The mighty Pink Elephant in the room showed his ugly head once more on AEW Dynamite 3/10. This time it was not the fault of AEW production, but it turns out a misfeed of audio through another TNT broadcast somehow funneled through. Those watching on FITE or TSN in Canada did not have this issue. Sounded like a basketball game to me. Unfortunately this ran through Ethan Page’s first singles match on Dynamite.
Revolution on Sunday was a bit of a debacle. Let’s face facts, while the PPV had a stellar lineup and fantastic matches, the dud of an ending did hamper the show. I got torn into on Twitter by trying to remind viewers not to forget about the wrestling, and it never ceases to amaze me how a place like Twitter easily cultivates a level of anger and hate which I doubt would ever be present in-person.
Maybe it’s my age, or the fact I appreciate wrestling more than the theatrics, but I thought AEW Revolution was a damn good PPV. It sucked the “bomb” didn’t go off as planned but it was just one part of the show. It didn’t change the fact The Young Bucks retaining against MJF and Chris Jericho was a great match, or Hikaru Shida against Ryo Mizunami was awesome. I would hope real wrestling fans appreciate the show in its entirety and not the last five minutes.
In case you missed it, Mox cut a promo after the show ended, blaming Omega for doing a lousy job of building a trap. At least they could try to laugh about it. They continued to do so on Dynamite, as a promo aired in the early stages of the show featuring Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston hitting the bottle, and while Kingston admits to feeling embarrassed, both he and Mox have a good laugh comparing Omega’s attempts to Wil-E-Coyote ordering from ACME.
AEW Dynamite 3/10 kicks off with a stellar one-on-one match where Rey Fenix defeated Matt Jackson. What a match. Of course it was fast paced, would you expect any different. Two particular highlights see Jackson spiking Fenix with a destroyer in the ring, and then again on the arena floor. Their evenness was on display as throwing chops and forearms would lead to a stalemate, and then simultaneous superkicks led to a collision. Fenix was trapped in a Sharoshooter for quite a while, but managed to power back and reach the ropes. Jackson attempted his tombstone, but Fenix reversed, flipping backwards, spiking Matt head first with a Thunder Driver for the finish.
This heats things up for the inevitable clash between number one contenders Death Triangle and the Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Team Championship.
Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Gargis
Well, this was short. No Rhodes putting over young talent here. Total squash. All this did, set up a post-match interview with Tony Schiavone to talk about Revolution. However, this was interrupted by Penta El Zero M who just so happened to be on commentary at the Spanish Announce Table, with Alex Abrahantes who translated, and I should add sounds like his voice could carry over a promo quite well. The point, is Penta throws some personal words towards Cody, threatens to break his already weakened arm, to the point where he won’t be able to hold his baby.
Cue the brawl.
It’s STIIIIIIIIIING. Tony Schiavone had a lot of work tonight, interviewing The Icon, Sting following his win at Revolution. But before he could really rejoice, out comes Lance Archer, appearing back in full-heel mode, threatening to take more than just time away from Sting.
“All Ego” Ethan Page defeated Lee Johnson w/ QT Marshall
Johnson put up a valiant effort, but not enough to tarnish the arrival of Page to AEW. TNT did not rectify the sound issues in time, as the sounds of basketball could be heard through the match. Page wins, and then continues to attack Johnson after the match. QT Marshall instead leaves his trainee high and dry, but Dustin Rhodes makes the save.
We’re getting Rhodes vs. QT now, aren’t we. I’m not sure it is a match I want, but it’s what we’re going to get.
Tony Schiavone was set to bring out Christian Cage¸ but was interrupted by Don Callis, Kenny Omega, and The Good Brothers. They came to the ring, with Callis gloating about the failed bomb, sort of teasing whether it was a ruse on their part, essentially “robbing everyone of the big moment.” Callis goes a tad overboard in explaining about a possible fake out. After more mocking, Eddie Kingston comes out, and answers Omega’s taunting with a big punch to the face. Moxley joins the fray to chase off the heels. As Mox and Kingston take out Anderson and Gallows, Christian Cage finally comes to the ring and holds the AEW World Championship.
