We can’t prove that Adam Cole’s illness over the weekend resulted in he and MJF appearing in a pair of backstage segments rather than in the ring, as it appeared had been advertised, but it seems fairly likely. It’s definitely true that his girlfriend, Britt Baker was supposed to wrestle Ruby Soho before she was announced as being unable to compete at the last minute. This left “Dynamite” without two of its marquee segments, and while that’s obviously disappointing, we can’t really complain about the results.

MJF can be a frustrating performer to watch, in that he’s so obviously a massive talent, but he occasionally seems unable or unwilling to go to creative and interesting places with his character work. When he’s in the ring cutting a typical MJF heel promo, he can get stale in a hurry. When he’s doing something different, though — as seen in his feud with CM Punk, or his face turn flirtation in the lead-up to Full Gear 2022 — we can’t take our eyes off him. The stuff he was doing here, playing mind games with Cole by acting friendly, inviting Cole out to get to know each other better, and unveiling a spectacular “Better Than You, BayBay” shirt (not to mention referring to Roderick Strong as “generic white guy”) is the exact kind of quirky nonsense we need in order to get invested in him as a serious heel when he inevitably shows his true colors.

Soho, meanwhile, edited up wrestling Local Enhancement Talent, which was what it was, but afterward, she cut a promo on Baker that was so savage it made us wish even harder that there was a cohesive storyline going on with the Outcasts. It would be nice if this was the start of something in that regard, but the ostensible “Originals” are dropping like flies at this point, and it doesn’t look like Tony Khan has a backup plan. Still, if anything can convince Khan to give the Outcasts something better to do, it’s promos like the one Soho delivered tonight.