Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Dynamite on February 28, the final episode before Revolution this weekend.
This also marks Sting's final Dynamite as an active competitor for All Elite Wrestling. The Icon is wrapping up a legendary career at Sunday's pay-per-view, so the company made sure to tout his last episode.
Here is the advertised card from Wednesday's show:
- Sting's final Dynamite
- Eddie Kingston and FTR vs. BCC
- Chris Jericho vs. Atlanttis Jr.
- Kris Statlander vs. Skye Blue
Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's Dynamite.
Opening Segment
"Hangman" Adam Page opened the show walking to the ring with the use of a crutch. He said he would not be able to compete at Revolution, which led to Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana coming out.
Swerve said he respects everything Page has done in AEW, but now is his time to be the champion, which brought out Samoa Joe.
As Swerve yelled at Joe, Page attacked him with a crutch and revealed he was not injured at all. The ruse was done well, but there were some signs it wasn't real.
Either way, this was a solid opening segment and a good way to hype their match.
Page was convincing on an emotional level, but some fans noted online that a doctor would have told him to use his crutch on the other side.
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- How do we get Page nominated for an Emmy?
FTR and Eddie Kingston vs. Blackpool Combat Club
Two Revolution matches were combined into a trios bout for Dynamite when Eddie Kingston teamed up with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler to take on Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli.
The Mad King and The American Dragon started for their teams, but the latter quickly tagged out to Castagnoli to taunt Kingston.
As anyone would expect, this was a high-energy match with a steady pace, lots of strikes and some good brawling moments. This exceeded the average AEW trios bout in many ways.
All six guys are renowned for different reasons, so it was no surprise that they all worked well together, especially since many of them have previous history as rivals. Kingston has feuded with every member of the opposing team just on his own.
Everyone worked their butts off to make sure the live crowd got a good show despite all six men being booked for the PPV. They did not take it easy. Danielson won by making Kingston pass out.
Result: BCC defeated FTR and Kingston
Grade: A-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Kingston got the biggest individual pop, but it's hard to compete with how loud the crowd gets during "Wild Thing."
- Moxley and Wheeler headbutting each other was a good moment.
- Kingston trying to shield Harwood from all three members of BCC when he was hurt was a great sequence.
- The triple sleeper hold spot was done really well.
Orange Cassidy vs. Nick Wayne
Will Ospreay came out to talk about officially being done with other obligations and being All Elite. Don Callis eventually came out with Will Hobbs and Konosuke Takeshita.
Ospreay didn't seem too excited to see them and had a standoff with Takeshita, but it never turned into a fight.
The next match saw Nick Wayne attempt to bring more gold to The Patriachy by challenging Orange Cassidy for the international title.
The challenger was aggressive out of the gate and took OC down with a headlock takeover. Mama Wayne got the rest of the group thrown out, so her son only had himself to rely on.
As soon as Cassidy won, Roderick Strong attacked him out of nowhere. Best Friends and Undisputed Kingdom were also involved in the conclusion, but most of their involvement had no impact on the outcome.
Result: Cassidy defeated Wayne
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- Callis' shoes were extra annoying this week.
- The Patriarchy was ejected from ringside just before the break, so a good portion of this bout allowed Wayne to stand on his own two feet for once. He did well without anyone outside the ring to draw attention.
- Cassidy is great at subtly selling injuries.
Kris Statlander vs. Skye Blue
Skye Blue and Kris Statlander wasted no time getting to work when the bell rang. Willow Nightingale, Stokely Hathaway and Julia Hart were all around the ring.
This was a surprisingly physical sprint of a match. It never felt like they slowed down unless they needed to sell a move for a moment.
Hathaway ended up inadvertently distracting the ref long enough for Hart to knock Statlander out so Blue could get the win.
Both competitors looked good in this bout, but some of the shenanigans at ringside took it down a notch.
Result: Blue defeated Statlander
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Stat has a great kip-up.
- Hart's hat game continues to get better. Whoever makes them does great work.
- Stokely's face when he tried to hand Stat a chain was hilarious.
Atlantis Jr. vs. Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho brought back his Lionheart persona for a match against Atlantis Jr., who succeeded one of the veteran's mentors and partners, Atlantis Sr., who was at ringside.
The match started with Atlantis slapping him instead of shaking his hand. He immediately had the upper hand and hit several moves on Lionheart before he could regroup and grab him in The Walls of Jericho, but they were too close to the ropes.
You could see Atlantis moving slower than usual in spots to compensate for Jericho no longer being a young luchador, but they had decent chemistry, so it wasn't a bad match.
Jericho won by submission with a Liontamer when Sr. threw in the towel for Jr. They all posed together after the match.
Result: Jericho defeated Atlantis Jr.
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Taz saying he isn't a fan of second-generation stars is hilarious.
- Jericho trying to take off Jr.'s mask was a bit odd considering he asked for this match out of respect.
- CMLL's title belts look good.
- The hurricanrana reversal at ringside did not go well.
The Final Word
Go-home shows before a PPV are tricky because you want to give the live crowd a good experience without risking any injuries to talent.
This week's show only had four matches, so a lot of time was filled with talking segments, including the final segment with Sting's final appearance as an AEW wrestler.
Darby Allin and Ric Flair both tried to attack The Young Bucks, but they used bats to get the advantage. When Sting finally showed up, he was lowered down from the rafters. It created a great moment to end the show.
The trios bout that kicked off the show was easily the best thing we saw all night. None of the matches were bad, but that one stood out.
The opening segment with Page, Swerve and Joe was also a good piece of business.
Grade: B
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