AEW Dynamite Review - July 6, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Wardlow def. Scorpio Sky in a Street Fight to Win the AEW TNT Championship

I was worried Wardlow was cooling off because he hasn't been featured on Dynamite too prominently in the last month or so (and he was definitely hurt by the build for Forbidden Door because he wasn't a part of it), but the crowd reaction he received here indicated he's still very much over with the audience. This was booked exactly as it should have with Wardlow dominating Sky and the rest of American Top Team with ease before taking the title. Wardlow's ceiling is much higher than the AEW TNT Championship, but fingers crossed he can restore some prestige to the belt before moving on to bigger and better things.

Christian Cage and Luchasaurus Attacked Matt Hardy

Christian has already become one of the best parts of the program since turning heel a few weeks ago. I hoped we'd finally get an explanation from him as to why he and Luchasaurus are still aligned, but they were interrupted by Hardy. Hardy played his role well and I honestly had no issue with Christian taking digs at Matt's brother Jeff considering the reality of the situation. To ignore it would have been foolish. The attack gave Christian and Luchasaurus more heat, though I don't know if we need another Hardy vs. Christian match in AEW.

Swerve In Our Glory def. The Butcher and The Blade

I'm as ready as anyone for Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland to go back to singles competition, but at least they're telling a story surrounding their split. They continue to work well as partners, if nothing else. They had a fun match with Butcher and Blade here that got them one step closer to contending for the AEW World Tag Team Championship again. In fact, we found out afterward that The Young Bucks will defend against both Swerve In Our Glory and Team Taz's Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs next week in a three-way tag team match. Yes, doing yet another three-way tag team title match is lazy in my opinion, but it should be excellent.

Jericho Appreciation Society Interrupted Eddie Kingston

I said last week that Blood and Guts needed to be the end of the long-running rivalry between Kingston and Chris Jericho. Sadly, it was not, but I can see what they're going for with Kingston wanting to get revenge on Jericho specifically. They must have a blow-off match in the next few weeks just to get it over with. The angle in the parking lot with Tay Conti slamming a car door on Ruby Soho's hand was dumb because it looked like Soho willingly put her hand there.

The Dark Order Embarrassed QT Marshall

The sole reason this segment existed was because this show emanated from Brodie Lee's hometown of Rochester, NY. If they wanted to give -1 a moment on TV, that's fine, but the rest of this was stupid and unnecessary. Dark Order has been losing members lately and they've barely been featured on TV in recent months, but now AEW all of a sudden wants to pretend they give a crap about the crap? Some of these guys (and Anna Jay for that matter) would be better off on their own at this point. This felt like something you'd see off-air and didn't need its own segment on Dynamite itself.

Rush def. Penta Oscuro

This marked Rush's singles debut in AEW. He randomly took part in Friday's Royal Rampage match on Rampage, but him and Penta Oscuro eliminating each other was designed to set this up. For those unaware, Rush is a a two-time ROH World Champion and is very good. I love the idea of pairing him with Andrade El Idolo and giving him the win here was the right call. This was a quality contest and I'm really looking forward to the eventual Andrade and Rush vs. Lucha Brothers matchup.

Gunn Club (Austin and Colten Gunn) and The Acclaimed def. Fuego Del Sol and Ruffin It

I though the alliance between Gunn Club and Acclaimed was officially done after last week when they teased tension, but this was their attempt to get back on the same page before the betrayal actually took place afterward. The match itself was a straight-up squash, but the post-match angle saw Billy Gunn align with his sons (as expected) and lay out Acclaimed. This should cement Acclaimed's face turn, who have been massive fan favorites lately, anyway.

AEW Women's World Champion Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm def. Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir

I'm fine with the increased amount of television time for Rose because she was barely being used on TV before recently, but Shafir being on Dynamite and Rampage as much as she has been in the last month is baffling to me. I'm sorry but she's abysmal and has an astounding lack of charisma. Pairing her with Rose will not help, either. The match was well wrestled, but the focus was on Rosa and Storm getting along before they inevitably meet in a rematch for the AEW Women's World Championship.

AEW Interim World Champion Jon Moxley def. Brody King

Having someone named Brody contend for the AEW World Championship in the main event of Dynamite in Rochester of all places was a nice touch. We really haven't seen a ton of King in AEW, but as someone who followed his work in Ring of Honor, I knew what he was capable of and wasn't surprised by the strong showing he had here. This was an entertaining main event despite the predictable outcome.

Overall Show

There was more to this show than what we got last week (which revolved heavily around Blood and Guts), but I actually enjoyed that edition of Dynamite more. AEW went back to their usual ways of shoving as much into the show as possible and not letting a lot of stuff breathe, but on the bright side, we have a new AEW TNT Champion in Wardlow and the main event delivered. Most of what we got in the middle was solid, but I just wish they would improve the pacing. I also appreciated that we got some meaningful hype and build for ROH Death Before Dishonor coming up on July 23rd. That needs to be a priority for AEW now that ROH is under their control.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews