5 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Homecoming (4 Aug)

A flat night in Jacksonville cools Dynamite's hot streak, but Malakai Black looked unreal.

Malakai Black boot
AEW

All Elite Wrestling returned to Daily's Place for last night's special Homecoming episode of Dynamite, tasked, enviably, with following three consecutive weeks of blood, violence, and chaos.

Both Fyter Fest shows and Fight for the Fallen felt hotter than the sun's surface. Recreating that in a building the promotion ran for the best part of a year-and-a-half, on a night where it didn't sell out, was impossible. Even if energy levels were high in the building, this didn't come across on television and the result was a serious comedown from the past few weeks. This was a comparatively flat, tepid broadcast, despite the lineup.

Malakai Black's debut match opposite Cody Rhodes took top billing. The angles leading to it were electric, though this outing was a tale of two halves.

Elsewhere, Chris Jericho met old WCW rival Juventud Guerrera in his third Labour, having overcome Nick Gage in last week's grizzly deathmatch. Miro put his TNT Championship on the line against Lee Johnson, Leyla Hirsch and The Bunny battled for NWA Women's Title Contendership, 2.0 debuted opposite a bad*ss babyface superteam, and Britt Baker and Kenny Omega both learned of their new number one contenders.

Let's light the fuse...

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.