8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (9 Feb)

Downs...

2. F*ck Impromptu Matches: Then. Now. Forever.

You won't see a better segment building an impromptu match, but impromptu matches can f*ck off whatever the circumstances.

A fight doesn't randomly break out on a UFC show. Contracts have to be signed, time has to be allocated. Chelsea don't take the field at half-time during Man City Vs. Arsenal to make it a Triple Threat match.

Wrestling is different, but does it have to be?

Should wrestling be allowed to get away with a plot hole so big it could twist your ankle, just because it's wrestling? What was scheduled for that slot? Calm down. It's only wrestling! Who cares if it makes sense! Did Tony Khan book the fewest amount of pre-announced matches on a Dynamite card ever because he anticipated that CM Punk would interrupt MJF's promo, and simply guess that MJF would issue the challenge?

No.

He announced fewer matches than ever because wrestling is fake, and the impromptu match exposes that. This latest departure from a throughly not broken format follows several recent opening promo segments and two disqualifications in as many months. Each DQ was actually really well done, in isolation, but all of this WWE-adjacent business is having an unsettling effect on AEW's soul.

Again: this was the best possible version of a terrible relic of a North American TV trope. MJF thought Punk had no friends other than Sting and Darby Allin because Eddie Kingston mentioning this infuriated Punk last year, and Punk has a well-known reputation as a prickly figure behind the scenes. But the trope wasn't just a bad trope in and of itself: the rematch should have felt more like a hopeless struggle Punk had to work towards, and the surprise partner gimmick was best left for a week in which a better surprise wasn't sold as the key attraction of the show.