Welcome to the Spring BreakThru, folks. Tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite features multiple title matches and more. The show is headlined by MJF putting his AEW World Championship up against Darby Allin, and will also feature a TNT Championship Match between “The Jet” Kevin Knight and Claudio Castagnoli, and a TBS Championship Match between Willow Nightingale and Kamille, among much more.
AEW Dynamite Card
- Will Ospreay vs. Hechicero
- Tommaso Ciampa vs. Dezmond Xavier
- Renee Paquette interviews Chris Jericho
- TNT Championship: “The Jet” Kevin Knight (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli
- TBS Championship: Willow Nightingale (c) vs. Kamille
- AEW World Championship: MJF (c) vs. Darby Allin
AEW Dynamite Results
The show opens up with MJF pulling up in an SUV, and interrupting Renee Paquette talking about his upcoming match. MJF goes on a rant about beating “Hangman” Page, and laughs off Paquette as she tries to bring up Darby, who MJF casually dismisses as noting that he’s beaten him twice already, before bragging about how he banished Page from getting a title shot again. Paquette tries to tell MJF that Allin wants a match, but Don Callis interrupts the pair, and the two go back-and-forth for a bit as Don reveals that Andrade lost his match, which MJF didn’t know.
Paquette finally yells and tells MJF he has a title match tonight, and right now, in fact. An irate MJF storms off, demanding to know what’s going on. Meanwhile, Darby is making his entrance, and MJF is right behind him. In the ring, MJF screams he wasn’t ready for a match he just found out about three seconds ago. He keeps going on about how much money he has and derides Tony Khan, then asks how it would look if AEW forced him to wrestle while hurt.
MJF says he knows Allin is a talented wrestler, but that he’s actually doing him a favor by not wrestling. He says the reason people love him is because he’s like them in that he’s a good-but-not-great person. He tells Darby he isn’t ready to become champion, to which Allin says if he’s not ready now, he’ll never be ready. Allin said he’s killed himself for AEW, and while crying, Allin says that he always told himself he’d climb to the top of the sport. MJF tries calming him down, and tells him the match isn’t happening right now.
That’s when Bryan Danielson pops up from the commentary desk. He said he spoke to Tony Khan and MJF is right, the match isn’t happening right now…it’s happening later tonight, as the main event of the show. An irate MJF can’t believe it, but the crowd is going crazy for it.
A brief video of Kenny Omega entering the training room following his AEW Dynasty match is shown. He says he and Will Ospreay spoke and agreed they didn’t get the outcomes they wanted. Omega says he felt like he let everyone down. Ospreay said it’s still his dream to become AEW Champion, and he hadn’t given up on that dream just yet, before noting that Omega was his hero.
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Dezmond Xavier
- Ciampa wins this one in a quick match, getting the win after hitting Xavier with a Project Ciampa and running knee strike.
Winner – Tommaso Ciampa
After the match, Ciampa took to the microphone and said that Xavier was just an example of what he could do. He then directed a message at Allin, saying it didn’t matter who won tonight, that he was coming for the AEW World Championship.
Grade – C+
It was an okay match, but obviously more so geared toward setting up Ciampa as someone who will be going after the big title eventually.
FTR comes down to the ring, and Dax Harwood immediately starts calling all the crowd members fat and losers. Stokely gets on the microphone and says FTR is the Goliath of AEW, and there are just nothing but David’s in the rest of the tag team division. Cash then took the microphone and said that he wanted to hold a moment of silence for the careers of Copeland and Christian Cage.
TNT Championship: “Jet” Kevin Knight (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli
- Knight retains his title here in a back-and-forth battle against Claudio. The match comes to an end after Claudio looked primed to win, throwing around Knight for a Giant Swing. However, after going for a catapult in the corner, Knight leapt out of the way, and then hit a big splash. He then won with a UFO Splash.
Winner – Kevin Knight
After the match, the pair showed each other some respect, with Knight calling Castagnoli one of the hardest hitting stars he’s ever been in the ring with. He then turned his attention to Mike Bailey, noting that he knows Bailey is upset with himself, but says that when one door closes, another opens. Knight said he was also keeping his eye on the main event, too.
Grade – B-
This was a decent match, but felt pretty predictable in terms of outcome. I guess Knight is also going after a bigger title, so we’ll see how that goes.
Renee is back in the ring, and introducing Chris Jericho to the crowd. Jericho comes out and the crowd goes crazy before the interview starts. He says that he didn’t think he lost because he was rusty at Dynasty, but simply because it was a 3-vs-1. Ricochet interrupts him, though, and comes down to a chorus of boos. He says he respects Jericho, but that Chris didn’t listen to him when signing his contract.
Ricochet then gloats about beating Jericho with his own move, and reveals he’s renamed it to the “Ricosault.” He said Jericho did well, but not well enough to overcome the rise of Ricochet. Jericho said he has a proposition for a rematch, but basically used the moment to mock Ricochet some more. Ricochet said he wasn’t scared to come down to the ring, and told the Gates of Agony to stay put. He and Jericho brawled, and with Jericho about to get the upper hand, Ricochet summoned his team to come down and help. The trio beat up Jericho, and Ricochet hit a “Ricosault” on him after.
Will Ospreay vs. Hechicero
- Ospreay wins this one in a relatively long bout. The match comes to an end after Ospreay turns a countered Oscutter-turned-arm bar from Hechi into a triangle choke, then turns that into some form of a Styles Clash, then a Hidden Blade for the win.
Winner – Will Ospreay
After the match, Ospreay stares down Marina Shafir, but gets ambushed by Mark Davis. Davis hits a piledriver on Ospreay to close out the segment.
Grade – B
A pretty great match all things considered, although it didn’t need to be as long as it was.
A video package is playing from Dynasty, from Willow Nightingale, who talks about Kamille and how she’s going to end her comeback tonight. Thekla is in the crowd and interrupts Paquette to brag about beating Jamie Hayter. She says the entire AEW women’s division is full of “dumb bitches,” and out comes Alex Windsor. The two go back and forth for a bit before setting up a match for the AEW Women’s Championship this week on AEW Collision.
TBS Championship: Willow Nightingale (c) vs. Kamille
- Much like Willow promised at Dynasty, she stopped Kamille’s chance at the title tonight. Nightingale walked out with the win after a brutal back-and-forth bout. The match came to an end after Kamille looked to have secured a win, having locked Willow in a cross armbar and then a big arm twist. However, the champ was resilient, and Willow eventually won by hitting a backside after some tussling.
Winner – Willow Nightingale
Grade – B+
A solid match that had some really rough moments, but Willow continues to be a fighting champion and looks very good doing it.
AEW World Championship: MJF (c) vs. Darby Allin
- In an absolutely stunning turn of events, Darby Allin climbs the mountain and claims the AEW World Championship, and almost immediately. In what many thought would be a big time match, it ends up being one of the fastest of the night. Allin gets low blowed by MJF early, but then goes to work absolutely dominating MJF. He ends the match by hitting four Coffin Drops in a row, then winning with a Headlock Takeover. We have a new AEW World Champion.
Winner – Darby Allin
After the match, Allin is besides himself, and celebrates with the title. Then, the entire AEW locker room, and even Sting, comes out to celebrate the crowning of what is probably one of the most deserving guys in the locker room. It’s clear everyone is happy for Allin, who finally gets to look down from the peak of the mountain of AEW.
Grade – A
Uh…wow. It was always definitely possible that MJF would lose, but this was, for all intents and purposes, a squash match. Giving Allin the belt is awesome, though, as there’s very few who are more deserving of the accolade. Allin’s been a workhorse his entire time at AEW, and can now say he’s done what few others have. Here’s hoping Allin is given a good run, though, as we’ve seen AEW give the title to people before for very brief stints.
AEW Dynamite Review
Grade – B+
All in all, this was a fun show! Obviously, there was some pressure on AEW to put on a great show. Allin winning the title will dominate the headlines, and rightfully so, but the rest of the show wasn’t anything to scoff at. We’ll see how Allin’s title reign goes, though, as that will be the true measure of how special tonight’s show was in the long run.
