AEW Dynamite: Quake by the Lake Review - August 10, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Darby Allin def. Brody King in a Coffin Match

This was the third Coffin match Allin has had in AEW over the last year. Much like the other two, this was fast-paced and the crowd was hot for all of the action. I could have done without all the interference in the middle, but I should have expected it given there were no disqualifications. Allin hasn't won too many meaningful matches since his last Coffin matchup with Andrade El Idolo, so this was a necessary victory for him and a very entertaining opener.

Andrade El Idolo and Rush def. The Lucha Brothers in a Tornado Tag Team Match

I've been waiting a long time for Andrade and Rush to team up again and I'm happy it's finally happening. I feel it's the right role for Andrade in AEW right now and adding Dragon Lee into the mix (they'll be taking part in the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament) is a smart move. You had to know this would be a total spot-fest given who was involved, but I enjoyed every second of the chaos and the crowd did as well. Lucha Brothers are obviously established, so Andrade and Rush going over ahead of their first-round Trios Tournament match made sense.

Luchasaurus def. Anthony Henry

Luchasaurus' role in this rivalry between Jungle Boy and Christian Cage has been bizarre. He joined Christian early on only to reunite with Jungle Boy a few weeks ago. Then again, we haven't seen Luchasaurus get physical with Christian yet, so I maintain he'll turn on Jungle Boy at some point. This was a quick squash to once again showcase Luchasaurus' dominance. Christian and Jungle Boy brawled in the back afterward, but this was kept brief.

AEW TNT Champion Wardlow and ROH World Tag Team Champions/AAA World Tag Team Champions/IWGP Tag Team Champions FTR Attacked Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh

FTR were advertised as being in action on this show, so apparently something changed. Instead, they helped Wardlow fend off Lethal and his crew. This was a fairly simple segment, but it accomplished what it needed to. Wardlow vs. Lethal was well-wrestled at Battle of the Belts III, but is a rematch really necessary? Is there any way we can skip ahead to Wardlow hitting his signature powerbomb on Satnam Singh?

Ricky Starks def. Aaron Solo

These two have plenty of history as partners on the west coast independent scene. Do I care about said history? Absolutely not, and thus this match didn't do much for me other than it being a standard squash for Starks. Yes, it allowed Starks to build momentum, but I definitely do not need to see The Factory in any form or fashion on Dynamite. This was kept short and sweet but could have been saved for Rampage or even one of the Dark shows.

AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill def. Madison Rayne

It was just last week that Rayne was announced as joining AEW in a behind-the-scenes role and she was challenged by Cargill days later on Rampage. It remains to seen whether she'll remain a regular in the ring for AEW, but I can't say I'm clamoring to see more of her since there are plenty of others in the women's division who aren't featured enough. This was passable but should have been more one-sided in favor of Cargill. The commentators mentioned during the match that Kris Statlander is currently hurt, which is a bummer, meaning Athena is now the new number one contender to the TBS title by default.

AEW Interim World Champion Jon Moxley def. "Lionheart" Chris Jericho; AEW World Champion CM Punk Returned

When Moxley said two weeks ago that he wanted the Lionheart version of Jericho for this match, it felt totally random. Although I didn't grow up on Lionheart Jericho, I was impressed by how great he looked here and the fact he entered to his old entrance music from ECW (admittedly, I had to do some research on that one) was very cool. Jericho and Moxley have always had quality chemistry, so this was really good up until the useless involvement from Sammy Guevara. Can we keep Jericho Appreciation Society out of a Jericho match at least once? Otherwise, this was the best Jericho match I've seen in recent memory, probably since he faced Eddie Kingston at Revolution in March. Punk's post-match return was the cherry on top and sets the stage for a major main event for All Out.

Overall Show

AEW does these themed editions of Dynamite way too often for them to feel special anymore, but all in all, this was a fun show. It lost some steam in the middle, but the first two matches delivered and they closed the show strong. Punk is back, so now we know what's headlining for All Out. What the rest of the card will consist of is the question and I hope we get more answers on that front in the next few weeks so the build isn't as rushed as it has been for past pay-per-views.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews