AEW Dynamite
April 14th, 2021
Daily's Place - Jacksonville, FL
Replay of The Young Bucks turning heel last week. It didn’t sit well with me in the moment because of all the back and forth with their characters, but now that they are solidifying their stance, this came off very well. The replays were meshed with a promo from the Bucks explaining why they did what they did and that they needed to get that edge back. Let’s go.
Mike Tyson is backstage. MJF tries to get him to trade sides and offers him a contract or something. Tyson rips it up.
1) The Young Bucks (c) (w/ Don Callis) vs. PAC & Rey Fenix - AEW Tag Team Title Match
There’s so much to unpack here. This got a solid 25 minutes if my calculations are correct and it made the most of every second. That opening video package showed us that the Young Bucks are fully bad guys now and here they solidified that by not only entering the arena with Don Callis, decked in new gear with no tassels, but also by working a completely different style than normal. Sure, they hit some super kicks and flew around when necessary, but this wasn’t showy Young Bucks. This was mean, gritty, shit eating coward Young Bucks. I’ve seen this before in their prior heel runs on the indies and New Japan, but this is the first time we’ve seen it in AEW and as said before, I hated on the closing angle like week along with everyone else, mainly because of the long drawn out road to what we got here, but I love what we have now in the Bucks and how much they’ve changed things up. On the other side of the ring, you have PAC & Rey Fenix, two of the best single wrestlers in the world in their own right and two men who have caught fire recently, especially Rey Fenix who has arguably been the wrestler of the year in 2021. This was recipe for perfection and it’s damn near what we got. Just superb tag team wrestling on free TV and it wasn’t even a spotfest. Awesome storytelling and pacing. Great action. Not much more you can ask for, especially out of a damn TV opener. This ruled, one of the best Dynamite matches of the year so far right behind Omega/Fenix.
Match rating - ****1/2
Backstage, Alex Marvez is with Hangman Page & the Dark Order. Marvez asks for Hangman’s thoughts on Omega & The Bucks reuniting. He avoids the questions and talks about John Silver’s shoulder recovery and then dips out to get some egg rolls for the gang.
Back from commercial, Chris Jericho, the Inner Circle & Mike Tyson are with Alex Marvez. Jericho explains how he & Tyson made amends and that despite that, Tyson will call it down the middle in his match with Dax Harwood tonight where Tyson is the special enforcer.
2) Jade Cargill vs. Red Velvet
This one has some history so I’m into it. Plus, Jade & Velvet both came out of the Shaq/Cody story looking better than when they went in. I really liked the premise of this. Jade is the unstoppable force, Red Velvet has been the valiant babyface, having stood up for Cody not only in the Shaq feud, but also after his nightmare factory students turned on him and were about to smash his head in. So, yeah, it was an easy story to tell and they did it well. Velvet gets some flurries, but this is ultimately Jade’s ballgame and she wins.
Match rating - **3/4
Britt Baker & Rebel are backstage with Tony Schiavone with an update on her quest to become #1 in the women's division by racking up wins on Dark and Elevation. It's top notch stuff as usual with Britt probably being my favorite act in all of wrestling right now. She just has IT and I can't wait to see her win the title in the near future (hopefully).
3) Anthony Ogogo (w/ QT Marshall) vs. Cole Carter
First TV match for Ogogo. He wins with a punch to the stomach as the ref deems Carter unfit to continue. This is fine, but man, they didn’t follow up from the heat of that turn on Cody angle well at all.
4) Dax Harwood vs. Chris Jericho - Special Enforcer: Mike Tyson
So, Tyson isn’t the ref, he’s just at ringside. Honestly, my interest in this went away pretty quickly as things moved along. The angle the other week was great, but now I’m just ready to see these two groups go to battle. They do a big clusterfuck finish with everyone coming down from both groups and a big brawl. Jericho wins with the Judas effect elbow.
Match rating - **3/4
In the parking lot, The Elite is there with Don Callis. Omega & Matt Jackson cut promos. Callis says the old Young Bucks are back and that isn’t the last surprise he has in store. Good shit all around here, this actually popped me so much more than I ever thought it would coming out of last week, but that just goes to show how killer the Bucks are pulling off this heel turn.
5) Kris Statlander (w/ Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy & Trent?) vs. Amber Nova
Return match from Statlander. Best Friends with her so my heart is full. Simple squash and good comeback for Statlander with her new friends.
Christian comes out to issue some sort of challenge or something, but Taz hits the stage with Will Hobbs (he told Cage & Starks to stay in the back before commercial). Taz is insulted that Christian didn’t respond to his invite to Team Taz. Christian finally does and says no and he & Taz trade verbal insults that made my jaw drop a couple of times with Taz referencing Christian’s “buddy that carried his ass for years” and Christian referencing Taz’s “bingo hall money” - this was just a blast and the result sees us getting Christian vs. Hobbs next week so I’m all in favor of that!
6) Darby Allin (c) vs. Matt Hardy - AEW TNT Title Match
I was pretty tuned out of the first portion of this match which is shocking for a Darby match. The clusterfuck interference just didn’t do anything for me and I’m not into Matt Hardy these days at all. However, by the end of it I was having a blast. The closing few spots ruled, but the final one with Darby hitting a massive avalanche coffin drop off a tower onto Hardy stole the show and saved the match. Good stuff and another huge win for Darby over a legend.
Match rating - ***1/4
A definite step up from the prior weeks show and the ratings reflected it! 1.2 MIL BABYYYYY.
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