AEW Dynamite Review - August 25, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Orange Cassidy def. Matt Hardy

I was pleasantly surprised that neither guy had anyone at ringside. Best Friends vs. the H.F.O. has been the last faction feud I haven't two given two craps about, so I'm glad it was a straight-up singles match here. Hardy probably be wrestling as regularly as he has been lately (shouldn't he be more of a manager at this point?), but I thought he looked good here and it was a quality contest. With the babyface winning clean, I see no reason for this rivalry to continue.

MJF Agreed to Face Chris Jericho at All Out

I assumed we would get a rematch between these two at All Out as it would make no sense to leave them off the pay-per-view, but then why do their match on TV in the first place? To give MJF a win before he loses at All Out? I don't know, this All Out matchup doesn't have a lot of luster to me and adding the stipulation that Jericho will retire if he loses doesn't help matters because it makes it all the more obvious he's winning. I guess I'm just ready for this rivalry to run its course so both guys can move on (and hopefully Jericho can take time off from TV because he feels overexposed). The promo work in this segment was solid, but I can't bring myself to care about a rematch at All Out after what we saw from them last week.

The Lucha Brothers def. Varsity Blonds in an AEW World Tag Team Championship Eliminator Tournament Quarterfinal Match

Varsity Blonds have been impressive any time they've been in action on Dynamite this year and I'm happy they're appearing more and more. Lucha Brothers are obviously the bigger stars of the two teams and were the correct choice to advance, but Varsity Blonds looked credible in defeat and it was a fun match while it lasted. I expect Jurassic Express to get the title shot over Lucha Brothers given their recent issues with The Young Bucks and how it makes the most sense for them to be inside the cage.

Jamie Hayter def. Red Velvet

I thought Velvet would be portrayed as a heel for one night only when she faced Britt Baker in her hometown of Pittsburgh a few weeks ago, but it looks like people still view her as a heel if recent crowd reactions have been any indication. She has potential, but she needs a lot more seasoning and a lot more character development. Unfortunately, this was a rough outing, specifically on Velvet's part. Hayter seems decent enough, though.

Tony Schiavone Interviewed CM Punk

I'm a few hours removed from watching this promo and honestly have no idea what Punk said other than he discussed facing Darby Allin at All Out and teased the possibility of Bryan Danielson coming in soon. Yet, I enjoyed every second of this. Punk truly feels must-see regardless of what he's doing and or what he's talking about, and part of that is because he was gone from wrestling for so long. This was a simple enough segment that the crowd was white-hot for. It's so great to have a happy, healthy and motivated Punk back in the business.

Darby Allin, Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston def. The Wingmen (Ryan Nemeth, Cezar Bononi and JD Drake)

What a random six-man tag team match. I know Allin has an established alliance with Moxley and Kingston, but this seemed to exist solely to get three of AEW's top babyfaces on the show. There was nothing wrong with it and the crowd enjoyed it, but it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Allin scored the win for his team, gaining that momentum boost going into his All Out encounter with Punk. We found out later that Moxley will be facing Satoshi Kojima at All Out. Hiroshi Tanahashi apparently wasn't available, and although Kojima recently had a fine run in IMPACT Wrestling, he's an underwhelming opponent for Moxley at an event of that caliber.

Frankie Kazarian Saved Impact World Champion Christian Cage From The Elite

I like how they're tapping into the history of Christian working for Don Callis years ago in a Canadian promotion and Callis getting him fired in favor of Kenny Omega, who was 10-years-old at the time and that's just bizarre to think about. I appreciate their attempt to get people invested in this program, but it simply doesn't feel like a main event match at this point in time. Thankfully, it likely isn't going on last with Allin vs. Punk probably occupying that spot instead. On the bright side, I have no doubts that the match will be as excellent as it was on Rampage two weeks ago.

Gunn Club (Billy, Austin and Colten Gunn) def. The Factory (QT Marshall, Aaron Solo and Nick Comoroto)

If that six-man tag team match from earlier was random, then this was an absolute waste of time. Imagine booking a bout like this on a show that could have a ton of new eyes on it because of Punk's Dynamite debut. Yikes. Was there anything terribly wrong with it? No, but it belonged on one of the Dark shows, plain and simple. Worse yet, Marshall (the guy who will be facing Paul Wight in his AEW debut at All Out next weekend) lost to one of the Gunn Club kids. This screamed WWE Booking 101 and I don't mean that as a positive thing. Needless to say, this did not need to happen.

Malaki Black def. Brock Anderson

Because this closed the show, I foolishly thought something meaningful would happen. It's too soon for Cody Rhodes to return, so I'm not sure what I was expecting, but surely they'd end the night on a notable note. Well, apparently not. Black annihilated Anderson in the matter of a minute and attacked Arn Anderson afterward as well. And that was it. Oh, and Lee Johnson showed up to confront Black, but the crowd sat on their hands and I don't blame them one bit. I know they're trying to keep Black busy by having him feud with the rest of The Nightmare Family, but this fell flat.

Overall Show

I found this to be the weakest edition of Dynamite since AEW went back on the road. The Punk promo was easily the highlight of the night, but almost everything else was either just decent or didn't need to happen. For example, Gunn Club in action against The Factory? Yawn. Jericho vs. MJF again? Eh. Black vs. Anderson in the main event? Whatever. Even Hayter vs. Velvet was sloppy. By AEW standards, this was a subpar show, and that's a shame coming off that outstanding Punk debut on Rampage last Friday night. This show did manage to move stuff along and progress several storylines going into All Out, but I didn't think the two hours were overly exciting, or at least as exciting as they usually are. Outside of the Punk appearance, you aren't missing much if you don't tune in.

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