Adam Cole is in a mid-card feud in AEW, and that’s fine BAY BAY

For some reason, Wrestling Twitter recently turned its attention to Adam Cole’s three month old AEW run. Because he’s not in the World title picture, some argue that he’s “regressed”, or would be in a better position if he’d remained in WWE. That argument seems to assume the Cole would be presented like the top star NXT used him as for however long he stayed in Vince McMahon’s employ. It definitely ignores the rumors & reports about name changes, hair cuts, and managerial roles. It also hand waves away the history of how NXT 1.0 main eventers have fared on Raw and SmackDown.

Nevertheless, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the “Cole’s being wasted” crowd use his ongoing rivalry with Orange Cassidy & Best Friends as evidence. The Superkliq transitioned into this program after putting over Jurassic Express. On the Dec. 1 Dynamite, it gave us the most OC Superkick Party ever.

It’s got an element of goofiness, as all Cassidy programs do. It’s probably not going to immediately propel anyone involved to a World title shot. It may not even transition them into the TNT championship scene. But that’s okay.

Cole is still over enough that he got to do his full entrance before sitting at the commentary desk for one second so he could have this scene for OC as he appeared for (I guess?) a faux match. In his brief time in AEW, he took part in the conclusion of the years-long Hangman Page coronation with The Elite against Page & Dark Order, and put over one of the Four Young Pillars. While working with another perennially over act in Cassidy, he’s also been setting up another long-term angle between himself & Bobby Fish and The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega.

Hand-wringing about Cole’s booking is rooted in all-or-nothing thinking, and years of being burned by “let it play out” angles from the biggest company in the business (or it’s bad faith WWE boosterism, but I want to give some folks the benefit of the doubt). If the Panama City Playboy is still yukking it up in the midcard this time next year, there will be cause for concern.

But for now, enjoy some lazy superkicks, and the rest of these highlights from last night’s Dynamite.

As is AEW’s model these days, YouTube videos are being doled out slowly. But we’ve compiled what they’ve released as of this morning in this playlist, and tried to catch you up with the rest of the episode via Twitter clips below that.

• MJF Won’t Stop Running His Mouth as the Verbal War Continues with CM Punk
• Who Moved into the Final Four of the TBS Women’s Tournament?
• Burned, Broken, & Bruised! Cody and Andrade Go to War in a Street Fight!

For complete results and the live blog for Dynamite this week click here. To read a complete recap & review of all the night’s events click here.