5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (August 9 - Review)

1. All In Takes Shape

FTR Hardy Boyz

At long last!

With a spry 17 days until the biggest event in company history and a show that, again, stands to be potentially the largest paid show in wrestling history, a fleshed out card began to emerge. This was a pleasing development, and a welcome response to very valid complaints in recent weeks that the show was feeling like a decidedly secondary concern.

The Young Bucks answered in the affirmative to FTR's Collision challenge, teeing up a dream rubber match. The Women's Championship tournament brackets all-but confirmed the participants for that four-way. Regardless of anybody's opinion on the hows and whys of it happening, the homestretch towards Chris Jericho Vs Will Ospreay appeared in view. The aforementioned coffin match got its own graphic. Adam Cole and MJF will surely get their Zero Hour wish granted. Most fascinating of all was Kenny Omega's confirmation that he'll sit down with Jim Ross next week to discuss what he's going to be up to. Friend Hangman Page and enemy Konosuke Takeshita are both free, could one or both figure into that?

The focus was at last on London, and it massively helped in elevating an otherwise-innocuous edition of the show.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 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 over 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 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana 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