AEW Dynamite: Fight for the Fallen Review - July 28, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Elite (AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks, and Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers) def. "Hangman" Adam Page and The Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds, Stu Grayson and Evil Uno) in a 5-on-5 Elimination Tag Team Match

If Page and Dark Order won, they would have been awarded shots at the AEW World Championship (for Page) and at the AEW World Tag Team Championship (for two members of Dark Order), but because The Elite won, none of them get title shots. Obviously, I expect we're still getting Page vs. Omega at some point, most likely at All Out, but I'm curious how they'll get there now. The match itself was a ton of fun. I typically don't like the rapid-fire eliminations, but I thought the order of eliminations was well done here. The entrances were also awesome for different reasons. My biggest nitpick with this match was that there was way too much interaction between Page and Omega. I would have saved them finally coming to blows until All Out, but even if not, they didn't need to give away so much in this matchup. Omega pinning Page was questionable as well, but I'm sure the endgame remains the same with Page beating him for the AEW World Championship, regardless of who's being brought in soon.

Brian Cage Crashed Ricky Starks' FTW Championship Celebration

The timing of this segment wasn't the best as the crowd was clearly still deflated coming off that Page loss and thus they didn't reach to much here. Cage got a decent babyface reaction when he came out, but he hasn't cemented his status as a face yet other than being betrayed by Powerhouse Hobbs two weeks ago. Starks is a stud on the mic, so his promo was entertaining. I'm curious if we'll be getting Cage vs. Starks again soon or if Cage will be shifting his focus to Hobbs.

FTR def. Santana and Ortiz

I'd been looking forward to this match for a long time considering these are two of the top teams in AEW at the moment. Granted, it didn't meet my lofty expectations, but I assume that's because they're holding out for future matches because this is bound to be the first of a few. That's in addition in Cash Wheeler getting cut up pretty bad, so the finish feeling rushed probably wasn't planned. Hopefully Wheeler will be fine and we can get the rematch soon, if not at All Out. What we got from them was adequate yet far from their best work.

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Lance Archer def. Hikuleo

Haku coming out with Hikuleo was a really cool treat. That guy could still probably kick a majority of the roster's ass. I wasn't familiar with Hikuleo at all prior to last week, but I thought he fared well for himself here. I honestly thought there was a strong chance Hikuleo could capture the championship and take it back to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but I'm glad that didn't happen. In fact, it became fairly obvious that Archer was retaining when Hiroshi Tanahashi was announced as being next in line for a title shot. That will happen on NJPW's upcoming Resurgence show. This was a good match while it lasted and a nice win for Archer.

Malaki Black Attacked Cody Rhodes

The build to Black vs. Rhodes next week hasn't been anything out of the ordinary, but I've enjoyed the simple storytelling and standard approach. We haven't heard a ton from Black, but I assume he'll be cutting more promos in due time. He went after Rhodes in the back before beating him down on the stage and delivering a Black Mass to Fuego Del Sol for the ages. Holy shit, that looked fantastic. I have no idea why they're not saving their match for All Out, but maybe it's because Rhodes has to take time off to film his reality TV show or focus on another project.

Christian Cage and Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) def. Angelico and Private Party

If Matt Hardy was going to be out there with the rest of the H.F.O., why not have him wrestle in his home state of North Carolina? Maybe AEW didn't want him eating another loss? You knew the babyfaces were winning when Angelico was announced as teaming with Private Party, who have largely felt like henchmen to Hardy thus far as opposed to real threats in the tag team division. That's been disappointing. This was a pretty basic bout that solely existed to give Cage another win. The Blade attacking him afterward set up a match between the two for next week's show. I still think we're getting Omega vs. Page at All Out, but could we be getting Cage contending for the AEW World Championship before then?

Thunder Rosa def. Julia Hart

I've said before that Hart has potential and that it's been nice to see her getting more and more exposure on Dynamite. I maintain that, but there's no doubt that she's still a work in progress as far as her in-ring work goes. She also needs to stop overdoing the dumb wave to the crowd. It's cheesy, but I don't mind it if she doesn't do it every 10 seconds like she was here. The focus was mostly on Rosa, who is now officially signed to an AEW contract as of last week. Is AEW already building to her rematch with Britt Baker at All Out, this time for the AEW Women's World Championship?

Chris Jericho def. Nick Gage in a No Rules Match

This was the second "Labor of Jericho," and it was a wild one. I loved that Jericho brought back his Painmaker persona from his NJPW days, but this was most definitely not for me. It had a car crash vibe to it in that I didn't want to watch it but it was hard to look away. It was every bit as brutal as I figured it would be given Gage's hardcore wrestling track record. He has his fans and some people dig that stuff, but personally, I don't. Therefore, I don't have many positive things to say about this other than that it was quite the spectacle. Whether you enjoyed it or not, I have no idea how the next three labors are topping this one. That said, Jericho taking on a familiar foe in Juventud Guerrera next week is a damn cool surprise. It won't be on the level of their matches from WCW, but it will be a hell of a trip down memory lane and at the very least something different compared to this train wreck.

Overall Show

AEW Dynamite continues to be the most must-see wrestling show on television today, in my opinion. Having hot crowds back in the buildings has brought back the energy that was missing from the program during the pandemic and the company is consistently delivering surprises week after week. As a fan, I'm loving it, and based on recent rumors that have been circulating, the best is yet to come. This was another thumbs-up episode with a main event that is bound to get people talking (even though I wasn't a fan of it myself), a chaotic opener, and some solid stuff in the opener. We also found out that AEW will be running Chicago for Rampage on August 20th, two weeks before All Out weekend. Could that be where CM Punk debuts to plant the seeds for a match at the pay-per-view? Let the speculation begin.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews