6 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (17 Aug)

1. Gunn Family Drama

Billy Gunn
AEW

The Gunn Club/Acclaimed storyline continues to be one of the most rushed things in wrestling at the moment.

Max Caster and Anthony Bowens splitting from the Gunns felt premature in the first place. This week, Colten and Austin turned on father Billy after flattening the Varsity Blonds in 30 seconds, despite Daddy Ass feeling like his offspring had finally responded to his tough love. Mere seconds later, Billy's thought process was "yes, actually it's fine that these kids I have spent 20 years raising have just beaten me up" for the scissoring pop with The Acclaimed.

None of this registered. Billy, within seconds, had moved on from being betrayed by his own sons. This represents the common criticism of Tony Khan's booking stopping things from landing to the extreme. We saw it later with Andrade El Idolo and Rush turning on Dragon Lee, too.

Rush is Lee's brother, by the way. So this show brought two deep-rooted familial splits, neither of which meant anything.

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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.