AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES (2/21): Christian and Garcia, Sting’s personal promo, Wardlow’s declaration, Cool Hand and Ruby,

Another week and another chance for AEW to continue their build for Revolution which is just a week and a half away. I came into this episode of Dynamite looking forward to seeing what they have planned with a decent card on paper and in what ways they can get more fans invested in what is expected to be one heck of a PPV event in front of a large crowd in Greensboro.

HITS

BCC vs. FTR

When you take four of the most intense hard-hitting wrestlers on the roster and put them in a ring, you are likely going to get a great match and that’s exactly what we got in the opener. The crowd’s investment grew as the match went on and while there was disappointment in a draw finish, it all made sense when you look at what they were trying to build to, and that’s a rematch at Revolution. It will be a match that won’t be predictable as well, joining a card that is full of them for the PPV. My only issue with this opener is the lack of clear babyfaces and heels. The BCC has been playing the role as heels for a while now, yet they still get cheered so just put them in that role and keep them there. FTR started the match with the crowd against them, yet turned many of them to their side by the end so they were a little mis-cast in this one as well. Fix this issue, and they’ll have no issues moving forward as these teams are incapable of having a bad match.

CHRISTIAN AND GARCIA

Now THIS segment proves how a clear heel and clear babyface make a program so much better. Garcia established himself as a fan favorite by praising the crowd and getting them on his side just in time for Christian to come out to talk about dead fathers and have the crowd ready to see him get destroyed. While Garcia is not a finished product, he did a good job in his role and shows the promise we saw about 18 months ago when he was ready to turn on Chris Jericho only to have that program changed at the last minute. This time, they have done a good job giving him wins and setting up this title shot while Christian continues to be a perfect heel champion sending his minions to do his dirty work. I’m excited for this title match at Revolution.

STING’S PROMO

Sting won’t go down in history as one of the better promo guys, but over the decades he has had a knack of coming through before big matches. I send my condolences to him over the loss of his father, but whether or not he used that in this week’s promo, he did a great job showing calm intensity to set up his final match at Revolution. He didn’t need to “play the hits” and yell and scream or channel the “Joker Sting” in this one. He stared right at the camera and told the Bucks exactly what he was going to do. Mission accomplished.

WARDLOW’S PROMO

I have to admit, if you would have told me there was going to be a Wardlow interview segment, I would have assumed he would have needed Adam Cole to help hype him up. I would have been wrong on that one. Wardlow came out, grabbed the mic, and gave the best promo of his career. Whether or not he follows it up remains to be seen, but that does not take away from a confident speech where he laid out the fact that he’s beaten the last three AEW champions and deserves a title match. I would have left out the stuff at the beginning about rockets being strapped to backs and such, but I won’t dwell on that when I look back at this promo. I’ll remember the passion he spoke with. Well done.

COMMENTATOR’S BANTER

I’ve brought it up many times in the past in this column, but I am such a fan of the commentary on AEW TV. Nigel McGuinness is a joy and one of the better heel commentators in recent decades and the Taz, Excalibur, Schiavone discussions on Dynamite are so enjoyable. They come across as real people and not robots spewing the company line. They can annoy each other and have fun with each other in the same minute. Taz explaining to Excalibur that he doesn’t care if Excalibur’s heard his “standing on my wallet” line a million times, it’s new for the audience was as authentic as it gets! No-sell Jones indeed!

MISSES

COOL HAND AND RUBY’S DATE

In the grand scheme of things, I have no issues with this being a storyline. It’s not for me, but it’s been a very small part of Rampage and a little bit of Collision over the past few months. The problem is putting this “date” on Dynamite with absolutely no setup. Keep this story on the B & C shows. Nearly half the audience watching Dynamite doesn’t watch the other shows so there is no reason to confuse them by having them show up on Wednesdays.

THE MAIN EVENT

Where do I begin? First of all, this was an odd mix of wrestlers in strange roles. Who was a babyface? Who was a heel? Who am I rooting for? Hangman Page kind of went heel after his match with Swerve a couple weeks ago but was back hyping up the crowd this week while Swerve was playing the babyface and ended up on the team of heels. I have no idea. The match itself was sloppy with all of the participants looking a little disjointed. There was mass confusion on my part of who was the legal man most of the time. What’s worse is the possible injury to Hangman who was clutching his ankle after the match and seemed to be telling the cameraman not to shoot him. We’ll see if this affects the match at Revolution.

Once again, this was an enjoyable episode of Dynamite for me. While the main event was a disappointment, I don’t let one match ruin a show that had plenty of positives. I’m continuing to be excited for Revolution and the final build.

Continued thanks to everyone listening to The All Elite Conversation Club on the PWTorch podcast lineup on Friday afternoons. Joel Dehnel and I have a great time breaking down all things AEW and appreciate those who have given us a try!

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