AEW Dynamite recap & reactions (Mar. 10, 2021): MJF’s Horsemen

Yo! Whoa! Ho! Oh my! This episode of Dynamite brought back the PPV fallout show excitement in a big way. AEW Dynamite (Mar. 10, 2021) emanated from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, FL. The show featured MJF forming his own crew of Horsemen, Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, and Kenny Omega perfectly salvaging the dud PPV finish, and plenty of new feuds forming.

Get caught up on all the Dynamite details with the excellent live results and play-by-play from Claire Elizabeth.

MJF’s Horsemen

Ever since a Four Horseman formation was teased in AEW, MJF was a common choice by fans for inclusion. Ever since MJF joined the Inner Circle, it was a common belief that he would beat up Chris Jericho and take over. Both are intriguing ideas on their own. Nobody expected them to be blended together, but they were in an effort to create an unimaginably awesome moment.

The Inner Circle held their War Council in the main event segment of Dynamite. MJF took charge to suggest Chris Jericho needed the boot from the group, however, Sammy Guevara made his return to interrupt and show Jericho evidence of a coup. Santana, Ortiz, and Jake Hager had seemingly backed MJF’s power play. The Inner Circle OGs stepped up to Jericho, then they turned back around with menace toward MJF. They were not falling for MJF’s conniving. As the reunited Inner Circle was cracking knuckles for a beatdown to the cowering MJF, he turned the tables by announcing he built a group of his own.

Lights out. Lights on. FTR, Shawn Spears, Tully Blanchard, and Wardlow were in the ring.

Dax Harwood broke a champagne bottle over Hager’s head. The new enforcers used chairs and a bat to batter the Inner Circle. Jericho was clobbered by Wardlow’s corner knee lift. FTR and Blanchard hit a spike piledriver to Santana and Ortiz. MJF bloodied Le Champion. The final blow was Wardlow powerbombing Jericho off the stage.

Holy smokes! That whole reveal was beautifully executed. The unexpected battle of swerves culminated with a monumental surprise for a fun roller coaster ride. It actually gave me goosebumps seeing the unofficial Horsemen faction in the ring to support MJF. The Inner Circle just did a pure babyface flip, which is nice because fans want to root for them anyway and also feel no shame in singing Jericho’s theme song. That brutal attack is just what the Inner Circle needs to rally together and find their groove for greatness. MJF’s Horsemen immediately became the most wicked crew in all of AEW. Both of these swings happened in a matter of minutes. Stupendous!

Perfect recovery

The biggest question coming into Dynamite was how AEW would salvage the disastrous PPV finish with the dud ring explosion at the end of the exploding barbed wire deathmatch between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley at Revolution. It was Shockmaster levels of bad. There was a lot of damage control needed to explain the situation and save Eddie Kingston from looking like a chump during the save. Given the circumstances, AEW did a perfect recovery to set the story back on track.

It began with Moxley and Kingston cutting a promo from the couch while consuming adult beverages. The big explanation from Kingston was that he suffered an anxiety attack from a flashback of being in jail. They broke the tension by joking about the bomb being faulty. Moxley didn’t win the AEW World Championship, but he did get a drinking buddy back.

Great segment. The banter of friendship was natural. At first, I thought Moxley was playing Weekend at Bernie’s and wondered where they were going with this, then he snapped out of his stupor. Kingston did well to reaffirm his tough guy street cred. He did so in a way that only the hardest of hard guys can challenge him on it. The first step in moving on from the dud was a success.

Later in the show, Kenny Omega took center stage in the ring with Don Callis and the Good Brothers by his side. They mocked the reaction of Kingston to the lack of explosion. The bad guys would not confirm or deny whether that was the plan all along. They played coy by leaning into the benefits of both scenarios. Most of all, it was about robbing moments. They robbed fans of the big bang. They robbed Kingston of his heroic deed. They robbed Moxley from winning back the title.

Kingston came out to the ring. After some needling from Omega and Callis, he eventually punched Omega flush in the face.

The Good Brothers pounced, and Moxley made the save. Next week will have Moxley & Kingston versus Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows.

Omega and Callis did well in building themselves back up as scoundrels and also built sympathy from Kingston to be a babyface. The anticipation for Kingston to clock Omega was electric. Kingston officially had his tough guy reputation restored. The second step in moving on from the dud was a success.

New feuds

Christian Cage was supposed to come out and address the crowd. Before he could enter, Omega took over with all that wild hullabaloo involving Kingston. As Omega was left alone in a daze, Christian sauntered to the ring. They briefly bickered without mics. Omega’s handshake offer was denied, so he threw a punch. Christian set up a Killswitch, but Callis was able to pull Omega out of the ring to safety.

Christian is fresh on the scene and wasting no time stepping into the title picture. It will be a nice change of pace to see Omega compete against the veteran stylings of Christian.

Sting! The Icon talked up his street fight win with Darby Allin over Team Taz. He was then interrupted by Lance Archer and Jake Roberts. Archer wanted time to say that he never needed a ladder match to prove he is the face of AEW’s revolution. If things don’t change from AEW, then he is going to take much more than time. The implication seemed to be that he would inflict pain upon Sting. Archer left without violence, and Sting’s precious interview time was all used up.

The surprise of Archer popped the moment positively. This is a potential feud that could go either way. Perhaps Archer and Sting duke it out. That would be an interesting test of Sting’s ability to take pain. Or, it could transition to Archer versus Allin, with Sting by his side. Both would be entertaining options.

Cody Rhodes has a new target to focus his rage. He returned to the ring to make quick work of Seth Gargis and win via figure-four submission. When offering an answer about the status of his injured shoulder during a post-match interview, Cody was rudely interrupted by Pentagon.

The trash-talk intensified from the luchador when he called Cody lucky. If the ladder match had been just Penta and Cody, then the masked man would have injured Cody’s shoulder so bad that he wouldn’t be able to pick up his newborn baby girl. That set Codemeister into a fit of anger as he gave chase to attack Pentagon. The fracas was split up by wrestlers from the audience.

Great surprise picking Pentagon as the next feud for Cody. The quick build was typical machismo, but I’m all in based on the ability of each wrestler. Everyone should benefit by the end. Cody will have a tough challenge to overcome, while Pentagon gets the rub of a high-profile feud. That’s assuming Cody wins. Imagine the boost for Pentagon if he comes out the victor.

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Let’s jam through the rest of Dynamite.

Fenix defeated Matt Jackson. PAC and Nick Jackson were ringside as this singles bout was a tease to the future title match between the two teams. Fenix started strong early by being flexible in his offensive attack. Matt sensed a suicide dive coming, so she moseyed around the ring. Fenix stepped through the ropes to surprise Matt with a flying headscissors on the floor.

Matt turned the tide with a counter powerbomb off the turnbuckles.

The contest progressed with all sorts of creative maneuvers. Matt exploded for a Canadian Destroyer, but Fenix rolled out of the ring. Matt followed for a Canadian Destroyer on the floor.

Fenix barely beat the ten-count back into the ring. Matt continued his assault with a flying elbow drop. Fenix somehow had the energy to kick out on the cover.

The finishing sequence began with a heated exchange of fisticuffs. Matt picked up the luchador for a piledriver, but Fenix reversed position to connect on a fire driver. 1, 2, 3. Fenix was victorious.

This was a slower paced bout, compared to their typical non-stop sprints, with high-impact moves. I’m guessing they are saving the all-out blitzes for the upcoming tag title match. It was nice to see Fenix win clean and do so in an interesting transition. I did not see that fire driver coming at all. Fenix should have won, since Death Triangle needs momentum to provide a genuine sense that they could dethrone the golden children. Still, I’m surprised that he did win. This is all part of the plan to get maximum reaction for what will be an epic contest.

Ethan Page defeated Lee Johnson. Page wrestled in an agitated and annoyed manner in his Dynamite debut. Both men showed heart. Page kicked out of a blue thunder bomb, and Johnson survived a super body slam and cutter.

Unfortunately, Johnson tweaked his knee on a leapfrog off the turnbuckles. Page initially paused, then he lost patience and crushed Johnson on a Razor’s Edge crucifix slam.

Good outing by Page. The Razor’s Edge is one of my most favorite moves in all of wrestling. I like Page’s twist of getting air on the toss. He only lacked that innate presence of a superstar, as opposed to being just another wrestler. Page is definitely a quality addition to the roster, and I’m hoping he can become something special.

QT getting uppity. During the match with Page and Johnson, a side story was playing out with QT Marshall. He accompanied Johnson to the ring as Nightmare Family coach. When Johnson injured his knee, he reached to QT for support. Coach stood there stoically offering no encouragement. After the match, Page put the boots to Johnson. Again, QT stood idly by. Dustin Rhodes had to run in for the save. QT turned his back and walked out.

I enjoyed commentary pondering if QT was using Johnson’s pain as a teaching moment to grit through the pain. Other than that, it felt like more passive aggressive drama that is common in AEW. I’m hoping the pace is quicker on this one for events to unfold. At this point, QT can’t be trusted. There’s no reason to continue the charade of giving him another chance.

Hikaru Shida, Ryo Mizunami, & Thunder Rosa defeated Dr. Britt Baker DMD, Nyla Rose, & Maki Itoh. A trios match with unfamiliar partners played out as such with some awkward moments. The finish was neat when Thunder Rosa countered Itoh to pick her up for a fierce Emerald Flowsion slam.

This bout didn’t really engage me much. The best part was the start when the babyfaces attacked during Itoh’s song and dance. She didn’t care and kept singing until the routine was complete. Itoh is a bundle of fun.

After the match, Baker assaulted Rosa with Reba’s crutch. The other heels prevented Rosa’s partners from making the save. It was later announced that Baker and Rosa will main event next week’s Dynamite in an unsanctioned lights out match. Hell yeah!

Darby Allin retained the TNT Championship against Scorpio Sky. Allin suffered an ankle injury early on a fancy flip, but he fought through as a champion. This match had fantastic strategic moments. Allin had eaten a hard right hand, so he grabbed Sky’s fist to sandbag his weight to buy recovery time. Allin then countered for a stunner. Sky came back with two German suplexes. Allin tried to escape the third, but Sky regained his grip to brutally launch Allin into the turnbuckles on a release German suplex.

Later, Sky countered a suicide dive with a cutter.

Sky also caught a Coffin Drop to counter with a powerbomb.

Sky felt victory near. He picked Allin up for a TKO, but Allin countered for an inside cradle roll-up and the 1, 2, 3.

The cerebral strategy elevated the quality of this match. I was impressed with Sky’s ring awareness. So much so that he left me wanting more. Despite the loss, Sky rose up in my book. Allin picked up a hard-fought win to enhance his resume as champ. These are the wins that build up his status toward a possible run with the AEW World Championship one day on the future.

After the match, Allin showed respect to his adversary. Sky responded by trying to snap Allin’s ankle. Sky smirked at his bad attitude.

Sky must have taken Shawn Spears’ words to heart back when they were feuding. Spears questioned Sky’s ability to cross the line in winning at any cost. I don’t know why it took so long to ferment, but at least Sky has direction now.

Notes: SCU was in the stands for the opener to scout Matt Jackson and Fenix for future matchups. SCU is the #1 ranked tag team and are close to a title shot.

Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy challenged Miro and Kip Sabian to a rematch. Chuck will become Miro’s butler forever if he loses. Cassidy had an idea to place arcade games around the ring to make it more topical and more dangerous. This feud remains tepid, but AEW has a good track record with specialty fights.

Hangman Page showed off his new lawnmower. Page ran down his list of items of the buying spree from Matt Hardy’s money. He donated most to an education fund. Dark Order arrived to hilariously pile on the lawnmower for a ride to get ice cream. 5 was left behind. I’m not sure if that was important or just continuation of how they treat him on Being the Elite.

Matt Hardy has enough money saved to support his ventures into the next quarter. He revealed Butcher, Blade, and Bunny as new signings to the Hardy empire. Together with Private Party, they will destroy the Dark Order. Interesting addition. Butcher and Blade are mercenaries, so that makes sense since they won’t be jiving with babyface Kingston for now.

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Stud of the Show: MJF

The man deserves praise for masterminding a plan.

Dud of the Show: 5

Nothing personal. He just looked like a dud being left all alone. Poor guy.

Grade: A

Just like how the Revolution grade declined due to the finish, the Dynamite grade rose due to the finish. Outstanding swerve. There were two very good matches in Fenix versus Matt Jackson and Darby Allin versus Scorpio Sky. Surprises were aplenty with new feuds percolating, old feuds ready to blow, and characters with new motivations.

Share your thoughts about Dynamite. How do you rate it? Who stole the show?

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