8 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dynamite (5 April - Review)
4. MJF Day Is Definitely Not Mid
MJF, complete with a full swing band, sang Louis Prima's 'Pennies From Heaven' in order to celebrate himself. This was quite unbelievable. It was a bold move, but the crowd loved it, and MJF once again balanced his heel character in front of his hometown crowd to perfection.
He cut what would have been an impassioned and moving babyface promo, themed on how a disability need not prevent somebody from achieving their goals, had he not called an old teacher of his a "stupid bitch" and insisted that his words did not apply to poor people, who are doomed. It was another long segment, but he commands the attention of the crowd, so what does it matter, ultimately?
The way in which he got the crowd to do a "This is awesome" chant while taking the piss out of it at the same time was very well done.
He threatened to perform an encore before Jack Perry emerged as a disguised member of the band to attack MJF. The attack was justified - MJF had aimed a sexist tirade at Jack's partner last week - but Perry doesn't really have the certain charm required to pull it off. It's something Steve Austin and Sting could get away with. Perry is great at many things, but he isn't especially funny.
The segment was still an amusing highlight of the show, one that built the upcoming Pillars match with an organic feeling that multi-man builds often lack. The pull-apart brawl segued into Sammy Guevara's entrance ahead of his match with Komander; Sammy eyed the title and held it in front of both men. There was an element of 2019 NXT TV to this stuff on the ramp, but the difference is that what preceded it actually had some flavour.
On the subject of the match...