HEYDORN’S DYNAMITE RECEIPT 1/26: Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevara shine with spots, forget to sell

This week’s episode of AEW Dynamite has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.

-I’m going to be “that guy” and advocate for the notion that Sammy Guevara and Cody Rhodes both needed to sell more in their ladder match. When you accomplish what they did from an execution and spot standpoint, you make that material more over and more impactful if there is some “umph” behind the selling. That was missing and didn’t make the spots in the match any less impressive, but it did erode the long-term effect they had on the match’s meaning for the story and place in history in AEW.

-Real quick on that cutter spot. Holy smokes. Jeff Hardy’s bump in the WrestleMania 17 ladder match held up for over twenty years as the best ladder match bump ever. Guevara flying through the air the way he did and landing with the precision that he did now takes the cake. A new bar!

-Santana and Ortiz finally appear to be on the path to doing something significant. Looking long term, a feud against the House of Black is something I’d absolutely want to see.

-To the surprise of nobody, Lance Archer vs. Adam Page for the AEW World Championship is set for a couple weeks on Dynamite. As I’ve mentioned, it’s a nice, mini holdover program for Page. The Texas Deathmatch stipulation adds a layer of intrigue and should help showcase a more aggressive champion.

-Surprised that MJF vs. C.M. Punk is slated for next week on Dynamite with Revolution on the horizon. Going with it here tells me this probably won’t be the only match between these two and that is fine given that it’s the hottest thing going in AEW right now. Punk and MJF are hitting all the right notes to give the feud heat and Wardlow being along for the ride is helping to elevate him at the same time.

-Leyla Hirsch needs work on the microphone, but her ring work is undeniably good at this point. She has more range there and should be on the slow track, but could be someone to pencil in for 18 months from now as a potential challenger to a babyface women’s champion.

-Cue cards for your victory promo Sammy Guevara? I enter this into evidence to help make my first point about selling. It was nowhere to be found and this environment didn’t allow for it. Money left on the table.

-The Orange Cassidy/Adam Cole main event started slow, but picked up nicely as it went on. The lights out stipulation was a bit too dramatic given where the feud actually was between both men, but it worked to finish things off. Cassidy winning was a surprise, but probably the right call given he was the babyface. Plus, since it was lights out, the loss doesn’t hurt Cole’s record and he can still challenge for the AEW World Championship at the next PPV if Tony Khan wants to play that card.

CATCH-UP: HEYDORN’S NXT 2.0 RECEIPT 1/25: Strong in-ring action leads to entertaining show top to bottom