8 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Dec 9)
The Inner Circle comes back together, Sting gets nostalgic, and Omega and Callis run it back.
Winter Is Coming's seismic shifts meant this week's AEW Dynamite was always going to feel like a relative comedown. The company can't debut a universally respected pro wrestling icon, spring a World Title change, and kickstart an interpromotional relationship every week, so a downturn in excitement was to be expected - though perhaps not to such an extent.
"Fine" best describes this episode of Dynamite. Most of what went down worked, objectively, for the stories AEW was telling (hence the positive Ups-to-Downs ratio), but it was an oddly paced night that suffered from the dysfunctional positioning of big, hyped-up moments like the Sting talking segment and Kenny Omega and Don Callis' "big announcement." A good episode on the whole, just not quite up to AEW's recent standards.
On top of the aforementioned segments, we were promised an appearance from Shaq, whose friend, Jade Cargill, has already made powerful enemies in Cody and Brandi Rhodes. Orange Cassidy wrestled MJF for the Dynamite Diamond Ring after last week's battle royal, Full Gear opponents The Young Bucks and FTR wrestled The Hybrid2 and Varsity Blondes respectively, and The Inner Circle would either settle their beef or split for good, depending on Chris Jericho's ultimatum's outcome.
Let's light the fuse...