AEW Dynamite: Homecoming Review - August 4, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Chris Jericho def. Juventud Guerrera

The stipulation was that Jericho had to win with a move off the top rope. Although I was a toddler when these two were feuding in WCW and wasn't watching wrestling at the time, it was super cool to see Guerrera back on TNT for the first time in over two decades and for him to rekindle his rivalry with an old rival in Jericho. Unfortunately, this wasn't the smoothest encounter and arguably the weakest of all the Jericho labors so far. Guerrera didn't look like he aged much at all, but Jericho's plodding performance was the biggest issue with this outing. I did like that Jericho hit the Judas Effect off the top rope and it was well executed. Jericho's fourth labor next week will be against Wardlow with MJF at ringside. I thought I heard MJF will be the special guest referee, but that must have been a mistake.

Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston and Darby Allin def. Daniel Garcia and 2.0

2.0 is the former Ever-Rise from WWE NXT, or 3.0 as they were known as prior to that point on the independent scene. I don't know why they're going as 2.0 now, and I'm also unaware of their history with Garcia (who has appeared previously on the Dark shows), but it was great to see them on the show. It isn't imperative AEW signs them considering how stacked their tag team division already is, but they're a terrific team and wildly entertaining. They got to shine here in what was mostly a showcase for the babyfaces. This was fun all around and the crowd ate it up. What's next for Moxley, Kingston and Allin is the question.

Christian Cage def. The Blade

This stemmed from Christian's feud with the H.F.O. over the last few months. I knew it wasn't going to be anything remarkable given that Blade bores me to tears, but what we got from them was perfectly solid. The bigger takeaway from this, as pointed out by the commentators, is that Christian is still undefeated in singles competition. He was announced as the new number one contender to the AEW World Championship later on, but it was never revealed when he'd be getting his title shot. The fact they didn't mention All Out leaves me hoping Kenny Omega vs. Christian will happen on the premiere episode of Rampage or on Dynamite, but time will tell.

AEW Women's World Champion Britt Baker Attacked Red Velvet

Baker basically discussed her dominance of the women's division with Tony Schiavone when she was interrupted by Velvet, who has been racking up wins in recent months over on the Dark shows. She's a logical next contender for Baker and I'm glad it's happening on the first Rampage show and not at All Out. Velvet isn't a super popular babyface by any means, so her getting booed in Baker's hometown of Pittsburgh next week is inevitable. This segment was fine other than Velvet calling herself an "enhancement talent" when she started in AEW. That was a dumb line.

The Elite Attacked "Hangman" Adam Page and Frankie Kazarian

I don't know if I would have followed up a talking segment with yet another talking segment that also ended with the heels standing tall. That said, this was well done. I was worried we had seen the last of Page and Kenny Omega for a while after The Elite beat Page and The Dark Order last week, but the fact the feud continued here must mean that they're doing Page vs. Omega on the sooner side, right? I really want it to be All Out, but I've seen speculation AEW could hold off until the huge Arthur Ashe Stadium show in New York City to do it and that Christian could be getting the next title shot at All Out instead. I'd rather see Omega vs. Christian go down on TV (specifically the first episode of Rampage), but that's just me. On a side note, is Page's alliance with The Dark Order really done? Could he be recruiting some other friends (specifically two major former world champions who could be on their way in) to back him up instead? Just a thought.

AEW TNT Champion Miro def. Lee Johnson

I don't remember how Johnson earned the title shot, but either way, he's barely been on Dynamite in recent months. Therefore, it was virtually impossible to view him as a legitimate threat to the title here. On the bright side, they had a nice little match and Johnson looked credible in defeat. I hope Miro can appear more regularly going forward after barely being seen since June. As the AEW TNT Champion, he should probably be on the show more than he is and not feel like an afterthought.

"Legit" Leyla Hirsch def. The Bunny in an NWA World Women's Championship Eliminator

I've been a big fan of Hirsch since she debuted in AEW, whenever that was. She's coming along nicely in the ring and has a ton of potential. She also brings a certain level of legitimacy and intensity to her matches that most of the other women in AEW do not. This was a decent match and Hirsch winning was the right call. Kamille making an appearance and facing off with Hirsch to hype up their upcoming NWA World Women's Championship clash was also a pleasant surprise. It's awesome that AEW is continuing to work with the NWA despite Thunder Rosa no longer being under contract to them. Personally, I'd save Kamille vs. Hirsch for the all-women's NWA Empowerrr pay-per-view later this month.

Malaki Black def. Cody Rhodes

I'm digging the new entrance and music for Black. It won't beat what he was doing in NXT and early on in his main roster run, but it's still cool. I was looking forward to this as a match on paper given the star power involved, but the approach they took instead was arguably even better. Black had to win, but I didn't think he would win as quickly and as decisively as he did. Five minutes! This felt a lot like when Brodie Lee squashed Cody for the AEW TNT Championship almost a year ago on Dynamite. In other words, Black was established as a star with the way he was booked here. Cody proceeded to cut a promo afterward teasing retirement, but obviously, I highly doubt that will actually be the case. Rather, word is that Cody is going away for a while to film a television show, and given Black attacked him before he could put his boots in the ring, I expect the rivalry to resume when he gets back.

Overall Show

Although this was a solid show on the whole, it was noticeably weaker than most of the other shows AEW has done on the road over the last month. Part of that might have been because not a whole lot of note happened (which I realize can't be a weekly occurrence), but I think a bigger part of it was that they were back at Daily's Place in Jacksonville after only being away for a little over a month. Despite the uneventfulness of this episode, they did an effective job as always of moving storylines forward, planting the seeds for certain matches and advertising multiple matchups for next week's Dynamite and the premiere of Rampage.

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