AEW Dynamite Live Coverage - March 22nd, 2023

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AEW Dynamite

This week, Jon Moxley fights Dark Order's Stu Grayson. Stokely Hathaway faces Hook in a no DQ match. Toni Storm goes one-on-one against Skye Blue. Top Flight challenges AEW Tag Team Champions The Gunns. Plus, Kenny Omega faces lucha libre superstar El Hijo del Vikingo.


:aew:

– This week's show kicks off outside the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, MO. where Excalibur welcomes us to this week's show.

– From there, we see "Hangman" Adam Page standing around while we learn that Matt Jackson has been savagely attacked. Nick Jackson rides with him in the ambulance he is loaded into. Don Callis holds Kenny Omega back due to his match tonight. Page decides to hop in the ambulance at the last moment.

Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin, & Sting vs. The Butcher, The Blade, & Kip Sabian

Orange Cassidy and Kip Sabian kickstart things with Cassidy dropping his opponent with a dropkick after some back-and-forth wrestling, but that leads to The Butcher tagging in, and so does Sting. Butcher throws a couple of forearms at Sting but the Icon just accepts them and then unloads some shots of his own until Butcher charges him into the corner and bites his head. However, he then misses with a Stinger Splash and the veteran shows him how it's done.

He looks for the Scorpion Deathlock but Butcher's partners hit the ring and stop it which leads to an all-out brawl. The heels come out on top and then drop Sting with a double suplex, but as Sabian looks to dive from the top rope, Sting channels his inner Cassidy with slow rolls to avoid it as Darby Allin tags in. Allin hits Sabian with Code Red immediately which gets him a near fall, but Penelope Ford then provides a distraction which allows Sabian to turn things around.

The heels isolate Allin, but as Sabian sends him into his corner Allin dives and wipes out the men on the ring apron, and he tags in Cassidy who drops Sabian with a tornado DDT. His slow kicks begin until Butcher just runs in and drops him, and that is followed by a great double team as they plan Cassidy down again. Sabian follows it up with a cannonball, but he brags for too long and that allows Sting to tag in and he hits some of the slow kicks himself.

Sting then lights up and starts dropping every one in sight as Sabian gets set into the Scorpion Deathlock, but Butcher and Blade beat him down until Allin charges in and throws hands toward them. He drops them both with a double coffin from the middle rope but he then eats a knee to the face from Sabian, who is then hit with a Stundog Millionaire himself as he then dives out at The Blade. Cassidy then does the same but dives into The Butcher, and inside the ring the Scorpion Death Drop is connected.

Winners: Sting, Darby Allin, & Orange Cassidy

– Post-match, Allin stares up at the Double Or Nothing banner in the arena. A video package is then aired with all of the pillars discussing why they deserve a shot, while MJF is shown telling them they have to earn it.

AEW World Tag-Team Championships: Top Flight vs. The Gunns (c)

Brandon Cutler sends Excalibur a text accusing the Blackpool Combat Club of attacking The Young Bucks at the start of the show.

Dante Martin starts out by throwing Austin Gunn across the ring with a huge springboard hip toss, and he then launches Colten Gunn across the ring too when he tags in. Top Flight then clotheslines the champions out of the ring to continue dominating. Austin turns it around by grabbing the hair of Dante which pushes him to the ropes where Colten yanks him down onto the top rope.

The champions continue to dominate with some frequent tags as Colten drops Dante with a clothesline, but he then misses with a splash into the corner. However, Austin blocks the tag only for Dante to dive over both men to make it happen. Darius charges in and attacks both men, suplexing Austin and hitting a standing Splash Fly to Colten, forcing him to kick out. Dante sees a blind tag attempt and he plants Austin onto the mat but he kicks out.

Dante then looks for a Nose Dive but Colten grabs the boot until Darius wipes him out with a dive outside the ring. Dante nails the Nose Dive, but Colten scrambles back at the last second to break it up. Meanwhile outside the ring, The Kindom appear and start beating up Darius. This leads to Dante running into a Shatter Machine when he is distracted so the champions retain.

Winners and still AEW World Tag Team Champions: The Gunns

– FTR then make their way out as Colten labels them losers, but Austin says there's nothing they can offer for them to make them accept. They suggest never having another title shot again, then they suggest they'll never team again in AEW, but both get blocked. Dax Harwood then says if they can't beat them for the titles then they'll quit AEW and Austin then accepts but rather than shaking hands the champions spit in FTR's faces.

No DQ FTW Championship: Stokely Hathaway vs. HOOK (c)

Jade Cargill is shown backstage being interviewed by Renee Paquette as she says Taya Valkyrie had the audacity to use her finisher, so Mark Sterling reveals they've got a cease-and-desist letter for her to stop using it. Leila Grey says she will personally hand it over on Friday.

Before the match starts, Stokely Hathaway reveals he spoke to the doctor and he is not medically cleared to compete, he is also announcing that he is retiring from competing and he hands Justin Roberts his doctor's note. Roberts reveals that it is just a receipt and so it gets ripped and the match begins as Hathaway sprints away into the crowd as HOOK gives chase and the FTW Champion gets him and launches Hathaway back over the barricade.

Hathaway then tries to hit a running forearm but fans upon connection and he's then sent across the floor with a suplex. HOOK then pulls out a steel barricade, but Hathaway manages to use a fire extinguisher into the eyes of his opponent to create some distance. He tries to use a chair but HOOK block in and then starts swinging himself to the back of Hathaway, following up with a suplex into the guardrail. HOOK goes to win it but pulls out just before the three count and instead locks in Red Rum as the match is immediately stopped.

Winner: HOOK

– Backstage Matt Hardy is shown telling Ethan Page that he needs to avenge Stokely Hathaway with a match down the line. We head to a commercial break

As we settle back in from the break, we hear the theme for Adam Cole and out he comes. Adam Cole hypes the fact he is back wrestling in just seven days, and right now he feels freaking great. He has never been more ready or prepared to get back into the ring and do what he loves, which is wrestle for AEW. He knows people want to know who his opponent will be. However, before he can continue talking Danil Garcia makes his way out and asks who is ready for storytime with Daniel Garcia.

He tells Cole that since he has been gone, Garcia has become a veteran and a locker-room leader. He says because of that he must come out and welcome Cole back and put him in his place too. Garcia then lists off some of the people he has beaten during Cole's absence and he claims he has been the lifeblood of the company so why should he welcome Cole back? He has been proving that he is one of the best pro wrestl...he stops himself and calls himself one of the best sports entertainers. Garcia asks what makes Cole special, and he says they ring the bell, that's what.

Cole says Garcia is really good and someday he will lead the charge, but his problem is the company that he keeps. Cole says he is still Adam Cole bay bay, he's a multi-time World Champion and has fought and beaten some of the best and when he was sitting at home he was hoping and praying for a second chance and it looks like he found it. Cole says if Garcia is crazy enough to challenge him next week, then he's on. But he reminds him it's not just his return match, it is a statement that one of the best wrestlers on the planet is back. He hopes Garcia knows what he's in for, because next week will be a great night for him and the fans, but for Garcia...not so much.

– Kenny Omega is shown backstage with Don Callis and Omega admits he should have gone with The Young Bucks. Callis says them going to a hospital might have been the best thing, he's in a singles match and he's back. Callis then says the God of Pro Wrestling is back and it starts tonight.

Jon Moxley vs. Stu Grayson

Stu Grayson immediately takes the fight to Jon Moxley, but the veteran gives as much as he gets with a few chops of his own. Grayson holds nothing back with a few knees to the midsection, but then gets caught with a suplex as Moxley then charges Grayson off the ring apron as he smashes into the barricade. Back inside the ring, Grayson nails a few forearms but Moxley shrugs them off and drops him with just one.

Grayson once again fires back and drops Moxley with a dropkick, following it up with more forearm strikes, but Moxley nails a lariat in the corner before flipping him in mid-air to land Grayson down. Moxley hits a piledriver, but Grayson manages to kick out so Moxley hammers down with several stomps to the face of The Dark Order star. Grayson then drops Moxley and fires down the elbow strikes himself before planting him down and then springboarding off the middle rope to crush Moxley.

Outside the ring, the rest of Blackpool Combat Club argue with The Dark Order so Grayson moonsaults to take them out and then back inside the ring he lands a 450 Splash, but Moxley kicks out! Grayson then looks for the Night Fall, but Moxley reverses it into the Bulldog Choke which he transitions into a front headlock with knee strikes, but Grayson gets out of the choke with a cannonball with Moxley on his back.

He then hits a backflipping kick which takes Moxley down again and the two men then end up on the top turnbuckle as Moxley hits an Avalanche Death Rider for the win.

Winner: Jon Moxley

– Ricky Starks is shown backstage and says Juice Robinson can see him on "AEW Rampage," and he issues an open challenge to him.

– The latest QTV is then shown as Harley says she has found a hot new prospect, Rey Fenix. She shows some footage from his match last week which is all of Powerhouse Hobbs dominating. Aaron Solo then jokes that he hacked into the Wrestling Observer's Twitter. QT then says there will be another open challenge this weekend.

Toni Storm vs. Skye Blue

When the bell rings Toni Storm charges Skye Blue and immediately catches her off guard and starts attacking her, but Blue attempts to fight back with a flurry of forearm strikes. She drives Storm's face into her knee and follows it with a dropkick which sends Storm outside the ring. She then runs off the apron and hits a hurricanrana and as they get back into the ring Blue goes to the top turnbuckle but gets dropped with a big right hand.

Storm follows that with a Hip Attack and with the official distracted Saraya and Ruby Soho attack her on the floor. Back inside the ring, Storm drops Blue with a big boot but she kicks out immediately. Storm then drives Blue head-first back to the mat, but Blue responds with a roundhouse kick and then a diving crossbody. Blue nails a rising knee strike and another enziguri to the head, and this forces Storm to kick out at the last second.

However, that only anger Storm as she drops Blue and hits several punches, and then a DDT as Blue kicks out this time. Blue then hits the Code Blue, but Ruby Soho gets on the apron to distract the official, and she then almost wins it with a roll-up, but Storm kicks out and hits a dropkick. Storm connects with a Hip Attack and a German Suplex, setting up the Storm Zero.

Winner: Toni Storm

– The Outcasts then tease spraying Blue but Willow Nightingale and Riho make the save.

– Stu Grayson is then shown backstage getting a medical check and that leads to Blackpool Combat Club jumping him.

Kenny Omega vs. El Hijo Del Vikingo

As Kenny Omega makes his way down to the ring, El Hijo Del Vikingo dives out of the ring and wipes him out, following up with another tope sucida for good measure. He dives into the ring with a dropkick, but Omega turns things around with a more aggressive edge as he attacks Vikingo in the corner. Vikingo uses speed to avoid a charge in the corner and then nails several kicks before hitting an implosion hurricanrana.

Vikingo then nails a knee strike through the ropes, sending Omega to the floor, and he follows that with a shooting star press from the apron to Omega on the floor. Back inside the ring, Omega connects with several big chops to get some momentum and as things spill back to the floor, Omega launches his opponent into the barricade. Omega pulls out a table and sets it outside the ring, but back inside he hits a backbreaker.

Omega then yanks on Vikingo's hair to add further damage and he follows it with lefts and rights to show his aggression. The two then start trading chops on the ring apron, but Omega gets the best of it with a big boot and then a monkey flip. Vikingo responds with an enziguri, and he then nails a dragonrana from the apron to the floor! The two then head to the top turnbuckle as Omega's Awesome Bomb is reversed and he lands on his neck while Vikingo follows it with the Phoenix Splash from outside the second rope back inside.

Vikingo dives from the top rope but is caught with a powerbomb, and Omega then nails the V-Trigger, but he can kick out. Omega nails another one and he then goes for the One-Winged Angel but Vikingo fights out of it and then dives from the top turnbuckle into a reverse hurricanrana. Omega falls onto the table on the outside as Vikingo dives over the top rope with a 630 Senton, crushing Omega through the table.

The two men then exchange strikes until Vikingo hits a sunset flip bomb, almost proving to be enough to win it, yet Omega kicks out. Omega avoids the next 630 Senton, and he follows it by hitting a V-Trigger and then the One-Winged Angel.

Winner: Kenny Omega

– Once the match wraps up, Tony Schiavone heads down to the ring to interview Kenny Omega. "The Cleaner" talks about how he's not sure he can put his body through these type of matches too many more times. Before he can say anything else, he is attacked from behind by the Blackpool Combat Club.

We see the BCC beating down The Elite leader in the ring and then we hear some ambulance / fire truck sirens. We see the ambulance on the big screen and then "Hangman" Adam Page exits the driver's side of the vehicle as Excalibur mentions that he stole the ambulance.

Page heads towards the arena with a weapon in-hand. The fans go nuts and chant his name and then his catchy theme song hits and the purveyor of Cowboy sh*t heads to the ring with a weapon in-hand and violent intentions in-mind. He heads inside the ring and the BCC exits.

Don Callis goes to get Page's attention and Hangman nearly blasts him with the weapon but stops himself. He turns around and shakes the arm of Callis off of him. Callis over-dramatically slams himself down to the mat and pulls an Eddie Guerrero chair-switch routine acting hurt as Omega recovers and sees Page standing in front of a laid out Callis with a weapon. Omega grabs Page and the two bicker. Omega then leaves with Callis as this week's show goes off the air.