9 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (June 15)

Downs...

2. The Big Dumb Fun Segment Isn't Fun Enough

Wardlow Vs. the Plaintiffs, sadly, was a far better idea on paper.

The execution was messy, but as it unfolded, it was clear that it never really stood a chance. As the structure lapped itself, with zero tension nor escalation, the crowd fell into a hush. As soon as Wardlow sent several plaintiffs out of the ring, they were announced as being eliminated. This led the crowd into thinking the match was held under battle royal rules. It wasn't. Then again, looking at the piles of bodies and how few shoulders were pressed to the mat, it's hard to gauge what the rules were.

The plaintiffs were numbered only by Dasha Gonzalez, so the spectacle was difficult to keep track of, and no sense of imminent triumph lifted the mood in the arena as she indicated how close Wardlow was to victory because this was a repetitive, redundant match that barely even scratched its fun potential. There was no final boss type hoss to build towards, just a bunch of rookies masquerading as security, and some were so green that they compounded the general awkward vibe by taking Wardlow's powerbombs poorly. It's genuinely noble that AEW experiments with this sort of thing, but it simply didn't work.

At least AEW were savvy enough to recognise that this was a fairly ambitious segment, and had the onus to book a guaranteed local pop in the post-match.