AEW Dynamite (June 26th, 2021): The Night The Jungle Boy Grew Into A Jungle Boy

The most amazing thing about the Kenny Omega/Jungle Boy match wasn't the fact that it was a really good match. It wasn't the fact that it proved Kenny Omega was more than capable of elevating younger talent to another level. Nor was it the fact that it proved that Jungle Boy was more than capable of going the distance and taking it to that next level to be a big-time main event star, thus establishing to the audience that his time will come and he'll be ready for it.

No, the most amazing thing about this match was that there wasn't a fuck finish.

No countouts, no DQs, no bullshit outside interference from the Bucks or the Jobber Club (that came after), nothing that would constitute a shit finish that you'd expect from a free TV title match on WWE or TNA, for that matter. No, this was a very old-school, very compelling match that saw two guys bring their A-games, busted their asses, and made each other look better than before. You didn't come out of this match thinking Jungle Boy was some loser after taking the fall like you would a Roman Reigns match in WWE; you came out of it thinking Jungle Boy hung in there, took it to the champ, and yeah, he didn't win, but his time will come and it's only a matter of WHEN, not IF.

To me, this was the first truly great Kenny Omega match of the year. Probably not to the level of his legendary New Japan classics, but still pretty damn good. It certainly cemented his status as the "best bout machine" and proved that he is more than capable of elevating younger talent to that higher level. This was Sting almost beating Flair and not quite making it, but people got a better impression of the Stinger than they did before. I got that same feeling with Jungle Boy.

Somewhere in Louisville, someone named James is having a conniption fit over that comparison.

The rest of the show wasn't too bad either. A fun match between Hangman Page and Powerhouse Hobbs, a really fun match between Matt Sydal and some kid named Dante, and another brawl between MJF's group and Jericho's group. Nothing blowaway or anything like that, but a good example of this being a one-match show.