‘AEW: Dynamite’ Review (Mar 20th 2024)

Welcome to this week’s review of AEW: Dynamite, which was broadcast from the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario. We’ve got Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and Taz on commentary this week, so let’s get into the review!

Match #1: AEW Continental Championship Match – Eddie Kingston def. Kazuchika Okada

The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Kingston hit Okada with a flurry of offense, and then blistered the challenger with chops. Okada hammered back with an elbow to the back of Kingston’s head. Okada spiked Kingston with a DDT on the arena floor. Matthew and Nicholas Jackson were watching backstage, wearing headsets and producing the match. Okada nailed Kingston with a neck breaker. Okada followed up with a dropkick to the side of Kingston’s head. Kingston fired back with a double over hook suplex and then a back heel trip. Kingston blasted Okada with machine gun chops in the corner. Kingston rocked Okada with a German suplex and then a sliding forearm. Okada rallied back with a dropkick. Eddie stunned Okada with a spinning back fist for a near fall. Okada attempted to hit the Rainmaker, but Kingston got his arms up to block it. Okada gouged Kingston’s eyes. Okada planted Kingston on the mat and rocked Eddie with the Rainmaker, scoring the pin! New AEW Continental Champion… “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada!

My Score: 3.5 out of 5

Match #2: HOOK def. Chris Jericho

The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Hook dumped Jericho on the back of his head with a T-bone suplex right out of the gates. Hook battered Jericho in the corner. Jericho fired back with chops. Hook sent Jericho for a ride once again with another T-bone suplex. Hook dodged Jericho and planted Jericho with two more suplexes. Hook folded Jericho in half with another suplex. Jericho booted Hook in the face and rammed Hook with a shoulder block. Jericho jumped off the top turnbuckle, but Hook caught him and suplexed him. Jericho tried to rally back with a lionsault for a near fall. Hook charged at Jericho, but Jericho countered by throwing Hook. Jericho put Hook on the top turnbuckle, looking for a top rope hurracanrana, but Hook managed to apply the Red Rum on Jericho! Chris Jericho broke the grip and was looking for the Walls, but Hook countered by rolling up Jericho and pinning Jericho!

My Score: 2 out of 5

Match #3: Deonna Purrazzo & Thunder Rosa def. Toni Storm & Mariah May

The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Deonna and Thunder Rosa sprinted toward the ring and took the attack to Toni and Mariah, swarming them. Mariah grabbed Deonna by the hair and yanked her to the mat. Mariah followed up with a dropkick. Deonna turned the tables with a double clothesline to Toni and Mariah. Thunder Rosa grabbed a tag and launched off the bag of Deonna to splash Toni in the corner with a lariat. Thunder Rosa followed up with a running lariat. Luther tried to take a swipe at Thunder Rosa. As Thunder Rosa was distracted by Luther, Toni Storm knocked Rosa to the floor with a running hip attack. Deonna grabbed a tag and punted Mariah in the face with a pump kick. Thunder Rosa tagged herself in and Deonna didn’t seem happy about it. Thunder Rosa drilled Mariah with a Death Valley Driver in the center of the ring! Toni Storm grabbed Thunder Rosa from behind and nailed Rosa with a German Suplex. Toni Storm cracked Thunder Rosa in the corner with a hip attack! Toni tried for a piledriver, but Thunder Rosa countered with a jackknife pin and scored the victory!

My Score: 2.5 out of 5

Match #4: Swerve Strickland def. The Butcher

The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Swerve headbutted Butcher, catching Butcher by surprise. Swerve booted Butcher in the face. Butcher blasted Swerve with a strike to the face. Swerve double stomped Butcher on the back. Swerve rocked Butcher with the House Call kick! Swerve crunched Butcher with the Swerve Stomp right on target. Swerve applied a submission hold and forced Butcher to tap!

My Score: 1 out of 5 (only as this TECHNICALLY a squash!)

Match #5: TNT Championship I Quit Match – Adam Copeland def. Christian Cage

The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:

Copeland was looking for the spear right away, but Christian bailed out of the ring. Copeland blasted Christian with a sliding dropkick. Copeland chased Christian through the crowd, and they began to brawl in the penalty box. Copeland propped a ladder across the guardrail and the announcers’ desk. Copeland pulled Christian down hard on the ladder. Copeland inverted the ladder in the ring and then slammed Christian against it stomach first! Copeland rammed Christian shoulder first into the steel ring post. Cope pulled a table out from under the ring. Copeland placed the ladder against the guardrail. Cope went to spear Christian through the table, but Christian leapfrogged over Copeland and then rammed Copeland into the ring post! Copeland was busted wide open. Christian jumped off the top turnbuckle and splashed Copeland through the table outside the ring! Christian catapulted Copeland into a ladder that was placed on the turnbuckles. Copeland dodged a frog splash. Copeland locked in a cross face submission but Christian gouged Copeland in the eyes. Both men went for the spear and collided into one another. Shayna Wayne ambushed Copeland, hitting him with a hockey stick for a low blow! Christian Cage cracked the hockey stick across Copeland’s back! Christian grabbed a barb wire wrapped chair from beneath the ring. Christian set Copeland’s head across one chair and tried for the con-chair-to with the barb wire chair, but Copeland moved out of the way in the nick of time. Copeland hit Christian with the hockey stick across the face. Copeland pulled the drawstring from his pants and wrapped it around Christian’s throat, pulling back. Killswitch and Nick Wayne jumped into the ring and began to stomp Copeland. Mother Wayne entered the ring and slapped Copeland as Nick Wayne and Killswitch held him back. Matt Menard and Daniel Garcia ran to the ring and cleaned house of Nick Wayne and Killswitch, evening the odds for Copeland. Copeland climbed the ladder and splashed Killswitch and Nick Wayne outside the ring! Garcia had handcuffs. Garcia and Menard handcuffed Killswitch to the ropes while Copeland handcuffed Nick Wayne in the opposite corner. Mother Wayne retreated from the ring. Garcia and Menard pinballed Christian Cage with strikes and then Copeland speared Christian! Copeland handcuffed Christian in the corner. Copeland pulled the case containing Spike from beneath the ring. Copeland swung Spike at Christian, cracking him between the legs! Copeland went to hit Christian again, but this time Christian said, “I quit!”

My Score: 4 out of 5

Final Verdict: 3.5/5

I don’t think, even with the appearance of Mercedes Mone and a title win for Okada, this week’s Dynamite was as good as last week’s special show. The show opened strong with that fantastic match-up between Kingston and Okada, even if Eddie lost the title (a real shame!) and closed stronger with the I Quit match – which hopefully sees the end of the Copeland/Cage feud AND the end of The Patriarchy too (fingers crossed). The rest of the card was, for me throwaway. Unfortunately, Hook getting the win over Jericho means a LOT less these days; the women’s tag match was OK but not great; and we really didn’t need Swerve to be in a quasi-squash match either!