SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Before AEW debuted, I was down on wrestling. I was at a point where I was fed up with WWE and I was only checking back in for the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania season and then not checking back in until Summerslam. I was just not happy with the product, and it was becoming a chore to get through. Even going to live events was boring for me.
The last Raw I went to before I attended John Cena’s last Raw in Boston in December was so boring and there was so much downtime in between matches that my wife and I left the show. (Going to Cena’s last Raw in Boston this December was like being in an alternate universe from that Raw I had attended years before.)
Then AEW came around and it brought my love of wrestling completely back. It was a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t always perfect, but I found myself anticipating Wednesdays the way I used to anticipate Mondays when I was a kid. AEW rejuvenated my love of wrestling, and it also brought me back to loving WWE.
There were obviously a lot of factors that helped WWE bounce back like Triple H taking over booking (He is on three covers for the new 2K26 video game. I repeat, three covers! It’s preposterous), the Bloodline storyline, and just better storytelling all together, but the emergence of AEW also had a lot to do with it in my opinion.
I am not a tribalist when it comes to wrestling. I honestly find it dumb and I don’t understand it. Save that non-sense for Twitter/X and all the “pay attention to me” weirdos on there. I am a PRO WRESTLING fan.
AEW has had its down times, but I look at wrestling the way I look at my stock portfolio. There are ups and downs and for the most part the ups usually outlast the downs. One of the reasons I was so down on WWE and lost my love of wrestling was because the downs were way too down and I felt as if I had to cut my losses.
The reason I bring this all up is because the last few weeks of AEW have really been great and this story of MJF and all the sharks circling him and his AEW World Title is the type of storyline that makes me love wrestling. The World Title should be the focus of the show, and I think AEW has done a great job this month having all their top male stars World Title focused. I’ve just had so much fun watching the last month of AEW and it’s times like this I thank god I am a wrestling fan.
Cheap Plug: I’ll be co-hosting the Wade Keller Post-Show after Dynamite this week live on YouTube. The show looks loaded and I’m excited to co-host and possibly talk with people who have been reading this weekly article.
Swerve Strickland vs. Andrade El Idolo – Dynamite 1/28/26
It’s been years at this point now, but Prince Nana dancing still makes me laugh. Don Callis made multiple references to hurting Prince Nana on the show, so I was expecting Nana to somehow get involved with this match but luckily, he didn’t. I enjoyed the ending of the match way more than if they had Prince Nana involved.
I really enjoyed the back and forth between Swerve and Andrade at the beginning of this match and the gamesmanship between these two top tier athletes who are at the top of their game right now.
If you’ve read this article consistently you would know that I am not the biggest fan of Andrade, but I thought this was his best showing in AEW in a long time. He looked fully engaged. Andrade is one of those guys that you can tell right away whether he is into something or not.
He also looks great. It looks like he’s slimmed down a bit and really looks good. I’m not a fan of taking selfies and getting girls’ numbers in a match where a potential World Title shot is on the line. It’s the same as doing the Macarena in the middle of a World Title Match. There are certain matches where that’s acceptable, but not in a match like this where the stakes are so high.
There were a lot of great spots in this match and Swerve has now had back-to-back main events on Dynamite where he has shown up and shown out. Andrade’s dive over the top and Tornado Twist he does is always so cool looking and I liked that they went back to the guardrail spot that Swerve hit on Kevin Knight last week, but this week he had it reversed on him and Andrade was able to give him a back body drop on to the guardrail. Andrade also hit Swerve with a reverse Hurricanrana from the second rope that was awesome.
Don Callis had a great line about Aubrey Edwards after Swerve kicked out of the pin when he said, “Did Aubrey Edwards fail Mathematics?”
I liked the ending of this match with Andrade cheating to win because it leaves the door open for Swerve to claim he should have a title shot against MJF eventually. He wasn’t pinned in the 4-way match at the World’s End PPV and now Andrade had to cheat to beat him.
I also loved the post-match segment with MJF being confronted by Kenny Omega and then being followed by Andrade and Hangman out of the arena. The sharks are circling MJF and it’s a lot of fun to watch.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Kris Statlander (AEW Women’s World Champion) vs. Thekla – Dynamite 1/28/26
I thought these two had a great match on Dynamite and other than Swerve and Andrade I thought this was the best match on the show. Thekla just continues to impress me, and I was really hoping that they were just going to put the title on her. Just compare the entrances of these two to start the match.
Thekla’s entrance is like an immediate jolt of energy, and she just looks like a star coming out. Then compare that to your World Champion who barely got a reaction when she walked out. I know there is way more that goes into who your World Champion should be, but I would not have been mad at a title change here.
Thekla is a bulldog in the ring, and I mean that as a compliment. She got so much air on that cross body to the outside of the ring, and her smaller stature made it look like she was flying when they showed the overhead camera spot. Statlander did her show of strength by holding up Thekla for a long time on the backdrop, but if we are honest, it’s not that impressive when Thekla is probably 130 lbs. soaking wet.
The spot when Statlander whipped Thekla into the turnbuckle pad from behind her back was very impressive, though. Not many women in AEW can pull that spot off which is why Statlander can be so frustrating. She has physical tools but the social skills in terms of connecting with the audience is just not there.
Megan Bayne came out after the ending of the match and I guess that’s where we are heading next with Statlander and the Women’s World Title. I guess my question is who is going to carry a Bayne vs. Statlander rivalry now on the microphone? I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve heard Megan Bayne cut more than a one minute long promo, so the promos between these two should be interesting.
Mark Briscoe (TNT Champion) vs. Tommaso Ciampa – Collision 1/31/26
This is why wrestling is the best because who would have thought last week that this week I’d be talking about Ciampa being your new TNT Champion. As I talked about in the opening of the article, you can take your wrestling tribalism and stick it. You don’t get moments like this if there is only one show in town.
Ciampa’s entrance music is so good, one of the best in wrestling already. I loved Ciampa in NXT, while his main roster run in WWE was forgettable, if we are honest. I was nervous he was going to lose this match, and it really would have been almost a death sentence for him right off the bat in AEW. Briscoe is loved enough that he can take the loss and not really be too affected in the eyes of the fans. I will always root for a guy who is betting on himself.
I thought this debut match for Ciampa was great and you could tell Ciampa had a little extra bounce in his step in this one. The driver he hit Briscoe with on the ring apron was a nasty spot. Briscoe landed shoulder first and I always cringe at these ring apron spots. AEW loves a ring apron spot, don’t they…
Briscoe also got some major height and distance on his Froggy Bow elbow drop. The elbow drop spot from Briscoe to Ciampa through the table on the outside was a great spot, but the set up took too long. I never like when you can tell the guy is standing there just getting ready to catch a guy. The timing was just a little too off for me.
I didn’t watch ROH religiously when these two were in it, but I can imagine seeing these two in the ring together again was a real treat for those hardcore ROH fans. I’ll be rooting for Ciampa, and he may need it with Kyle Fletcher coming back for the TNT Title.
Thoughts and Observations:
– The camera angle when Rocky Romero took that knee from Omega when he was showboating was my favorite part of Dynamite this week. Just perfection.
– Tazz back on commentary just levels up the show.
– I like that the Young Bucks going back to “Tassels and Superkicks” makes them humble now. Just a funny way to look at that. I’m happy we are getting the old Bucks back.
– I really liked the Ricochet promo this week and loved the Gates of Agony just beating the hell out of Jack Perry in the back.
– When Marina Shafir was talking to Toni Storm in Romanian and Toni Storm just dead panned and responded to her “What?” I lost it. I rewound it again to watch it because it was so funny.
– Toni Storm isn’t crazy enough to shave her head, right… right?
– Well, it took a month, but I guess we are finally going to get back to the Okada and Fletcher screwdriver incident at World’s End.
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