Extinction level event

Just as the meteor streamed, screaming inexorably towards Chicxulub to herald the end of the dinosaurs’ long reign as lords of this earth 65 million years ago, so too a meteor is coming for Jurassic Express and their time as AEW World Tag Team Champions.

When they won the tag titles from Lucha Brothers back in January, it seemed natural, or maybe even a little late. Through thick and thin, with Marko Stunt or without him, before and after sitting under Christian Cage’s learning tree, the Express have been a beloved staple of AEW practically since day one.

Success was nearly inevitable.

Alas, so is the end.

Even Ricky and Robert, the mighty Rock & Roll Express, in their mid-sixties and still kicking ass with over forty years of experience together as a tag team, lost every tag title they won, nevermind the periods where their alliance lay fallow, whether due to injury or personal differences.

It’s a natural fact, in pro wrestling and out of it— all good things must come to an end.

“But Claire,” I hear you say, somehow, “the Jurassics have beaten everybody from the Young Bucks to reDRagon! Surely their evil twins The Team Formerly Known As Team Taz and Team Conveniently Debuted At Around the Same Time So Why Not Team Together stand no chance!”

And that, dear reader, is where you’re wrong.

Against Lucha Brothers, against reDRagon, against the Young Bucks, the Jurassic Express have had something to prove, every time. These are all living legends of tag team wrestling, and Jungle Boy and his gentle giant Luchasaurus had that extra ounce of grit and determination to prove that their plucky lil tag team deserved to stand tall and proud in the face of overwhelming legacy.

“Absolute” Ricky Starks and “Powerhouse” Will Hobbs? “Limitless” Keith Lee and Shane “Swerve” Strickland? Talented men to a one, but none of them have all that much of a tag team legacy. Starks had some success with Extra Talented alongside Aaron Solow, and Keith Lee with Shane Taylor as Pretty Boy Killers, but neither can claim any major tag title reigns.

No, this time they face their peers and equals (in a way literally, given that each of these teams follows a classic little guy/big guy speed and power formula!), and that breeds complacency, but that’s not all. (And I didn’t even bring up reDRagon and the Young Bucks’ friction over who gets to smooch Adam Cole!)

Jack Perry is a man in crisis.

Early in Dynamite’s run he took Le Champion himself, Chris Jericho, to the limit in a ten-minute time limit match, and earned himself a spot as The Future of AEW.

It’s been a long road to meet that potential, and slowly but surely he’s grown into it and will only continue to grow further. Christian Cage certainly expects as much, as Jack’s potential is most of why he seems to have been inclined to take him under his wing.

But the cracks are starting to show, and Jungle Boy has lost three big singles matches in a row— first he missed out on a spot in the Owen to Kyle O’Reilly, then suffered a loss to Ricky Starks in an unsuccessful attempt to claim the FTW Championship, then, while he didn’t take the pin, neither did he win the three-way preview for this match on this week’s Dynamite.

Will his nerves fray bad enough to cost him this match and the tag titles? He already knows Christian is disappointed in him and has set up a crucible, will he come out the other side strengthened by the fire or shattered and broken?

Can Jurassic Express outrun the meteor or will one of the other teams’ impact claim them an eruption of gold?