Stokely Hathaway is that dude

The build-up to HOOK and Stokely Hathaway’s No Disqualification match on the Mar. 22 Dynamite was pretty dang delightful, and the match itself was just as much fun.

Even though I’m a HOOKer from way back (and that means I do officially wonder if AEW is ever going to have the young phenom do anything other than comedy feuds... hopefully Ethan Page will provide a more serious challenge for him next), credit for this program goes to Hathaway. He’s used it to snuff out any concern his time as WWE NXT’s Malcolm Bivens or brief run as Jade Cargill’s publicist dulled his edge, and remind us he’s still one of the most creative, entertaining and flat out funny people working in wrestling today.

I’ll be presenting my case with five exhibits from last night. And yes, I’m stylizing that word like the host of Pimp My Ride does, just cause I think Big Stoke would appreciate it.

Xzibit A: The “runt who was kicked out of the Nation of Domination litter” ring gear.

Xzibit B: The excuse. “Dr. Simpson” and the retirement perfectly set-up the Wing Stop receipt gag.

Xzibit C: The “offense”. My favorite part of this is Stokely scooting back into position after the flying uppercut fails so he can attempt... whatever the kick thing was supposed to be.

Xzibit D: The trash talk. I’m still laughing about this man quoting Tupac right before getting his ass suplexed onto a metal barricade.

Xzibit E: The walk of shame. Couldn’t even get dapped up by Mark Henry, smh...

That scene might be Hathaway’s Joker-esque villain origin story. But I hope not. I’m looking forward to the ridiculous excuses he comes up with over the next week or so.

Let us know what you think of Stokely vs. HOOK, and Hathaway’s work in general. While you’re on your way down to the comments section, check out the highlights from the Mar. 22 edition Dynamite below. We’ve put all the YouTube videos AEW has released as of this morning in a playlist, and since they don’t release everything that way at the same time, we’ve got Twitter clips of the other big moments and matches below that.

• Darby Allin has his eyes set on the AEW World Championship
• If FTR lose against The Gunns - They will quit AEW
• Witness this DREAM MATCH between Kenny Omega & El Hijo Del Vikingo

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