2/24/2021: AEW Dynamite Review and Results

Feb 28, 20217 min read

Boom, Let's Go Ignite!

AEW Dynamite is, in my completely unbiased opinion, the best wrestling show every week. Its consistent quality and dedication to competent storytelling make it a must-watch for any pro-wrestling lover. If you want explosive action, you want Wednesday Night Dynamite. So let us dawdle no more; it was Wednesday night, and you already know what that means.

Light The Fuse! Bring the Boom! DYNAMITE

This wrestling show actually begins with wrestling, what a novel concept.

Jon Moxley vs. Ryan Nemeth

This was your typical squash match, but watching Moxley do his thing is always a treat. Ryan Nemeth tries his hardest against the determined Mox, but a strong sleeper and a brutal paradigm shift send the Hollywood Hunk back to Cali.

After the match, Jon takes a chair, places it in the middle of the ring, and gets on the mic. He says he is an addict, he is addicted to professional wrestling, and that he will crawl through "barbed wire and landmines" to get his World Championship back. The idea of this deathmatch at revolution is just "too attractive to him," he is attracted to violence like a moth to a flame, and even if it is a trap by Omega and his goons it will not matter, as they are only the latest in a long line of guys to try and take him out. His rhetoric then changes, it morphs to include a bit of finality, and he says that win, lose or draw, we will know that he gave "everything he had". He finishes by saying that if at Revolution it all comes to an end, it will be a "hell of a way to go out". Amazing promo, his seriousness at the end really sells the insanity and carnage of a barbed wire deathmatch, March 7th cannot come soon enough.

Result: Swift victory for Jon Moxley

Rating: 3 stars

We see a short interview backstage between Rey Fenix and Lance Archer, they have some choice words with each other and eventually start brawling off-screen. But we are quickly back in the ring for...

Team Taz (Ricky Starks and Brian Cage) vs. The Varsity Blondes (Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman JR.)

Taz joins the commentary team and says that Hook is leaving the car running so they can waste no time and get drinks after their quick win over the Varsity Blondes. The Blondes take the fight to Team Taz in the early going. Pillman Jr. with a great flying dropkick to the outside on The Machine Brian Cage, but, a nasty-looking powerbomb from Cage to Brian on the ring post changes the complexion of the match up. In the restaurant-quality picture and picture, we see Team Taz keep the Blondes isolated. Pillman desperately seeking to tag in the ready Griff Garrison. Garrison gets his wish after the break, a thrilling hot tag which includes Garrison taking to the air and a Doomsday-Device-esque move from the two Varsity men, but even that cannot put down Team Taz. This was their only shot it seems, as Ricky hits the spear and Cage the Drillclaw to dash the Blondes chances at an upset win.

Result: Team Taz vanquishes the Varsity Blondes

Rating: 3.5 stars

Before Team Taz can get their drink on, they are interrupted by a black and white vignette showing a body bag being drug behind a car, with STING behind the wheel. He stops, unzips the bag, and the face of TNT emerges with a smile and some sting-inspired face paint, all to the backdrop of "earth angel" like music. Sting then comes out dragging a body bag behind him containing Hook, and while Taz and his team are freaking out at this revelation Sting points to the rafters, and Darby Allin flies to the ring on a zip-line, and the two Icons clean house - Darby with his skateboard and Sting with a classic Stinger splash and Scorpion death drop. What a moment.

Backstage now to a pre-recorded interview with Tony Schiavone, Miro, Kip Sabian, and Penelope Ford. Miro is furious about the antics that took place at Beach Break and begs "Charles the Butler" (Chuck Taylor) to come back home to him. Tony receives a note that simply says "Will you wrestle us at Revolution? Y N Maybe," to which Miro tears up, puts in his mouth, and spits out. Later in the night, the match is made official - it will be Orange Cassidy and the artist formally known as Charles The Butler vs. Miro and Kip Sabian.

Jake Hager vs. Brandon Cutler

Back to the ring now for a match sure to be competitive and thrilling throughout. Just kidding, obviously, this is squash through and through. Cutler gets a couple of good moves in but Hager overpowers him at every turn, finishing him off with a huge slam and a stiff clothesline.

Result: Jake Hager squashes Brandon Cutler

Rating: 2 Stars

Furious that Cutler was forced to be in this match, the Inner Circle's Jericho and MJF swarm like dogs upon him, leaving the Young Bucks no choice but to run out and stop the Painmaker Posse from ending Cutler's career. The Inner Circle leave the ring, and on the mic Matt Jackson wants MJF and Y2J to get their asses out to the ring right now, but Judas plays and we see the two cowardly heels on the big screen, who explain that they found someone backstage wandering around, and Jericho simply asks "does this belong to you" showing the camera a bloodied and bruised papa buck. What follows is probably one of my favorite visuals wrestling has produced so far this year, MJF and Jericho hurl the bloody Old Buck into the back of a semi which bears the likenesses of the Young Bucks, smearing their faces with their own father's blood. The Young Bucks are horrified and dash backstage, but they are too late, Freidman and Jericho speed away in an SUV leaving the Bucks to their injured father and injured psyches. Eventually, an ambulance arrives, and interestingly enough only Nick Jackson and the Good Brothers get in, Matt stays behind.

