6 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (17 May - Review)
2. Jungle Boy Jack Perry Vs Rush
AEW
Shooting for a memorable beatdown of the babyface, Rush bloodying up Jack Perry just two weeks from his biggest ever match was absolutely the move here. For a match featuring two men that don't necessarily have the most consistent record on television, this was best possible version of what they were able to achieve.
The finish was - in contrast to the muddled Sammy Guevara stuff earlier in the show - intriguing too. Perry scoring a win with a sneaky roll-up showed ingenuity but also a sly side that he might need and exploit during the Four Pillars main event.
And about that. The close of this match saw Darby Allin and Sammy Guevara chase off the heels as they tried a post-match beatdown on Perry, seemingly in an effort to show broad solidarity between the challengers ahead of Double Or Nothing. MJF fumed in the aftermath, aggressively slapping the microphone out of Renee Paquette's hand when she asked for his response to the scene. The idea of the Challengers finally out-thinking the Champion this close to the show is a great one, especially if it turns out to be Jungle Boy who breaks the union for his own gain.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he 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 on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
