9 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (23 August - Review)

4. A Cracking Brawl

Nick Wayne August 23
AEW

Swerve Strickland and AR Fox Vs. Darby Allin and Nick Wayne was a seriously impressive match. Not reliant on plunder, in a rare display of restraint from AEW with Stadium Stampede mere days away, it was instead worked as high spot-heavy match - and yet it was never spectacular for the sake of it. There was no dissonance between the tone and the style; this was a heated, violent match that just happened to sprinkle a load of deranged dives and head-drops in place of weapon shots. It had little right to work as well as it did. One element did not betray the other.

As mentioned, the post-match was all kinds of bizarre, but Christian Cage was on bravura form in his role as the man who likes it when your father dies. He was a complete prick here in the best way. He wasn't just cruel about Buddy Wayne's passing in and of itself; he said he'd never even heard of him, so he mustn't have been very good.

That was deliciously callous: if you're going to go the cheap heat route, you have to do it well, and this was unconscionable.

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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 current Undisputed WWE 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!