Written by Shining Polaris
RIP to Legendary Promoter Jim Crockett, Jr. who passed away on March 3. He was an extremely influential figure to both WWE and AEW. Condolences to Crockett Jr, family and friends.
On March 3rd, it was AEW‘s take-home episode, Dynamite, leading up to their huge PPV show on Sunday, March 7th. This episode was highly promoted for weeks; Shaq was to wrestle and the newcomer Jade Cargil was to make her debut. This was also AEW’s first intergender tag match. AEW scheduled this match in an attempt to bring new eyes to the product and cross-promote fellow TNT Channel shows like the NBA and Inside the NBA.
The expectations online were low because wrestling fans usually dislike celebrity matches, however this match absolutely hit it out of the park!
It was unexpected that the celebrity match was the opener. Cody, The American Nightmare, sold and carried Shaq well. Shaq did many powerful slaps and chops onto Cody’s chest which sounded and looked painful. Shaq also delivered a huge power bomb onto Cody (a small nod to the late Brodie Lee). The match highlighted mostly on the two women, Jade Cargil and Red Velvet (Brandi Rhodes was originally scheduled, but is out due to pregnancy). Jade looked like an absolute beast destroying Red Velvet at every opportunity. Red Velvet also did great, since she is a much smaller opponent. Every time she did any offense against Jade, it made Red Velvet look strong. The match ended with Cody diving onto Shaq, who was standing on the side of the ring, and into two tables. Then Jade ended up pinning Red Velvet for a very strong victory. This match was extremely entertaining and no doubt Jade is getting a massive push very soon. The match ended by showing Shaq carried away in an ambulance.
The Inner Circle had their press conference to promote their PPV match for the Tag Team Titles against the Young Bucks. Chris Jericho and MJF never fail to entertain; this segment was funny and had a few guest appearances. They had the “audience” ask them questions and the first questioner was Conrad Thompson, who is a wrestling podcast host. MJF took cheap shots at Thompson after barely opening his mouth! Eric Bishoff (former Vice President of WCW, former GM of WWE Raw) was next. After his questions, the factions were riled up. The Young Bucks were still angry after last week’s Dynamite where the Inner Circle beat up their father. The Young Bucks insulted both Jericho and MJF and claimed they made their match personal.
The Young Bucks then delivered a super-kicked party to all of the Inner Circle. The Young Bucks were quickly out numbered, but then the Good Brothers show up to give their friends a hand. The Good Brothers set up Santana and Ortiz on a table and The Young Bucks climbed over the entrance tunnel and dove onto them.
It was the team of Jurassic Express and FTR for the next match. They’ve been feuding for weeks and this was a great way to end it. Definitely a PPV worthy match. This match was hyped as the return of wrestling Legend Tully Blanchard (who is currently FTR’s manager and former Four Horseman member). Tully came out in his new gear, the NWA USA Belt, and with HIS former manager JJ Dillon. This was a great match because the two teams have very contrasting styles. Jurassic Express used their high-flying and fast-paced style against the very traditional and grounded FTR. 67 year-old Tully Blanchard looked great as he did a few suplexes onto Marko Stunt. Of course, the match mainly focused on the impressive main members of FTR and Jurassic Express. Near the end of the match, Jungle Boy dove out of the ring and onto an AEW cameraman down below! The cameraman used his camera to hit Luchasaurus. In a surprising twist, the veteran Tully pinned the monster Luchasaurus for the win. As the team of FTR stood in the middle of the ring, the cameraman also got into the ring, took off his hood and mask, and revealed hismelf as Shawn Spears! (Spears took a small break from wrestling and Tully is also his manager)
Everyone stood in the middle of the ring and did the Four Horseman pose. Arn Anderson (also an original Four Horseman member) came out from the tunnel, looked at the group and nodded as he threw up the Four Horseman hand sign. This is no doubt a sign of a new Four Horseman group forming in AEW. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for them.
AEW Commentator Tony Schiavone came out next to introduce the newest member to the commentator team, Paul Wight, aka The Big Show from WWE Fame. Wight said a few words about how excited he is to be part of AEW and made a huge announcement of his own saying that during Revolution, he will reveal the next big “Hall of Fame worthy wrestler” signee. The internet melted trying to guess who it could be. At the moment, the top names are Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, or CM Punk. Any will be a good addition to the AEW.
The finals to the Women’s Eliminator Tournament featuring Nyla Rose (former AEW Women’s Champion) and relative newcomer Ryo Mizunami was next. This tournament was an innovative way for AEW to introduce new female wrestlers from around the world and showcase the current women. Nyla and Ryo, who are both large and powerful women, brought everything they had to the ring. They were absolutely destroying each other. Nyla has been one of the most protected wrestlers in AEW. Many fans saw her as the favorite to win because she has been on a massive winning streak. Nyla hit her superplex onto Ryo, which should have been the finish of this match. Ryo kicked out of the near fall and came back with a few suplexes onto Nyla and then a massive Guillotine Leg Drop. Ryo won the tournament! Hikaru Shida, the current Women’s Champion, handed Ryo the trophy, then Ryo punched Shida in the face! So now we have the Women’s World Championship match for Revolution which will be Hikaru Shida vs. Ryo Mizunami.
Preston Vance/10 from the Dark Order vs. Max Caster was next. This was to determine the final entry to the Face of the Revolution Ladder match at the PPV. Preston Vance was deemed the favorite to win because he is the powerhouse for the Dark Order and he is also Brodie Lee, Jr.’s favorite wrestler. Dark Order has also been a massively popular stable since the end of last year. Max Caster is a sneaky heel and was trying hard to cheat his way throughout the match, but Vance was just too powerful and smart. Vance was about to win, but Jack Evans from TH2 came out from under the ring and hit Vance with Caster’s boombox. Caster pinned Vance for the win. Matt Hardy came out and gave Jack Evans an envelope full of money. This led to the final main event match of the night.
Before the final match, we had a video promo/package from Miro promoting his PPV match against Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor. Sting and Team FTW had an in-ring beatdown to promote their huge street fight. We also got a very neat video package promoting the main event title match of Revolution between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley, a barbwire death match.
The main event was a tag team match with the crowd favorite of Adam Page and John Silver from the Dark Order Vs. Matt Hardy and Marq Quen from Private Party. This match was to promote their singles match at the PPV. Big Money Matt Hardy is one of the funniest and biggest heels – he wants to destroy every member of the Dark Order. During this match, you saw a foreshadowing of a possible break-up between Matt Hardy and Private Party because Matt and Marq were arguing a few times. At the end, Adam Page hit his Buck Shot Lariat onto Marq Quen, and as Marq was laying there, Matt did not come to his assistance. Adam looked straight into Matt eyes as he got on top of Marq and pinned him for the win. Matt Hardy then tried to beat up Adam Page, but the Dark Order came out to help their friend. After that, there was a massive pour of wrestlers from the back and we had a free-for-all. This was a promotion for the large Tag Team Battle Royale on the PPV. There was one more entrant for that Royale that hadn’t been named yet, but before the screen cut to black, it was revealed that the Lucha Bros were the last tag team to enter.
This was one of the best, if not the best, Take Home shows AEW has ever done. If the goal was to get you excited for AEW Revolution this Sunday, then it had done it’s job!
All Elite Wrestling
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