I have a question, on paper AEW Dynamite 3/31 and last week both seemed like nothing special. So how is nearly each match way better than expected?!
No complaints here, because once again, the wrestlers of AEW go above and beyond. Stellar matches, drama escalates, and we finally understand why the Nightmare Family membership increased as much as it has.
Kicking off, Christian defeated Kazarian in a near 20-minute match. Kazarian roughed up Christian quite a bit, even at some point just shoving him off the top rope to the floor. A lot of serious bumps being taken, some of which had me a bit worried Christian would come back only to return to the injured list.
Kazarian has not had an opportunity in singles action like this in a while, and put on a spectacular match. Flux Capacitor, the leaping second rope leg drop. Looked like circa Ring of Honor in the early-2000s.
Christian looked solid in his return, my only critique, he should have been booked to win without the Killswitch finisher. Went for it too many times, and at some point it was clear he would win, but would have been better if by a surprise rollup or perhaps a different move.
Overall great match.
QT Marshall throws his match against Cody Rhodes by punching guest referee, Arn Anderson. The heel turn we all saw coming finally happens. Cody outclassing QT for most of the match, interesting, the commentary team talk up how QT gets little fanfare in the Nightmare Family while Cody gets all the attention. Cody would refuse to hit his finisher, which then angered QT to the point of missing a crossbody, rolling to the floor. His frustration boiled over, shoving Dustin and then appearing to punch Arn out of rage.
Initially appearing to be remorseful, turned to a smirk as Nick Comoroto, Aaron Solow, and Anthony Ogogo attacking the other members of the Nightmare Family. The carnage comes to a head as Lee Johnson is powerbombed on the entrance ramp. Before Cody would eat a piledriver on the ring stairs, Red Velvet makes the save, pleading with QT’s bunch to leave.
Well, this took a bigger turn. I have said it before, and I will repeat. 2021 is the year of stables.
Jade Cargill pre-taped promo, calling out Red Velvet and reminding us all, “she’s that bitch.” I have a feeling this may be the moniker she goes with.
Darby Allin cuts a promo on “Big Money” Matt Hardy – So awesome.
Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky with a pre-taped promo, clean edits with each completing the others sentence. I like these guys as a team. Both with the same agenda, and both with main-event potential.
Mox cuts a backstage promo, he’s just funny to listen to. He’s up against Cezar Bononi tonight, who he believes “AEW can make a lot of money off this guy, but not if I KILL HIM.” Oh Mox.
Mox defeated Cezar Bononi in a short match, some interference by his buddies Nick Nemeth and J.D. Drake, the latter has the old school bruiser look. Seen him in action. I like. Bononi has good use of his size, and facial expressions. When Mox locked on the bully choke, Bononi’s eyes went wide and mouth gasped like a fish out of water.
Backstage: Red Velvet is about to be interviewed, but then Jade Cargill blindsides her, shouting: “I’m that bitch!”
Maybe I’m too old fashioned, but there’s been way too much cursing tonight.
MJF and The Pinnacle are in the old Inner Circle dressing room, where MJF introduces their personal fashion designer and tailor, and promises a professional decorator to redo the room. MJF wants to start with the foul odor in the bathroom, opens the door and there they are, The Inner Circle. An amazing ECW style brawl erupts, with Inner Circle members emerging victorious over their counterparts. Sammy slamming a door on the head of Shawn Spears, Santana and Ortiz blooding FTR, Hager lobbing Wardlow through a massage table, and Jericho dunking MJF into a toilet, followed up by throwing him face-first through the Pepsi cooler glass.
That. Was. Great.
Kenny Omega and the Good Brothers defeated Penta El Zero M, Rey Fenix, and Laredo Kid
What. A. Match. Fast paced, tons of dazzling high risk moves and some insane drops. The trios matches have been some of the most enjoyable bouts on television. Prior to the match, a backstage segment featuring Don Callis confronting the Bucks, but specifically targeting Matt Jackson, calling him weak, berating enough accompanied by a slap to the face, enough to get Matt to begin throttling Callis, but stops. Callis calls Matt “pathetic” to close that segment. Into the tag match, Omega takes the brunt of the early offense, with Gallows and Anderson taking control after a heated volley of offense from Death Triangle. It appeared the trio of high fliers would get the win, but Callis’ crew proved to have the resilience, with Omega finally hitting the One Winged Angel on Laredo for the win.
Post match, Mox arrived and is backed up by the Young Bucks. This leads to next week’s trios match, Mox and Bucks taking on Omega and the Good Brothers.
Nyla Rose and The Bunny defeated Hikaru Shida and Tay Conti
Another match which on paper said “OK” but in reality turned out to be “awesome.” Conti is a rising star, fast rising, Shida never disappoints. The focus by commentary was on The Bunny, who was put over in a pre-match promo by “Big Money” Matt Hardy as being put down and left out. Here’s where things get a little confusing. Bunny appears to be on the defensive for most of the match, while her offense seemed to have some impact, it was Rose who dominated more often for the team, while Bunny wound up taking some vicious strikes courtesy of Conti.
Late in the match, a brawl between the Hardy Home Office and Dark Order broke out, allowing Bunny to sneak a win with a cheap shot via kendo stick on Conti to get the win for the team. It felt a bit anti-climactic to conclude this way. It seemed clear Bunny was to be put over, but Shida would have been a better choice to be pinned. She’s the champ, if Bunny is being elevated this much, have her pin the champ, instead of another rising star who was on a hot streak until this point. The only reason I could justify, is if we now get a heated feud between Conti and Bunny.
The Main Event of AEW Dynamite 3/31: Orange Cassidy and Chuckie T defeated Miro and Kip Sabian in the Arcade Anarchy
When the match was over, there was something unique. I caught myself smiling as the show went off the air. This match brought in some unexpected and eye-catching action. Sure, there were the dorky moments of arcade prizes being used. However, the surprise return of Kris Statlander popping out of the claw machine, which had aliens if you noticed (I did not), with the returning Space Invader driving Penelope Ford through an air hockey table. Later on, things looked bleak for our underdog heroes, until a familiar minivan pulled up, with Trent? hopping out, getting a kiss from mom, and going to work on Miro.
Speaking of whom, was MVP of the match. Despite his team losing, the mean side of Miro turned up and on full display, I believe this might be the start of his singles run.
Orange Cassidy somehow blended a mix of offense with taking some harsh bumps courtesy of Miro. I’m surprised he didn’t break any bones.
The chef’s kiss, the new entrance for Cassidy, “Where is my mind?” by Pixies.
Once again, AEW delivers.
