AEW Dynamite Review - March 23, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

CM Punk def. AAA World Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood

My only nitpick of this match was that it was announced on social media only a few hours earlier. I know this wasn't going to attract millions of viewers, but it still would've been nice to know about ahead of time. Otherwise, this was a terrific piece of business. Harwood has killed it in singles competition any time he's been given the opportunity over the last year and this was no exception. It was an excellently-wrestled match with Harwood gaining plenty of credibility in defeat. Some crowds aren't always hot for this sort of stuff (see: Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia a few weeks ago), but that was certainly not the case here. You know Bret Hart was watching this from home with a smile on his face.

Darby Allin, Sting and The Hardys def. The Andrade Family Office (The Butcher, The Blade and Private Party) in a Texas Tornado Tag Team Match

This was very similar to the Tornado-style tag team match we got at Revolution featuring most of the same stars. That pay-per-view was less than three weeks ago, so why do a match that's almost identical so soon after? On the bright side, this was a blast of a bout. They took the fight all around the arena and the Texas crowd was super hot for all of the babyfaces. The A.F.O. are absolute goons, so hopefully the endgame of this storyline isn't anything involving them but rather The Hardys vs. Allin and Sting.

Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley def. Varsity Blonds

I mentioned this in my review of Tuesday's Dark, but Varsity Blonds don't have nearly as much momentum now compared to six months ago. It doesn't feel like they've been on TV all that much, and any time they have appeared, they've been made to look like losers. Unfortunately, this wasn't much different, but this needed to be all about Danielson and Moxley since they're the hot new team on the block. It was another straightforward showcase for William Regal's two pupils and, as I've said before, I have to imagine the AEW World Tag Team Championship is in their sights.

MJF Ordered Wardlow to Stay Home

You had to know Wardlow wasn't getting out of his contract with MJF so easily. MJF didn't specify how much time Wardlow had left on his deal but made it clear that he'd be making his life hell in the meantime. When Wardlow tried to attack him, MJF said he'd be paying Wardlow to stay home from this point forward. It was the usual quality promo from MJF that successfully furthered their feud and I was pleasantly surprised that MJF didn't make any references to WWE (though it oddly would have been fitting in this circumstance).

Adam Cole def. Jay Lethal

Don't get me wrong, I love Lethal, but it's pretty ridiculous that he's in the top five ranked wrestlers when you consider he's never won a match on AEW TV. Yes, he's won a bunch of matches on Dark and Elevation, but those largely mean nothing. The commentators said this had implications within the AEW World Championship rankings, but why would it? That stuff was silly, but the match itself was fun while it lasted, especially for longtime fans of their feud from Ring of Honor. Post-match, Cole and reDRagon attempted to attack Adam Page before Jurassic Express made the save. It looks like we're headed toward Page vs. Cole II for the AEW World Championship (on an upcoming Dynamite, not Double or Nothing).

Dan Lambert and Men of the Year Interrupted Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti

This was the grand follow-up to Sky beating Guevara for the AEW TNT Championship two weeks ago and Paige VanZant attacking Conti afterward. It was decent, but this isn't my favorite feud in AEW right now. I realize it just got underway, but it's almost impossible for me to care about Lambert's pairing with Men of the Year at this point (despite Sky recently winning the TNT title) and Guevara and Conti coming off as slightly unlikable, at least to me anyway (their recent social media activity hasn't helped). I'm more interested in seeing how VanZant does in the ring than anything else.

"Legit" Leyla Hirsch def. Red Velvet

Hirsch defeated Velvet at Beach Break and Velvet got her win back last week on Rampage, so this was the rubber match everyone was eagerly anticipating. Okay, not really, but I'm glad Hirsch avenged her loss to Velvet and I hope Velvet can be transitioned out this rivalry finally. She's passable in the ring but isn't the right babyface to be working with the newly-turned Hirsch. Kris Statlander is significantly more over. Hirsch and Velvet had an average outing, but I don't blame the crowd for sitting on their hands for it.

Nyla Rose Attacked AEW Women's World Champion Thunder Rosa

​This was segment was advertised as Thunder Rosa addressing the audience for the first time since winning the AEW Women's World Championship in the main event of Dynamite last week, but she was interrupted by Vickie Guerrero before she could speak. She was then attacked by Rose, which seems to confirm who Rosa's first feud will be with as champ. I feared that would happen given how dominant Rose has been on the Dark shows recently, but it screams filler feud. It'd probably mean more if AEW hadn't done the same thing with Rose immediately after Britt Baker won the title last year.

Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho and Daniel Garcia) def. The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds)

I was waiting for a reason as to why this was put in the main event slot, but it never came. Seriously, why? Other than this being Jericho and Garcia's debut as a team, the story of this match was that Silver idolized Jericho growing up. That was pretty weak and the in-ring action wasn't exciting enough to make up for it. The early goings were formulaic, but at least the crowd came alive down the stretch. This was a serviceable main event but hardly a thrilling conclusion to what was an otherwise an above-average show for the most part.

Overall Show

It was a tale of two shows. The first hour was fantastic and it was shaping up to be one of my favorite editions of Dynamite all year. The final 45 minutes or so, unfortunately, were quite tame and the crowd was a lot less lively. The formatting of the episode was bizarre and I have no clue why they gave away all of their best stuff in that first hour. If you didn't tune in live and are wondering what to watch, I'd recommend everything up to Cole vs. Lethal, but all in all, it was an entertaining episode.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews