{"id":94929,"date":"2020-03-20T15:34:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T20:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=94929"},"modified":"2020-03-20T15:34:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T20:34:04","slug":"aew-dynamite-hits-misses-3-18-opening-promo-with-cody-kenny-jackson-best-friends-vs-lucha-bros-brodie-lee-revealed-as-the-exalted-one-lance-archer-video-matt-hardy-debut-butcher-blade-vs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/03\/20\/aew-dynamite-hits-misses-3-18-opening-promo-with-cody-kenny-jackson-best-friends-vs-lucha-bros-brodie-lee-revealed-as-the-exalted-one-lance-archer-video-matt-hardy-debut-butcher-blade-vs\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW DYNAMITE HITS &#038; MISSES 3\/18: Opening promo with Cody, Kenny, Jackson, Best Friends vs. Lucha Bros., Brodie Lee revealed as The Exalted One, Lance Archer video, Matt Hardy debut, Butcher &#038; Blade vs. Jurassic Express"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-338236864\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>\u2022Elite Promo &#8211; HIT:\u00a0<\/strong>Cody didn\u2019t have an easy job being the one to give a heartfelt message to the fans who were exclusively at home. However, Cody was the best choice as the face and voice of the company. He successfully tied the real life events into an ongoing storyline. He spoke about the need to stand together and fight a common enemy to which Hangman Page obliged. Matt Jackson and Kenny Omega spoke briefly tieing into Cody\u2019s messages before Omega introduced the show. AEW moved the hard camera to face the entrance stage creating life in the background of the ring. This proved to be a critical decision as one minor change gave so much life to the rest of the show.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Best Friends vs. Lucha Bros &#8211; HIT:\u00a0<\/strong>AEW\u2019s first match in an \u201cempty arena\u201d and what stood out to me was how many people were still ringside. There is still a lot that\u2019s unknown at this point about what certain precautions need to be taken for social distancing. Multiple reports after the show said that AEW communicated with the city of Jacksonville about what was recommended and what they\u2019re even allowed to do. I\u2019m sure it was odd for the Lucha Bros and Best Friends to wrestle in a giant venue with no fans which would explain the slow start to the match. Given the circumstances, this was still a very good match. In the post-match, Best Friends challenged the Lucha Bros to a street fight on the next episode of Dynamite.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Penelope Ford vs. Riho vs. Kris Statlander vs. Hikaru Shida &#8211; HIT:\u00a0<\/strong>Nobody wants to see more disqualifications in AEW, but come on! Kip Sabian blatantly interfered in front of the referee multiple times without any consequences. He should\u2019ve at least been tossed from ringside, but then he wouldn\u2019t have been able to set up a match with Colt Cabana. Hikaru Shida and Riho shined in this match. With minimal crowd noise, as a viewer you could identify the spots where the crowd would be really into them. Shida continues to get the push to move up the ranks in the women\u2019s division which feels like the right move at this point.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Jurassic Express vs. The Butcher &amp; The Blade &#8211; HIT:\u00a0<\/strong>For the first time of the night, I forgot they were in an empty arena. The teams wrestled exactly how they would on a regular episode of Dynamite. The wrestlers at ringside helped with the energy creating a feeling of normalcy in a week that was anything but.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Reveal of The Exalted One &#8211; HIT:\u00a0<\/strong>After months of speculation, we finally found out the identity of the Exalted One. Despite the over the top references to Matt Hardy, Brodie Lee is the Exalted One. It\u2019d been reported Brodie Lee was going to appear at some point, but it was a matter of what capacity. Lee, formerly Luke Harper, was always seen as a follower or henchman in WWE. He cut a pre-taped promo referencing Vince McMahon and pigeonholing his character. He then proceeded to attack Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian. Lee has the opportunity to prove doubters wrong by being put in a lead role. It remains to be seen if this helps the Dark Order by his affiliation or brings down Brodie Lee because the Dark Order is one of the very few acts that hasn\u2019t gotten over to this point.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Lance Archer Vignette &#8211; HIT:\u00a0<\/strong>What a video package! Something unique that says a lot about Jake Roberts and Lance Archer as characters. It painted Archer as this destructive monster while Roberts is the one manipulating and overseeing the whole venture. Also, couldn\u2019t help but notice the picture of Cody with the name, Caesar, written on it. Not the only reference of the night to Vince McMahon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022The Elite vs. The Inner Circle &#8211; HIT:\u00a0<\/strong>One of the underplayed stories coming out of this match was Chris Jericho teasing a recruitment of Hangman \u201cHandwashin\u201d Page. Jericho even stumbled over the name of his own faction because he was blinded by his \u201csexiness\u201d. Inner Circle won to gain the advantage in Blood &amp; Guts. Everyone was non-committal as to when Blood &amp; Guts would take place even though it\u2019s currently scheduled for next week. AEW doesn\u2019t want to take anything for granted given that anything can change on a moment\u2019s notice. And finally, after hitting their audience over top with references to him, Matt Hardy made his AEW debut. Returning to the \u201cBroken\u201d gimmick with the drone flying in, Hardy will join the shorthanded Elite for Blood &amp; Guts. Hardy is a great creative mind and still has a lot to offer outside the ring.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>RECOMMENDED:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/03\/18\/3-18-aew-dynamite-tv-report-kellers-report-on-first-non-public-access-episode-with-reveal-of-exalted-one-plus-blood-guts-advantage-at-stake-jurassic-express-vs-butcher-blade\/\">3\/18 AEW DYNAMITE TV REPORT: Keller\u2019s report on first non-public-access episode with reveal of Exalted One, plus Blood &amp; Guts advantage at stake, Jurassic Express vs. Butcher &amp; Blade<\/a><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3253140325\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3218454764\"><div id=\"pwtor-287960581\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>\u2022Elite Promo &#8211; HIT:\u00a0Cody didn\u2019t have an easy job being the one to give a heartfelt message to the fans who were exclusively at home. However, Cody was the best choice as the face and <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/03\/20\/aew-dynamite-hits-misses-3-18-opening-promo-with-cody-kenny-jackson-best-friends-vs-lucha-bros-brodie-lee-revealed-as-the-exalted-one-lance-archer-video-matt-hardy-debut-butcher-blade-vs\/\" title=\"AEW DYNAMITE HITS &#038; MISSES 3\/18: Opening promo with Cody, Kenny, Jackson, Best Friends vs. Lucha Bros., Brodie Lee revealed as The Exalted One, Lance Archer video, Matt Hardy debut, Butcher &#038; Blade vs. Jurassic Express\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2017\/07\/OmegaKennyTedLondon3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94930,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94929\/revisions\/94930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}