This weeks’ edition of All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite served as the fallout from All Out. After an exciting pay-per-view, this episode continued the action with a card that featured Malakai Black taking on Dusting Rhodes. Ruby Soho makes her Dynamite debut against Jamie Hayter; CM Punk addresses the audience after his in-ring return. The Elite recap what happened at All Out; Bryan Danielson makes an appearance. Lastly, in the main event, Jon Moxley takes on hard-hitting New Japan legend Minoru Suzuki. With all the fallout out from All Out and an enticing card, let’s see what happened.

Malaki Black continued his feud with the Nightmare Family as he took on Dustin Rhodes. Black and Rhodes went at it for 20 minutes in a solid opening match. At the start of the match, the two traded blows before Rhodes sent Black to the outside. From there, Black regained control by sending Rhodes through a table. As the referee attended to Rhodes, Black slid back into the ring and exposed a turnbuckle.

Black had control for most of the matchup as he targeted the injured left leg of Rhodes’ and absorbed most of the blows he took. Black also played more mind games by setting Cody Rhodes’ boot in front of Dustin. Infuriating Dustin, he landed a Canadian Destroyer on Black. But as Rhodes gained ground, Black tripped him into the exposed turnbuckle and hit Black Mass, ending the match. This match was a classic one in terms of storytelling, targeting an injury, and the heel tactics from Black. Everything was solid and a nice way to open the show.

Grade: 7/10

Next on the card was CM Punk addressing the fans after his in-ring return. Punk thanked Allin, Sting, and the fans to start his promo. A good way to start the promo, getting a nice pop from the fans. He continued the fanfare by putting over the names of Ruby Soho, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson. But after playing to the crowd, Punk was interrupted by Tazz saying he better not mention any members of team Tazz as his next opponents. The two exchanged more words before Punk ended it with, “Try to beat me if you can, survive if I let you.” Punk did a great job with this promo as he put over more talent and catered to the fans well. The only thing I don’t like is that Punk is getting involved in a program with Team Tazz. Hook, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Ricky Starks are talented, but they are not ready to feud with someone with the magnitude of CM Punk.

Grade 7.5/10

The Punk segment leads into Dante Martin taking on Powerhouse Hobbs. The match started with Hobbs trucking Martin out of the gate, which showed off Hobbs’ stature and size. Martin regrouped by hitting high octane maneuvers. Martin’s high-flying offense, but with a built opponent like Hobbs, backfired. Hobbs caught Martin on a dive and tossed him into the ring post and the outside barriers. Hobbs had control of the match from here, but Matin turned it around with a lawn dart dropkick and a standing senton. But as Martin was about to hit another flying maneuver, but Hobbs caught and hit a spine buster ending the match. This match was alright, Martin showed off his high-flying ability, and it was awe-dropping. Hobbs showed off his strength but hindered the pace of the match. Overall good match of but the pace of the match could have been better as it dragged on.

Grade 6.5/10

Jamie Hayter took on Ruby Soho, who was making her Dynamite debut. The match started a bit slow, but as the two felt each other out the match improved. Hayter took early control match as she dropped Soho onto the top rope. Hayter maintained control throughout the commercial break, but Soho turned it around by hitting a DDT out of nowhere. Hayter put Soho up on her shoulders, but as Hayter went for the shoulder drop Soho, reversed with a hurricanrana. The ending to the match came after Soho hit a heel kick on Hayter. This match felt cut short just as the pace was picking up it ended. Also, I do not like Hayter losing clean she’s supposed to be taken as a serious force in the women’s division, but she’s lost both matches she’s been in so far. Protecting Hayter should be a priority, not an afterthought.

Grade: 6/10

FTR and Shawn Spears took on The Dark Order in a six-man tag match. This match was a cluster and all over the place. The match primarily focused on the story of the dissension within The Dark Order. Focusing on this story took away from the talent in the match. John Silver was the legal man for The Dark Order for 90% of the match, while Cash Wheeler was the legal man for less than two minutes for FTR. Only Silver looked good as he fought off all three opponents and hit a gorgeous German suplex. The ending of the match came when Silver collided with Evil Uno, allowing Dax Harwood to hit the Death Valley driver. Overall, not the best match and it didn’t utilize the talent in the match either.

Grade: 5.5/10 

Next was the Elite coming out to recap what happened at All Out. Don Callis took the microphone from Tony Schiavone and began to talk up the Elite. Callus talked about how Omega’s title defense proved he’s the greatest wrestler in the world. How the Young Bucks gave the fans the greatest tag match of all time. Great heelwork as it gets the crowd worked up. Once the crowd was hot, the Elite then introduced Adam Cole, and he made an entrance. Cole came off as a superstar, and he played a great heel telling Schiavone, “If you even look at Britt Baker the wrong way I will kick your teeth down your throat.” Bryan Danielson then made an appearance, challenging Omega saying, “You’re afraid to face me you won’t take the match because you know you are not on my level.” Chaos then ensued as Danielson went after Omega, the Elite attacked Danielson, and the Jurassic Express ran in for the save. This segment was great: the heels did great work drawing lots of heat, Danielson was over, and teasing this dream match draws interest. 

Grade: 8/10

The main event featured Minoru Suzuki taking on Jon Moxley. A hard-hitting match out of the gate as the two exchanged forearm strikes. Suzuki landed a fury of palm strikes, to momentarily gain control, but Moxley responded with a lariat. The physicality of the match didn’t stop; Moxely hit a series of chops while Suzuki traded headbutts with him. After a slugfest, Suzuki gained the upper hand by nearly hitting at back piledriver, but Moxley reversed it into a Paradigm shift. Suzuki was busted open by the exchange and then withstood multiple lariats from Moxley. The ending came with Moxley hit another Paradigm shift. Overall, great match as it had a big fight feel. Fans knew it was going to be intense, physical, and hard-fought. An icon like Minoru Suzuki taking on Moxley is a pay-per-view caliber match, and it hit with the small amount of time it had. My only issue was that it felt rushed; it just needed more time.

Grade: 7.5/10

Overall, this edition of Dynamite was good. The show was brought down by matches being cut short but saved through appearances of new faces like Cole and Danielson. 

Final Grade: 6.8/10