AEW Dynamite 3/3/2021 Quick Takes

Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet vs. Shaquille O’Neal and Jade Cargill

I was not expecting this to be the opener but I’m glad it was. This was way better than it had any right to be. I was very impressed with Jade Cargill. She had some great power spots ans showed no fear. Red Velvet looked fine here but had a few hiccups tonight, completely missing a kick to Jade that made the production truck jump to a new angle mid-move. A lot of times in celebrity matches, the celebrity just stands around until it’s time for their spot. This was not the case for Shaq. He and Cody went hard tonight. Shaq floored Cody with a massive power bomb and even took a gnarly table spot. During the chaos on the floor, Cargill plants Red Velvet with a big slam for the win.

Pac and Rey Fenix vs. John Skylar and D3

The whole match was thirty seconds long. Pac goes for a 450 Splash and Rey follows up with a driver variation giving Death Triangle a win.

Inner Circle Press Conference

We have another AEW pre-match press conference. Once again, The Inner Circle takes questions from various guests asking questions about the upcoming match. This time, we get some representatives from Barstool Sports, Conrad Thompson, and Eric Bischoff. As the Inner Circle run down The Young Bucks and their dad, Matt and Nick Jackson have had enough! The Jackson brothers take a few shots at MJF and Jericho with a Rosie O’Donnell joke and a shot at WWE respectivly. The tag champs attack the challengers which cause the rest of The Inner Circle to jump in. The Good Brothers are there (for some reason) with tables in hand. Matt and Nick take out Santana and Ortiz, putting both through those tables.

FTR and Tully Blanchard vs. Jurassic Express

There was an obvious old-school versus new-school vibe here that I thought was fun. Seeing FTR in the ring with Tully just felt right. They even brought out JJ Dillon for this one. JE got a rockstar entrance and I can’t wait to have Baltimora playing to a full arena one day. FTR, Jungle Boy, and Luchasaurus were both really good here. The interaction I was most looking forward to was Blanchard and Stunt. I was not disappointed. Tully was more physical in this match than I was expecting. He even hit Marko with the Slingshot Suplex which made me smile. Towards the end of the match, a masked cameraman attacks Jurrasic Express which leads to Luchasauraus eating a three-man spike piledriver. FTR wins. After the match, the masked assailant is revealed to be Shawn Spears. Arn Anderson looks on from the entrance ramp and throws up the Four-Horsemen 4. This could be interesting.

Ryo Mizunami vs. Nyla Rose

The Women’s Eliminator Tournament concludes here. I liked this match for a few reasons. One, this was hard-hitting. Two, I wasn’t sure what the outcome was going to be. Both women put up a heck of a fight. It looked like they cared about this match. One thing I always appreciated about Ryo is how she mixes come comedy spots with some brutal shots. I know that can be confusing to some but I like it. It is possible to be funny AND still be a killer. There were a few neat callbacks from throughout the tournament. My favorite being that Ryo tried to beat Nyla the same way that she beat Aja Kong. I thought this may have worked. Mizunami does win the match and tournament with the top rope Guillotine Leg Drop. After the match, Hikaru Shida is out to congratulate Ryo but gets a hard forearm shot for her trouble.

Max Caster vs. 10

We have another ladder match qualifier. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting in this one but this is a match I’d like to see again between these two in about two years and see how they’ve both improved. I do think that they both have the potential to be big stars at some point. The match itself was OK. It kind of lost me towards the end when Matt Hardy paid off Jack Evans to interfere and hit 10 with Castor’s boombox. I get that it’s part of the Hardy/Page story but AEW doesn’t do a lot of these finishes and we just saw something similar in the FTR match.

Matt Hardy and Marq Quen vs. Adam Page and John Silver

This one was a lot of fun. Page and Silver are a very entertaining duo and it makes me want to know where this Dark Order thing is going to end up. Hardy has embraced his role as the scummy businessman corrupting younger talent. I admit, a month ago, a match between Hardy and Page did not sound too appealing but I’m coming around. The two have odd chemistry and I think their match at Revolution could a sleeper pick. Page and Silver win after a Buckshot Lariat. Post-match, we get a brawl between all of the participants of the Tag Team Battle Royal at the pay-per-view.

Honorable Mentions

1. We had another Sting/Darby vs. Team Taz segment. I am excited about the match but this segment was pretty much the same as all that came before it.

2. Miro cut a promo on Best Friends where he says that the time for games is over. He’s fired up so at least there’s that.

3. There was a really cool video package hyping up the Barbwire Landmine Death Match that had Atsushi Onita talk about the dangers of this match type. This ruled!

Final Thoughts

I admit that I was not looking forward to Revolution as much as I had other AEW PPVs but the last two weeks started to turn me around. Tonight sold me.

#InnerCircle #prowrestling #JonMoxley #AEWRevolution #AEWDynamite #AEW #KennyOmega