The War Report - February 24 2021: Sting And Darby Strike Back
NXT vs. AEW: Dynamite - Which Was The Better Show This Week?
Storyline Development
NXT kept everything moving forwards this week.
Toni Storm and Io Shirai is building and building and could be a potential Feud of the Year. After Toni dissed Io, William Regal made the match official for two weeks time; Shirai vs. Storm. Really looking forward to that.
Xia Li continued her path towards Shao Khan this week by ‘breaking Kacy Catanzaro’s leg’ before telling Kayden Karter that next week it’s her turn to get smacked about.
The Way are starting to show signs of falling apart, with Indi lusting after Dexter, and Gargano ordering Austin Theory to go therapy. No sign of Kushida this week though.
Grizzled Young Veterans beat down MSK after being robbed of the Dusty Cup. I know you’re not meant to side with the heels, but they have a point, they were robbed. Would like to see a Tag Title feud between the two teams after MSK inevitably win the belts. Again, no sign of Lorcan and Burch this week though.
There was a quick moment where Imperium encountered Killian Dain and Drake Maverick, remarking that Dain ‘used to be a monster’. Keeping my eye on that one…
And obviously the World Title scene stays an intricate mix of betrayal and anguish. Bálor attacked Cole, then put the boots into Roddy because he’s… well he’s being a bit of a prick to be honest. As for Adam Cole and The Undisputed Era… wait until the next segment.
AEW also kept things moving along at a fair old pace. With the ‘Crossroads Special’ next week featuring the long awaited Team Cody vs Team Shaq match, never mind Revolution a week later, there was a lot of ground to cover.
The build to the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match (or FRLM because I love an acronym) continues, with Archer punching his ticket to the PPV. He’s been built so well recently, but I still want a proper explanation as to why he’s a good guy now after vowing to basically murder everyone in the company since his debut.
Hardy vs. Page is building momentum too. I like that TH2 are affiliate members of Big Money Matt’s crew now, and the transformation of The Dark Order over the past 12 months has been nothing short of remarkable.
The Bucks vs. Jericho and MJF got a big kick in the pants this week with The Demo God and MJF beating Papa Buck to a bloody pulp backstage. A bit cheesey, but hey it was effective.
And again, Sting and Darby vs. Team Taz also got a rocket up the bottom this week. The pacing has been weird on this one, from slow sections for weeks on end, to the last three weeks going from 0-60... but more on that in a second.
Winner: AEW. NXT are building things nicely, but being post-TakeOver they have time to properly get things into place before the next super-show. With AEW, the next two weeks see two major shows happening, one on Dynamite, one on PPV. No wasted momentum from AEW recently, and I’m loving it.
