Dave Meltzer has questioned the interaction between Darby Allin and The Young Bucks on AEW Dynamite.
On the February 14th episode of Dynamite, the Jackson brothers were in action against Top Flight. The duo competed in the same white suits that they wore on February 7th, which were covered in Allins’ blood from the beatdown angle involving the former TNT Champion, Sting and The Icon’s family.
After the match, the former Tag Team Champions threatened to attack Tony Schiavone before Allin made the save. Grabbing the microphone, Allin launched a tirade on the Executive Vice Presidents. Noting that he was rejected for a job in the company while The Bucks’ “sh*t friends” all got hired, Allin was thankful that there was an EVP in AEW at one point with a sense of brains not named Kenny Omega. The audience chanted for Cody Rhodes in response, the former EVP who departed in 2022 to sign with WWE.
“Why Did They Shoot The Angle?”: Dave Meltzer
Meltzer has heavily criticised the nature of Allins’ promo for not providing a follow-up to the bloody beatdown on Wrestling Observer Radio, referencing Rhodes and alluding to All Elite Wrestling’s strongest critic, Jim Cornette:
I thought that Darby Allin interview was so counter productive. They ended that show last week with such a hot angle. He comes back and his blood is all over these guys’ jackets, never brings it up. They beat up Sting’s sons with a baseball bat, never brings it up. They beat up Sting and him with a baseball bat, bloodied him up, never brings it up.Basically his interview was to get over Cody Rhodes, the biggest star in WWE.
[We did get a Cody chant] How could you not? It was so Russo, you know what I mean? Even using the Cornette vernacular. So it’s like, they’re trying to make Cornette into the babyface when all he’s done is shi*t on that product.
I mean, it’s great for Cornette. But I mean what the hell are you doing with this, you know, All Friends Wrestling. It’s like, what’s that supposed to mean? And going like you guys didn’t want me. You wanted Brandon Cutler, your buddy and it was a different EVP that brought me in, and it’s not Kenny Omega. So they all start chanting Cody. It’s like why did they even shoot that angle? Tell me, why did they shoot the angle if you’re gonna ignore it next week? They make no mention of it in the whole interview.
The All Friends wrestling reference is the belief among Cornette and multiple critics that the EVPs have signed multiple close friends of theirs to lucrative AEW contracts regardless of their wrestling abilities.
Shortly afterwards, it was confirmed that Sting and Darby Allin will defend the AEW Tag Team Championships against The Young Bucks at AEW Revolution on March 3rd. This will also be Sting’s final match.
In response to the promo, Darby Allin has given his motivations. In regards to The Young Bucks, the brothers have stated that they remain the good guys trying to keep AEW on course.
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