AEW All-Atlantic Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Wheeler Yuta
Our first match of the evening was for the All-Atlantic Championship. Orange Cassidy was defending his title against his former protege and friend, Wheeler Yuta. This match set the tone of Dynamite with a bang as both guys beat the hell out of each other. Friendships be damned after this one!
The story indeed revolved around Cassidy and Yuta’s friendship. Both guys used each other’s moves as if to signify Cassidy taught Wheeler everything he knew. Orange kept trying to extend the Olive Branch of civility, but Yuta was having none of it. It didn’t help that Claudio Castagnoli came down at one point to slap the young Wheeler because he was mad about Wheeler losing.
This incensed young Wheeler, who started showing the same edgy attitude that would show up later in a fellow Blackpool Combat Club member’s match. The intensity between the two former friends was palpable. They were battling like heated rivals. Wheeler even almost stole the match by using Cassidy’s signature Mouse Trap pin.
All of a sudden, Orange Cassidy hit the Orange Punch, except Wheeler kicked out. This was surprising because the Beach Break gets a lot of kickouts, but the Punch surely does not. Wheeler eventually stayed down after the beach break and one last orange punch to secure the champion’s victory. This match was awesome!
4.5/5
Match of the Night
Right after the match, Orange Cassidy tried to appeal to any semblance of friendship Yuta had left for him. Cassidy attempted the Best Friend hug, but Claudio came down the rampway again and summoned Yuta like an actual scolded dog. Where’s Jim Ross when you need him?
Segments:
- Renee Paquette started her evening backstage with Evil Uno and Hangman. The Cowboy told Uno that he wished the Dark Order wouldn’t get involved with him and Moxley, but Evil Uno had a wonderful retort. Uno talks about how the Dark Order needs to stand up for themselves. This gets brought up a little bit later, but Uno needs more microphone time.
- Ricky Starks came down to the ring with an Open Challenge contract for Revolution. doing now? The Absolute one has accepted that he’s not facing Jericho, but the leader of the JAS is the one to answer the call. Pretty Peter Avalon tried to sign the open contract first, but Jericho hits the Judas Effect on him. Starks manipulates Jericho into signing the contract, which was fun. Jericho also signed the contract by clicking his pen like he was adding to the List was a fun callback. This could have been a much quicker backstage segment, but still fun.
The Acclaimed vs. Big Bill & Lee Moriarty
After that, there was a tag match with The Acclaimed facing Big Bill and Lee Moriarty. This match was a decent tag match with simple isolation tactics from both teams, but the story still revolved around The Acclaimed, Daddy Ass, and The Gunns. For the most part of the match, the latter appeared on the rampway to distract.
Daddy Ass was beaten up by his sons at one point, except that wasn’t enough to keep the Acclaimed from hitting the Mic Drop for the victory. There needs to be more done with The Firm. It’s a loaded faction with quality talent, not to be used as comedy foil.
2.5/5
Segments:
- Christian Cage was scheduled to be interviewed by Schiavone up next, but Jungle Boy had other plans. Jack Perry comes from NOWHERE to spear Cage into the depths of hell!!! It was an awesome moment. Jack Perry then grabs two chairs to hit a Conchairto, except he is hesitant. That move has been established as devastating and he knows it. Unfortunately, this hesitation allows Cage to hit him in the balls and come out on top.
- This was a reminder of Joe and Wardlow up next. Samoa Joe warns Wardlow that he’s not someone to be messed with.
Saraya vs. Skye Blue
Up next was a quick match between Skye Blue and Saraya…and Toni Storm. It wasn’t a handicap match, but it might as well have been. Skye didn’t stand a chance in this one, despite getting good moves in and actually looking better than the English veteran.
Not the best match ever, but the heels looked good working together. Toni Storm is a natural heel and played up the cheating aspect of their little group. Saraya had a cool submission to finish the match. Not exactly sure if putting a young talent like Skye in the ring with someone who only has three matches in seven years is the best idea, though.
2.25/5
Segments:
- Jaime Hayter and Britt Baker ran down to the ring as Saraya and Toni Storm continued to punish young Skye Blue. Ruby Soho also arrived on the rampway to trap Saraya and Toni Storm as they tried to escape, but she was only focused on the champ in the ring. Again, the feud is a mess. The motivations are all over the place.
