8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Fyter Fest Night 2 (Jul 8)

1. Too Strong A Tell

Darby Allin
AEW

This is a minor and conditional flaw. If the Fight For The Fallen main event bangs this memory out of the viewer, and indications are that it will, it won't matter.

But AEW almost played it perfectly.

Ahead of Double Or Nothing, Taz attempted to mentor Darby Allin following his loss in the TNT Championship tournament semi-final. Taz misread Allin's past and ability level, and Allin, feeling patronised, rebuffed his help. This pissed Taz off, and so Taz in response hired a preposterously muscled badass goon to take Allin out - and to take himself back to the top of the wrestling world. Brian Cage wrecked Allin at the finish of the Casino Ladder match. Allin hasn't been cleared for in-ring competition since. This is a natural, built programme, but it had lurked in the background so as to not to diminish the drama and importance of the big Cage push.

Until last night's Darby Allin latest medical update/not-great Jackass-adjacent skit, in which he explicitly called Cage out.

This felt like atypical exposition from a company that operates best when it respects the intelligence of the audience. They had foreshadowed this programme very well, but they've telegraphed it now. What was once organic is now obvious.

It could always materialise as an AEW World Championship match, of course, but that doesn't feel at all likely.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!