5 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite (June 22)
3. All Action For The All-Atlantic
In contrast to some saving graces of the past few weeks, this week's Dynamite was low on the sort of outstanding in-ring that's long been its norm, but All Elite Wrestling is still where good can become great and Malakai Black and Penta Oscuro were constantly trending in that direction.
That the match ended up a mini-ripper is a credit to both men too. House Of Black Vs Death Triangle has been going on forever, this individual encounter was made predictable by prior reports about Penta's inability to even work Forbidden Door on Sunday, and the All-Atlantic Title doesn't remotely feel like an actual prize at present.
As is typically the case when the bell rings, Malakai Black can be a real a force of nature out there. He looks and wrestles like a man very pleased to be kicking your f*cking head off, which only makes some of the hokier lore stuff needless. Penta, meanwhile, will give his body to any cause, big or small. That attitude was most helpful here. Another multi-man isn't ideal, but AEW have assembled something of a best case scenario line-up for their new strap.