Welcome to POST Wrestling’s live results article for tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite! Keep an eye on this article throughout the night for the latest news and updates from tonight’s show. Make sure to hit the refresh button on your browser to see the latest version of this page.
Results
- Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & PAC def. Josh Alexander, Konosuke Takeshita & Mark Davis (15:05)
- Kyle Fletcher def. Tommaso Ciampa (TNT Championship) (16:35) (Recommended)
- Orange Cassidy & Roderick Strong def. Daniel Garcia & Clark Connors (9:08)
Still to come…
- Dezmond Xavier & Myron Reed vs. Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. TBA (Three-Way AEW Tag Team Championships #1 Contenders)
- Kris Statlander vs. Thekla (AEW Women’s World Championship) (Strap Match)
Kenny Omega and Swerve Strickland don’t want to be buddy-buddy
Tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite, live from the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California, opened with a face-to-face interview between Kenny Omega and Swerve Strickland. These two had a bit of a dust-up last week due to some miscommunication: Strickland hit the ring in hopes of preventing Andrade El Idolo from beating Omega in a nefarious way. Instead, his presence ended up costing Omega the match. Would they squash the beef tonight? Unlikely. But let’s see what happened.
Strickland got on the mic first and talked about how, by the time he had emerged into AEW’s title picture, Omega was “nowhere to be found.”
“You’re either laid up in a hospital bed or suspended,” Strickland said. “Seems like a false prophet to me.” Since he was gone for so long, Strickland accused that Omega was using his “EVP power” to just slide back into the title picture. I mean, they’ve spent the past month talking about how Omega was starting from the bottom to begin his title climb, so I don’t know how much Omega is stepping on Strickland like he claims.
Omega responded that he was trying to reach the top “and do it in the right way” for the fans who support him. Omega eventually cut to the chase: He’s not asking for Strickland to believe in him, “I’m asking for a fight … If you want that match, you’ve got it.”
Strickland said that if they do this, Omega’s getting put back in a hospital bed, but this time for good. Omega responded with a slap in the face. Oh boy, no squashing of the beef is going to happen now for sure.
Strickland said “Whatever happens next is on you” then tackled Omega, beginning a brawl between them. The brawl spilled out to ringside then into the crowd, where Omega bashed the fellow ex-world champ over the back with a steel chair. They went onto the stage, with Omega bashing Strickland head-first into an LED panel then scoring a V-Trigger. He looked for a One-Winged Angel, but Strickland used what looked like some sort of pick (fork?) to escape the move. Strickland speared Omega off the stage, putting them both through a table set up nearby.
The storyline building the match between Strickland and Omega is a little silly and disjointed, but it’s a first-time singles meeting between two of the promotion’s biggest names, so I’m looking forward to it.
Jon Moxley wins six-man against Don Callis Family ahead of Takeshita match
Six-man tag action opened the in-ring portion of the night, with Jon Moxley, PAC and Claudio Castagnoli of the Death Riders facing Don Callis Family’s Josh Alexander, Mark Davis, and Konosuke Takeshita. This served as a preview ahead of Moxley and Takeshita’s title matchup this weekend at Grand Slam: Australia.
Castagnoli got a hot tag after a commercial break, taking out Alexander with a huge swing, then a near fall on Davis after hitting a powerslam. The Swiss talent got a two-count after a Sunset Flip Powerbomb. Davis came running off the ropes and took out Castagnoli with a huge lariat.
In next were the main characters of this match, Moxley and Takeshita. The Japanese star wobbled Moxley with a forearm, but Moxley replied with a nasty lariat to drop him. After everyone else briefly hit the ring for a few spots, Takeshita hit an Exploder Suplex for a two-count.
Castagnoli and PAC got back into the ring to hit Takeshita with a series of splashes in the corner, then tossed him to Moxley for a cutter. A pin attempt from Moxley was stopped by Davis and Alexander. The crowd was red-hot at this point and chanting “AEW.”
The Don Callis trio picked on Moxley in a three-on-one position in the ring. Davis, who had just tagged back in, hit a huge lariat and went for the pin, but PAC stopped the attempt. Castagnoli and PAC wiped out Davis and Takeshita, making it just Moxley and Alexander in the ring.
Moxley tried for a sleeper hold but then later transitioned to his Death Rider DDT finisher for the pinfall win in 15 minutes. Awesome tag bout here, successfully previewing the upcoming Takeshita and Moxley match, and getting the crowd onboard.
Kyle Fletcher regains TNT title in instant classic with Tommaso Ciampa
Kyle Fletcher attempted to regain the TNT Championship in the next bout, taking on recent AEW signing and defending champ Tommaso Ciampa.
Fletcher dodged a move from Ciampa at ringside shortly after the show returned from a break and seemingly looked to wedge the champ in-between the steel stairs and the ringpost. However, Ciampa reversed it into an Air Raid Crash onto the top of the stairs, a super painful-looking move.
Fletcher avoided a count-out by rolling into the ring, but Ciampa kept the pressure on him by scoring a running knee to the head. The move only rendered a two-count.
A series of reversals ended with a reverse DDT from Ciampa for another near fall. The fight went to the top rope, where a Psycho Driller was avoided from Fletcher. Instead, Fletcher scored a backdrop off the middle rope, giving him a two-count. Fletcher followed up with a massive powerbomb, but Ciampa survived with another kickout.
Ciampa knocked Fletcher through the ropes with a knee to the body then tried to come off the ring apron with a move, but Fletcher caught him and instead hit a powerbomb onto the ring apron.
Back in the ring, Fletcher scored a head kick in the corner. Ciampa nearly reversed a move from Fletcher, but after a misdirection spot with the referee, Fletcher hit another kick and a big brainbuster. Fletcher got another near fall, one which the California crowd really bit on (We got a “ref you suck” chant here because of how close the pin was).
Ciampa escaped a superplex and instead scored a German Suplex out of the corner. He followed up immediately with another running knee strike, but Fletcher kicked out! Ciampa tried for another knee, but Fletcher countered with a superkick. However, Ciampa powered through the kick and instead hit the knee strike again, but Fletcher once again kicked out! These two were on fire here.
Fletcher picked up Ciampa and tossed him head-first into the top turnbuckle. He followed up with a running kick to the back of Ciampa’s head. He shouted, “The title is mine,” to Ciampa and started setting up for another kick, but instead Ciampa charged at him with another knee to the head!
Ciampa followed with a brainbuster, but Fletcher survived. Ciampa came running forward, but Fletcher caught him with a Michinoku Driver. Fletcher hit a lariat, then a Teardrop Brainbuster for the pinfall win in 16 minutes, kicking off his second run with the TNT Championship.
Incredible match between these two, wow. They had the crowd in the palm of their hand for what felt like the final 10 minutes of this match, some amazing in-ring action between these two. I’d need to give it a little more thought to say for sure, but this is probably my favorite TV match of the year thus far.
Fletcher mentioned in a post-match interview that he will show up in his home country, Sydney, Australia, this weekend at Grand Slam: Australia, defending the title in his hometown “against anybody from anywhere.”
Answering Fletcher’s challenge was former champ Mark Briscoe, who appeared onstage. Briscoe said that they’re tied 3-3 in singles matchups, and he’s ready to face Fletcher in the tiebreaker in Australia. “I am sick and tired of seeing you in this ring,” Fletcher said. “But I did say I’d fight anybody from anywhere, so I accept.”
Fletcher wanted to raise the stakes for the bout and announced it would be a ladder match.
The latest – 9:30 p.m. ET: Death Riders get last laugh before Saturday’s hair-versus-hair match
AEW announced that a ticket pre-sale for All In: London at Wembley Stadium will take begin on March 16. It’s good that they announced this, I saw some anxiety about how no ticket information for the event had been revealed just yet.
Daniel Garcia of the Death Riders teamed with NJPW’s Clark Connors to take on Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong in the next bout. Connors mentioned in a backstage promo that Cassidy and Strong made this match as a way to standing up for Darby Allin after Connors and Gabe Kidd left him abandoned in the Las Vegas desert last week (I’d personally get revenge by going to a precinct and reporting that my friend had been kidnapped, but I guess The Conglomeration (and Strong) don’t roll that way).
Cassidy worked his way out of a two-on-one beatdown at the six-minute mark of the match, avoiding both Connors and Garcia while keeping his hands in his pockets. He went to Strong for a hot tag, but then Strong dropped off the ring apron! Strong walked up the ramp and backstage to a chorus of boos, making this a handicap match for the remainder of the bout.
Cassidy took a nasty spear on the ring apron from Connors, then was tossed into a barricade. It was during this exchange at ringside that Darby Allin emerged from the crowd and took out Connors, which the referee presumably didn’t see. This match became a one-on-one between Garcia and Cassidy back in the ring: Cassidy couldn’t get the Orange Punch, but countered a submission attempt from Garcia into a roll-up for the win in nine minutes.
Toni Storm, Cassidy’s teammate this weekend against the Death Riders, appeared inside a Toyota Arena press box after the match. She cut a promo on her opponents, calling Marina Shafir a “mixed martial asshole,” and said Wheeler Yuta is the “most annoying little s*** I have ever seen.”
This promo was interrupted by Yuta on stage, who revealed that Shafir had kidnapped Mina Shirakawa. With Shirakawa locked in the Mother’s Milk submission from Shafir, Yuta cut off the Joshi talent’s ponytail! The Death Riders clearly are in the babyface squad’s heads just a few days before their clash on Saturday.
