AEW Dynamite Review - March 11, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Cody def. Ortiz

Although the outcome was never in doubt, I enjoyed this as an opener. It felt a bit random at first because they haven't been feuding at all in recent weeks, but then I remembered that they'll be on opposite teams in Blood and Guts later this month. Santana and Ortiz are one of the few teams I don't mind seeing branch off into singles competition because their matches are entertaining more often than not. The Elite ran out afterward to make the save, which would have been more effective if it AEW didn't run the same angle at the end of the episode. Furthermore, I was hoping Brodie Lee would be Jake "The Snake" Roberts' client, and while Lance Archer has plenty of potential, I wouldn't have had him debut in the crowd during a match. I almost forgot about him when it was over.

AEW Women's Champion Nyla Rose and Bea Priestley def. Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander

I believe it's been months since we last saw Priestley on Dynamite. I wasn't fond of her first few matches in AEW, but she looked a lot better here. Rose and Statlander were also able to make up for their lousy match from Revolution while the crowd was super behind Shida. That said, I'm shocked Shida took the pinfall loss here. I expected her to pick up the win and get one step closer to an AEW Women's Championship opportunity, but apparently not. Rose pinned Shida and then Priestly laid out Rose post-match. That could be an interesting matchup, but it comes completely out of nowhere considering Priestly has been away for so long while Shida was seemingly being built up for a title shot.

MJF, The Butcher and The Blade def. Jurassic Express

I know it was established that MJF paid off The Butcher and The Blade to attack Cody many months ago, but I'm not sure why they're still aligned. MJF already has Wardlow as his heavy and doesn't need to be associated with them. As a match, however, this was fun despite having a few awkward moments. The crowds are always into Jurassic Express, so I don't think they cared much. MJF maintains momentum with the win.

Big Swole Interrupted Tony Schiavone's Interview with Britt Baker

Baker's heel promos have been one of the better parts of Dynamite over the last month. Her matches are still a work in progress, but at least she's coming into her own as a heel and is generating great heat. I didn't think Swole came off as well, but her promo was still solid. The only thing people will remember from this was the two of them taking shots at the other's significant other. I assume this was designed to set up a match between the two for an upcoming episode. It's good to see Swole making more appearances on Dynamite after being relegated to Dark for so long.

Death Triangle def. Joey Janela and Private Party

I'm still not sure why AEW is so faction-crazy or why Pac and The Lucha Dragons decided to come together out of nowhere, but you can't deny that this was an awesome match. It was an easy win for the heels, but the babyfaces gave it a hell of an effort before losing. Private Party in particular benefited from the strong showing they had here as they have faltered a bit since being bumped from the AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament last year. Death Triangle are off to a stellar start.

Jim Ross Interviewed AEW World Champion Jon Moxley

I really love these sit-down interviews AEW has been doing lately with J.R. He's hit or miss on commentary most weeks, but he shines in this setting and always brings the best out of whoever he's interviewing. Moxley revealed here that he is not currently medically cleared to compete following the attack he endured at the hands of Inner Circle last week. He took aim at the entire faction but specifically Jake Hager, so it looks like Hager will be his first challenger as AEW World Champion. I'm surprised they aren't immediately going back to Moxley vs. Chris Jericho, but maybe they're saving that rematch for down the line.

AEW World Tag Team Champion "Hangman" Adam Page and Dustin Rhodes def. Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara

Page and Rhodes have teamed up a time or two before, so Rhodes stepping up to team with Page here (even though Kenny Omega was on this show and got physical) made sense. This wasn't given a ton of time, but this was a blast while it lasted. Jericho and Guevara are great together, Rhodes held his own and Page stood out as a star. Despite picking up the victory, The Elite were laid out by Inner Circle afterward, setting the stage nicely for their big 10-man tag team match coming up in two weeks.

Overall Show

Unfortunately, everyone's focus (including mine) was elsewhere during this episode with the news surrounding the coronavirus getting worse, which is a shame because this was a quality show. It featured above-average wrestling, some top-notch promo work, and build for the next few weeks of Dynamite. We'll see how much AEW is affected by all these cancellations and whether it will change what's already been announced (including the reveal of The Exalted One next week).