8 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dynamite (6 April)
FTR and The Young Bucks outdo themselves, Cole wrestles Cage, Eddie Kingston throws a TV (!).
If not for the mid-show lull housing all three of this article's Downs, last night would have been the best episode of Dynamite that AEW has ever produced.
The highs were stunning. From a genuine television Match of the Year contender and a vicious squash to a flawless promo from an emerging megastar and a World Title angle hotter than the sun's surface, when this show was great, it was really great. Helped on a booming Boston crowd, AEW put its best foot forward in attempting to slide back into a news cycle dominated by impressive WWE's post-WrestleMania 38 buzz.
It was a card atypical of Tony Khan's approach to booking, too. The announcers putting it over as pay-per-view calibre within the first few minutes didn't feel like hyperbole. Given how well their first match was received, The Young Bucks vs. FTR II could have reasonably headlined an AEW supercard. Here, along with Samoa Joe's in-ring debut and the first-time-ever Christian Cage vs. Adam Cole bout, it was "given away" on free television (a point still relevant to AEW, given their revenue split) without feeling hot-shotted.
Whether it worked or not will be apparent when the ratings come out.
For now, let's light the fuse...