AEW Dynamite Review - June 30, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Penta El Zero Miedo and Eddie Kingston def. AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (Non-Title)

I feel like these eliminator matches always end with the champions winning (which is good because that means the champions don't take unnecessary losses often), so Penta and Kingston winning was a pleasant surprise. I guess I should have seen that coming considering Penta and Kingston have lost to the Bucks a bunch lately and they were owed a victory eventually. Nonetheless, this was a highly enjoyable opener. All the multi-man madness at the end and afterward was a mess, but it's nothing out of the ordinary for AEW.

Darby Allin and Sting Attacked "All Ego" Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky

I like how the focus is fully on Page and Allin at this point with Sting and Sky taking a backseat. Yes, they were involved in this segment, but Allin and Page did most of the work. This was probably Page's best mic work to date in AEW, but I have no idea why they bumped the Coffin match from Road Rager. Maybe they felt they already had too stacked of a card and wanted to wait on it? Maybe Page is legitimately hurt, but I thought that was weird. This was a solid segment otherwise.

Jungle Boy def. Jack Evans

Jungle Boy wasted no time in bouncing back from his excellent effort last week against Kenny Omega by picking up a win here. Evans had no chance of victory here, but he's talented in his own right and the two of them had a quality contest. Per usual, there was chaos afterward with the H.F.O. brawling with Jurassic Express, Christian Cage making the save and then Matt Hardy attempting to go after Cage. Jungle Boy reaching 50 wins should have been the focal point here, but instead, it was all about the faction wars. That was completely pointless and I don't think many people have changed their minds on the Christian vs. Hardy feud being an odd use of both guys.

The Dark Order Confronted AEW World Champion Kenny Omega

Omega was bragging about beating every opponent that's been put in front of him over the last seven months when Dark Order came out, seemingly to challenge him. Instead, they were out there to go to bat for Adam Page without actually saying his name. Omega teased that Page was scared of him and that was pretty much it. Page confronted Dark Order about it later in the night backstage, so he wasn't a complete bum. They're obviously taking the slow-burn approach to this and I have no problem with that whatsoever. All Out feels like the perfect place to pull the trigger on Omega vs. Page and I couldn't be more excited for it. I don't know where Don Callis was during all of this, but I thought Omega fared better on the mic here than he has in some time.

​AEW TNT Champion Miro def. Brian Pillman Jr.

Miro debuted a new entrance theme here. I don't know if I like it yet or not. I guess it fits his new gimmick better, but I will miss that old song. At any rate, this was pretty much what it needed to be. Pillman had a good showing and hung with the champ for about seven minutes before ultimately falling short. This the kind of competitive match I want to see Miro have as TNT Champion fairly regularly in the months ahead. I'm curious to see who will be next to step up to challenge him.

AEW Women's World Champion Britt Baker and Rebel def. Nyla Rose and Vickie Guerrero

I had no interest in seeing Vickie in the ring here (not to mention I have zero interest in seeing her on TV at all), but to her credit, she played her role well in this match. She wasn't in there terribly long, but I wouldn't have minded if this was a few minutes shorter. I have no clue why Baker would have even tagged Vickie in, but at least she was the one who got beat. Rose stood tall afterward by putting Baker through a table at ringside, which was a cool spot.

MJF def. Sammy Guevara

I'm really happy AEW held off on this first-ever encounter for as long as it did, because it was worth the wait. Seriously, this was stellar stuff from two of the company's brightest stars and future champs. I hated the gang warfare right before the finish and all of the other interference, but the rest of the action was exceptional with both guys giving it their all. This was a pay-per-view-worthy bout that ended in a logical win for MJF as he prepares for one more match with Chris Jericho, who he'll be going face-to-face with next week.

Overall Show

There was a really nice video package that aired at the end recapping AEW's stay at Daily's Place in Jacksonville since the start of the pandemic. It was beautifully done and I loved that they included so much footage of Brodie Lee. Unfortunately, the emotional moment was virtually ruined by Jim Ross referring to the show as "WWE Dynamite" as they went off the air. Listen, I know everyone makes mistakes, but this basically a weekly occurrence for him at this point. All in all, I really enjoyed this episode. The build for Road Rager next week was strong, the wrestling delivered, and seeds were planted for plenty of future matchups. My only issue with it was that AEW continues to cram quite a bit into a two-hour period without letting a lot of the stuff breathe for more than a minute. Hopefully the premiere of Rampage later this summer helps with that.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews