Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: AEW Dynamite Aug. 25th

After a totally ordinary week in which nothing really notable happened, AEW looked to continue building momentum toward its upcoming All Out pay-per-view with this week’s Dynamite coming from Milwaukee, WI. The #1 contenders tournament for the tag team titles continued, some heated grudge matches were promised, and we expected to hear from the veteran Chris Jericho and some wet-behind-the-ears, green-as-grass newcomer named *checks notes* CM…Punk? So without further ado, let’s get into the best, worst, and everything in between from this week’s show.

Best Match of the Night

With a couple of big promos/interviews taking up a fair amount of time and six matches to cram into just two hours, there weren’t a lot of standouts from an in-ring standpoint – nothing too terrible (more on that later) but just a lot of standard, relatively short TV matches. Orange Cassidy vs. Matt Hardy was a fun, if at times somewhat clunky (probably due to Hardy suffering what looked like a broken nose partway through) opening match, and Darby Allin, Jon Moxley, and Eddie Kingston vs. The Wingmen was a nice showcase for three of the top stars in the company against three guys (well, four if you count Peter Avalon who got involved at ringside) who rarely get TV time. Not surprisingly, however, the best match this week was also the one with the highest stakes – the semifinal match in the tag title #1 contender tournament between the Lucha Brothers vs. the Varsity Blonds. Tag team wrestling continues to be a major highlight in AEW, which is perhaps not surprising given the utter disdain showed by its major rival and the fact that the Young Bucks are among AEW’s EVPs. (Executive Vice Presidents, not Extremely Violent People.) Granted, few expected the Varsity Blonds to be a major contender to win this tournament, and the match result was no real surprise in that regard, but that didn’t stop this match from being a showcase for Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr. The Blonds are among the more promising young teams in a division stacked with talent and potential, and they showed out against a veteran team that is among the best tandems in the world. All four men are capable of serious agility and athleticism, but this match made good use of the fact that Garrison and Rey Fenix are the quicker, flippier members of their respective teams while Penta and Pillman are more apt to throw hands. The similarities in style between the two teams were highlighted nicely to give the viewer a sense that the Blonds could easily be on the level of the Lucha Bros in a year or so; it’s just that Rey and Penta have enough of an experience edge right now that they’re a few steps ahead developmentally. It comes back to a point the Blonds highlighted in their pre-match promo: the Lucha Brothers may be related by blood (I think they’re…cousins or something) but Garrison and Pillman are like family so it’s close if not exactly the same. At least for now, real family beats quasi-family, but the Blonds are inching closer to their competition with each showcase match they have. As for the winners, Penta and Fenix are on a collision course with Jurassic Express that promises to be yet another solid reason to tune in on Friday for Rampage. It seems odd that the finals won’t be on Dynamite next week, considering the pay-per-view is the Sunday after and presumably something has to be saved for the go-home show, but it makes sense to continue establishing Rampage as must-see TV even if it means stealing a quality match from the flagship program every now and again.

Best Moment of the Night

As mentioned in the previous section, the wrestling portion of the show wasn’t exceptionally strong this week, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t highlights between the ropes. Orange Cassidy swiping some of the cash “Big Money Matt” had left on the mat earlier in the contest only for Matt to later take the bill back from his opponent’s pocket was a humorous bit of storytelling, though Cassidy needs some pants with bigger pockets – Matt struggled for too long to get the cash back, and Cassidy himself fumbled getting his hands into his own pockets twice, when going for the Swanton Bomb and the final pinfall. Malakai Black‘s entrance continues to be one of the coolest sights in all of professional wrestling, and I can’t wait to see how he tops himself once the pay-per-view rolls around. As heartbreaking as it is, Alex Reynolds and John Silver seemingly departing the Dark Order was a fascinating development in the ongoing saga surrounding the group’s allegiances as they deal with the fallout of Adam Page’s seemingly failed ascent to the top of the AEW food chain. There is now real drama surrounding the group’s future, and as much as fans anticipate a glorious reunion in which the Dark Order helps the Anxious Millennial Cowboy achieve his ultimate goal, it is absolutely conceivable that there may have to be some sacrifices along the way, and things may not turn out as rosy as we all might hope.

