Tonight on AEW Dynamite, CM Punk takes on Dax Harwood and Adam Cole battles Jay Lethal (bay bay).
AEW DYNAMITE
March 23, 2022, Austin, TX
Commentary: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone & Excalibur
MATCH 1
CM Punk vs. Dax Harwood
Dax embraces Cash Wheeler before Cash heads to the back. Big “CM Punk” chants obviosuly. Punk has the long boys on. Some crisp wrestling going down between the two grapplers. Dax gets an illegal hold in before nailing a backbreaker. He gets Punk grounded with a headlock. Belly-to-back downs Punk. Gunn Club are seen in the crowd. “Ass boys” chants. Harwood nails a back elbow. Misses a diving headbutt. Dax hits hard chops up top. Punk drops him down and he signals his Macho Elbow, but Dax trips him up. Big time superplex by Dax. Dax nails a diving headbutt as Dynamite deals with some audio and visual issues. “CM Punk” chants once more. Punk soon nails a diving cross body and lcoks in an Anaconda Vice. Dax escapes and goes for a leg submission. Punk rolls him up and Dax trade pins for both very near falls.
Punk goes for a riing knee strike but Dax catches him with a slingshot sit-out powerbomb: 1-2-no! Punk soon goes for a GTS, but Dax escapes to lock him into a Sharpshooter. Punk escapes ans transitions over for the Vice once more. We have a submission victory.
WINNER: CM Punk
Post-match, Punk discount double checks a “belt” before acknowledging the effort of Dax.
Chris Jericho cuts down John Silver and Dark Order. They then run down Santana & Ortiz & Eddie Kingston.
Sting’s music hits and we got the eight-man tornado tag
MATCH 2
Sting, Darby Allin, The Hardys vs. Butcher, Blade, Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy
High flying moves to the outside from Darby and Sting. Jeff Hardy lariats Blade over the barricade. Butcher brawls with Darby. Butcher tosses Darby down some stadium steps as we head to break. Back from break, Private Party take Matt out off the stage. We cut to Jeff Hardy, Sting and Darby as they have Butcher and Blade laid out on the merch table. Jeff scales the wall with the help of a ladder and swanton bombs on top of them. Sting heads back to the ring to stop Private Party from pinning Matt. He gets hit with a chair but that fires Stinger up. He takes it to PP. They try to hit Sting with a Gin & Juice but Sting lands Isiah in a dragon sleeper. He and Matt nail their finishers for the 1-2-3.
WINNERS: Sting, Darby Allin & The Hardys
Next up, Dax and Cash challenge The Gunn Club to a match next week.
MATCH 3
Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley vs. Varsity Blonds
Danielson and Brian Pillman start it off, but Mox is soon tagged in for some attacks. We go to pic-in-pic. Back from it, Mox hits a piledriver for anear fall. Griff gets chopped by Mox. Garrison fights back but Mox slugs him down. Mox hits a Paradigm Shift on Pillman, locks on a rear naked choke and gets the quick submission.
WINNERS: Jon Moxley & Bryan Danielson
Mox gets on the mic. He say there’s only one man’s opinion he’s ever cared about: William Regal. “Regal” chants. A seal of approval from him is a badge of honor. He says we two were forged in combat. He has a message for anybody who wants to ride with them, you need to reach deep down into your soul and find that place where you love pain. He calls themselves the Blackpool Combat Club and tells prospects the only way to get it is the hard way.
MJF comes out with Shawn Spears and security lining the ring. He has some words for CM Punk and Wardlow. He tells Punk he doesn’t know when they’ll have a match again, but when he does, he’s going to give him the most embarrassing loss of his life. He calls Wardlow a greedy “pig.” Thanks to him, he’s got a beautiful roof over his and his mama’s head.
He says he owns Wardlow and says some controverstial stuff that he’s going to stake Wardlow to a cross like Jesus. That gets boos. He insults Wardlow’s mom and out comes Wardlow. Security holds him back. He says since he’s trespassing cause he’s under Max’s contract. He’s gonna keep paying him, but paying him to stay home until he becomes an absolute nobody. Wardlow gets escorted out as Max and Spears relish in his exit.
The Best Friends are backstage with Wheeler Yuta, and Trent says he’s done with him since he’s trying to join Blackpool Combat Club. Wheeler is fine with that because he’s trying to not be a best friend, but a best wrestler.
MATCH 4
Adam Cole vs. Jay Lethal
The crowd is hot for this one. Jay and Cole put on a helluva bout before Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly walk on stage and we head to break. Back from it, the two fighters trade pins. Jay Lethal locks in a figure four. ReDRagon walk to ringside. Cole looks to lower the Boom but Lethal hits a cutter. He goes for a Lethal Injection but Cole superkicks him in the head. Cole hits a Panama Sunrise but Lethal kicks out. “Lethal” chants. RD gets on the apron for the distraction. Cole hits a low blow and gets the W.
WINNER: Adam Cole (bay bay)
Adam Cole runs down Hangman Page and he comes out, He knocks all three around until Hangman gets hit in the balls. Cole grabs hold of the World Title. Out come JB and Luchasaurus, but Cole runs off with the Title.
Big promo between Dustin Rhodes and Lance Archer for Rampage.
Sammy Guevara is in the ring with Tay Conti. He knows he’s titleless and he knows his body may pay for the work he does, but it’s worth it. Tay Conti gets on the mic and calls out Paige VanZandt. Out comes Dan Lambert. He put over America Top Team and Men of the Year. Sammy says some sensual things as to what he and Tay did with that TNT Title on and that grosses Lambert out.
Swerve Strickland and Ricky Starks are going to fight on Rampage.
MATCH 5
Leyla Hirsch vs. Red Velvet
Fight starts on the outside before it gets to the ring. Leyla is in control as we head to picture-in-picture. Red Velveet manages to hit her finisher, but Leyla rolls out of the ring. She grabs an extra piece of the turnbuckle and rolls back in the ring with it. Bryce Remsburg grabs it, but Leyla puts an extra piece out of her trunks. She nails RV and gets the 1-2-3.
WINNER: Leyla Hirsch
Leyla locks RV in an armbreaker until Kris Statlander comes in for the save.
Jade Cargill talks about what she’ll need to celebrate her 30th win. She also tells Schiavone to “cut the shit.”
Tony is back on the main stage and Thunder Rosa is introduced. Vickie Guerrero enters enough to preoccupy Rosa for Nyla Rose to attack from behind.
MAIN EVENT
Dark Order vs. Jericho Appreciation Society
Heel promo cut before the match by JAS, and it’s John Silver taking it to Jericho. Tag to Reynolds. Double dropkick to Jericho. He soon powders. Chaos occurs on the outside and it prompts Aubrey Edwards to eject Dark Order from ringside. Back from break, Johnny is on a hot streak. He takes out everybody (including Hager) and Johnny cross bodies Jericho for a near fall. Jericho hits a Codebreaker for a two count.
Big double team by Dark Order. Jericho cracks Alex Reynolds with his basrball bat and Garcia locks in a Scorpion Death Lock for the submission win.
WINNERS: Jericho Appreciation Society
