9 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Dynamite (8 Sep)

1. Homecoming King

A condensed television version of last year's epic New Japan Pro Wrestling clash, Minoru Suzuki vs. Jon Moxley was immense fun and a fine spectacle to close Dynamite on.

This, like much of the show, was all about crowd control. As much as fighting MiSu is presented as a torturous experience, the Pancrase pioneer knows how to get a response from the audience as well. He and Moxley played the audience with strikes back and forth, including rattling headbutts. His fire-up spot was as well-timed as his and Jon's bites were brutal and it speaks volumes of the bout that "fight forever!" chants filled the building as it emerged from picture-in-picture, which is typically where AEW matches slow down.

Suzuki's brow poured blood as he was busted open towards the end. After refusing to go down to a Lariat, he was eventually sent to hell via Paradigm Shift, giving Mox the crowd-pleasing win on home turf.

Though perhaps cut short by the aforementioned timing issues, this was stuff, bellicose, and gladiatorial. Most important of all, however, is that it was over as hell. It was a microcosm of the show as a whole in that if it wasn't met so well by the crowd, it may not have registered so positively with the television viewer. That's good wrestling, though. This stuff is supposed to draw a reaction.