The absolute highlight of the night, and probably the main thing everyone is going to be talking about going forward, took place during that aforementioned rookie CM Punk‘s first appearance on Dynamite in an interview with Tony Schiavone. It started off rocky, with the crowd barely acknowledging the virtual unknown, and the “you can’t wrestle” chants were especially hurtful considering the guy hasn’t even had his first match in the company. (It’s possible I’m misremembering some of the details of how this segment went.) All joking aside, the interview itself was a highlight, though it didn’t quite live up to that heartfelt, emotional promo from Rampage. AEW would be well advised not to wear out that welcome too early by overdoing it with the talky segments, though Punk is such a natural on the mic that it would be a shame to abandon that part of his game entirely. Maybe next week, have him sit in on commentary or something to switch things up a bit, that’s all I’m saying. Anyway, among other highlights like Punk being unable to hear Tony’s first question over the raucous crowd and his reference to Darby Allin as “someone who would have been one of my favorite wrestlers when I was 15 years old,” the real highlight of this promo was the Second City Savior not-so-subtly hinting at a certain American Dragon making his way to the Turner-based promotion in the near future. As the crowd broke out into “Yes” chants, Punk caught on to the fact that the crowd was actually chanting something other than his own name for the first time since his return to professional wrestling and took the opportunity to remind the fans, “That’s somebody else’s schtick, and you might just need to be a bit more patient.” Of course, the leader of the Yes Movement, Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson has famously failed to re-sign with his previous employer, and there has been a ton of speculation that he might well be biding his time to make an impactful debut elsewhere, just as Punk himself just did. With Punk set to face Darby Allin at All Out, it seems like there might be room on the card for one genuinely surprising moment to keep the company’s momentum going forward. Considering how AEW built up to Punk’s return with some similarly unsubtle hints – Tony Khan himself admitted it was “the worst-kept secret” – it would not be surprising if they went a similar route with Danielson, dropping references to keep the crowd expecting him to show up while never being entirely certain that it will happen when and how they expect.

Worst Match/Moment of the Night

There’s only so many ways to say “there wasn’t anything truly terrible this week” and I’ve already run out, so I’ll just mention a few disappointing moments/matches from this week’s episode. There was a weird spot near the end of Jamie Hayter vs. Red Velvet that certainly looked like a botch but was sold as if it was planned – Velvet clearly missed a standing moonsault on her opponent, but commentary didn’t give the usual “didn’t look like she got all of that one” that would signify something legitimately went wrong, so…was it supposed to happen that way? Both wrestlers transitioned directly into the finish from there, so it’s possible Hayter just missed her cue to roll out of the way, leading to an awkward moment in an otherwise average-at-best match. Dan Lambert‘s ultra boomer nonsense continues to be a lowlight, though at least his alliance with Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page makes some sense now given they each apparently have some sort of martial arts background. It’s not great as far as reasoning goes, but if it spares us more MMA guys from American Top Team coming in and being presented as “more legit” than professional wrestlers who have trained for this their entire lives, I’m okay with it. I’m still not okay with Dan Lambert being on my television screen, though. The Gunn Club vs. The Factory was entirely disposable just like the entire feud between Paul Wight and QT Marshall has been. This was pretty much what I was pitching for All Out when we first learned Marshall and Wight would be having a match – Marshall brings his guys, Wight recruits someone young and hungry from the tag team division, and we have a 6-man tag that doesn’t threaten to expose the limitations of anyone involved. Now that we’ve had it on Dynamite, it probably won’t happen at the pay-per-view, which means I yet again predict a one-on-one match between two guys who should really be putting over younger talents at this point in their careers will be one of the low points of that show.

