AEW Dynamite Review - March 4, 2020

​By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Champion Jon Moxley Called Out Inner Circle

Moxley received a superstar-level reaction upon making his entrance. You could tell he meant every word of his promo as he's at his best on the mic when he isn't being told what to say. Chris Jericho held up his end of the segment just fine and provided a hell of a hook by claiming that Inner Circle will strike when he least expected it. This also served as solid setup for the night's tag team match pitting Moxley and Darby Allin against Jericho and Sammy Guevara.

Colt Cabana and SCU def. The Dark Order

Cabana made his official AEW debut on the Revolution pre-show, saving SCU from Dark Order. This was a fun eight-man tag team match, but the focus was largely on whether The Exalted One would be revealed afterward. The babyfaces needed a win and it made sense since SCU is back in full force finally, so I don't think Dark Order lost anything in defeat. For what it's worth, The Young Bucks popped up at the end of today's episode of Free the Delete, so there's a very good chance "Broken" Matt Hardy could be AEW bound sooner rather than later.

Big Swole def. Leva Bates

There was a great video package that aired on Swole following her first few appearances on Dark, but I don't think we've heard much from her since. She has a nice presence about her, but I don't think she'll fully get over with the AEW audience until they're given a reason to care about her. That said, I was glad this was kept short and sweet with Swole going over in decisive fashion.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts Confronted Cody

Cody cut a passionate promo vowing revenge on MJF for what happened at Revolution before Roberts emerged in shocking fashion. He's a tremendous talker all these years later. He teased having a mystery client, who I assume will end up being Brodie Lee (f.k.a. Luke Harper). That's a match made in heaven if that's where this is headed. By the way, that last line of Roberts' was phenomenal. Roberts successfully left me wanting more.

Pac def. Chuck Taylor

Pac is coming off a victory over Taylor's friend Orange Cassidy at Revolution. There was never any doubt that Pac was winning, but Taylor was made to look good in defeat. I was slightly surprised this lasted as long as it did, but then again, Cassidy scored way more offense over Pac at Revolution, so I supposed this wasn't that big of a deal. The Lucha Brothers helped Pac lay out Best Friends afterward to cement themselves as Death Triangle. Don't ask me why because Pac never bothered to explain the alliance. I like The Lucha Brothers, but there are already way too many factions in AEW and this one feels forced.

Jake Hager def. QT Marshall

Hager's in-ring debut against Dustin Rhodes at Revolution wasn't the most thrilling, but the issue was that the match was way too competitive. He should have been booked to look more dominant like he was here, which is why this worked. Speaking of Dustin, the idea of him teaming with Marshall for no other reason than they're friends with Cody seems random to me. The Inner Circle brawled with Marshall, Dustin, "Hangman" Adam Page, Cody and Matt Jackson post-match, so perhaps those will be the two teams inside Blood and Guts (their version of WarGames) in a few weeks.

Inner Circle (Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara) def. Darby Allin in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

Hager, Santana and Ortiz ambushed Moxley while he was making his entrance through the crowd, preventing him from competing in this main event. That caused it to turn into a 2-on-1 Handicap match. The dynamic was perfect with Allin having to fight from underneath, showing fantastic fire and coming close to picking up the victory on more than a few occasions. Ultimately, Jericho and Guevara won as they should have, but the finish fell flat. Allin has been getting over as a breakout babyface in recent months and it's awesome that AEW is capitalizing on that by putting him in positions to shine.

Overall Show

I was really hoping for a big moment of some sort from this show and they didn't deliver one. Sure, Roberts' surprise appearance was super cool, but that was meant to be a tease more than anything else. We also still don't know who The Exalted One is. I'm all for dragging compelling storylines out, but this felt like the right time to pull the trigger with that. Otherwise, this was another excellent edition of Dynamite. The wrestling was above-average on the whole, several stories were furthered, and multiple matches were hyped for next week. As I've said before, AEW has hit its stride with Dynamite in recent weeks and I'm looking forward to seeing what they have in store for the remainder of the month and beyond. Something tells me there will be a lot worth getting excited about. By the way, what the hell happened with the advertised debut of Lance Archer?