AEW Dynamite Review - April 14, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks def. Death Triangle (Pac and Rey Fenix)

I've seen some people say that this was one of Dynamite's best openers to date and I'd have to agree with that assessment. The only other match that comes to mind (and I'm sure there's many more) is the Iron Man match last year from right before the pandemic. Interestingly enough, that also involved Pac. Seriously, though, this was stellar stuff and just an incredibly exciting sprint from start to finish. Say what you will about the Bucks, but they're in their element as heels. Their mannerisms here were annoying but in a good way and the action was all over the place, again, in a good way. I didn't think the Bucks were actually going to lose the titles a week after turning heel, but the match was so strong that the predictability surrounding the outcome didn't bother me in the slightest.

Jade Cargill def. Red Velvet

I didn't have high hopes for this because we saw very little of Cargill in the ring during that intergender tag team match a month ago, but to her credit, she had a super solid showing here. Even Velvet had a standout performance as she's really impressed me with her recent matches on Dynamite and the Dark shows. This was much better than it had any right to be, so props to both women. Cargill picking up the win was the right call.

Anthony Ogogo def. Cole Carter by Referee Stoppage

This marked Ogogo's official in-ring debut for AEW, so I was interested to see how he'd do. As it turned out, we didn't get to see a ton of him in action because this was over almost immediately. He hit Carter with a gut punch and that was it. I mean, he is a legitimate boxer, so while it is believable, I'm not sure how many members of the roster he's going to beating that decisively with the move. I'm way more interested in whatever he'll be doing than QT Marshall, that's for sure.

Chris Jericho def. Dax Harwood (Mike Tyson Served as Special Guest Enforcer)

Jericho's singles matches tend to be very hit or miss at this point, which is to be expected considering he's 50-years-old. This definitely started out slow, but it turned out to be a fun, physical affair. The match wasn't as important as what was going on at ringside with Tyson, who was the best part about this with the punch to Cash Wheeler. It looked like this was it for Tyson in AEW, at least for now, but he played his role well.

Kris Statlander def. Amber Nova

Statlander has pretty much been coming out with Best Friends these past two weeks, so it was nice to see her return to action after a long layoff. I didn't sense much ring rust from her at all. I've seen Nova before and have never been particularly impressed by her, but she was decent here. Statlander was able to reestablish some credibility and that's all that mattered. The AEW women's division will greatly benefit from having her back in the fold.

Powerhouse Hobbs Attacked Christian Cage

Christian essentially issued an open challenge here and got Taz, whose offer he rejected in this segment to join Team Taz. You knew that was coming, along with a mini feud with Team Taz and I'm definitely down for that if it means him facing Ricky Starks at some point. Before then, though, he'll have to take on Hobbs, who demolished him here. This was a nice way to build up Hobbs, but I have no doubt Christian will beat him next week.

AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin def. Matt Hardy in a Falls Count Anywhere Match

Giving this a Falls Count Anywhere stipulation was probably for the best as it made the match better than it likely would have been otherwise. That said, I hated the excessive amount of interference from the two factions, but whenever it was down to just Allin and Hardy, it was fun. This was one of Hardy's better singles matches in AEW to date and Allin has proven he can work well with just about anyone at this point. The finish looked awesome to boot.

Overall Show

After a promo-heavy show last week, Dynamite was back to normal this week with an episode that felt focused on building up several people. For example, Ogogo and Statlander scored squash wins, Hobbs laid out Christian, and Cargill continued her winning ways. It wasn't the most must-see show in recent weeks, but the opening and closing matches were a blast and well worth checking out, especially Young Bucks vs. Death Triangle.