If you like your shows packed and your stakes high, this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite from the Footprint Center in Phoenix looks like the one for you.
Let’s start with title matches and shots at title matches, because this card has both of those. Darby Allin and Sting will battle Big Bill and Ricky Starks for the AEW World Tag Team Championship in a match that has the potential to make The Icon a champ for the final time in his legendary career.
As for championship opportunities, that’s what Hangman Adam Page and Swerve Strickland are fighting for, since the winner gets to go on and battle Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship at Revolution. Swerve has had the upper hand, winning the first two bouts between them, but Hangman is desperate now and would be distraught if he lost a third straight.
On top of that, Tony Khan will make his latest in a long line of big announcements. Could someone be on their way in? Does the fact that there’s going to be a Dynamite/Rampage taping in Boston next month have anything to do with who that might be? Or does TK have something totally unexpected up his sleeve?
That’s not even all, as we’re also looking forward to some role reversal when Toni Storm takes on Red Velvet with Deonna Purrazzo on guest commentary. The Virtuosa has gotten under the skin of the Timeless champ like no other since she first arrived in AEW, and that should only continue in Phoenix.
How will AEW fit this and more into a two-hour show? It won’t, as Khan has already promised he’s secured an overrun. So let’s light the fuse already.
AEW Dynamite results from Phoenix:
(please scroll down for full details on any match or segment in bold)
- Hangman Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland ends in a time limit draw, and as a result, both men will be in the championship match against Samoa Joe at Revolution
- Samoa Joe is asked about this turn of events by Renee Paquette, angrily ranting about having the deck stacked against him and vowing to walk out champ despite that
- Toni Storm def. Red Velvet by submission; after Storm won’t let the hold go, Deonna Purrazzo gets in the ring to confront the champ
- Paquette talks to Orange Cassidy about wrestling Tomohiro Ishii and says competing on Saturday after also having a match on Rampage will still be fine; Best Friends also agree to go check on Chuck Taylor
- Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli and Jon Moxley) def. Hechicero, Mascara Dorada and Volador Jr. by pinfall, but only after Castagnoli uses a low blow to set up the finish; after the finish, Mistico leads more CMLL luchadores into the ring from the crowd, prompting more AEW wrestlers to come from the back and even the odds
- Taylor is shown getting attacked in the back by Undisputed Kingdom
- Tony Khan makes his big announcement:Â the March 13 episode of Dynamite in Boston will be titled “Big Business”
- Konosuke Takeshita def. Chris Jericho by submission, thanks in part to Don Callis sneaking in a screwdriver, and despite Sammy Guevara appearing earlier to neutralize Powerhouse Hobbs on the outside
- Darby Allin and Sting def. Big Bill and Ricky Starks by pinfall in a Tag Team Tornado match to become the new AEW World Tag Team Champions
- As Sting calls his sons into the ring to celebrate with him, the Young Bucks arrive with white bats to beat him down; they also beat Allin bloody and hit him with the EVP Trigger before laying the tag team titles over the unconscious new champs
Hangman Adam Page, Swerve Strickland battle without a winner … though in a sense they don’t lose either
The crowd seems very into this as the two bitter rivals stare holes in each other after the bell rings. The announce team remind us that Strickland needed assistance from the Mogul Embassy to win both previous meetings, though Taz is the dissenter who believes that means little.
It takes little time for the fight to spill to the floor, where Swerve sends Hangman over the barricade then leaps over it to join him. Page is unceremoniously sent back to ringside and then to the ring, where he’s able to get in his first offense by stomping Strickland into a corner.
Page lights up his foe with chops and right hands along the ropes. But Swerve reverses an Irish whip and delivers a big boot to the face, following with some stomps of his own.
As Swerve looks to fly, Hangman sweeps his legs out and smashes home some right hands. He takes his time playing to the crowd for a second, which turns out to be a mistake as Swerve works on a flying octopus hold before dropping into a crucifix on the mat. Strickland wants to snap Page’s right arm but can’t ever pull it off, and Hangman ends up plastering him out on the apron and running him into the turnbuckle.
They spill out to the floor again, with Page continuing to work on Swerve’s head and neck. A fallaway slam is next, and the battle back in the ring leads to a low dropkick and a cover broken only when Strickland gets his hand to the bottom rope.
Another two count goes in Page’s favor, and he drops Swerve to the floor to land with a thud. Hangman signals for his top rope moonsault only to see Strickland roll away and quickly pounce with a flatliner.
