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

3. Jade Cargill Evolves

One small complaint: if AEW are going to book a title match on television, even one that wasn't made on the fly, they need to promote it at least one day before the show.

Otherwise, the championship doesn't feel like a drawing attraction. That's what the title fight functions to do. Even if the outcome isn't in doubt, you pretend that it is. Even if that match doesn't feel altogether big, you pretend that it is. In this case, it's better to slightly insult the intelligence of the audience than it is to portray a title as an afterthought snuck in at the last minute.

The outcome did feel in doubt at one point, which is a credit to the work involved crafting an over-delivery of a match. AQA's impressive shooting star press informed a moment that the fans were prepared to accept as a shock, and in general, Jade entered a mature performance that added further dimension to her act. She sold more than she typically does for AQA, whose pop-up dropkick counter neatly wrestled the advantage away from the champion. Jade carrying AQA around with one arm was a unique and impressive way of getting her strength over, and in general, she looked so much less stiff and uncoordinated taking arm drags and the like.

It wasn't a blow-away great match or anything, but Jade's improvement is apparent every week.