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

4. House Of Nightmares

Malakai Black's post-Cody Rhodes run has been about putting down overmatched Nightmare Family affiliates who stood no realistic chance of defeating him but showed immense heart in defeat.

This started with Brock Anderson, was expanded with Lee Johnson, and hit its peak with Dustin Rhodes last night. This was always going to be the case. Dustin is fantastic in this role. He's a sympathetic babyface par excellence, tremendous at getting beaten up, and commands a level of respect above most others on the roster. This makes him the perfect sacrificial lamb.

Rhodes didn't go down without a fight here. Though he was put through the timekeeper's table early on and had his knee attacked throughout, his comebacks were long enough to feel substantial without detracting from Black's rub. A late-match Destroyer popped the crowd huge for a two-count before eventually his face was slammed into an exposed turnbuckle, leading to Malakai's spinning heel kick for the pinfall.

Last night continued the excellent presentation of the former Tommy End in AEW thus far. He is exactly where he needs to be, doing everything he needs to do, and must now advance to defeat Cody Rhodes in New York.