With the fans urging him on, Swerve hits a back flip plancha to the outside, then a jumping top rope elbow to the back of the head. His offense continues into a vertical suplex, followed by the House Call and a close two count.
Page’s rally leads to a Liger Bomb that earns him a near fall. The ref checks on Strickland for a second as the announcers ponder whether he landed on his head during the last exchange of counters.
Boos greet Page as he lines up for the Buckshot, but Swerve dodges it and hits his own version. There’s a Swerve Stomp too, but Page kicks out at two.
Now it’s Hangman who look stunned a bit, and he finds no respite on the outside. Strickland takes him up on top of the guardrail, which turns out badly as Page nails him with a DDT on the barricade.
During picture-in-picture, a table is set up on the outside, though it doesn’t immediately come into play. An exchange of strikes goes Swerve’s way as he ends with a backbreaker and another near fall.
With Page tangles up over the ropes, Strickland stomps him so that he rolls onto the table, which promptly breaks. An undeterred Strickland sets up another table, but his first move is to try a 450 splash in the ring which catches nothing but knees.
It looks like Page has it won again after a nasty Buckshot, but Strickland gets his foot to the ropes to prevent the pinfall. They head back out to the apron, because why not, and Swerve takes a Deadeye there, slumping out to the floor. The ref starts his count, and Prince Nana does his dance to motivate his boss. That inspired Swerve to beat the count, but Nana pays for it when Page waffles him with a chair.
Strickland dropkicks Hangman on the floor then drops the Swerve Stomp, but it looks like his ankle might have paid for that. Page goes right after that ankle, staving off a JML Driver.
They battle to the apron again, and Strickland runs Page into the post to set up a Deadeye through the table. That brings fitting “holy s–t” chants, but when Swerve tries another Swerve Stomp, Page rolls away.
Strickland ducks a Buckshot and finally hits the JML Driver, but as the ref is making the count, the bell rings, signifying the 30-minute time limit had elapsed. Strickland grabs a mic, saying he hasn’t gone through so much to have it end like this. “Five … more … minutes,” he yells.
Hangman laughs and says no, but Tony Schiavone has one more twist to announce: Since this was a tie, both men will challenge Samoa Joe in a Triple Threat match at Revolution.
Tony Khan makes his big announcement, emphasis on big, we guess
TK discusses the March 13 episode of Dynamite revealed earlier today as happening at TD Garden in Boston. As it turns out, it will be called “Big Business.” Ah, not really what we were expecting, completely, but there is a money motif to the logo, so …
Anyway, Khan says people who can’t get to Boston will want to watch live on TBS, calling it “one of the most important nights in the history of AEW” and promising that people will remember it for years to come. The live fans seem a little underwhelmed by this, but hey.
Darby Allin and Sting win gold, defeating Big Bill and Ricky Starks
There are two referees since all four men can get involved at once, but alas we only have one recapper. We’ll do our best.
Sting and Starks immediately fight into the crowd, where Sting uses a trash can as a weapon. Bill and Darby battle into an entranceway to the concourse, unaware that Sting is lurking to dive from above onto both the champs. A “you still got it” chant rings out as side-by-side ads arrive.
Allin takes flight from the ring to the floor as soon as the full broadcast returns, but Bill catches him and smashes him to the floor with a Boss Man Slam. Ouch.
Darby gets tossed back into the ring, where Starks is waiting and soon joined by his partner. Bill tries for a two-handed chokeslam but settles for simply bouncing Allin’s head off the mat, then flinging him back overhead.
Bill summons a table from beneath the ring and Ricky helps him set it up. Sting finally returns to the fray to help Allin avoid being press slammed by the big man, but Bill finally tracks him down. Sting is able to step aside and crotch Bill on the top rope, only to be hit with his own Scorpion Death Drop by Starks, forcing Allin to make the save.
After some back and forth, Sting ends up isolated with Starks and puts him in the Scorpion Deathlock. Bill is on the apron, where Darby gouges his eyes and they end up falling through the table on the floor together. Starks reaches for the ropes but discovers there is no rope break in a Tornado tag. He frees himself anyway, sending Sting hurtling into an exposed turnbuckle. Though Ricky looks regretful, he spears the Icon but finds it’s only good for a two count.
Sting psyches himself up enough to counter a spear with the Scorpion Death Drop, and that’s enough to give us new champions.
