HEYDORN’S AEW DYNAMITE RECEIPT 6/28: Jungle Boy swings and misses with first heel promo

This week’s episode of AEW Dynamite has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.

-I like the Wild Thing entrance theme for Jon Moxley as much as anybody, but it made no sense for him to keep once the Blackpool Combat Club turned heel. Smart to have him walk out to something different (and slower) at Forbidden Door, but we’re back to Wild Thing now? It’s a mistake. Be a heel, or don’t. Walking the line isn’t good for anyone.

-That said, Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii was exactly what you would have wanted if you like Moxley and Ishii. This was stiff, violent, and engaging because of the physicality.

-Am I the only one that isn’t loving the Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley drama? It feels that way, but I’m not sure what’s to like all that much at this point. It’s fine because Kingston and Moxley will always have a chemistry together because of their history. That aside, though, why is Kingston even involved in this story? And if your’e Jon Moxley, why not just let Kingston fight Claudio Castagnoli. It’s a story propped up on history, but the reality of today just hasn’t meshed in together well enough for me.

-I’m on board for a batch of vignettes highlighting Adam Cole and MJF trying to get along as a team. AEW needs to walk a line with those. If this is a part of the story on the road to a title match this summer at a major event, they can’t strictly be comedic. There has to be something serious involved, so that when thing inevitably break down, they are left with something important to build the blood feud on top of. Getting too “haha” with it will make getting the program to a serious place more difficult than it should be.

-Keith Lee and Vikingo had some very messy spots as teammates in their tag match this week. They were mistimed and illogical, making it hard to move past when judging the match itself. Not a great outing for anyone involved.

-We’re still doing the Adam Page is and isn’t friends with Dark Order thing? Still? Ok. I guess. Look, Page and The Young Bucks come across as total jerks when they are opposite Dark Order. So, it does them no good to run opposite to them as they are attempting to be a likable act opposite the newly turned heel BCC. Right? If they have to finish this story with Dark Order — they don’t — but, if they have to, just wait until this thing with BCC is over.

-A swing and a miss for Jungle Boy and his first heel promo. It reeked of desperation and felt like it was overcompensating for an inability or lack of confidence in getting heat. The line about wildfires and Anna Jay was forced, tasteless, and didn’t get the reaction he hoped for. The delivery wasn’t on point either as Perry looked uncomfortable at times as he acted how he thought a heel should act.

-Ruby Soho needs to talk more than she does. Her promo this week was short, but it was delivered well and carried intensity behind it that made you want to see her next match with Britt Baker.

-Sting messed up a table spot in the main event — a spot supposed to involved Sammy Guevara take a flying splash from the top of a ladder through the announce table. Sting and Guevara couldn’t get on the same page at Forbidden Door and this was the same. I kid, it wasn’t Guevara’s fault, it’s on Sting. Look, 64 year old Sting diving of a ladder is noble. Mad respect to him, but he can’t be doing it. Why? Well, first off, he didn’t make it. He didn’t hit the move. He missed and hurt himself in the process. That’s all anyone would need as a reason not to do a risky spot like that, but that reason resonates more when the person doing it is 64. Sting has had a very nice AEW run and can continue to have one without spots like this. Hopefully he learns from this and doesn’t try it again.

CATCH-UP: AEW DYNAMITE RESULTS (6/28): Keller’s report on Jericho & Guevara vs. Sting & Darby, Baker vs. Soho, Ishii vs. Moxley, Perry speaks