This is a huge set up for things to come. We’ve got Callis and his cronies not just with Moxley to contend with, but now the wrath of Kingston, and the sudden arrival of Christian who has eyes on the top prize. This will be the next build, and I can see some of the steps ahead. Mox and Kingston challenging for the Impact Tag Team Championships. Win or lose, this will further the tale of no matter what Callis and Omega try to do, they’ll never get rid of him. Enlisting Kingston will add brilliant promos to the mix. Christian will be lurking, biding his time, waiting for a moment to strike.
I like it.
The only thing I did not jive well with, was the over-drama off the mishap at Revolution. The promo earlier from Mox and Kingston could have been enough, and there wasn’t a need to drill it further by Callis. Hopefully, this is something which can be forgiven and forgotten in due time.
Six-woman Tag Team Match: Thunder Rosa, Hikaru Shida, and Ryo Mizunami defeated Dr. Britt Baker, .M.D., Maki Itoh, and Nyla Rose
Bring more Japanese women into the ring. The action is elevated. Thunder Rosa appears to work well with anyone. Baker is your solid heel wrestler and does it oh-so-well, and in a match like this, plenty of room for heel antics to dominate. Itoh is perfect. The anime-styled character has a headbutt of doom. Love it.
Rosa earned the win for the team, however the losers are unhappy with the result and attack after the match is over. This results in the MAIN EVENT for Dynamite next week – Thunder Rosa vs. Dr. Britt Baker. This will be huge.
I feel the women’s division in AEW is picking up a lot of steam, and hopefully with some more new blood in 2021, we will continue to see the upward positive trend.
Darby Allin retains the TNT Championship against Scorpio Sky
I thought for sure the title would change hands tonight, but it’s fine to be wrong. Darby can hold the belt a little longer. Scorpio is breaking out into a singles star, and with it comes new opportunities sported with a new persona. We began to see this change in the past few weeks, and his performance in the ladder match set a stage for big things to come. Likely due to the pandemic, the push Sky was set to receive was shelved temporarily, but will now come to fruition this year. Although Sky lost, he lost in a long match where a reminder was planted of just how damn good he is in solos. Remember over a year ago his match with Chris Jericho?
Sky lost clean to a reversal into a cradle. Allin could not get a finisher off and had to win with a sly move. I’ll just point out this is one of my favorite things about AEW again, a finisher is not always needed to win a match. The tone is set after the match, were Allin attempts at civil respect, but Sky turns to anger and greed, clobbering Allin afterwards. I didn’t think Sky’s success would come as a heel given how popular he has been, but I’m sure he will easily make it work.
The Inner Circle War Council
The main event of AEW Dynamite 3/10 came in the moment everyone was anticipating. As Chris Jericho attempted to reconcile with some setbacks, it would be MJF who opted to rectify the situation by ousting Jericho from the group. But before anything happened, Sammy Guevara returns and asks for Jericho to shelve his hate, just to see a secret video. A video which shows MJF plotting with Santana, Ortiz, and Hager to out the leader. As MJF orders them to attack Jericho and Guevara, the Inner Circle members about-face, and united to stare down the instigator. Jericho gloats he knew all along of MJF’s plan, as the Inner Circle stays together and told him exactly what was going on. But before they could issue the beating… MJF reveals he’s been biding his time, creating a NEW STABLE OF HIS OWN.
The lights go out, and back on to reveal Tully Blanchard, FTR, Wardlow, and Shawn Spears. A massive fight breaks out, with the newly formed faction overpowering the Circle, leaving Sammy’s head rammed into a chair, Santana and Ortiz handcuffed, while Hager dispatched to the arena floor. They brutalize Jericho to a bloody mess, with an exclamation point with Wardlow powerbombing Jericho off the entrance stage through a set.
I predicted it before, 2021, would be a year of stables, and boy have we got them now. This is the most intriguing moment so far, MJF now the kingpin of his own group, going after the more established stable in the company. This will certainly be exciting to see how it unfolds in the coming months. This is one build you won’t want to miss.
