why they went down this road is anyone's guess. Let's hope they drop it...