AEW Dynamite 7/22 Review: AEW Captures The ECW Vibe, Eddie Kingston Debuts

AEW had a tremendous three-week television run when they presented PPV quality event after PPV quality event with Fyter Fest Week 1, Fyter Fest Week 2 and Fight for the Fallen. All of three of these shows were throwbacks to old Jim Crockett/NWA/WCW Clash of Champions supercards — loaded to the gills with blow-offs to new feuds, gimmick matches and new directions for new talents.

When Fight for the Fallen ended, we were teased (as we always are) with what was in store for the AEW Dynamite 7/22 episode. It was Hangman Page versus Alan Angels, Cody’s open challenge and Ivelisse versus Diamante. Solid card, but definitely felt like a downshift from the shows AEW had just produced.

Yet, as the week progressed it was announced we’d be getting a Bucks/Butcher & Blade Falls Count Anywhere match and a tag match with Jurassic Express and Inner Circle — alright, that’s upping the ante a bit. Then the mystery of Cody’s open challenge was heightened with Tony Khan’s Twitter comments and an interview Jon Moxley did on ESPN Radio. AIW’s Jon Thorne tweeted about how insanely good the idea was. Theories and thoughts ran rampant. Would it Warhorse? Would Eddie Kingston’s blistering promo on Cody pay off for him? Matt Tremont, finally? Could AEW possibly pull the trigger on “The God” Nick Gage?

So, as we headed into AEW Dynamite 7/22, the hype was there — but there’s no way it could top Fyter of Fight. Right? Wrong.

AEW Dynamite 7/22 might’ve been one the tightest, most high-energy and most overall fun shows the company has done in quite some time. It captured the best vibe any of their empty arena shows have had in a long time. The pacing ramped to a 100 mph Extreme Championship Wrestling type show where it was pure fun, chaos. You almost forgot they are in a mostly empty ampitheatre and instead you couldn’t help but caught up in everything happening during the show.

Eddie Kingston’s debut in AEW, even if it is only a one-time thing (it really should) brought out one of the best Cody Rhodes’ matches in AEW. Listen, I’m a Cody fan and his matches are good, but when he’s able to tap into some sort of emotion, his game is elevated. Kingston did just that. The Mad King’s opening promo, a slightly cleaned up version of his July 4th promo in the middle of a field in South Jersey for ICW No Holds Barred, was the kind of take no-shit, gritty, blistering promo that works in the AEW environment.Yet with Kingston it comes from a more personal, more real and more visceral place. Kingston worked like a mad dog in this match and I was impressed that Cody kept up the same intensity.

The spot of the night, without a doubt, was Cody taking the powerbomb on the thumbtacks. When Kingston dropped the hardware on the mat I figured “Okay, Kingston’ll tease Cody’s going into them, but he’ll end up taking it instead.” Nope. Cody. Bareback. Tacks. That was a huge surprise and really upped the emotional ante here. While Cody did win the match by capitalizing on Kingston’s injured knee, The Mad King lost nothing here. In fact, he gained everything. If you didn’t know he was the man before all this, you do now. Now pay the man his money.

The Young Bucks versus The Butcher and Blade really embodied the ECW vibe I mentioned in the title of this piece. These four tore the ever-loving crap out of each other and it created this vibe I haven’t felt in AEW since the arenas were filled with people. These four were out to fight and take each other down and if you love old school tag team brawls, this was for you. The Butcher and The Blade really have seized their opportunity during the pandemic to rebuild themselves. No longer those black leather wearing goons for MJF who can’t buy a win, these two have evolved into not only a premier tag team, but much more tangible characters. Mark my words, these two guys will be a face team at some point. Andy Williams/The Butcher has grown so well into his role and was the huge star of this match. The finish with The Bucks doing a double top stage dive onto B&B through tables was a perfect exclamation point on this match.

A Women’s Tag Team Tournament? I’m here for it. I’ve said a lot — AEW needs to add women to their roster. The quality of the women’s matches has grown exponentially since Dynamite’s premiere, but the depth isn’t there — especially with all the injuries and the pandemic preventing so much talent from coming to the U.S.

Speaking of the women — Diamante and Ivelisse knocked the living hell out each other. Diamante is someone I felt AEW needed to add months ago. She’s got a radically different look and style from the rest of the division. She’s more smash mouth and in-your-face than even AEW’s tougher hitters like Big Swole (but no one has Swole’s swag…not by a long shot). Diamante wining with a surprise roll-up on the veteran was real good. Ivelisse, who was so good in Lucha Underground, looked good here too. Will we see these two team up in the tournament? I mean they seemed cool last week — but I wouldn’t mind running this one back again.

The smaller segments on the show featuring MJF and Griff Garrison, Britt Baker, and Tazz/Starks/Cage and Moxley/Darby were all awesome.

Hangman Page versus 5/Alan Angels was a solid match. However, this was all a setup to get us to Dark Order versus Kenny Omega and Hangman next week. Dark Order as a group is so weird and not in that way. It’s comprised of a lot of great talent, but the direction of this group is hard to figure out. They need a throughline and they need it soon. I did love Hangman’s “I’m not ready to join a cult” line which prompted Brodie Lee to usher Colt Cabana out of the arena. FTR smashing the foam cooler over one of the Order’s heads was a nice moment. We’re definitely getting FTR versus The Beer & Milk Connection at All Out aren’t we?

The main event-ski of Chris Jericho and Jake Hager versus Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy was a big, fun main event. It had all the spots and the moments and hilarity and Orange Cassidy that you needed.

But, now, we gotta talk about Sammy Guevara’s return.

From a wrestling standpoint, and purely a wrestling standpoint, his return was a stroke of genius. Having longtime AEW Dark staple and longtime ringside staple Serpentico jumped the rails and aid the Inner Circle was a huge ‘WHOA’ moment. Could they really be elevating a young cat into the main heel group in the company? Then when we get the reveal of Sammy Guevara — it was the old DDP as La Parka angle all over — and that’s a classic. No one saw this reveal coming and it was executed so perfectly.

However, we have to discuss Sammy’s return. Was a full month gone from AEW enough of a punishment for his statements about Sasha Banks? To me, two months would’ve been more of a statement. Donating his pay to charity and having him take courses and basically telling him to change his life or he’s done is a punishment for sure. But, returning 30 days to the day and in a massive angle, it doesn’t sit right. Listen, I don’t have the right answer for this. Some people wanted him fire. Some people wanted nothing to happen.

I feel like if we can take anything away from this is that words matter. Be a good person. Treat humans with respect. Believe women. I know those all sound like trite catchphrases in a wrestling review, but listen the world can be a terrible place (especially right now) and we all need to come together to make it better. And, wrestling is our escape. It should be a safe environment for not only the performers, but the crews, the staff, and the fans. And while I have you, why not (if you have the means) donate to RAINN an organizer that helps victims of sexual abuse. The #SpeakOut Movement wrestling is still happening and a lot of men and women need our help.

No way to really transition out of that smoothly — so let me close by saying this  — AEW Dynamite 7/22 a week ago looked like a “whatever” show and a week later I’m looking back at an episode I want to go back and watch again and I cannot recommend strongly enough to all wrestling fans. It reminded me so much of ECW and that always makes me happy.

AEW Dynamite 7/22 is now streaming on the TNT app and website.