AEW Dynamite Review - May 3, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy and Bandido def. Jericho Appreciation Society ("Daddy Magic" Matt Menard, "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker, Daniel Garcia and Jake Hager)

This marked Strong's AEW in-ring debut. He had his time to shine and the match on the whole was enjoyable, despite Jericho Appreciation Society not doing much for me at this point (which is not to say they ever have). I know that Cassidy and Bandido came to Cole's aid last week, but I wish Cassidy had an actual reason for why he'd want to team with his old rival. Cole immediately pursing Chris Jericho at the commentary desk as soon as the match ended was a nice touch.

Saraya def. Willow Nightingale

Outside of that tag team match they lost two weeks ago, AEW has followed the same formula with The Outcasts since this storyline started with them and the AEW originals where a member will win a match and then be chased off by the babyfaces afterward. It's become very tiresome, but at least we got the long-awaited return of Hikaru Shida here (I was starting to wonder where she went). The match itself was decent while it lasted.

The Acclaimed Won the Tres de Mayo Battle Royale

This featured a ton of trios you'd typically see on Rampage, though The Lucha Brothers teaming with El Hijo del Vikingo was notable. I don't know what the hell happened to Pac, but that's a hell of a trio. They'd make for an awesome opponents for House of Black eventually, but I'm fine with The Acclaimed and Gunn getting a shot at the AEW World Trios Championship first to give them something to do. This was basically every Battle Royale you've ever seen, if not more of a mess because it was all trios and the eliminations were hard to follow. 

AEW TNT Champion Wardlow def. Logan (Non-Title)

I've seen various spellings of Logan's last name online, but AEW's website didn't list a last name for him, so I'll do the same at the expense of possibly getting it wrong. Nonetheless, this was another straightforward squash for Wardlow. I understand this is AEW's way of heating him back up again, and it's definitely better than not having him on the show at all (which was an issue during his first reign as TNT champ), but I would still rather see him working with people on the roster. Thankfully, Christian Cage declared himself as Wardlow's next opponent afterward, which was slightly surprising if only because I thought he would face Luchasaurus first.

Ricky Starks def. Juice Robinson

This was the match we were supposed to get last month before Jay White debuted. Speaking of whom, White already feels like just another guy on the roster, not to mention Starks has cooled off considerably since his two straight wins over Jericho. I'm glad they have direction (being in a feud with each other) and I'd be shocked if their matchup didn't make the Double or Nothing card, but both need wins right now. At least Starks won here in what was a quality contest.

Darby Allin and "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry def. AEW World Champion MJF and Sammy Guevara

It was pretty clear from the moment this match was announced last week that thee babyface team was winning to get them into the AEW World Championship main event at Double or Nothing, but I appreciate the attempts to put the outcome into question by having MJF playing mind games with Guevara and Perry throughout the night. The storytelling was well done as it creates issues between all four men and not just the babyfaces and heels. This was a good main event and I'm really looking forward to that four-way with the "four pillars" of AEW.

Overall Show

This was a slight step up from the last few weeks of subpar television. I appreciate that the card for Double or Nothing is taking shape and the main event is now set in stone. This wasn't a must-see by any means, but there was enough enjoyable wrestling and solid storyline progression to make it worthwhile. I could have done without the pointless trios Battle Royale, but everything else held my attention. The hype for next week's Steel Cage match between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega was also well done and I actually found the stuff on Mark Briscoe's compound funnier than I thought.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews