AEW Dynamite Review - June 11, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Christian Cage def. Angelico

On one of the Dark shows earlier this week (I don't remember which one), Matt Hardy offered to pay Angelico to take out Christian on Dynamite. He was unsuccessful, obviously, but it was quality match and worked well as the opener. If you told me five years ago we'd be getting Christian vs. Angelico on a major wrestling program, I would've called you crazy, and I'm glad we got it. Hardy attacked Christian afterward, so they're clearly building to a singles match like it's the year 2000 all over again.

QT Marshall Interrupted Cody Rhodes

Tony Schiavone revealed here that we're getting a tag team match next week pitting Marshall and Aaron Solow against Cody and the debuting Brock Anderson, the real-life son of Arn Anderson. I'm not going to lie: I didn't even know Arn had a son in wrestling. We'll see how he does. The rest of this segment played out pretty predictably with Marshall boasting about pinning Cody last week and challenging him to another match next month when AEW goes back on the road. It'll be some sort of a Strap match, but didn't we just get one from Dustin Rhodes and Nick Comoroto last week? Better yet, who gives a shit?

Eddie Kingston and Death Triangle (Pac and Penta El Zero Miedo) def. Brandon Cutler and AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks

Given the level of talent involved (sans Cutler), it was hardly surprisingly that this was as entertaining of a six-man tag team match as it was. The faces (?) were able to score some revenge for their recent losses to the Bucks and Kingston's feud with them was effectively furthered. Cutler taking the losing fall was expected as that was the only reason he was involved in the first place. I'm not sure when Jon Moxley will be back from dad duty, but I'm fine with Kingston teaming with Frankie Kazarian for now as they're both without partners at the moment. As for where Death Triangle go from here, I have no clue.

Inner Circle Interrupted The Pinnacle

Much like Inner Circle last week, The Pinnacle were out in the ring addressing every member of Inner Circle individually. Wardlow accepted Jake Hager's challenge to an MMA cage fight next week, FTR acknowledged that Santana and Ortiz have yet to win gold in AEW, Shawn Spears called out Sammy Guevara, and MJF denied facing Chris Jericho again having already beaten him twice. Interestingly, he addressed Guevara, and that's a match I'd much rather see instead given the tension they teased while they were in Inner Circle together. Inner Circle destroying their limo was a fine angle, but I can't say it did much to change my mind about this rivalry continuing. I'd much rather see them go their separate ways.

AEW TNT Champion Miro def. Evil Uno

You knew there was no chance Uno was winning the title here, but I liked how he got the video package treatment beforehand where he got to talk about what winning the title would have meant to him because of his longtime friendship with Brodie Lee. He gave it a great effort but ultimately fell short in what was a fun match. Miro is killing it in his current role and should be champion for a while to come. He's perfect as the "party crasher" type by beating the babyfaces fans want to see win most.

Jungle Boy Attacked AEW World Champion Kenny Omega

Omega was right when he said that Jungle Boy isn't much of a promo guy, so I appreciated that Jungle Boy had a chance to speak while also keeping it short and sweet. This face-off was everything it needed to be with Omega attempting to show his superiority and Jungle Boy getting the better of him in the end, proving he has a chance to take the title (when in reality he doesn't). Super solid segment here that left me looking forward to the match more than I was previously.

Lance Archer def. Chandler Hopkins

This marked Archer's first Dynamite appearance since failing to become the AEW TNT Champion (again) at Double or Nothing. Thus, it was safe to assume he'd be pretty pissed and that he'd make short work of his opponent. Sure enough, he destroyed his opponent in under a minute in glorious fashion before making a quick exit to the back. We didn't hear from him or Jake Roberts, so I have no clue who his next feud will be with.

Nyla Rose def. "Legit" Leyla Hirsch

Hirsch has had a few matches on Dynamite I believe, but she's really shined on the Dark shows with a string of wins and constant improvement over the last several months. I'm not sure if the regular AEW audience knows how talented she is and I was happy she got an opportunity to showcase her skills here against the established Rose, who's clearly next in line for a shot at the AEW Women's World Championship after what went down last week. It was a competitive contest with Rose picking up a needed win and Hirsch looking credible in defeat.

"Hangman" Adam Page and Preston "10" Vance def. Team Taz (FTW Champion Brian Cage and Powerhouse Hobbs)

I was curious if Cage would continue to tease tension with Team Taz after what happened at Double or Nothing and that's exactly what happened here. It was logical storytelling, but they have to just get it over with at this point considering it's been in the works since Revolution. Of all the factions AEW doesn't need, splitting up Team Taz (or at least breaking Cage away from them) right now would be premature in my opinion. Nonetheless, this was a well-wrestled main event with Vance getting a nice rub from scoring the winning pinfall for his team.

Overall Show

This was a significant step up from last week's show in my opinion, likely because it didn't have the same pressure of being a post-pay-per-view show. I still don't like how so many of the storylines from Double or Nothing are carrying over, but these two hours were enjoyable with everything serving a purpose and setting something up for the next week or two. It's a damn shame Dynamite has been booted off Wednesdays for almost all of June because it's really hurt any momentum the show had ratings-wise.

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