AEW Dynamite Grades: Gunns Steal Tag Titles, Build to Revolution

AEW World Championship Eliminator Match – MJF (c.) defeats Konosuke Takeshita via Submission

Grade: A-

The brief face tease MJF had before he won the title is gone and buried. Maxwell Jacob Friedman was born to be a heel, finding creative ways to cheat at every twist and turn.

The champ looked great this week, both appearance-wise and with his work in the ring, and yet still cowardly when the need presented itself. Fortunately, we saw MJF throughout the night, which made the upcoming match with Danielson feel that much more important.

AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator Match – Jamie Hayter (c.) defeats The Bunny via Pinfall

Grade: C+

Not much here to move any angles forward, just a reason to get the champ on TV.

The Bunny has a good look, but still can be quite sloppy in the ring. She may have been hurt toward the end of the match when she couldn’t take a suplex properly.

Toni Storm and Saraya Backstage Promo

Grade: C

The two heels are now playing the backstage bullies role and tagging their victims with Ls, literally. They could get the same heat without having to spray paint….. Doing this just brings up memories of the nWo, a comparison they cannot win.

MJF Backstage Promo

Grade: A

Consistently incredible. MJF has no equal with his promo work, and he seems to have a license to push the envelope where others can’t. Love to hate the man, but appreciate the greatness of his talent.

Garcia-Guevara Gauntlet – Jericho Appreciation Society defeats ‘Absolute’ Ricky Starks via Pinfall

Grade: C+

What is the benefit of Ricky Starks going through this gauntlet? Is a match with Jericho worth it? It’s not like there is a title at stake. This is overbooking an angle with little payoff. The only positive with this ending was that Starks didn’t even get through the gauntlet, courtesy of Jericho’s masked interference.

Hopefully, this angle is over. But it isn’t over, unfortunately. In any sense.

‘American Dragon’ Bryan Danielson defeats ‘El Toro Blanco Rush via Pinfall

Grade: A

Too bad Jim Ross wasn’t on the call, because this match was a good ol’ fashioned slobber knocker! Both men worked stiff the entire match, and Danielson escaped with another tough win. This left MJF with another opportunity to get more cheap shots in, locking in Salt of the Earth and doing more damage to Bryan’s damaged shoulder.

Their AEW Revolution World Championship match is now set. With weeks to go before their March 5th encounter, the hope is that the booking continues to focus on Danielson’s injured shoulder, making an excellent storyline for the match itself.

Related: AEW Dynamite: Samoa Joe Proves He’s The King of Television

AEW World Trios Championship Match – The Elite (c.) defeat  AR Fox & Top Flight via Pinfall

Grade: B-

If you like high-flying, flippy-floppy wrestling, then you loved this match. The issue with any Top Flight match, especially Dante Martin in particular, is the whole match is constructed for big jump spots to show off Dante’s vertical. While the athleticism is incredible, wrestling can’t be all about that. Less is more. Make the moments special, not frequent. But this is today’s wrestling. When the majority of the AEW roster is 200 lbs or less, this is the style that will prevail. 

This was an excellent opportunity to move the belts to Top Flight and AR Fox. The crowd was behind the trio and a championship win would’ve done wonders to elevate the trio. The Elite do not need the gold. Please get Kenny Omega back into singles matches and the Young Bucks back into the tag division.

Stokely Hathaway Backstage Promo

Grade: D

Hathaway continued on about The Firm’s problems with Hook. 

Is this the best use of Stokely’s character? The Firm is yet another example of a bloated roster and too many factions. This is TV time that could be better used on others.

Main Event AEW World Tag Team Championship Match –  The Gunns defeat The Acclaimed (c.)  via Pinfall

Grade: B+

After an acrobatic trios match, it was refreshing to see a very traditional-style tag team match take place. Both teams adhered to normal tag rules (for the most part) with some solid wrestling by all four men. The ref bump was very effective, allowing The Gunns to cheat their way to a victory.

This was the perfect use of Billy Gunn, as he was not a distraction during the match and did nothing to sway the actual results. This feud is no doubt done, and will most likely result in a rematch at AEW Revolution. Excellent progression of their storyline, which was starting to plateau in recent weeks.

Dynamite Overall Grade: B-