8 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dynamite (6 April)

by Andy H Murray

1. FTR & The Young Bucks Deliver TV Match Of The Year Contender

FTR Matt Jackson
AEW

The Young Bucks vs. FTR II was as fantastic as expected, though the layout was a subversion of everything bad faith actors think they know about the brothers Jackson.

Though they never betrayed their characters, Matt and Nick were great as controlling, southern-style heels cutting off the ring, working Cash Wheeler over, and denying the audience gratification over and over. Whenever it looked like Cash had an opening, the Bucks would cut him down. This peaked with Nick superkicking Dax Harwood off the apron just as Wheeler was leaping for the tag. Later, as they grew in confidence, the Bucks poked the viper, mocking FTR with a Big Rig that enhanced the comeuppance of the eventual finish. Doing this made FTR not only blasting Matt with a BTE Trigger and kissing the trapped Buck as if he was Adam Cole, but hitting their finish to show the Jacksons how it's really done, all the more impactful.

Harwood has been operating at an incredible level in 2022. He was great again here, still selling hand damage from the first Bucks vs. FTR match, though Wheeler was given a bigger platform. Cash's selling was great. The Ricky Morton to Dax's Robert Gibson, he took his beating as well as Dax dished it out, setting the match up for a building-shaking hot tag.

Topping the match off was an entirely effectively false finish. The Bucks thought they had Wheeler pinned with the BTE Trigger and celebrated as such, not realising Cash's foot was on the ropes. Faced with an adrenaline dump, they were foiled soon after, put down by a slingshot powerbomb and Tombstone in unison before the killshots came.

In 2022, the Tag Team of the Year conversation starts and ends with FTR. We're only three months in, of course, and things could change by December, but Dax and Cash are currently streets ahead of the competition. Fierce, intense, and classically styled but updated for modern palates, this was another example of their tag wrestling prowess.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.