3 things that went right on the Jan. 18 AEW: Dynamite
Another episode of All Elite Wrestling (AEW): Dynamite has come and gone, and the promotion once again provided its fans with an entertaining two hours of television.
This week’s episode featured two championship matches and a pair of anticipated dream matches in The Young Bucks vs. Top Flight and Bryan Danielson vs. Bandido. All of those matches delivered from a quality standpoint, but we’re not here to just marvel at the high-end workrate; we’re also here to discuss the booking decisions.
These are three things that went right on the Jan. 18 episode of AEW: Dynamite.
Top Flight beat The Young Bucks
After winning the AEW World Trios Championship with Kenny Omega last week, The Young Bucks returned to traditional tag team action this week against a team that mirrors their athleticism and innovation: Top Flight.
As expected, the two sibling-comprised teams put on a show while leaving enough to the imagination for an eventual rematch. What fans may not have expected, however, was Top Flight getting the win over the Bucks, but that’s what happened after Darius Martin avoided the BTE Trigger and rolled up Matt Jackson for the surprise pinfall.
Between this win and the series of competitive matches the Martins participated in with the Blackpool Combat Club, it feels like the Top Flight push is coming. We’ll have to wait to see if that comes to fruition, but this win over the Bucks is one heck of an encouraging sign.
Bryan Danielson pins Bandido
As part of his quest to challenge Maxwell Jacob Friedman for the AEW World Championship at Revolution, Bryan Danielson took on Bandido in a battle for former Ring of Honor World Champions.
Similar to Danielson’s match with Konosuke Takeshita, fans anticipated a banger between these two. In that respect, Danielson and Bandido more than met those expectations. Bandido’s strength and athleticism meshed well with Danielson’s technical proficiency, and the combination created another Match of the Year contender for Danielson. At this pace, he could win Wrestler of the Year for many publications.
Given that Danielson’s on the path to a world title match, his win over Bandido wasn’t in doubt. Still, AEW gets some kudos for giving Danielson the needed win while giving Bandido some time to showcase his talents before eating the pin.
MJF’s promo
Following the Danielson/Bandido match, MJF appeared on the big screen to address Danielson and the fans. In a refreshing departure from the lazy (and outright racist, in some cases) material he’s leaned on for the last two weeks, Friedman turned up the intensity a bit and warned Danielson that he would have to deal with a far more sinister Max as Revolution approaches.
When Friedman cuts promos like this, it makes his tendency to rely on cheap heat and low-brow insults all the more frustrating. Segments like this (and the one later on with Brian Cage) are far more effective at reinforcing how much of a dangerous scumbag he is than telling non-American wrestlers to speak English or telling a crowd of people how dumb they are.
Next. In 2023 AEW must put a title around Eddie Kingston’s waist. dark
We get it, he’s a heel and it’s his job to be as detestable as possible, but the edgelord material takes the focus away from his character and pushes it toward whatever awful thing he said. But when Friedman turns in a performance like the one we saw on Wednesday, it puts the heat he generates in the right place.