Performance Review – AEW Dynamite: Fyter Fest Night 2 (7/21/21)

“He once stabbed his opponent in the jugular. He once robbed a bank with no mask on! Ladies and gentleman, labor number two… Nick freakin’ Gage!” – MJF

It was pretty obvious pro wrestling was holding back until they were in front of clapping hands but I did not expect so much to happen at once.

The best part is none of it has actually, like, happened – in the traditional sense.

But sometimes that’s the best thing about wrestling.

The World

So this is the world that probably has CM Punk and Bryan Danielson now, the one that already had so much going for it.

It’s the one where Paul Wight (the Big Show!) is hanging out on B-show commentary and Malakai Black just showed up a couple weeks ago, where Hikeulo is introduced as a legit championship contender and Nick Gage shows up as the second-best possible Chainsaw Charlie.

Along with teases of a punk made in Chicago, All Out in September seems headed towards Kenny Omega/Hangman Page and Chris Jericho/MJF. Andrade el Idolo got Chavo Guerrero as a mouthpiece and called out Death Triangle, Santana & Ortiz had more words with FTR, and maybe if AEW gets their shit together Britt Baker will have a good title defense.

One might say this will get “bloated” – I have before, maybe in this same review. But when you can accomplish all this and still have time for Sting and Orange Cassidy trading comedy kicks during a match, that is what you call momentum — and it’s pro wrestling’s currency.

The Wrestling

Besides the main event (which rocked), this was a week “whole greater than the sum of its parts” TV wrestling.

1. 5 Labors of Jericho: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Spears – In 2021 but probably since Trump got elected, the best possible Jericho is the one that doesn’t try to wrestle and just embraces the out-of-shape bar fighter vibe. He tried to keep up with Spears before an awesome Judas Effect out of nowhere.

2. Frankie Kazarian vs. Doc Gallows – Gallows just trounced the Elite Hunter and it felt strange, like the worst possible Lashley/Kofi. Guess that is a lesson to not try and model your new badass persona off of Yoshitatsu.

3. Darby Allin w/ Sting vs. Wheeler Yuta w/ Best Friends – Wheeler Yuta impressed for the second week in a row as the Best Friends’ new workrate guy, while the babyface vs. babyface match is quickly becoming something AEW is very good at. Darby is so over that even if they weren’t it still would have worked.

4. AEW Women’s World Title: Britt Baker [c] vs. Nyla Rose – Britt Baker is basically a babyface in AEW just for how much she improved as a heel, while Nyla Rose – presumably the good guy – has Vickie Guerrero managing her. It’s so modern, but probably the most interesting thing about this. Their tournament match in March was a lot better.

5. Orange Cassidy vs. The Blade w/ The Bunny – Match #5 on the Dynamite setlist is quickly becoming the easiest to skip, even if it is usually your best shot at seeing a non-regular. This pretty easy layup of a comedy match ended up being a bunch of not-funny near falls.

6. Texas Death Match – IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Jon Moxley [c] vs. Lance Archer – They brawled, bled, and Archer used a fan as a weapon. For the second week in a row, AEW chose chaos for the main event. Archer finally winning a big match against MOX of all people was awesome too.

The Entertainment

A lot of the fun in AEW last week came from just scrolling through Twitter, but Orange Cassidy trading kicks with Sting was peak pro wrestling and this show had so much tremendous weirdness from Nick Gage to Hikeulo to Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Jon Moxley had a kid like two months ago and is bleeding on television.

Miro and Team Taz dropped some good promos too, though with so many promos in the arena too the short bits between matches can sometimes get lost. What I am trying to say is we need less Don Callis and more Taz.

My Favorite Things

1. The crowd loudly chants “1-2-3!” for Darby Allin’s win
2. Lance Archer finally wins a Big One
3. Orange Cassidy and Sting trade kicks

Room for Improvement

1. “The Women’s Division”
2. Tighten up the music cues!
3. Excalibur, please stop saying “hair’s breadth” – it sounds like hair’s breath

Happy Wrestling Land Power Rankings

1. Hangman Page (-)
2. Kenny Omega (-)
3. Darby Allin (4)
4. Miro (3)
5. MJF (NEW)
6. Jon Moxley (10)
7. Britt Baker (5)
8. Eddie Kingston (6)
9. The Young Bucks (7)
10. Cody Rhodes (9)