The April 26th edition of AEW Dynamite offered Bandido versus Orange Cassidy for the AEW International Championship, Dax Harwood vs. Jeff Jarret, Omega and Takeshita vs. the Butcher and the Blade, Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin, and Jade Cargill defending the TBS Championship against Taya Valkyrie.
Highlights:
- Renee Paquette had a backstage interview with Jungle Boy and Darby Allin attempting to bury the hatchet prior to Allin’s number-one contender match later in the night. Later in the night she interviewed new best friends Sammy Guevara and MJF heading into Sammy’s match with Darby. The match kicked off the show’s second hour with MJF joining the announce team, much the chagrin of Tony Schiavone. Very close match back-and-forth with an Eddie Guerrero style ending caused by the interference of MJF. All of this leads to a MFJ vs. Sammy match at Double or Nothing… unless Jungle Boy and Darby can put aside their issues and win a tag match against the new best friends cementing a pillars four-way match for the title.
- The show kicked off with another title defense for AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy versus Bandido. Great opening match that had the crowd getting behind Bandido on several near falls before Cassidy was able to successfully retain. Funny follow up with the pair walking into Renee just after her interview with Adam Cole stating he was gunning for Chris Jericho tonight.
- Adam Cole hit the ring with a picture-in-picture recap of events last week involving the attack on Cole and Britt Baker. While Jericho declined the invite, he did send the JAS after Cole. Cassidy and Bandido hit the ring to offer support, but they were still outnumbered by the JAS. However, AEW had one more surprise for fans with the arrival of Roderick Strong. Undisputed vs. JAS on the horizon?
- Blackpool Combat Club jumped a backstage reporter and promised more carnage to come later in the night. While not in the attack, Bryan Danielson did show up later to join the commentary team ahead of the main event featuring and Kenny Omega taking on the Butcher and the Blade. With Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford at ringside there were plenty of shenanigans for the heels but it wasn’t enough to stop a Takeshita and Omega win followed up by the BCC hitting the ring and the arrival of the Young Bucks. However, the night closed with Takeshita bloody in the ring after choosing the Elite over the BCC.
- Backstage segment by beat-up Baker and Jamie Hayter with words for the Outcasts.
- Pre-taped segment with Switchblade Jay White, Juice Robinson, Ricky Starks, and Shawn Spears setting up the tag team match on AEW Rampage.
Lows:
- Jade Cargill defended the TBS Championship against Taya Valkyrie. Jade picks up the win over Valkyrie who wasn’t allowed to use her finisher in the match. Given the match stipulation, and Valkyrie’s meltdown afterwards, I’d guess this rivalry isn’t settled but the pair seem a bit mismatched in the ring together not complimenting each other as much as you’d like for Jade’s first long-term feud in quite some time.
Less Notable:
- With his cronies barred from ringside, Jeff Jarrett took on Dax Harwood. Jarrett, surprisingly, controlled a large chunk of this match and got the win with the help of Sonjay Dutt. Serviceable match without much stakes and was not helped by the the crowd’s lukewarm reaction.
- Tony Khan‘s announcement laid out the timeline for the second annual Owen Hart Cup.
- Quick squash match for Wardlow followed by Arn Anderson addressing his new partnership with the TNT Champion which was interrupted by Christian Cage and Luchasaurus. who came to ringside, but left of their own accord, without advancing the storyline or making a claim to the championship.