We get a quick recap of the entirety of the feud between Shaq, Cody Rhodes, Jade Cargill, and Red Velvet, preparing for their monumental clash next week on Dynamite. God save us all.

Isiah Kassidy vs. Hangman Adam Page

Coming out with Big Money Matt and Isiah is The Hybrid 2, who we saw get paid off last week to put a beating on Hangman and further getting recruited to the big money brand on Being the Elite. The match begins with Page attempting a cheap shot on Matt Hardy, causing him to later interfere. Thankfully, Dark Order's John Silver and Alex Reynolds come out to explain this cheating to referee Aubrey Edwards, who promptly ejects the former broken man. From there, it is a very entertaining and energetic match, Kassidy works the right arm of Page to try and take away his patented Buckshot Lariat, it works at first to even the odds, but when Isiah attempts a springboard move he is caught by the Hangman, who finished him off... not with the Lariat, but the Deadeye.

Result: Hangman executes a win over Isiah Kassidy

Rating: 3.75

Alex Marvez appears out of thin air in some sort of metalworking shop. Kenny Omega in full wielder garb turns around, and when asked what he is doing he responds by saying he is creating what will be the demise of Jon Moxley, and also "if you want something done right, do it yourself". This truly arouses my interest and a little bit of fear, what outrageous violence will we be seeing at Revolution?

Nyla Rose vs. Britt Baker D.M.D

After getting repeatedly out powered by Nyla Rose, Baker decides to throw a fit and storm around the outside of the ring, before she can get disqualified she gets back in the ring and attempts to take the fight to Nyla. What follows is a very nice back and forth match-up, seamlessly weaving high spots and holds to create what I would say is the best match of the night. I think either wrestler could have come out on top, but Britt's continued reliance on the lockjaw costs her, and after two beast bombs she falls victim to Nyla Rose.

Result: Nyla Rose defeats Britt Baker and moves on in the tournament

Rating: 4 stars

There is a video package for FTR vs. Jurassic Express at Revolution, which I believe has the potential to be a sleeper gem on an already very stacked card. After this package and a run down from the commentary on the matches set for Revolution (match cards being set before a show, what a novel concept) we then go to our main event.....

Lance Archer vs. Rey Fenix

So throughout the night, I had been live-tweeting the show, and after the segment depicting Papa Buck getting brutalized I tweeted the very simple:

"@The_MJF and @IAmJericho CROSSED THE LINE victimizing Papa Buck! What a night it has already been for @AEW #AEWDynamite" -@BladeJobPW on Twitter

which I didn't think would go anywhere. But, suddenly and without warning, as this match was getting underway, this message gets retweeted by Chris Jericho himself. Holy shit, what an amazing experience that was, I freaked out for a solid 30 minutes and I am sure Walker did the same, I am a Jericholic for life more so than I already was. So, this is a very roundabout way to explain that I was not as attentive as I should have been when this match was aired, but on second viewing, I was amazed by this match.

Rey Fenix is day-in-and-day-out one of the most consistently amazing professional wrestlers that is working today, and Lance Archer is just a freak of nature; a giant murderhawk monster who can also walk the ropes and also take a freaking Spanish fly? What?! It literally makes no sense and I'm pretty sure it breaks a few laws of nature. This match is a perfect big-man-little-man-match. Lance is just too big for Fenix to out-muscle, so he relies on his quickness and strikes against the Murderhawk. It is an unstoppable force versus an immovable object, but in this case, the immovable object has a brutal finish known as the Blackout, which Fenix eventually succumbs to after a hellacious battle. After the match, and to close out the show, Archer does something he never before has done and gives respect to the nearly unconscious Rey Fenix with a fist bump.

Result: Lance Archer qualifies for the Revolution ladder match over Rey Fenix

Rating: 4 stars

Overall Rating: B +

So that was it for Dynamite, a night full of hard hits, crazy blacksmiths, victimized parents, and Shaq culminates in a crazy match-up that leaves me clamoring for more. Each week Dynamite deliciously distinguishes itself from its contemporaries, consistently and constantly putting on amazing match after amazing match without the need for filler for fluff, plus I might be just a tiny bit biased because Chris fucking Jericho retweeted me during this show. Amazing moments, amazing matches, but hey, it's Wednesday, and you should already know what that means.

So how did you feel about the show? Tweet us @BladeJobPW with your opinions, and make sure to tune in every week for the most professional podcast in the world, the one... the only... BLADE JOB WRESTLING PODCAST.

Ethan Karnes

Co-Founder, Writer, Podcast Host

Email: ekarnes774@gmail.com

Twitter: @EthanKarnes1

Twitch: @KarnesBrand