8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (January 3 - Results & Review)

7. Orange Cassidy Vs Dante Martin

The Orange Cassidy International Championship formula doesn't feel quite as fresh after trading the title with Jon Moxley and Rey Fenix in late-2023, but perhaps that's why it was tinkered with here in the first Dynamite match of the new year.

Cassidy had already been called out by Roderick Strong via Adam Cole (more on that later), and his plate was only fuller after picking up the victory against the game Top Flight challenger.

Beyond his usual aerial offence, Martin's other strategy was to deprive Cassidy of (literally) getting comfortable. The simplicity of the Champion not being permitted to put his hands in his pockets was a great touch, even if he eventually managed it and made Martin pay double for being made to wait.

Early match frustration led to an uncharacteristic heel control portion to put over Martin's fire, and nothing but the match itself was lost for the Top Flight man. In a surprise addendum to the action, a six-man post-match stand-off between the respective run-in buddies was broken up by a returning Private Party, seemingly separated from Matt Hardy at long last.

They couldn't have felt fresher in their promo, even if seeing will be have to be believing second time around.

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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett