10 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Fight For The Fallen (27 July)
Danielson, Garcia, HOOK, Starks, Rush, Moxley, and more weave magic on a great night for AEW.
All Elite Wrestling's subtitled Dynamite specials don't always live up to their promise.
This is as much a comment on the nature of television wrestling as it is AEW's propensity for loading these lineups, and the expectations this creates. Week-to-week booking is tough. When fans are conditioned to expect a labelled show to be of pay-per-view calibre, it's even tougher, and while AEW's recent Fyter Fest, Road Rager, and Blood & Guts events brought plenty of plus points, none felt quite as special as the feeling of gazing at awesome match graphics beforehand.
Fight for the Fallen was different. An exceptional show from top to bottom, it was not only amongst the best Dynamites of 2022, but stands as perhaps AEW's strongest non-PPV show this year too. Tony Khan's promotion booked the right lineup, marketed it perfectly, and delivered a red-hot show in the midst of a chaotic news week throughout which AEW had scarcely entered the conversation through no fault of its own.
Jon Moxley defended his Interim World Title against Rush, Women's Champion Thunder Rosa faced Miyu Yamashita, and Ricky Starks had not one, but two challengers to contend with. Elsewhere, Jungle Boy cut the best promo of his career, a long-awaited announcement finally dropped, and Daniel Garcia fought Bryan Danielson in the main event.
Let's light the fuse...