AEW Dynamite Review - February 9, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

CM Punk, Darby Allin and Sting Interrupted The Pinnacle

MJF holding this grand celebration for his win over Punk from last week was hilarious. It dragged on a little longer, but it succeeded in setting up the tag team match for later on, furthering the feud between MJF and Punk and, most importantly, teasing more tension between MJF and Wardlow. The babyface turn is coming, folks, and it's going to be glorious. I like that Punk has established allies in Allin and Sting, but where were they when Punk needed this back these past few weeks?

Wardlow def. The Blade

It was weird seeing Wardlow make an entrance after being in the ring for the previous segment, but I guess he had to go and get changed. Like I discussed in the previous paragraph, the audience is desperately waiting for him to turn on The Pinnacle. Be patient, though, because it has to come at the right time, possibly on the post-Revolution Dynamite. The Blade was just another body for him to beat, so this served its purpose as a quick squash win for Wardlow.

Chris Jericho Held an Inner Circle Team Meeting

Jericho stating that attendance was mandatory for this team meeting made the rest of the group look ridiculous. I'm glad Santana and Ortiz went out to the ring on their own and brought up how Jericho has hardly had their backs in the last two-and-a-half years. Guevara and Hager were just kind of there, but the mic work from Santana and Ortiz was great. I really hope this storyline culminates with them aligning with Eddie Kingston permanently and ditching Inner Circle, which should have broken up ages ago. Dragging out this drama hasn't done anyone involved any favors.

Keith Lee def. Marq Quen to Qualify for the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match

There was a ton of talk coming into this show about who the mystery opponent would be for Quen. Tony Khan wouldn't shut up about the "forbidden door" stuff on Twitter, but NJPW's Jay White was the one who walked through the "forbidden door," not Lee. Either way, this was a perfect debut for Lee. He looked like an absolute star out there. He dominated a majority of the match, won as he should have, and left Private Party laying afterward. Now the key is whether AEW will follow up on this hot debut for Lee or if he'll get lost in the shuffle like some other people have.

CM Punk and Jon Moxley def. FTR

I'm not sure why Moxley would want to team up with Punk considering he has no history with FTR and wasn't best friends with Punk in WWE or anything like that, but I'm not complaining because you could tell they were having a blast out there. I knew this would be a good match, but I wound up loving it more than I thought I would. They got a ton of time and some of those counters and nearfalls down the stretch would just tremendous. I hate FTR losing to a makeshift team, but at least it was after such a stellar match. With the win, Punk chooses the time, place and stipulation for his rematch with MJF.

AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill def. A.Q.A.

It would've been nice had we gotten a proper introduction to A.Q.A. beforehand (even though she had zero chance of winning), but for those unfamiliar, she was formerly known as Zayda Ramier in WWE NXT for a time last year. Her biggest claim to fame was beating Toni Storm once and then there was no follow-up. She was one of Booker T's students and her Shooting Star Press is awesome, as seen here. She gave it a commendable effort before coming up short, extending Cargill's undefeated streak to 27-0 in the process. The match could have been better, but at least Cargill finally made it back to Dynamite.

Serena Deeb def. Katie Arquette in a 5-Minute Rookie Challenge

The crowd was quiet for this, but I don't care. I applaud AEW for putting Deeb on the stuff and doing something like this with her because it will only get her more over in the long run. She's fantastic and it's great that she's getting more time to talk. As The Professor, it made sense for her to beat an unknown rookie in a minute flat. The more of these she does, the more it's going to mean when someone eventually beats her. I still say Tay Conti will be her next rival.

AEW World Champion "Hangman" Adam Page def. Lance Archer in a Texas Deathmatch

I don't blame the crowd one bit for sitting on their hands early on. I like both of these guys, but their feud has been lackluster to say the least. On the bright side, the AEW World Championship finally got to main event Dynamite again and they ended up having a hell of a brawl. AEW has gone overboard with all of the gimmick/hardcore matches in the last few months, but Page and Archer definitely delivered here and did enough unique spots to the Texas Deathmatch stip worthwhile. I mean, they really went above and beyond by the end, and while I'm not a fan of the fork spots and even some of the barbed wire stuff, that finish came off exceptionally well. As expected, Adam Cole confronted Page afterward and that'll be the main event for Revolution.

Overall Show

This was undoubtedly one of AEW's strongest shows in recent memory. Top to bottom, it was a treat. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of discourse online about whether the debuts of White and Lee lived up to the hype and understandably so, but Lee is an excellent addition to the roster and White being around for now creates some intriguing storyline possibilities. Feuds were furthered, the women were showcased, that tag team match was terrific, and the main event was an excellent way to cap off the night. This was the show AEW needed and now the build to Revolution can officially get underway .

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews