AEW Dynamite Workrate Report 1/29/20

What Worked

-Really enjoyed Young Bucks vs. Butcher and the Blade, especially when we got to the B&B(&B) control. Butcher is also really good at taking offense from both Bucks and making it credible, loved the way he honestly sold their stomach kicks and transition strikes depending on how hard it looked. His big crossbody is a nice spot, he had a couple of really good saves (including a perfectly timed one after a great Nick somersault senton). I'm not sure why Butcher and Blade grew out their hair for the AEW run, but I like the hairline positive attitude. Look how confident they look while stomping out Nick, while Nick shamefully hides behind Brett Michaels Rock of Love accessories.

-Swole should probably drop most of her kick offense (feels like we have a 1 in 3 success rate on those), but there was a lot to like about her match with Nyla Rose. Nyla had a couple nice bumps, Swole's thrust headbutt and her sell afterwards looked great, and the guillotine choke spot is the moment to beat tonight. Strong visual of Swole locking it in while Nyla wound up in a deep squat, powering up a couple of times but not quite, before finally getting fully extended and tossing Swole. Nyla's strength really came through there, awesome moment.

-When you go down to the Honda dealership this weekend, you're gonna want to talk to my guy Arn. He's the top guy there in charge of Fleet sales, total pro. You need a top notch Sales & Leasing Consultant? You talk to Arn.

-Cody did the best he possibly could opposite Sabian, really looked like he was working for two men. He flew hard into the turnbuckles even though Sabian can't even pretend to be doing an Irish whip with any strength behind it, and the impressive thing was Cody's bumps didn't seem disconnected from Sabian's awful offense. The timing was on point and it actually looked like Sabian's nothing strikes were damaging. Has to be tough to make Sabian look formidable, but he did his best.

-I'd actually like it if Britt Baker did more dental related putdowns and insults. My father is a dentist and all through my childhood he had a habit of pointing out dental shortcomings of TV actors. He had strong suspicions that Gillian Anderson did not regularly floss, due to her slightly irritated gumline. I need more Britt Baker calling out the dangers of periodontal disease, and less Britt Baker in a wrestling ring.

-Jack Evans hasn't been on TNT in 3 months, and that needs to change. There have been so many bad Jack Evans on Dynamite, and the actual still great Jack Evans has been slumming it on Dark. You need someone to bump a suplex on the side of their face? You have Jack Evans on your roster. AEW priorities are so bizarre.

-I probably would have rather just seen Darby work the entire main event, but sitting through a match long Private Party crapfest just made Darby's hot tag look even more amazing. His sudden tope on Jericho was so damn good, and in 90 seconds he outclassed Private Party in every single way, hitting all of his spots harder and twice as fast. They really picked the wrong team to sometimes occasionally get behind.


What Didn't Work

-Opening promo came off a little weak to me, neither guy's snaps were really landing, no real update on Moxley's eye (after having it worked on over an entire match a week ago), Ortiz Howard Dean'd the introduction of 5 local Puerto Rican goons, but I thought the pull apart looked good enough and laughed at Moxley mouthing "TEN!?" to the cameras while holding up his fingers.

- I'd say that Kip Sabian should stick to strikes that he can actually pull off, but after this match I think it might be best if he just not use his legs or arms for anything approximating a strike. He threw half a dozen kicks to the stomach that looked almost on par with mid 2000s Torrie Wilson (Edit: 2000s *babyface* Torrie Wilson. Heel Torrie Wilson had better stomach kicks), threw a couple missed clotheslines slowly enough (possible he was parodying the weekly Britt Baker matches, but probably not), just nothing but bad strikes. He took the Cross Rhodes like a champ, and maaaaaaybe Sabian should just be one of those guys who exclusively takes offense. The knee injury was a fun way to spend the commercial break, but we cut fully away to a commercial before we found out if he was faking it or not, and when we came back from break it wasn't referenced again. Odd.

-Can't be a coincidence that the weakest LAX performance in AEW is against Private Party. Private Party are the Young Bucks without the timing, forcing every team to stand around and wait while they hit some convoluted flip that ends with Quen almost touching someone with his feet. LAX looked like goobers having to wait around for stuff to land, looked like it threw off all four of them.

-Jon Moxley should have practiced swinging a bat before going on live TV. Swinging at bat is harder than it looks. Moxley looked like Pedro Cerrano if Cerrano faced nothing but curves.