This week’s biggest low point for me is actually an inversion of one of last week’s high points – the definitive finish of the Five Labours of Jericho being undone just a week later. Now, on the one hand, I get it – the promise of Chris Jericho vs. MJF at All Out may be slightly disappointing, as it feels too quick and easy for Jericho to get a rematch after he had to go through a full month of torment just to get another match in the first place, but I suppose the promise of putting his career on the line was meant to be too much of an enticement for the narcissistic Friedman to pass up. And to be fair, it would have been tough to come up with new opponents for both men this close to All Out, which means they would likely have been relegated to a backstage segment at best or left off the show entirely at worst. At least they get a match on one of the biggest shows of the year this way, some may argue. If that was going to happen, however, why not have the Fifth Labour take place at All Out? It would have been easy enough to space out the other four Labours so that the match against Wardlow would be this week and MJF could announce his stipulation for the final match at the pay-per-view. Plus, the way we got to the rematch is uninspired, though Jericho cut a great promo as he usually does. It’s an overused storytelling device for someone getting past their prime to start doubting whether they’ve still got it – heck, that’s pretty much exactly what Cody Rhodes did after losing to Malakai Black a few weeks back – and although Jericho does have plenty of other interests to keep him occupied if he were going to actually hang up his boots now, it also flies in the face of his stated intent to have a quiet exit from the business in which nobody is really sure if he’s had his final match until he just never wrestles again. That means he almost certainly gets the win over MJF, something that has eluded him for so long that it feels like a real shame he didn’t have to wallow in defeat any longer and build himself back up to finally get the victory. As it stands, the storyline will most likely play out as Jericho lost in a somewhat flukey but still technically legitimate way before getting his win back just two weeks later. Not the most dramatic, gripping story AEW has ever told.

Parting Shots

• Props to the “Keep Wrestling Alive, Get Vaxxed” sign in the front row during the Jericho promo. Please do get vaccinated so we can all continue enjoying live wrestling events safely.
• I know I gave Varsity Blonds vs. Lucha Brothers my match of the night award, but too much of that match happened during the commercial break. I get that putting it in picture-in-picture technically means we didn’t miss anything, but would it kill wrestling companies to schedule ad breaks between matches instead of during them?
• Dr. Britt Baker DMD is so over that whoever she’s paired up against automatically gets a heel response. Red Velvet got booed despite facing 3-on-1 odds this week and Baker herself blatantly cheating. It turns out all of America is Brittsburgh at this point.
• Kenny Omega saying “You think you know me?” to Christian couldn’t have been an accident, right?
• I’m sure some people are disappointed that Jon Moxley’s open challenge to the NJPW roster was answered by Satoshi Kojima, but I’m keeping an open mind. After it was clear that neither Hiroshi Tanahashi nor Kazuchika Okada would be walking through that particular forbidden door, there weren’t many choices left that would legitimately move the needle, so the next best thing would be someone who will deliver a barnburner alongside a crazy person like Mox, and Kojima should fit that bill well enough. Plus, let’s be fair, enough people are already sold on Punk/Allin, Omega/Christian, and the possibility of Bryan Danielson and/or Bray Wyatt showing up. Whatever Moxley was going to do at All Out was always going to be gravy compared to those meatier matchups. It’s possible that I’m hungry while writing this.

So that’s it for another week of AEW Dynamite. All in all, this was one of the least consequential episodes that I’ve reviewed, but there were enough decent-to-good matches and segments that it didn’t feel like a total waste of time. Hopefully next week’s go-home show will ramp up the intensity ahead of the pay-per-view because as much as AEW can probably coast on the promise of CM Punk’s first official match in 7 years to sell All Out, it would be really nice if the company put a bit more into the rest of the card to put the show over the top. Let us know what you thought of this week’s Dynamite, follow us on Twitter @FilmIronic, and come back next week for more Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner!