AEW Dynamite Review - February 14, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jon Moxley def. Dax Harwood

FTR confronted Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli on Collision last week, so it looks like we're in for Blackpool Combat Club vs FTR at Revolution. I don't think anything will at stake and both teams are babyface (though BCC tend to be tweeners most of the time), but the match sells itself. This served as a preview of what to expect when those teams collide and it was an excellent opener. Harwood never ceases to deliver in singles competition (despite rarely winning).

Wardlow def. Barrett Brown

This was a pretty straightforward squash match with Wardlow winning decisively and quickly as he should have. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it, but top takeaway was that Wardlow apparently didn't hurt his knee bad enough a few weeks ago to sideline him indefinitely. That would've been a significant blow to The Undisputed Kingdom, who are struggling to maintain momentum as it is.

Adam Copeland vs. Daniel Garcia in an AEW TNT Championship No. 1 Contender's Match Ended in a No Contest

This realistically could have gone either way since Copeland's feud with Christian Cage was never resolved and Garcia is racking up wins at the moment. AEW doesn't do non-finishes often, but I was still underwhelmed by the interference from Nick Wayne and Killswitch that resulted in the contest being thrown out. On the bright side, it was a very good match prior to that. Do we get Christian vs. Garcia with Copeland potentially being written off for a while? We definitely don't need another three-way with the Revolution main event already being a three-way.

AEW World Champion Samoa Joe, Swerve Strickland and "Hangman" Adam Page

I'm convinced Strickland is a babyface at this point, and if he isn't, he will be soon enough. Page got booed when he came out, much like last week following his match with Strickland. The mic work from all three guys in this segment was strong and left me looking forward to their three-way at Revolution. Joe's last line before walking off was especially great. He's so fantastic in this role as champion, which is why I'd be fine with him finding a way to win and holding off on Strickland's big title win until Double or Nothing.

The Young Bucks def. Top Flight

These teams have history from early on in Top Flight's AEW run, so I liked that they ran it back here. I'm not a fan of the Bucks' new shtick (and the fact they wrestled in their bloodied suits from last week's beatdown on Sting was silly), but this was a fun match and I appreciated that Top Flight were made to look credible in defeat. Darby Allin going the "shoot" route with his promo toward the Bucks' was refreshing and put more heat on their (likely) matchup at Revolution.

Willow Nightingale def. Skye Blue

Ah, the obligatory women's match right before the main event. Yes, we got a vignette from Toni Storm and a backstage promo from Deonna Purrazzo earlier in the episode, but it's abundantly clear Tony Khan still isn't prioritizing the division. Putting a female in charge of writing the women may help. Nonetheless, this was a nice match and I'm glad the stuff with Nightingale and Kris Statlander has been progressing regularly for the most part.

AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy def. ROH World Tag Team Champion Matt Taven in a Texas Death Match (Non-Title)

This was an enjoyable brawl and both guys put forth a commendable effort. However, the Texas Death match stipulation was completely unnecessary, the interference at the end was excessive, and Taven had no business being in the Dynamite main event. I understand Cassidy is currently feuding with Undisputed Kingdom, but this was not main event material in my opinion and would have worked better as the opener.

Overall Show

Dynamite had a hot episode last week, but it was back to business as usual this week. It was a solid show on the whole, but if you didn't tune in, you missed very little. There was plenty of entertaining action, so there was that. The Revolution card is coming together slowly but surely and it's shaping up to be a hell of an event, especially after the announcement that Will Ospreay will take on Konosuke Takeshita in his first official match as a member of the AEW roster. Dynamite has been decent in 2024, but Revolution has the potential to be one of their best pay-per-views ever.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews