AEW Dynamite 3/8/2023 Match Ratings and Commentary
(Credit-AEW)
Here’s how we rated this week’s Dynamite from Sacramento, CA. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.
AEW Dynamite - 3/8/2023
Orange Cassidy def. Jay Lethal to retain the AEW All-Atlantic Championship: ★★★
Ruby Soho def. Skye Blue: ★★
Jericho Appreciation Society def. AR Fox and Top Flight: ★★★
Mox and Claudio def. Silver and Reynolds: ★★
Powerhouse Hobbs def. Wardlow to win the AEW TNT Championship: ★★
Max was right (Credit-AEW)
Show Highlight—
MJF breaks Bryan psychologically. If you ever needed a reminder for why Bryan Danielson is one of the best professional wrestlers of all time, watch this promo. Think of how versatile he truly is as a performer and what he did here. He said Max was right twice, outright admitting that Max was right that he was selfish and put himself over his family and that he’d not be able to feel his arms after the Iron Man Match. He already put over MJF at Revolution and now he does it again to by saying he’s got to go home subsequently. This is why getting Danielson was one of the best signings AEW ever had. He’s not pulling the, That Doesn’t Work For Me Brother card, he’s folding to younger talent and creating great art with them. And as babyface as fuck he comes off as here, he may even turn heel with the rest of the BCC!
What Worked—
Jay Lethal’s selling. His selling of his arm was great from the initial injury to it costing him the match when he went for his finish. An old pro doing wrestling right.
Jay White Juice Robinson is here! That Bullet Club logo was such a cocktease. It’s about time Juice had an angle on TV, anyone that was a major fan of his would have to think he was floundering and lost in the creative shuffle a bit. These two will should have a great program.
Ruby Soho. Hey, a heel turn with a motive that was 100% justified! It made me think of the recent interview Seth Rogen did where he talked about the devastating impact negative reviews can have on Hollywood. Professional wrestling is no different. While we try to be tempered in what we say and how we say it on the podcast and website, we’re aware a wrestler has to go long stretches of time where the fickle nature of fans’ reactions make the pain seem not worth it. With AEW breaking the fourth wall, it’s a rich vein for storytelling, especially within the women’s division where some male audience members can voice their displeasure with a women’s wrestler so vociferously it’s fucked up.
FTR. Even after saying they weren’t doing it, Dax is incapable of not being an uber, loveable babyface.
BCC heel turn? They’ve always been a tweener group, but with the two founding members both tapping out and humiliated at Revolution, their revenge tour as heels could be great TV.
What Didn’t Work—
Jericho and Mox back on TV too soon? Such a spoiled asshole wrestling fan sentiment to have, wishing the bigger stars would take a momentary hike. I thought Jericho would have a bigger impact for his next program if he had at least two weeks to breathe and sell his shame of losing to Starks. And Mox I just want the poor bastard to take a vacation. If there’s ANYONE who has earned an extended break and time off, no fan would care in the slightest if he took a month off to rest.
But I had totally forgot that the next Dynamite was in Canada and it’s only right to have Jericho be in some sort of thing with Kenny Omega for that crowd. And if the BCC are going to turn heel, do it when it’s fresh in the minds of the audience for why they are turning.
Show Cringe—
Hobbs vs. Wardlow. When AEW first debuted it was a revelation for its logical storytelling and landing big moments when they were designed to be big moments. If there’s one thing AEW has struggled with this year, is creating their own adverse driving conditions on the road from Point A to Point B. The destination point is more often than not right, but there exists some need to slash the tires and carry the car on their backs to get from A to B.
Powerhouse Hobbs as TNT Champion? Fucking awesome. Talk about a guy that deserves it and has all the makings of a big star. But couldn’t he have beaten Darby instead? Why did Wardlow have to get cucked? Time will tell if Wardlow will come off more sympathetic because of his shit getting stolen, but maybe the crowd will think he’s a choker or worse, maybe their sympathies are already exhausted on him?
The stipulation also did them no favors with all the brawling backstage. And this could totally be me looking far too into it, but having the majority of a match outside of the ring makes it look like more of a backstage segment then a match, thus protecting the loser because it’s like it knowingly doesn’t have the same impact it would have with a clean loss in the ring. They didn’t want Wardlow to look weak, so they had QT Marshall (in part) interfere to put the heat on him. It’s not the finger poke of doom, but it undercuts Hobbs who should just look like a monster badass heel that doesn’t need the heat of cheating to win a title. Plus, the reaction to Hobbs winning strong on his own might be so overwhelming where you created a babyface naturally.
QT Marshall is one of the more underrated utility players on the roster. He plays his role effectively as anyone and is like a Sean Spears or Christian Cage in that you know you’re going to get the desired result with the desired reaction. I hope the fanbase at large sees his talent and doesn’t just dismiss him because of his previous stable and the function they were written to play. He’s always made other people look great, he’ll make Wardlow look great, you just hope the audience doesn’t think it’s too far gone now.
But fucking stop it with the landing pads. It always looks like shit on television. And trust that nobody wants to see Wardlow take a bump like Anna Jay did either. There’s nothing spectacular about spectacular bumps.
New TNT Champ (Credit-AEW)
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