- Bryan Danielson came down to the ring to raucous applause from a loving Arizona crowd. He was quickly interrupted by MJF, who was surely about to engage in another cookie cutter “I hate you” promo. Well, Maxwell Jacob Friedman isn’t one to be predictable. He talks about how his fiance left him and that the only thing he has left is his championship belt. MJF transitioned into talking about Danielson’s kids and addressed them through the camera. This obviously caused Danielson and MJF to start brawling, which they did all over the place! This feud wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but a heated exchange really helped.
- Jaime Hayter was backstage and still pissed at Saraya. She challenges both Saraya and Ruby Soho for a match at Revolution. I reiterate…A MESS. Saraya has had four matches so far; one against the Renegade twins and one earlier against Skye Blue. No offense to Skye, but Saraya hasn’t really faced a murderer’s row of competition to warrant a title shot.
Tag Team Battle Royale
Ohhhh boy they’re all starting in the ring. Battle Royales are hard to write about. Here’s the order of eliminations:
- The Lucha Bros eliminated Tony Nese and Ari Daivari
- Butcher and Blade eliminated Aussie Open (LAME) and Darius of Top Flight
- John Silver eliminated Blade, but Butcher eliminated Alex Reynolds
- Penta eliminated Preston Vance, but Rush eliminated Penta el Zero Miedo shortly after
- Fenix then eliminated Rush
- Butcher eliminated John Silver
- Best Friends eliminated Angelo Parker and Matt Menard
- Jeff Jarrett, the ever-opportunist, eliminated Chuckie T
- Butcher eliminated Dante Martin
- Fenix eliminated Butcher, but Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal eliminate Fenix right away
And finally, we had the final three: Trent Baretta, Jay Lethal, and Jeff Jarrett. Satnam Singh helped Jarret and Lethal throughout this match and was the deciding factor. Singh prevented both Jarrett and Lethal from falling outside of the ring. Trent was able to throw Lethal over eventually, but Jarrett turned the tides on the Best Friend. Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal win the Tag Team Battle Royale and are heading to Revolution.
Battle Royales are difficult to review for a rating, but this wouldn’t hit high marks. In addition to Jarrett and Lethal winning the match itself, the action was lackluster. The majority of the eliminations were simply throwing someone over the top rope after sneaking up on them. Furthermore, there were no story advancements or introductions. Simply put, a fairly uneventful and forgettable Royale, which is something the Revolution Tag Team Fatal Four-way doesn’t get defined as.
Segments:
- House of Black are coming after the Trios Champions. Will the Elite survive the House of Black? Or will the House talk a big game and come up short again? Hopefully, we will find out at Revolution!
- Everyone was waiting for Tony Khan’s announcement, which happened towards the end of the night and wasn’t even given by the CEO himself. He passed that off to Adam Cole, who announced a new AEW show, ALL ACCESS, to debut after Dynamite sometime in March. He also revealed that the same night will be his in-ring return. Cool!
Jon Moxley vs. Evil Uno
This week’s Dynamite main event can be described, quite simply with this:
Evil Uno is awesome.
All Elite Wrestling needs to find more ways to get this guy on television. He went toe to toe in this week’s main event against Jon Moxley and displayed how tough he truly is. The match wasn’t long or in question of the victor, but Evil Uno made a name for himself in a singles capacity against a former champion.
The match was hot, fast, and bloody. Moxley, similar to his other Blackpool Combat Club compatriots, leaned into a heel side with attitude. Mox ripped the facemask of Uno, ran away from Uno, and acted superior to Uno despite being under constant assault.
Evil Uno hit an unbelievable senton from the top rope, but the inevitable happened. Jon Moxley choked out Evil Uno with the Bulldog choke while blood gushed from the masked Uno’s face. Overall, this match wasn’t very long, but it was a great race to a bloody finish.
3.5/5
After the match, Jon Moxley does not let go of the choke. A full brawl unfolds and the show ends as many weeks do – with Jon Moxley bleeding.
OVERALL
And that was AEW Dynamite for this week! I’d classify this episode as “interesting” once again. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t great either. The first match truly set the tone for Dynamite to be an intense evening of wrestling, but that didn’t manufacture until the main event. Now, the main event was awesome, but where was the rest of that throughout the rest of the night?
I have to give it to AEW, though. Revolution is right around the corner and there are many matches on that card that I cannot wait for. The Elite and House of Black look to be on a collision course too, which is a battle of my personal favorites.
Overall, Dynamite was a fun evening of wresting.
Verdict: 4/5