AEW Dynamite Review - February 24, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jon Moxley def. Ryan Nemeth

Does anyone have a good reason why AEW continues to bring in Nemeth for enhancement matches outside of the fact he's Dolph Ziggler's brother? Because he's beyond beyond and nothing about him stands out as special whatsoever. Thankfully, Moxley beat him in short order before cutting a promo on his upcoming Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch with Kenny Omega at Revolution. I'm still not sold on the stipulation, but Moxley's delivery here was excellent and he left me intrigued to see how far they'll go.

Team Taz (FTW Champion Brian Cage and Ricky Starks) def. Varsity Blonds

The outcome was obviously never in doubt, but Varsity Blonds had another solid showing here. They've been impressive every time I've seen them in action on Dark or Dynamite and, as I've said before, I'm sure Brian Pillman Jr. will be locked down to a contract by AEW once he's free of his MLW deal. Sting scored revenge on Cage by laying him out afterward while Darby Allin went after Starks. It was a well-done angle and I'm glad the babyfaces are finally getting physical with Team Taz. We knew it was going to happen at Revolution, but I'm happy we're getting a small taste of it before then.

Jake Hager def. Brandon Cutler; Chris Jericho and MJF Attacked The Young Bucks' Dad

I know Hager attacked Cutler last week on the show, but this match had no business being on Dynamite. To be fair, it was fine while it lasted, but it was incredibly hard to care. Meanwhile, you had to know Inner Circle would go after Young Bucks' dad after he was shown backstage earlier in the evening. Unfortunately, the attack did not come off well at all and the "blood" looked terrible. On the bright side, at least Young Bucks looked like actual babyfaces for a change.

"Hangman" Adam Page def. Isiah Kassidy

For a match that was as predictable as this was, it was very enjoyable. Page consistently delivers and Kassidy had a breakout performance on his own. I never expected him to actually beat Page, but he got in a ton of offense and looked credible in defeat. Post-match. Matt Hardy threw Alan "5" Angels off the stage to get back at Page because of his ties to The Dark Order. Page isn't an official member of Dark Order just yet, but I assume it's only inevitable.

Nyla Rose def. Britt Baker in an AEW World Women's Championship Eliminator Tournament Quarterfinal Match

Although the dynamic was weird with both women being heels, this ended up being a quality contest. The nearfalls down the stretch were suspenseful and they worked a lot better together than I thought they would. It was honestly one of the best matches I've seen from either of them, Baker was my pick to win the whole thing, so I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed by her being bumped in the quarterfinals. Rose has already lost to Hikaru Shida twice, so we know it won't be her. Is it going to be Riho then? I guess that's a fresh match, but it doesn't do a ton for me, personally.

Lance Archer def. Rey Fenix to Qualify for the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match at Revolution

Pentagon Jr. was already announced for the Ladder match at Revolution, so it made sense for Archer to advance instead, especially since he deserves to be a prominent match at the pay-per-view given the mini-push he's been in the midst of lately. They were allotted a ton of time here and had a highly entertaining main event. Fenix was his wild self and Archer seems to have stronger chemistry with smaller opponents. There weren't any major storyline developments or anything, but there didn't need to be with how great of a main event this was.

Overall Show

The card for Revolution looks to be set and despite the four-month build, there aren't many matches that I'm overly anticipating. That said, this was a solid show on the whole that featured a nice mix of above-average action and pay-per-view build. The last hour in particular was fantastic. Next week's go-home show will be bigger than usual with Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet facing Shaquille O'Neal and Jade Cargill among other others, so we'll see if that gets me more interested in Revolution than I am currently.