It’s time for a weekly look at the best, the worst, and the weird or otherwise notable—the Hungee—from the latest episode of AEW Dynamite.

The Good

There was a lot of solid stuff on this show, but not a lot of great stuff. Wardlow-Scorpio Sky was a decent, almost squash to coronate Wardlow as the new champion. The World title match was good, though also on the low end of the scale for a major Jon Moxley singles match. Penta Oscuro and Rush was a solid match as well.

Almost all of the angles were setting up for the future. Christian Cage cut another promo and Luchasaurus killed Matt Hardy, setting up Jungle Boy’s return at some point. Jay Lethal & Co. cut another promo on the absent Samoa Joe. There was yet another tease of the future Swerve Strickland/Keith Lee turn, and there was also an angle setting up a nice triple threat tag match between that team, the Young Bucks, and Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs. The Eddie Kingston promo added more heat to his feud with the Jericho Appreciation Society and probably started a feud between Ruby Soho & Tay Conti. There was a goofy segment involving Best Friends, Mark Sterling, & Danhausen to set up Tony Nese and Orange Cassidy on Friday.

The Bad

The Blade & Swerve messing up the leapfrog spot early in their match, in my mind, really knocked the flow off for the entire match for a bit. Swerve immediately succeeding on the drop-down trip spot felt less like wrestling and more like a second botch, though it almost certainly is the former. It seemed like they got back on track after the commercial break and had a pretty nice closing stretch, but it was ugly there for a while.

It feels like JR isn’t hyping his appearances on Rampage as an attempt to get people to watch the B show, but more being passive-aggressive about what he feels is a demotion. Also, you can’t publicly be mad about people on the Internet calling you out for messing up names, and then call the main event challenge to the World title, in Buffalo, Brodie Lee.

The Hungee

I don’t know what the Dark Order is in 2022.

They had a great run in 2021 where they were a fun, goofy midcard babyface team that shined on BTE, and then they lost all momentum once Adam Page won the World title. The whole segment felt very directionless beyond paying tribute to Brodie Lee – obviously a good thing! – which is a sadly accurate reflection on the state of the stable. The fact that the segment started by Evil Uno basically announcing that they were still under contract was, well, bizarre.

It’s worth its own paragraph to mention QT Marshall challenging a child to a fight. I love QT Marshall as a big mouth, lower card heel, and him being around is a positive.

A street fight without any plunder or much outside of the ring was, uh, bizarre.

I don’t understand only showing part of the great Matt Menard promo, instead opting for folding it into a highlight video from the Blood & Guts match.

The Acclaimed and the Gunn Club have finally started their feud, thanks to Anthony Bowens being healthy enough to compete. RIP to daddy scissoring.

Overall rating

6/10. There are a couple of matches worth checking out if you have time and a couple of good promos, but I wouldn’t say there was a single home run on this show.

This was a transitional Dynamite.

Fred Morlan’s Chris Jericho’s Sports Entertainer of the Week

Rush wins in a down week, as he looked good in his debut and put in more effort than he seemingly ever did during his Ring of Honor run. Wardlow and Moxley are decent alternatives.

Match Star Ratings

  • Wardlow defeated Scorpio Sky for the TNT Championship: ***
  • Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland defeated The Butcher & The Blade: **1/2
  • Rush defeated Penta Oscuro: ***1/2
  • The Acclaimed & The Gunn Club defeated Fuego del Sol & Ruffin It: *
  • Thunderstorm defeated Marina Shafir & Nyla Rose: **3/4
  • Jon Moxley defeated Brody King to retain the AEW World Championship: ***3/4

You can follow Fred on Twitter @flagrantrasslin.