AEW Dynamite Review - February 28, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

"Hangman" Adam Page Attacked Swerve Strickland as AEW World Champion Samoa Joe Looked on

Page did such an excellent job selling his ankle last week that fans thought he was legitimately hurt, which Fightful Select quickly debunked. I know it was also reported that the angle was also done in case Page had to pull out of Revolution for personal reasons, but I can't say I believed him here when he said he won't be able to compete as it was obvious he'd attack Strickland once he came out. Despite that, this was a solid segment with good mic work from all three men ahead of their AEW World Championship match.

Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) def. AEW Continental Crown Champion Eddie Kingston and FTR

This served as a preview of the respective matches we'll be getting with these six stars on Sunday with Kingston defending against Danielson and FTR facing Moxley and Castagnoli in a rematch from last week. It's why I had no issue with Danielson causing Kingston to pass out for the finish because I assume Kingston retains at Revolution. As expected, this was very well wrestled and had some great action.

Will Ospreay and Konosuke Takeshita Shook Hands

Ospreay received a superstar reaction from this crowd. Needless to say, he is going to fare very well for himself in AEW and should be a top guy from the get-go. This was a nice introductory promo for him here as an official member of the AEW roster, even though the audience is already familiar with him from the appearances he's made in the past. His interaction with the rest of The Don Callis Family (a group Ospreay is not long for) was kept short and sweet before his match with Takeshita at Revolution.

AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy def. Nick Wayne

What an unnecessary match. There was nothing technically wrong with it, but I have no idea why it happened when Cassidy is already defending against Roderick Strong at Revolution. There was zero reason to believe Wayne was taking the title here, especially when he's been booked like a total loser up to this point. Yes, it was an "open challenge," but as I've said in the past, AEW needs to cut back on them so they feel more special.

Skye Blue def. Kris Statlander

I'm glad there's a story in the women's division that doesn't involve a story (at least not yet because Julia Hart was ringside here), but the stuff with Statlander, Willow Nightingale and Stokely Hathaway feels like it's moving at a snail's place. This was a quality contest, but what does it have to do with Revolution? Perhaps a tag team match will be added to the Zero Hour pre-show or Blue vs. Nightingale. Hathaway and Nightingale accidentally costing Statlander the win adds to their ongoing tension.

"Lionheart" Chris Jericho def. NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship Atlantis Jr. (Non-Title)

The CMLL championships having "NWA" in front of them always confuses me, but I realize that's likely because CMLL worked with NWA at one time and never changed the names of the titles. At any rate, I appreciated the effort to add a story to this by acknowledging that Atlantis Jr.'s father mentored Jericho in Mexico over 30 years ago and it was well worked for the most part, but this was poorly placed on the go-home show. Yes, Jericho will be on the card in that random Scramble match, but this had nothing to do with that. I continue to give zero shits about AEW's partnership with CMLL and question what CMLL is getting it out of it aside from exposure with AEW winning almost every matchup so far.

AEW World Tag Team Champions Sting and Darby Allin Attacked The Young Bucks

The Bucks spent the entire show looking for Sting backstage and it was paid off perfectly with this strong closing segment. Sting descending from the rafters for the first time in many years was an amazing visual and the crowd went nuts for it. Ric Flair teasing an alliance with the Bucks last week also ended up being revealed as a ruse (those blows he was delivering to the Bucks were ridiculous, by the way). AEW really has done justice by Sting on his way out and it's been awesome to see.

Overall Show

All in all, this was an enjoyable edition of Dynamite that didn't really make me any more excited for Revolution than I already was. Then again, the show sells itself on paper with how stacked the card is. But back to this episode, there were a few matches that did not need to happen. Nothing bad, but the hype for Revolution could've been better. At least they started and ended on a high note and Ospreay's Dynamite debut as an AEW-signed star was notable.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews