AEW Dynamite Review - August 17, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Champion CM Punk and AEW Interim World Champion Jon Moxley Brawled

I've been anxiously anticipating this feud for some time now because as awesome as their match is going to be, the money is in their promos and selling the audience on said match. That was extremely apparent here with their outstanding verbal exchange in this segment. This is what we've waited to see and they delivered. Punk hit more of a home run with his promo than Moxley, but both had my attention. It's a shame the subsequent brawl was weak (those lousy punches specifically), but the back-and-forth was so stellar I'm willing to overlook that (or at least not take issue with it as much as I normally would). I'd say they sold plenty of pay-per-view buys with this, but as we discovered at the end of the evening, the first one-on-one outing between Punk and Moxley will seemingly not be happening at All Out after all.

Bryan Danielson def. Daniel Garcia in a 2-Out-of-3 Falls Match

This show was sponsored by the upcoming House of the Dragon show on HBO, so with this bout being The American Dragon vs. the so-called Dragon Slayer, it was cool that they got Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat to make an appearance at ringside (and later on in a backstage segment). This was the match I was hoping we'd get from Danielson and Garcia the first two times they went one-on-one. They went all out and had an excellent encounter with a strong layout. I'm glad they got as much time as they did and Garcia gained a ton from his performance here. All signs sure seem to point to him joining Blackpool Combat Club after Danielson likely faces Chris Jericho at the pay-per-view.

AEW Interim World Champion Jon Moxley Attacked Tony Nese Before Brawling with AEW World Champion CM Punk Again

Nese making his entrance rolled my eyes because there was no need for him to be on the show, but I was happy it turned out to be a ruse with Moxley attacking him instead. Moxley wanted to continue his brawl with Punk from the start of the show and that's what we got. We don't see this sort of thing often in AEW, so I was a fan of it. We found out soon after that Punk vs. Moxley for the Unified AEW World Championship will take place on next week's Dynamite and not at All Out. That seems insanely stupid and I can't imagine whatever they have planned for All Out would be bigger than that unless they go with a non-finish (which AEW isn't known for). MJF returning is an option, but to build up Punk vs. MJF III on an 11-day build would also be very dumb. I'm intrigued to see how this plays out, but I'm skeptical, to say the least.

Gunn Club (Austin and Colten Gunn) def. Varsity Blonds

This is when the show's hot momentum came to a screeching halt. Gunn Club lost that Dumpster match to The Acclaimed recently and that should have been the end of their television time for now and their feud with The Acclaimed. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's over yet. Gunn Club beat Varsity Blonds almost immediately, making Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison look like bigger losers than they already were. Gunn Club proceeded to turn on Billy Gunn, who then joined The Acclaimed when they made the save. Yes, Billy turned on The Acclaimed a few weeks ago. No, none of this made any sense. Let's get The Acclaimed in the AEW World Tag Team Championship picture, please.

Jungle Boy Attacked Christian Cage

As I've said before, Jungle Boy has gotten infinitely more comfortable on the mic throughout this storyline with Christian. This wasn't his best promo, but it was still solid. I was surprised we got physicality between Jungle Boy and Christian instead of saving it for All Out. That said, this was simple and effective stuff that got me more excited for their inevitable match. Regardless of who wins, Jungle Boy should emerge from this feud a much bigger singles star.

Toni Storm def. KiLynn King

King has been a regular in the NWA as of late, but before that, she had been making frequent appearances on AEW's Dark shows and has wrestled a few times on AEW TV as well. That said, she isn't established a majority of the AEW audience, so I didn't think it was necessary to have this be as competitive as it was. Storm will be contending for the AEW Women's World Championship again at All Out (an announcement that wasn't well delivered later on), so she should've beaten King much quicker than she did. Why not use this time to build up more bad blood between Storm and Thunder Rosa? They've been feuding for over two months and I can't recall a single talking segment they've had on television.

The Elite (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks) def. Andrade El Idolo, Rush and Dragon Lee in an AEW World Trios Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Match

We all assumed Omega would be Young Bucks' partner, but it didn't make the moment any less special and I liked that they went with the elaborate entrance since it was the worst kept secret, anyway. He has certainly been missed. He didn't look 100 percent here and he definitely showed signs of ring rust, but that may have been the point. They want to tell the story that he's returning to the ring too soon to make viewers think they may not win the whole thing (which they will). This wasn't the banger I thought it might be as a result, but it was still a fun main event. Andrade and Rush turning on Dragon Lee afterward was random, rushed and unnecessary. Elite vs. Adam Cole and reDRagon eventually is going to be great.

Overall Show

Between that off-the-charts opening segment and the tremendous two-out-of-three falls match, a case can be made for that first hour being one of Dynamite's very best ever. Seriously, it was spectacular stuff. The show cooled off considering with the Gunn Club crap and the needlessly-long women's match (even Jungle Boy and Christian have had better weeks with their rivalry), but they closed out the night on a high note with Omega's return and the entertaining six-man tag team affair. I'm still struggling to figure out why the hell we're getting Punk vs. Moxley next week and not at All Out, but hopefully Tony Khan has a plan in place so they're not blowing it off early in a desperate attempt to pop a rating. Either way, I'm intrigued to see how it plays out.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews