Hard to believe that we only have two more episodes of Dynamite before AEW Revolution. There’s still some table setting to do, as tonight we will find out one of the tag teams the will be facing the Gunns and the Acclaimed for the AEW World Tag Team title. Tony Khan also has an important announcement, somehow I feel it won’t be an apology for Ariel Helwani. Let’s get to the action.
Orange Cassidy (champion) vs. Wheeler Yuta (challenger) – AEW All-Atlantic Championship Match
Orange extends his hand. Wheeler thinks about shaking hands, but instead takes a swing at Cassidy. The two trade roll up attempts, countering each other on the mat. Yuta with a leg sweep and locks in a heel hook. Orange nearly gets a pin and Yuta rolls to the floor. Claudio Castagnoli walks down to motivate Yuta by slapping him in the face. Yuta hits a suicide dive and slams Orange into the ringside barricade. He then tosses him over a table at ringside and dumps the table onto the champ. Wheeler drives Cassidy into the ring post.
Back in the ring, Orange puts his hands in his pockets and Wheeler unloads on him with strikes and chops. Cassidy with the weak kicks, suckering Yuta into running into a drop kick. The champ repeatedly smashes Yuta into the turnbuckle. Yuta with an enzuigiri and follows with an elbow in the corner. A sliding drop kick sends Orange to the floor and us to commercial.
After the break, Yuta misses a diving splash. Wheeler counters a DDT with a brain buster, but is only able to score a near fall. Cassidy fights Yuta off with up kicks. Wheeler responds with a head butt and then hammer fists to the back of the head. Yuta hits a German suplex. Orange switches and hits a German of his own. Yuta with another near fall with a mousetrap pin. The two spit at each other in the middle of the ring and then trade forearm shots. Both men collide with clotheslines and both hit the mat. Yuta pulls Orange to the apron, but Cassidy with a backdrop that sends Wheeler to the floor. The champ follows with a diving DDT. He hits another DDT in the ring and wants to end it. Wheeler counters the Beach Break with a piledriver. Yuta with hammer and anvil elbows only to have Orange turn the tables. Orange kicks out of another pin and connects with the Orange Punch. Yuta kicks out right before three. The champ hits Beach Break and Yuta kicks out again. Cassidy delivers another Orange Punch and this time Wheeler stays down. Orange covers to get the pin.
Winner…and still AEW All-Atlantic Champion…via pinfall: Orange Cassidy
After the match, Cassidy tries to hug Yuta, who shoves him away. Castagnoli wants Wheeler to leave the ring and he does.
Renee Paquette catches up with Evil Uno backstage. Hangman Adam Page wants Uno to stay out of his beef with Jon Moxley. Evil Uno tells Page to stay away from his match with Moxley, tonight.
Absolute Ricky Starks is in the ring! Starks addresses his issues with the Jericho Appreciation Society and has figured out the Chris Jericho does not want a rematch with him, so he will be moving on. He is done with Jericho. Starks has a contract for and open challenge at Revolution. He will take anyone that comes out from the back. And the JAS music hits. And it’s Chris Jericho. Starks is absolutely disgusted.
Jericho thinks Starks is trying to bait him into a match, but tells him that he isn’t done with Jericho until Jericho says so. Chris says he can beat Starks anywhere and anytime, but Ricky isn’t on his level, so it’s not going to happen. Pretty Peter Avalon tries to answer the challenge, but Jericho intercepts him with a Judas Effect. Jericho hits the ring and tells Starks that he needs to be at Revolution, so maybe he will take that challenge to embarrass him. Starks knows that the JAS is probably going to jump him, but what happened to the guy that won the first AEW title all by himself. Starks wants Jericho to get the job done by himself. He does think that Jericho can beat him straight up. Jericho knows he can beat him and he will have the JAS stay backstage, except he doesn’t have a pen to sign the contract. Good thing Ricky is packing one, though. Jericho signs the open contract. Starks actually pulled one over on him.
Lee Moriarty and Big Bill w/Stokely Hathaway vs. The Acclaimed w/Billy Gunn
Caster with an arm drag on Moriarty. Big Bill catches Max with a knee from the apron. Bowens tags in, hitting Lee with a back breaker.
After the commercial break, the Gunns make their way out on stage. Bowens drop Moriarty and kicks Bill into the corner. Bill catches Bowens with a rolling elbow and then sends Billy Gunn flying off the apron. Austin and Colten run down and put the boots to Billy. Bowens hits the Arrival on Moriarty and Caster follows with the Mic Drop to get the three count.
Winners via pinfall: The Acclaimed
Tony Schiavone welcomes Christian Cage to the stage. Jungle Boy jumps Cage before he can even get to Schiavone. Perry grabs a couple of chairs from the back and looks for the one man con-chair-to. Jack hesitates, allowing Cage to hit a low blow. Christian plants him with a chair shot. He then slams his head into a chair on the stage repeatedly.
Saraya w/Toni Storm vs. Sky Blue
Saraya with the face wash to Blue. Sky delivers a forearm shot from the apron and goes up top. Storm jumps to the apron to distract her. Saraya knocks her to the mat and puts the boots to her. Blue is sent to the floor, where Storm hits her with a suplex as Saraya distracts the ref. Sky Blue with a flying cross body and follows with a knee strike and a drop kick. Storm jumps to the apron to distract the ref from making a count. Saraya with a thrust kick. She locks in a submission and Sky is forced to tap.
Winner via submission: Saraya
After the match, Saraya and Storm look to tag Blue with the spray paint, but are run off by Jamie Hayter and Britt Baker. As Storm and Saraya try to retreat, Ruby Soho appears on stage. She wants a shot at Hayter and the world title.
With an AEW World Championship Match less then two weeks away, Bryan Danielson heads to the ring. He and the crowd are fired up for Revolution. Danielson addresses that MJF said he hates him. Well, Danielson has everyone reason to hate him, but gets interrupted by the champ.
From the stage, MJF talks of how the girl he loved left him and then only thing he has that he can trust is the AEW World Heavyweight championship. But everyone loves Bryan Danielson with the loving family, but he takes it all for granted. MJF is going to punish Danielson for trying to take away the one thing that matters. MJF wants to address Danielson’s children, which Bryan freaks out about. He tells the kids that come March 5 he’s going to make daddy pay and will make sure daddy can never play with them again. He has a present for Bryan; early onset CTE. Danielson decks MJF before he can finish and pummels him until security separates the two. Bryan breaks free and attacks MJF on the floor.
Tony Schiavone is in the back with Jamie Hayter and Britt Baker. Hayter wants to do something about Saraya, and is willing to give her a title a shot. But, she is also willing to let Ruby Soho have a shot. Hayter wants a triple threat match at Revolution with both women.
Revolution Tag Team Battle Royal
During the match, Mark Briscoe runs down, chases Mark Sterling and then fights Josh Woods up the ramp. Penta hits Tony Nese with the Fear Factor on the apron. The Lucha Brothers then toss Ari Daivari from the ring. Danhausen curses Angelo Parker and Matt Menard, who promptly get eliminated. Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal eliminated Rey Fenix, leaving them alone in the ring with Trent Beretta. Trent nearly tosses Jay Lethal as Satnam Singh is ready to catch them. Trent knocks Lethal and Jarrett from the apron, but Singh keeps them from falling. Jarrett hits the Stroke on Trent, but doesn’t eliminate him. Orange Cassidy makes the save and helps him back into the ring. Sonjay Dutt tries to gran Trent and gets Lethal eliminate by mistake. Beretta sends Jarrett over the top rope, only to get saved by Satnam. Jeff hits the Stroke and tosses Baretta from the ring.
Winners: Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett
Tony Khan has a huge announcement but he is going to let Adam Cole make it. Cole is going to be sharing his story on the new “AEW All Access” and the same night that show debuts; he will be making his in ring return.
Sonjay Dutt is fired up that his boys won. The Gunns approach them and want to take care of each others business before Revolution. Dutt and Lethal seem on board.
Jon Moxley vs. Evil Uno
Evil Uno comes out hot, beating him into the corner. Mox responds with chops as Adam Page watches from the back. Uno chokes Mox with his vest and bites him on the head. Mox is chopped atop the turnbuckle. Jon rips at the mask of Uno. He fixes the mask, knocks Mox to the ring and hits a senton on the floor. Mox slams Uno into the steps face first and then bounces his head off the steps. Mox rolls back into the ring as Uno struggles to get back in the ring. Mox pummels Uno in the middle of the ring. Uno pulls off a piledriver and hits a second one. Mx kicks out. Mox with a drop step and locks in the sleeper. He flips it over into the bulldog choke. Blood is flowing out from Uno’s masks. Mox hooks in the legs. The ref calls for the bell as Uno is out.
Winner via submission: Jon Moxley
Moxley won’t release the hold. Jon Silver and Alex Reynolds it the ring. Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli follows. Adam Page runs down with barbed wire around his fist. He pummels Mox on the floor, leaving him a bloody mess. Page wants the Buckshot Lariat, but Mox is able to escape. See you in seven!
AEW Dynamite 2/22/2023
Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Tonight’s show was a solid build heading toward Revolution. Bryan Danielson and MJF had a war of words and then had an all out brawl. Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal earned their way into the tag team title match. Jamie Hayter decided she will take on Saraya and Ruby Soho. And Hangman Adam Page left Jon Moxley a bloody mess.
