AEW Dynamite Review - August 24, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Daniel Garcia Walked Out on Chris Jericho; Jericho Accepted Bryan Danielson's All Out Challenge

I haven't been as high on Garcia's as most others have been due to how generic he is character-wise, but I thought this was easily his strongest performance on the mic to date. Bryan and Jericho also played their roles well. Anything involving Jericho Appreciation Society has been channel-changing for me, but they sold me on Danielson vs. Jericho at All Out with this segment. I fear that Garcia teasing tension with Jericho will ultimately be revealed as a ruse, which would be a waste of the momentum Garcia has coming off his tremendous two-out-of-three falls match with Danielson last week.

Jay Lethal def. ROH World Tag Team/IWGP Tag Team/AAA World Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood

This didn't have any stakes and thus it virtually didn't matter who won, but it served as a nice preview of what to expect in the six-man tag team match at All Out and it was a damn good match to boot, which was expected given the talent involved. Harwood's stellar 2022 continues. Post-match, we found out that Lethal's partners at All Out won't be Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh but rather IMPACT's The Motor City Machine Guns. Don't get me wrong, I'm super stoked for that and it should be a much better bout now, but what's the whole point of it for Wardlow to powerbomb Singh? Maybe that will still happen even though Singh isn't officially taking part.

Colten Gunn def. Billy Gunn

This Gunn Club drama has not interested me in the slightest and I'm amazed so much television time has been devoted to it. Even at six minutes long, this felt like a waste of time. The only positive is that Billy did the honors for his son. I love The Acclaimed, but they shouldn't still be involved in this crap. It's actually been confirmed they'll challenge Swerve In Our Glory for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at All Out, so why couldn't more time be dedicated to that instead?

Britt Baker def. KiLynn King

King is an Ohio native and received a nice pop when she made her entrance, but that was likely the only reason why she was on this show. She just had a competitive match with Toni Storm last week on Dynamite, but Baker beat her in half of the time. That just tells me Baker is more credible than Storm and that's not a good message to send if Storm is supposed to be the next AEW Women's World Champion. Storm vs. Thunder Rosa II has turned into a four-way between Storm, Baker, Jamie Hayter and Hikaru Shida (who hasn't been on television in many months) due to Rosa suffering an injury. AEW's booking of the women's division remains abysmal.

Jon Moxley def. CM Punk to Become the AEW Undisputed World Champion

This was basically a three-minute squash, though it wasn't as if Punk didn't have an out for losing. The story was that he reinjured his foot early on and Moxley took advantage, leading to him winning in clean fashion. Considering this was the biggest match in AEW history with two world titles being on the line, in a vacuum, it was disappointing. They did what they did to shock people, and it worked. Will those same people want to tune in next week to sit what happens next, or will they be so bummed by how this went down that they won't want to? That's the question. I find myself in the former category, but I'm not completely convinced Tony Khan knows what he's doing, especially since there's not a lot of amazing options for All Out now. They can run the rematch, but most of the buzz surrounding them facing off is gone because they blew it off here. Does someone else face Moxley? And if so, who? Despite technically being the number one contender, Adam Page is not a viable option because he's barely been on the show as of late. MJF getting a title shot on four days' notice wouldn't make any sense from a storyline standpoint. I find it hard to believe they'll run a second straight pay-per-view in Chicago without Punk on the card, but if they do Punk vs. Moxley II, what are the stakes this time around? We have more questions than answers, and while they definitely have my attention, I'm skeptical the risk AEW is running with this angle will pay off.

Ricky Starks Challenged Powerhouse Hobbs at All Out

​Starks was put in a tough spot coming off Punk vs. Moxley because the crowd was still shocked by what they just saw, so although they were fairly quiet for what he had to say, he cut a terrific, emotional promo addressing Hobbs and setting up their match for All Out. I'm happy that these two have had their feud furthered on Dynamite so consistently and I'm really looking forward to their matchup.

United Empire (IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay and STRONG Openweight Tag Team Champions Aussie Open) def. Death Triangle (AEW All-Atlantic Champion Pac and The Lucha Brothers) in an AEW World Trios Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Match

That's one hell of a headline and quite the mouthful to read it out loud. Aussie Open have picked up some new hardware since we last saw them on AEW TV. For anyone curious, those Openweight tag titles are primarily featured on New Japan Pro-Wrestling's STRONG show based in the United States. Ospreay and Aussie Open lost both six-man tag team matches they had on AEW TV prior to Forbidden Door so I was hoping they'd pull out the upset here and I'm glad they did. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this was one of my favorite Dynamite matches all year, if not ever. The style they worked won't be for everyone, but I was thoroughly entertained throughout and they were given a ton of time. The action was exhilarating without any dull moments. What's scary is that I think United Empire vs. The Elite next week could be even better. Oh, and Kip Sabian finally returned to cost Pac the victory. A Sabian vs. Pac program doesn't do a ton for me, but at least that protected Death Triangle in defeat.

Overall Show

Dynamite was a mixed bag this week as it has been for the better part of the summer, but there's no doubt that it was one of the most newsworthy episodes all year. In addition to everything written about above, there were several more match announcements for All Out. I wish the build wasn't so rushed, but they're putting together an exciting card, even if we still have no idea what the main event is going to be and the event is next weekend. Much like last week, this show is going to get a lot of people talking. Now it's how they follow up and if they can pay off everything properly to maintain that goodwill with the audience.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews