4 Ups & 7 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Fight For The Fallen (August 17 - Review)

A bizarre evening sets the stage for All In, but somebody should have taken a chainsaw to this show.

Adam Cole MJF
AEW

All In London is going to do it.

As you read this or certainly within days of this writing, All In will sell the last remaining tickets needed to ensure that Wembley Stadium on August 27th will be the legitimate highest attended wrestling show ever. This remarkable achievement has been documented so much over the last several months that you're probably already aware of the caveats - the WCW/NJPW Collision In Korea mandatory attendances, the artificially inflated WWE numbers going back decades - but on distribution and sales the record is as good as assured.

This is the story. Not just now with two Dynamites left to go or next week when the company hits London for the big event, but potentially forever. Can the organisation hit this height ever again, let alone within the next few years? Unlikely, which is why one could reasonably assume that all hands should really be on deck for the event rather than some seemingly steering towards Chicago seven days later and the troubling lack of major and/or conclusive contests being mooted for England's national stadium.

Plenty looked set to make their plans official with just 11 days to go, but against alleged unrest in the locker room, did those intentions play out as planned, and just exactly what constitutes being worthy of your biggest ever show?

Let’s light the fuse…

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett