The March 22nd edition of AEW Dynamite offered the return of Sting in an opening trios match, Jon Moxley versus Stu Grayson, Toni Storm versus Skye Blue, story time with Adam Cole, a title defense for the Ass Boys, and Kenny Omega taking on El Hijo del Vikingo in the best match of 2023 so far.
Highlights:
- The show started with video showing the Young Bucks being taken to the hospital after being attacked. Notably, “Hangman” Adam Page went with them. This started an ongoing story thread throughout the night leading to the main event. We got a promo package of Kenny Omega‘s belt collector run and injury that prevented an earlier scheduled match with El Hijo del Vikingo. We later got a backstage argument between Omega and Don Callis who suggested that perhaps the Young Bucks getting sidelined may be a good thing and get Kenny’s focus back where it belongs. All of this led into a terrific main event that started fast and furious with early “this is awesome” chants from the crowd and it just got better from there. Omega hit the One Winged Angel for the win before getting jumped by all three members of the Blackpool Combat Club leading to Hangman hitting the ring to make the save only for some shenanigans from Callis to prevent the former friends from reuniting. Great storytelling throughout the night which fed into one of the best Dynamite main events that also continued to fuel on-going storylines.
- The opening match featured Orange Cassidy, Darby Alin, and Sting in a trios match against Kip Sabian along with the Bucther and the Blade. Sting claims the victory in a fun match with the Scorpion Death Drop.
- Story time with Adam Cole occurred in the middle of the ring with Cole confirming his first match back will happen next week before being interrupted by Daniel Garcia cementing himself as Cole’s opponent with a rundown of his recent victories to help sell the matchup not being as big a name as some might have hoped for Cole’s first match back..
- Toni Storm, with the Outcasts at ringside, defeated a very game Skye Blue (thanks to some timely interference from Ruby Soho) in a pairing of two of my favorites from the women’s division.
- With both factions at ringside Jon Moxley defeated Stu Grayson in a hard-hitting match that had one slightly awkward segment where the timing didn’t feel quite right. We later got a follow-up backstage segment with the BCC attacking an injured Grayson.
- The Ass Boys defended the AEW Tag Team Championship against Top Flight. With some distraction by The Kingdom, who likely will be the new ongoing feud for Top Flight, the Ass Boys claimed the victory but soon had to answer to another challenge with the sudden appearance of FTR who agreed to leave AEW if they can’t beat the Ass Boys for the titles.
- After two failed attempts to prevent the match from starting (including claiming to not be medically cleared and running away from ringside), Stokley Hathaway was forced to fight Hook in a No-Disqualification Match. Quick win for Hook basically murdering Stokley with a handful of moves (including a suplex into a guardrail) to the delight of the crowd.
Lows:
- None.
Less Notable:
- Change to the color of the ring ropes with AEW going to the classic alternating red, white, and blue ropes.
- Renee interviewed Ricky Starks backstage calling out Juice Robinson for a match on AEW Rampage.
- Promo package of the other pillars each reiterating their desire to wrestle for the AEW Championship.
- Backstage segment with Jade Cargill and entourage allowing Mark Sterling to announce a cease-and-desist order to Taya Valkyrie to no longer use the same finishing maneuver as Cargill.
- QTV had some fun over Powerhouse Hobbs beating Rey Fenix last week and announcing Hobbs would defend the TNT Championship against Penta El Zero Miedo on Rampage.
