8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (26 Jan)

5. Inner Circle Get A Taste

Chris Jericho Matt Lee
AEW

At times more of an angle than a match, 2point0 and Daniel Garcia vs. The Inner Circle's Chris Jericho, Ortiz, and Santana leaned heavily on the babyfaces' recent tension.

Eddie Kingston is currently the wedge between Jericho and Proud and Powerful. Last week, Ortiz and Santana pitched that maybe King was right after all, and Jericho is the reason they haven't been Tag Team Champions. They want to show they can win without him, but were robbed of that here.

Jericho's Judas Effect from the outside enabled Santana's piledriver on Matt Lee, which finished the match. Santana and Ortiz carried the bulk of the weight throughout the clash but won thanks to Jericho. This came following around nine minutes of Santana and Ortiz frequently ignoring the former AEW World Champion, tagging each other in when it would've been more advantageous to slap Chris' hand.

Good in-match storytelling - and the heels played their roles as well as they always do. Expressive and irritating but still credible, Garcia and 2point0 is a solid midcard unit for situations like this.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.