AEW Dynamite Review - February 22, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy def. ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta (ROH Pure Championship Was Not Defended)

This match should have happened a while ago considering Yuta hasn't been associated with Cassidy and Best Friends in forever, but I'm not complaining that we finally got it because this was damn good. The commentators weren't lying when they said Cassidy has been a roll as All-Atlantic Champion, he's put together a terrific resume of matches and this was no exception. You could feel the personal animosity between the two and the crowd was hot for all of the action. It had nothing to do with Revolution, but as a television opener, this delivered.

Chris Jericho Agreed to Face Ricky Starks at Revolution

What a convoluted segment. I realize Starks was playing mind games with Jericho here, but it doesn't excuse the dumb logic of Starks wanting a rematch with Jericho and not the other way around. Yes, Jericho Appreciation Society has tormented Starks over the last month and a half, but let's not forget Starks beat Jericho clean, so he has nothing left to prove. I guess they had to get to a rematch somehow and that was what this accomplished.

The Acclaimed def. The Firm (Lee Moriarty and Big Bill)

Acclaimed already announced last week that they'll be invoking their rematch clause at Revolution, turning the three-way for the AEW World Tag Team Championship into a four-way. If they regain the gold at the pay-per-view, then them losing the belts to The Gunns was pointless. This was perfectly solid for what it was and gave Acclaimed another rebound win, but I can't say I care about The Firm much at all, so Acclaimed beating them doesn't mean much.

Christian Cage Attacked "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry

There was no break between the end of the last match and this segment. Tony Schiavone was going to interview Cage before Perry quickly attacked him. However, he hesitated to hit Cage with the con-chair-to and Cage took advantage. This was a simple advancement of their storyline ahead of their likely match at Revolution, which has oddly yet to be made official. If is indeed added to the card, it has the potential to be one of the better bouts of the night.

Saraya def. Skye Blue

It hasn't been a full six months and Saraya already feels like just another person on the roster. Then again, that's practically par for the course for AEW, so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. It doesn't help that this heel turn for her and Toni Storm hasn't been thought out well at all. This was a rough squash match that didn't need to be as long as it was. We found out later on it will Jamie Hayter vs. Saraya vs. Ruby Soho for the AEW Women's World Championship at Revolution.

AEW World Champion MJF and Bryan Danielson Brawled

The build to Revolution has been over the place and most of the matches that are either confirmed or expected don't have a ton of juice, but this Iron Man match between Danielson and MJF is one I'm looking forward to. They brought the intensity in this exchange and the brawl was well received. This is easily the strongest storyline going into Revolution and this was needed to get it to the next level.

Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett Won a Tag Team Battle Royale to Qualify for the AEW World Tag Team Championship Four-Way Tag Team Match at Revolution

This Battle Royale featured so many lower-level teams that I was fully expecting The Lucha Brothers to win, but no such luck. Honestly, I'm not sure why AEW bothered to bring them back when they did if they were going to be an afterthought in this match. This was every Battle Royal you've ever seen, except without any interesting stories told. Lethal and Jarrett winning is extremely underwhelming considering they already failed to win the tag titles (twice) and find themselves back in the ring with Acclaimed a month after their feud ended.

Jon Moxley def. Evil Uno

The significance of this match was that it marked Moxley's 100th win in AEW. Despite that, this did not feel worthy of the main event spot because of how Uno has been slotted as an enhancement talent for ages. I applaud the effort put forward by Uno, but the outcome was never in doubt and nothing of note happened. The post-match hyped Moxley vs. Adam Page for Revolution, but I could have done without all the blood from Moxley and Uno. It's beyond overdone and has no meaning at this point.

Overall Show

Props to the crowd in Phoenix for being lively throughout the night. It definitely added to my enjoyment of the episode, which was mostly mediocre otherwise. It peaked early with the opener and I loved the Danielson and MJF segment, but I wasn't overly excited coming into this episode based on what was announced ahead of time and my mind wasn't changed once it was over. An "important announcement" from Tony Khan was also advertised, which was for a new reality show called All Access airing after Dynamite starting next month. That's cool and all, but hyping it as an "important announcement" was the wrong call in retrospect. On the bright side, Revolution is shaping up to be a smaller card because of the Iron Man main event, but they really need to knock it out of the park with next week's go-home show to sell anyone who's still on the fence.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews