AEW Dynamite airs tonight (Mar. 11) with a live show from San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, California. This is the final episode of Dynamite during the 11 week build to Revolution, which takes place on Sunday (March 15).
Psycho Killer Ciampa and his new friends are taking over AEW
Tommaso Ciampa turned heel on Mark Briscoe over the weekend on Collision, with AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR giving their seal of approval from inside the ring. That leads to tonight’s episode of Dynamite, where Ciampa teams with FTR to take on Briscoe and the Young Bucks in a trios match.
Ciampa understandably got violent after Briscoe accidentally cost him a match against that loser Daniel Garcia, taking him out of contention for the TNT title. This happened just days after FTR proposed that Ciampa join forces with them so they can take over AEW. Ciampa rejected their offer then, but things might be completely different now that the Psycho Killer is alive again. This match should establish if Ciampa will indeed be allied with FTR going forward to take over AEW, or if this is just a one night pairing of convenience to take out Dem Bucks.
After the heel turn, Tommaso said it feels good to not pretend to smile anymore. He claims to be the best wrestler alive today, and everyone in AEW is on notice. In other words, this is an unstable man who plans to take over AEW, even if he isn’t partnering up with former enemies FTR beyond tonight.
Can Dem Bucks find a way to hand Ciampa a loss in his first match since the big heel turn? Will the finish of this trios match lead to a gimmick match between Ciampa and Briscoe at Revolution? Tune into Dynamite to find out.
On paper, this looks like a tremendous Dynamite card as far as in-ring work is concerned. The match that best exemplifies this is TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher defending his title against “Speedball” Mike Bailey. These guys had perhaps the best match in the round robin portion of the Continental Classic tournament. If Speedball can repeat that win tonight, he’ll once again be a champion in AEW, after dropping the trios championship to Fletcher and the Don Callis Family last week.
The other title match on the slate is TBS Champion Willow Nightingale putting her belt on the line againstCMLL Women’s World Champion Persephone. Is “The CEO” Mercedes Mone going to return for payback after dropping the CMLL title to Persephone last weekend at Arena Mexico? Or is Mone’s return to AEW being saved for Revolution?
Four more great workers will go at it in a tag team match when Konosuke Takeshita teams up with Hechicero to take on Claudio Castagnoli and AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley. What will happen when Mox and Takeshita come to blows for the final time before they fight over the gold in a no time limit match at Revolution? Will the other 207 members of the Callis Family run in for a brawl with the Death Riders when all is said and done?
Orange Cassidy & Darby Allin vs. The Dogs (David Finlay & Gabe Kidd) is also on tonight’s card. If Finlay can’t get the win in his first AEW match that isn’t against jobbers, then he may want to find some new babyfaces to target. Can Orange and Darby find a third babyface to join their side, if the idea is to book a trios match at Revolution? Anyone but the Costco Guy, please.
Finally, AEW World Champion MJF and Hangman Page are scheduled for a press conference tonight. It sounds like some real members of the media may be on hand for this fake pro wrestling press conference. Will Hangman leave MJF laying after he cost Page the AEW world trios championship last week?
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– Swerve Strickland and Brody King will fight at Revolution over who really is the most dangerous man in AEW. After Swerve choked out Brody with a chain last week, what very dangerous thing will King do to Strickland tonight?
– Andrade El Idolo says he hates hitting Mexicans, but he’ll make an exception at Revolution when he proves that he’s a better wrestler than ROH World Champion Bandido. Is it too late for the ROH title to be put on the line? If it remains a non-title bout, is that a hint that Andrade will win?
– “Timeless” Toni Storm wants everyone banned from ringside when she takes on Marina Shafir at Revolution. Will Shafir get her hands on Storm tonight to demonstrate why Toni is still the underdog even with that stip in place?
– Tony Khan must really hate AEW National Champion Ricochet, because he booked the champ in a 21-man Blackjack Battle Royal for the gold on the Revolution pre-show. Will we learn who some of the other participants are tonight? “Jungle” Jack Perry has to at least be one of them based on his recent win over Ricochet, I would assume. Maybe this is where the Costco Guy gets on the Revolution card.
– Will Mistico return to AEW tonight wearing a Horse Cock shirt before he joins Bailey and Kevin Knight at Revolution to challenge Fletcher, AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada, and Mark Davis for the AEW world trios championship?
– AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla destroyed Thunder Rosa last week, but Kris Statlander still wants to fight her in a two out of three falls match at Revolution. Will Stat find a heel to destroy tonight to remind the toxic champ that she’s equally lethal in the ring?
– Does AEW plan to air any footage of all the interesting ways Private Party has been spending their money after they won $200K over the weekend?
– Will Babes of Wrath vs. Lena Kross & Megan Bayne for the AEW women’s world tag team championship be officially added to Revolution?
– What will Anthony Bowens to do prove to HOOK at he has the killer instinct that is required to join The Opps? Does Bowens need to figure this out before Samoa Joe returns to AEW?
– Where the f*** are Chris Jericho, Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida, Keith Lee, Nyla Rose, and The Hurt Syndicate?
What will you be looking for on Dynamite?