AEW Dynamite Review - April 5, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ricky Starks vs. Juice Robinson Went to a No Contest

Before the bell rang, Jay White's entrance music hit, distracting Starks and leading to White and Robinson beating him down. Yes, White is officially "All Elite," though I'm not sure how to feel. He received a great reaction here, but will he still feel special a few months from now? I just felt he was a perfect fit in WWE, but I understand all the behind-the-scenes chaos may have factored into his decision to not sign there (unless WWE never actually offered him a deal). This was a solid re-debut for him, and now we wait and see how AEW intends to use him.

AEW World Trios Champions House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews) def. AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy and Best Friends

Years ago, Cassidy and Best Friends were a trio I thought would be the perfect fit to hold six-man tag titles when the day came AEW introduced them. Cassidy is thriving right now in singles competition, but Best Friends are nowhere near as relevant as they once were. Despite that, this was a well-worked match, and Best Friends were beloved with Trent Beretta being from Long Island. I could see Cassidy defending his International title against a member of House of Black coming out of this.

AEW Women's World Champion Jamie Hayter def. Riho

As I always say, I'm not the biggest Riho fan, but she is quite talented and reminded everyone what she's capable of in this match, especially when she has an equally skilled opponent such as Hayter. This was fun stuff and I liked the dynamic they had. Hayter keeps rolling, and I'm glad her title reign hasn't been completely lost in the midst of this Outcasts storyline. Speaking of The Outcasts, they're already teasing slight tension since they acknowledged backstage after this bout that only one of them can be champion.

The Acclaimed and Jericho Appreciation Society

This was a quick and harmless segment with The Acclaimed, Matt Menard and Angelo Parker playing to the audience and teasing The Acclaimed joining Jericho Appreciation Society. That's obviously not going to happen, but this was meant to be a small tease for Rampage where the four of them will compete in an eight-man tag team match together. I don't care about the storyline, but I appreciated that this didn't overstay its welcome. It was also an excuse to get The Acclaimed in front of Max Caster's native Long Island crowd.

"Jungle Boy" Jack Perry Attacked AEW World Champion MJF

I love the running gag that MJF is basically a babyface in Long Island. His celebration lasted a long time, but I found it to be entertaining, so I can't complain. I'm sure MJF's story about the teacher who doubted him about wanting to wrestle when he grew up was as true as the William Regal one he told a few months ago, but that's purely speculation on my part. Needless to say, Perry was booed for beating up the hometown hero.

Sammy Guevara def. Komander

Komander previously participated in the Face of the Revolution Ladder match last month on Dynamite. He also unsuccessfully challenged El Hijo del Vikingo for the AAA Mega Championship at ROH Supercard of Honor last weekend. He has some incredible offense, so unsurprisingly, this was fun stuff. Guevara's post-match promo was well delivered, but he clearly feels like the weak link in this "four pillars" storyline over the AEW World Championship. He hasn't been prominently featured in forever, so his rush is super abrupt.

FTW Champion Hook def. "All Ego" Ethan Page

This storyline with Matt Hardy manipulating Page into thinking they were close friends has been going on for a while, and I've actually come around to enjoying it, but I don't think a majority of the AEW audience has been invested. Thus, I had no issue with this being kept short and sweet with Hardy betraying Page and feeding him to Page. Hopefully Hardy had it written into the contract that he and Private Party are out of The Firm as a result of Page's loss here.

Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta) def. Three Local Athletes

Amazingly, I think this lasted longer than Blackpool Combat Club's match against Dalton Castle and The Boys last week. I wouldn't have booked that at all and honestly would have left it to this (we never got the names of their opponents, unless I missed something). Nonetheless, it was an interesting angle with Bryan Danielson ordering his stablemates to attack Adam Page with a screwdriver. Apparently, Page has no friends on the roster. It was uncomfortable, but I understand that's what they were probably going for. If this was designed to get heat on Blackpool Combat Club, I think it worked. Maybe? The crowd didn't know how to react.

FTR def. The Gunns in a Titles vs. AEW Careers Match to Win the AEW World Tag Team Championship

If FTR lost, they would've had to leave AEW. Dax Harwood has been saying for months that FTR's deals were up in April and they weren't sure what their next move was, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they re-signed a while ago and it was simply part of the storyline. While not a barn burner by any means, this was a thumbs-up main event made better by the suspense surrounding the stipulation. The Gunns have improved, but FTR are the right team to be holding those tag titles right now.

Overall Show

Dynamite has been settling into a nice rhythm in recent weeks that has enhanced my enjoyment level of the show. Whether they can maintain this heading into Double or Nothing next month remains to be seen, but at least we're getting some more stories. Hilariously, this was more of a Battle of the Belts special than Battle of the Belts will be on Friday night. Strong stuff from Dynamite this week with a lively crowd in Long Island to boot, not to mention that the announcement of All In (no, that's not a typo) heading to Wembley Stadium in London was worth the hype.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews