3/25 AEW DYNAMITE PRIMER: Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho go face-to-face, Cody vs. Jimmy Havoc, Luchasaurus vs. Wardlow, Omega vs. Guevara, Best Friends vs. Lucha Bros., Cody with Schiavone on commentary

AEW DYNAMITE PRIMER
MARCH 25, 2020
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA  AT DAILY’S PLACE
AIRS ON TNT, 8:00 PM EST
BY JOSHUA CHAMBERS (@josh_chambers), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

ARENA

This week’s Dynamite will emanate from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. The 5,500 seat arena hosted AEW’s Fight for the Fallen in July 2019, and will be home to Dynamite tapings for the duration of the global Covid-19 outbreak.

ROAD TO DYNAMITE

AEW DARK RESULTS

• Jake Hager defeated Joe Alonzo

• The Natural Nightmares (Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall) defeated Jon Cruz & Matt Sells

• SCU (Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels) defeated Shawn Spears & Robert Anthony

• Kip Sabian defeated Suge D

• Colt Cabana defeated Brandon Cutler

• Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss defeated Corey Hollis & Mike Reed

AEW DYNAMITE MATCHES & SEGMENTS

• Cody vs. Jimmy Havoc

• Luchasaurus vs. Wardlow in a Lumberjack match

• Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent) vs. Lucha Bros. (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) in a Parking Lot Street Fight

• Kenny Omega (c) vs. Sammy Guevara for the Mega Campeón Championship

• Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho meet face to face

• Cody joins Tony Schiavone on commentary

FINAL THOUGHTS

Last week AEW managed to put together a fun, engaging wrestling show despite the lack of audience. Given the conditions, last week’s show was tremendous–giving us the debut of Matt Hardy and Brodie Lee (f/k/a Luke Harper), as well as four pretty good matches. My only complaints revolved around COVID-19 safety concerns (unnecessary personnel, MJF literally spitting in Tony Schiavone’s face), and my disappointment over not getting to experience the pop that Brodie, Matt, and Vanguard One would’ve caused.

AEW made the right decision postponing the Blood and Guts match, but hopefully this week will see a more conscientious effort to protect the older members of the roster. There is absolutely no reason for JR, Jake Roberts, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, and Tony Schiavone to all be involved. It looks like JR will be out this week, and Arn and Tully can both stay home with zero impact on storylines or the product. If we absolutely have to have Tony and Jake, I hope that we’ll at least see them practicing responsible social distancing.

Tonight’s show is looking pretty good, but I’m most excited to see Kenny Omega defend the Mega Campeón Championship against Sammy Guevara. The title was defended once before on Dark, but we don’t hear too much about AEW’s partnership with Mexico’s Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. It’s understandable that AEW doesn’t seem interested in reminding us that Kenny is another promotion’s world champion, but I’d love to see more of a crossover and don’t think that the AEW Championship is really devalued by acknowledging it.

The other big draw for me is Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho meeting face to face. Both are fantastic performers and I look forward to their shenanigans.

All in all, AEW is doing a great job! It’s a scary time, and it is comforting to still have wrestling. That being said, the safety of the performers and crew needs to always come first, and I trust that the back office will be able to handle the difficult times and hard decisions that lie ahead.

RECOMMENDED: 3/24 AEW DARK TV REPORT: Shawn Spears & Robert Anthony vs. SCU, Cabana vs. Brandon Cutler, Janela & Kiss vs. Hollis & Reed, Hager vs. Alonzo, Natural Nightmares