AEW Dynamite Review - September 8, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Malaki Black def. Dustin Rhodes

It never ceases to amaze me what Dustin can do at his age in the ring. I could do without him hitting Canadian Destroyers and his opponents always kicking out, but that's a minor nitpick. This was a quality contest otherwise with Dustin showing heart before eating defeat. Unfortunately, the finish didn't come off well at all. It looked like Black hit Dustin in the back with his Black Mass kick (or whatever they're calling it) and not in the head. Black vs. Cody Rhodes II was randomly advertised later in the night for the Grand Slam show in two weeks. Why wasn't there a better setup for that?

Taz Interrupted CM Punk

I know it's only been a few weeks, but Punk is still receiving strong reactions everywhere he goes. Cincinnati was no exception. He's always been a tremendous talker, but I love how we've been able to hear from him really speak from the heart since coming to AEW. It's been super refreshing and you can tell he's having a blast. I was anxious to see who would be next for Punk to feud with and now we have our answer: Team Taz. I don't think it will last until Full Gear, nor should it, but I'm definitely down for Punk vs. Powerhouse Hobbs one of these weeks and potentially Punk vs. Ricky Starks before long.

Powerhouse Hobbs def. Dante Martin

This was obviously designed to showcase Hobbs coming off Punk's promise to take on Team Taz in the previous segment. Hobbs is talented and has improved quite a bit since AEW originally brought him in to work as an enhancement guy on Dark over a year ago, so I thought he shined here. Dante did as well, and I'm still hoping they'll do more with him after he blew everyone away against The Elite a few weeks ago. Maybe AEW is hesitant to give him any sort of a push until his brother returns to tag with him?

Brian Pillman Jr. Saved Griff Garrison From MJF and Wardlow

MJF really went in with his heel promo here and I have no complaints. I can understand people thinking it crossed a line, but I'm pretty sure I've heard worse from him. I love how Punk pointed out Pillman's aunt Linda in the crowd earlier in the evening so viewers were familiar with who she was by the time MJF ripped into her and the rest of his family. The subtle teases for tension between MJF and Wardlow were well done, but it's still too early to be breaking those two up. Pillman vs. MJF will go down at the Grand Slam Dynamite and it's another major opportunity for Pillman to impress.

Ruby Soho def. Jamie Hayter

Hayter had only won one match prior to this, but there was no need for her to be undefeated if she's not being built up for a title shot any time soon. Rather, she was a logical first opponent for Soho now that we know she'll challenge Britt Baker for the AEW Women's World Championship at some point. They didn't have a ton of time, but it was well wrestled on the whole and both women had solid showings. Soho already feels like a star in this women's division.​

Jurassic Express, impact World Champion Christian Cage and Frankie Kazarian Saved Bryan Danielson From The Elite

Cole joining The Elite makes total sense (aside from the fact they "killed" him on Being The Elite before he went to WWE, but maybe he'll go back to that down the road when he inevitably turns on them), but I really hope he doesn't do as much of the dumb comedy as they do on Dynamite. That stuff should largely be relegated to BTE if they want to be taken seriously as a top heel faction. The rest of this segment played out nicely with Danielson interrupting him and basically throwing out a challenge to Kenny Omega. Will we get that match at the Grand Slam show in New York City? Will it be saved for Full Gear? Are they just saving it for down the road? No matter what, I'm excited. Cage, Jurassic Express and Kazarian coming to his aid sets up a mini faction war, though I'm glad the babyfaces are more allies than they are actual stablemates (or so it seems, anyway). Cole will make his in-ring debut next week against Kazarian.

Jon Moxley def. Minoru Suzuki

For starters, I saw a lot of fans frustrated online over Suzuki's iconic entrance theme being cut off before it could hit the chorus. I thought Tony Khan was a wrestling fan?! Nonetheless, this was a solid main event, albeit a bit disappointing. They definitely could have gone longer than 10 minutes, especially considering Moxley's post-match celebration lasted a while. If we're not going to get Suzuki in AEW often, then you have to make the most of him while he's around. I assume something ran long earlier in the evening to cause this to run short, but again, what we got was good.

Overall Show

The general consensus online regarding this show was that it flew by and most people didn't even realize the two hours were up. I fall into that camp as well. This was a super enjoyable episode and the perfect way to capitalize on the All Out buzz. All the newest acquisitions appeared, we got a special main event (even though it was shorter than I would've liked), matches were set up for the next few weeks, and the crowd was hot all night long. Dynamite isn't a flawless program by any means, but it's still the best weekly wrestling show going today and consistently leaves me looking forward to the following week.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews