[Recap] AEW St. Patrick’s Day Slam (3/17)

AEW Dynamite feature match

Written by Shining Polaris

AEW Dynamite aired the St. Patrick’s Day Slam on March 17, 2021.

The episode started off with a fast-paced, hard-hitting match between “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes and Penta El Zero M (from the Death Triangle). Cody Rhodes won this match, but Penta beat Cody afterwards. Then the Nightmare Family came out to chase Penta away and help Cody. Things settled a bit when Q.T. Marshall, Cody’s friend, came out to check what happened, but he didn’t seem too concerned or have any urgency. Q.T. has been getting frustrated with some of the members of the Nightmare Family and it is heavily hinted that Q.T. Marshall may have had enough of this faction.

Afterwards, they interviewed the Young Bucks on their thoughts about facing the Death Triangle in the future for the Tag Team Titles. The Young Bucks admit that they have been defeated by the Death Triangle, but only in single matches, but the Young Bucks are the best tag team in the world and will face them. Don Callis walks into the middle of their interview and asks the Young Bucks if they truly believe they are the best or if it’s a joke. He reminds them of what they were before coming into AEW. The Young Bucks were the meanest tag team in Japan, now they are killing their careers by being too soft. The Young Bucks don’t like how Don is influencing Kenny Omega and Don admits he changed Kenny for the better. Kenny is God and the Young Bucks are at the bottom. They aren’t “Elite” anymore. Before Don walks off, he ask the Young Bucks to look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are the same tag team that they were in NJPW.

Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston were backstage before their match and Moxley was not in a good mood. He is burnt up and bloody after Revolution. He feels he should be relaxing, but now he has to go to war and fix the real problem, the Good Brothers. He hates them (even more since he bought some of their merchandise). No matter where he turns, he sees Gallows and Anderson. Moxley described Doc Gallows as looking like a kid’s wiggly eye art project and Kingston poked fun at Karl Anderson saying that Anderson pretends to be a gangster because he is part of the Bullet Club. Moxley ended the segment by stating that the Good Brothers are cowards and cowards die 1000 deaths. Moxley and Kingston are soldiers and soldiers die once.

AEW 3-17 jon moxley good brothers

It was time for the tag team match. Eddie Kingston walks out first and the Good Brothers surprised him by attacking from behind. Jon Moxley, with his arm and back taped up, came out quickly to help Kingston. The bell hadn’t even rung yet. The Good Brothers continue to beat up the two outside the ring. They hit their finisher, the Magic Killer, onto Moxley on the floor and knocked him out. They threw Kingston into the ring and the bell finally rang to start the match. The Good Brothers had worn down Kingston. and he could not defend himself against the Good Brothers. Kingston had no one to tag out since Moxley was still on the floor. Moxley slowly pulled himself up onto the ring, and Doc Gallows kicked him back down. Kingston manage to hit the Exploder onto Karl Anderson which gave Kingston enough time to tag in Moxley who finally got back onto the apron. An angry Moxley started to beat down Anderson and the tables turned. Anytime Gallows tried to save his brother, Moxley knocked him out of the ring. The Good Brothers tried to hit their Magic Killer onto Moxley, but Kingston managed to interfere. Kingston and Gallows knocked each other out of the ring and Anderson tried to finish off Moxley by himself, but Moxley rolled Anderson up and won the match.

The Good Brothers immediately attacked Moxley. Kenny Omega and Don Callis came into the ring, both dancing with glee. Kenny has a chair in his hand which he set down, sat in, and mocked Moxley. Kingston, with his last bit of energy, knocked Kenny over. The Good Brothers hit the Magic Killer on Kingston knocking him out for good. Kenny then ordered the Brothers to put the chair on Kingston’s leg to break it and Anderson perches on the top rope and jumps off to break it. Now their attention is on Moxley. They put the chair over his neck and Gallows climbed to the top rope, but The Young Bucks run in to stop everything.

The Elite are now in the middle of the ring arguing with each other. Kenny is angry at the Young Bucks because they won’t follows his orders. He raised his hand in their “Too Sweet” sign to see if the Young Bucks would do it too, and they said “no” while angrily stepping back from Kenny. Kenny screams at them that they are no longer part of the Elite.

While all of this is going down, they have forgotten Moxley is still in the ring. Moxley took the chair from around his neck and wildly swung at the Elite, who scattered in all directions. Moxley, still dazed by the attack, looks at the Young Bucks, who are standing on the ramp looking at him. The Young Bucks walk off and Moxley looks at them wondering what just happened. 

Surprisingly, during this segment, they have not mentioned that the Good Brothers lost their Impact Championship belts. What did happen was it seemed the Young Bucks are finally fed up with Kenny and have now left the group. The Bullet Club/Elite are known to feud with each other. Since the Good Brothers made their debut onto AEW a few months ago, viewers have been waiting to see when the “dream match” will happen between them and the Young Bucks. There have been hints that the Young Bucks are unhappy with the attitude change in their best friend, Kenny Omega. Ever since he aligned himself with Don Callis, Kenny has turned into an evil villain. The Young Bucks versus the Good Brothers is the obvious choice, but the wrestling community also suggests maybe the Young Bucks can convince all the Elite to go after Don Callis instead. Several things could very happen and all could end in a huge blowout at their next PPV – Double or Nothing.

AEW 3-17 Cristian Cage

Christian Cage, the newest wrestler to join AEW, finally got his interview. They simply asked him why he was there, and Christian answered that he was there to make wrestlers look better and level up. He had taken a 7-year break from wrestling, but wanted to come back and make a statement. He acknowledged that people are criticizing him for coming back because because he is a veteran and shouldn’t be wrestling with the new generation. He was angry that Kenny Omega interrupted his interview last week, but is fine with it now because he got to meet the champion face-to-face. Christian knows he has to prove to everyone and himself that he is championship material by working hard and winning matches. He is in AEW to cement his legacy and there to “Out. Work. Everyone.” Christian is one of the best wrestlers ever, and has such knowledge and skill he can teach and pass down to new talent. He will have amazing matches and one day when he faces Kenny Omega, it may be one of the greatest match in AEW. 

Will Christian win the World title? Probably not, but that is not why he is there. He is there to cement his legacy and make the company better with his influence. It is very exciting to see what will Christian do in the near future.

MJF and his new faction debut on Dynamite. MJF introduced each member (and nicely put them over) of his team. Tully Blancard is the greatest mind in wrestling, Wardlow, his “war dog”, is the best “big man” in the business and his insurance policy. If there is a problem with Shawn Spears “the chairman,” he will make you eat a chair shot. FTR is the greatest tag team on earth and the only “Grand Slam” tag team winners. Then MJF talked about himself who, at only 24 years old, is already unstoppable. He addressed Chris Jericho and said they are taking everything from the Inner Circle starting with their dressing room. He introduced the group as the “Pinnacle,” a new faction that one day may hold all the titles. Soon, the Pinnacle and the Inner Circle will go to war. 

No one from the Inner Circle appeared in this episode, but that does not mean they will stay quiet. As the Pinnacle slowly take everything from the Inner Circle, it is only a matter of time before the Inner Circle shows this new faction why they are the first and most dominant group in AEW.

AEW 3-17

The last match and main event is a monumental match for AEW. After years of being criticized for having a weak women’s division, AEW finally put two of their top women wrestlers in the main event spotlight. This was a “Light’s Out,” no disqualification match between Dr. Britt Baker and NWA’s Thunder Rosa. The two have had a brutal feud for months and this match was to end it. The feud began when Thunder Rosa first came to AEW representing the National Wrestling Alliance. Dr. Britt Baker believes she is the best woman in AEW and Thunder Rosa shouldn’t even be there. This was also a non-sanctioned match, so whoever wins or loses, it will not count against their record. 

This was a very violent match; the women used everything around them as weapons. They slammed each other onto chairs and ladders and in no time both women were covered in blood. Dr. Baker poured a bag of thumbtacks onto the ring and both women wrestled and pinned each other on top of them. Thunder Rosa set up Dr. Baker for her Thunder Driver; she jumped from the ring onto the table to the floor and pinned the knocked-out Dr. Baker for the win. 

This match had it all – great storytelling, brutal and hard-hitting, and it was well-paced. One of the reasons why this match was unsanctioned is so Thunder Rosa could get a clean win over Dr. Baker without affecting the doctor’s record. No doubt Dr. Baker will be the future Women’s Champion. Thunder Rosa is signed to NWA and will be starting shows soon. Thunder Rosa has been am integral part on why AEW women’s division is improving. To have this unique main match was a proper signoff for her. We will see Thunder Rosa again and hopefully more of NWA’s rosters as well.

All Elite Wrestling

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