9 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Dynamite (31 Aug)

7. A Little Brief, But...

The Jungle Boy/Christian Cage sitdown could have benefitted from a longer runtime. Jim Ross is fantastic at mediating and hosting these things, so why limit him to such a condensed space? Give it a little longer and all three would have crushed it.

Similarly, AEW could learn a lesson in structuring from how this feud has been positioned over the past couple of weeks. That's twice in a row that the Cage/Jungle Boy offerings have gone down after something involved CM Punk and Jon Moxley. It feels like a comedown.

But.

BUT.

What we got here was very, very strong. Cage was his usual horrible self, promising to make Jungle Boy a 25-year-old has-been at All Out. His opponent, meanwhile, spoke with a new level of gravitas, referencing his departed father and all of Christian's below-the-belt barbs and personal insults in promising not to wrestle Cage as Jungle Boy, but fight him as Jack Perry.

Jack spoke with conviction, which isn't something he has always been able to do, and this felt like a step forward for him. He can't be Jungle Boy forever. One day, Jack Perry has to come to life - and we will look back on segments like this as bridges from one era to another.