AEW Dynamite Review - March 8, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy def. Jay Lethal

This marked the third singles match these two have had since the fall, and according to Tony Khan, it's been a big ratings draw, bringing in the most amount of viewers Dynamite has done all year when they last faced off. Hey, the numbers don't lie. Opening up the post-pay-per-view show with an All-Atlantic title defense was questionable, but this was another entertaining outing from them. Cassidy continues to be super over and is thriving in this role. We found out later in the show that it officially be renamed the AEW International Championship next week when Cassidy defends against Jeff Jarrett.

Juice Robinson Attacked Ricky Starks

I'm glad Starks made an appearance coming off his second big win over Chris Jericho instead of forgetting about it and not featuring him on the show for a few weeks. His promo wasn't very long as he was quickly interrupted by the Bullet Club entrance music. Everyone seemed to assume it was Jay White before realizing it was Juice Robinson, and then everyone wasn't as excited (and understandably so). Starks vs. Robinson works as a one-off match on Dynamite that Starks wins, but Starks needs another big name to feud with beyond that.

Ruby Soho def. Skye Blue

Soho's first promo since turning heel and joining Saraya and Toni Storm at Revolution was fine and she received great heat from the live crowd. I still think she's better in the babyface role (especially with that entrance music), but it was impossible to take her seriously after all the times she lost when it mattered most. I liked her logic for turning heel and her subsequent match against Blue was what it needed to be. This storyline hasn't interested me at all, but I am looking forward to Jamie Hayter vs. Soho one-on-one eventually.

FTR Addressed AEW World Tag Team Champions The Gunns

If you were worried that FTR would be cooled off upon coming back from their hiatus, you'll be happy to know that they're still extremely over. In fact, they got the loudest reaction of anyone on this show. They cut an excellent promo about their various losses before leaving and why they need to win the AEW Tag Team Championship from The Gunns. It's a logical direction to go in and I hope they take the titles, assuming they re-sign if they haven't already.

Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara) def. AR Fox and Top Flight

As Matt Menard mentioned afterward, this show marked the one-year anniversary of Jericho Appreciation Society's debut. I held out hope that they'd lose to the upcoming trio of Fox and Top Flight and start teasing a breakup (especially after Jericho lost to Ricky Starks twice), but no such luck. This was a nice sprint, but I'm so over the J.A.S. crap. At least next week's three-way Trios title match with J.A.S., The Elite and House of Black should be good.

Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) def. The Dark Order

I was hoping Moxley would take time off (and finally take his damn vacation) coming out of Revolution, but it looks like he's still needed. At the very least, he and the rest of Blackpool Combat Club are doing something interesting by turning heel. The match was well wrestled, but the outcome was never in doubt. They cemented their heel turn afterward by beating up Dark Order afterward as well as Adam Page. I'm not a fan of Page and Moxley continuing to feud, but a multi-man match at some point makes sense.

Powerhouse Hobbs def. Wardlow in an Anything Goes Falls Count Anywhere Match to Win AEW TNT Championship

I guess this had Last Man Standing rules like the Texas Death match did at Revolution, even though I don't either of them are technically supposed to have that stipulation. Either way, it was added so QT Marshall could interfere and aid Hobbs to victory. I'm happy Hobbs is champion as it's long overdue, but getting help from Marshall of all people is certainly questionable. He had one failed push in 2021 and he's barely been seen since. I understand wanting to protect Wardlow in defeat, but that was a weird note to end the evening on. Hobbs is better off on his own, not being paired off with Marshall. The match itself was enjoyable with strong showings from both men.

Overall Show

Dynamite has been very in-ring heavy for most of 2023, so I appreciated that this show featured an ample amount of promos and that none of the Revolution rivalries carried over (other than Page vs. Moxley, I'll reserve judgment on that). I guess the TNT title changing hands at the end was newsworthy, but it's changed hands so many times in recent months that it's hard to care. All in all, this was a solid show as AEW looks to reset the deck and take their time moving into anything major with Double or Nothing not for another two-and-a-half months.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews