Welcome to Fightful.com's live coverage & discussion for AEW Dynamite (3/30/22)!
We'll be bringing you full, fight-by-fight results of every match on the card.
— The show begins and our commentary team of Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone and Excalibur welcome us to tonight's show from Columbia, South Carolina, CM Punk's music hits and it's time for our opening contest of the evening.
CM Punk vs. Max Caster (with Anthony Bowens)
— A collar-and-elbow tie-up to start. Punk works over the arm, Caster grabs the ropes to force a break. Caster sends Punk to the corner and hits a knee, then a punch. Punk shoves Caster to the center of the ring, drags him to the mat and looks for the anaconda vice but Caster slides out and regroups. Another lock-up, Caster with a kick to the mid-section of Punk, Caster works over Punk's arm but Punk knocks him back with a running clothesline then a cover but Caster kicks out. Punk runs the ropes, goes for a cross-body but Caster catches him and lands a back-breaker. Caster unloads a few knees to the mid-section before going for the cover but Punk lifts the shoulders at two. Caster tosses Punk to the corner, then the opposite corner and Punk bounces off the top turnbuckle chest-first. Punk struggles to his feet, Caster tosses him to another corner, Caster and Bowens taunt Punk, Caster goes for another Irish-whip but Punk launches himself over the apron, jumps back in the ring, runs the ropes, clocks Caster with an elbow then a slam. Punk tosses Caster to the corner, goes for a flying knee, Caster rolls out, lifts Punk for a fisherman suplex, Punk slides out, goes for the GTS, Caster rolls out, chops Punk in the chest and plants Punk with the fisherman buster before going for the cover but Punk kicks out. Caster goes up top, Punk follows him up and unloads some chops to Caster's chest before sending him crashing to the mat with a leaping hurricanrana. Punk sends Caster to the corner, lands a knee, then a bulldog before going for the cover but Caster kicks out. Punk goes to the apron and goes for the spring-board elbow but Bowens trips him, Caster goes up top and drills Punk with a missile drop-kick then goes for the cover but Punk kicks out at two-and-a-half. Caster goes back up top, looks for the Mic Drop, Punk slides out, lines up Caster, goes for and plants Caster with a piledriver and locks-in the anaconda vice and gets the tap!
Winner - CM Punk
— After the match, Tony Schiavone makes his way down to the ring and asks Punk about the title belt gesture he made following his win last week over Dax Harwood. Punk says he's there for the people and asks the crowd what the title gesture means. Punk says he doesn't know who the champion will be next week, it'll be either Adam Cole 'Bay Bay' or he's going to be looking down the barrel at some 'cowboy shit'. Punk says he does have a few things that he knows, he has a ton of gray in his beard and before he leaves AEW, there'll be a whole lot more. Punk says there's a ton of scars on his body and before his time is up in AEW, there'll be a whole lot more. Punk says before his time in AEW is over, he'll be World Champion. Punk celebrates on the top turnbuckle before making his exit.
— We cut backstage and MJF is with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler of FTR alongside Alex Marvez. Alex asks MJF why posters of Wardlow are being put up around the arena, MJF tells Alex not to say Wardlow's name anymore. MJF says The Pinnacle are about to stack up some wins now that 'the big doof' is out of the way. MJF says FTR will be 'the asinine' boys and next week, Shawn Spears has an 'easy dub' against Sean Dean. Dax says he doesn't know what's going on between MJF and Wardlow but he and Cash are his friends but so is Wardlow and whatever is going on between them, they don't want to be in the middle of it. MJF says they're family and he'd never do that to them. MJF says Wardlow used to 'talk shit' about them. MJF puts his hand in the middle, FTR reluctantly follow suit and MJF says when you're in The Pinnacle, you're always on top. MJF awkwardly smiles and we head back to the ring for our next matchup.
Jon Moxley vs. Jay Lethal
— Lethal offers his hand for a handshake, Moxley slaps it away and this one gets underway after a takedown attempt by Lethal. Moxley tosses Lethal out of the ring, Moxley chases, Lethal slides back in the ring, Moxley gets back in, Lethal wraps him up and Moxley with a head-lock takedown. Lethal with a head scissors to gain control, Moxley gets the head-lock re-applied, Moxley shoved Lethal aside and tosses him back out of the ring. Moxley chases, Lethal gets back in, Moxley gets back in and slaps Lethal, who unloads a forearm and they start trading. Moxley sends Lethal to the corner, goes for a splash, Lethal sends Moxley to the outside and dives through the ropes which sends Moxley into the barricade. Lethal gets back in the ring and celebrates as we head to a commercial break. Back from the break, both men run the ropes and land simultaneous cross-bodies. Both men struggle to their feet and exchange hard strikes. Moxley with a clothesline, Lethal runs the ropes but Moxley wallops him with a massive lariat. Lethal lifts Moxley and drills him with a back-breaker before going for the cover but Moxley kicks out. Lethal goes up top, Moxley avoids a dive and looks for the Paradigm Shift, lands a knee, re-adjusts and looks for it again but Lethal kicks him back, looks for Lethal Injection, Moxley counters with a sleeper hold, Lethal slides out and lands a brain-buster. Lethal goes back up top and drills Moxley with a flying elbow-drop then goes cover but Moxley lifts the shoulders at two-and-a-half. Lethal goes for the figure-four, Moxley rolls him up, Lethal kicks out and Moxley plants Lethal with the Paradigm Shift for the 1-2-3!
Winner - Jon Moxley
— After the match, Moxley offers up his hand to Lethal, who accepts and shakes the former AEW World Champion's hand. Lethal exits, Moxley celebrates as the crowd sings his theme song and we see a video package highlighting Marina Shafir. Commentary runs down the rest of tonight's card and we head to a commercial break.
— Back from the break and FTR make their way down to the ring and it's time for our next matchup.
FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) vs. Gunn Club (Austin & Colten Gunn) (with Billy Gunn)
— MJF joins commentary for this one and Dax and Colten start this one out. Colten shoves Dax aside and celebrates before making the tag to Austin. Dax and Austin lock-up, Austin works over the arm, trips Dax and walks across Dax's back before celebrating. Dax makes the tag to Cash, he and Austin lock-up, Cash with a takedown and locks-up the arm while mocking Austin's previous celebration. Cash with a pair of arm-drags, Colten gets in the ring but Cash tosses him right back out before making the tag to Dax, who takes his forearm across Austin's face. Dax tags Cash back-in, Austin rolls out of the ring and recovers. Cash follows Austin out, drills him with a chop to the chest, tosses Austin back in the ring, Colten trips Cash and Billy Gunn clocks him with a clothesline on the outside as Austin and Colten continue the attack and we head to a commercial break. Back from the break and Colten's working over Cash in the corner, then lands a splash before going for the cover but Cash kicks out. Colten goes for another splash, Cash avoids, Austin makes the self-tag and tries to knock Dax off the apron but Dax knocks him back, Cash makes the tag to Dax, who clears house and takes out both Austin and Colten. Dax drills Austin with a lariat and goes for the cover but Austin kicks out. Austin trips Dax, gets on the apron and tries to suplex Dax out of the ring, Dax goes for a suplex of his own, Colten holds Austin's legs down, Colten slams Dax, goes for the cover but Dax kicks out. The cameras cut to the arena's hallways and Wardlow's attacking every member of security that comes in his way. Wardlow makes his way down to the ringside area through the crowd, he continues to beat down security, MJF's screaming on commentary, security finally has ahold of Wardlow, MJF yells at security to escort him out. We cut back to the ring, Dax trips Colten off of the apron, rolls Austin up, holds his tights but Austin kicks out, Billy grabs Austin's arms, Austin tries to attack Dax from behind, Cash leaps over Dax and Austin to knock Billy off the apron, Dax and Cash hit the Big Rig on Austin, Dax makes the cover and FTR gets the win!
Winners - FTR
— MJF gets in the ring to celebrate with FTR, Dax smacks MJF's arms away and is visibly upset about MJF having Wardlow removed. MJF calms them down and hoists their arms in the air before exiting. We then see a video package hyping up the main event for this Friday's edition of Rampage between Powerhouse Will Hobbs and Keith Lee before we head to a commercial break.
— Back from the break, and backstage, we see Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia and 2point0 of The Jericho Appreciation Society. Jericho says for the past three weeks, JAS has been the most revolutionary thing in all of sports entertainment and when he calls himself The Influencer, it's not a catchphrase or a gimmick...it's the truth. Jericho says everyone wants to be in JAS, but it's not happening and to anyone that wants to join, can GFY. Daniel Garcia references last week to any pro wrestler who thinks they can hang with true sports entertainers. Garcia calls Santana, Ortiz and Eddie Kingston rats. 'Cool Hand' Ang says he has an idea and he and 'Magic' take a peak around the curtain to look for Santana, Ortiz & Kingston but they don't find him. Hager says they're not there and they're not coming back then opens the other curtain and there they are and a brawl ensues. They brawl throughout the backstage area and back to the ring, Kingston has Jericho in the ring and wallops him with an overhand right. Kingston chases Garcia, holds him down and Santana drills him with a knee. Hager comes out of nowhere and takes out Santana, Ortiz and Kingston, JAS go on the attack and Jericho beats down Kingston with a baseball bat. JAS celebrates and we head backstage where TBS Champion Jade Cargill is standing by with Mark Sterling and Tony Schiavone. Mark brings in Leva Bates who will 'gladly' fight Jade for her 30th win. Jade yells at Mark and says her 30th win won't be a joke and tells Leva to leave, to which she obliges. Mark says the other option is Marina Shafir, Jade agrees and says she's gonna go take care of her baddie section and we cut back to the ring where Wheeler Yuta is ready and Bryan Danielson's makes his way to the ring alongside William Regal, who'll join the commentary team for our next matchup.
Bryan Danielson (with William Regal) vs. Wheeler Yuta
— Danielson with a head-lock to start, Yuta slides out, Danielson presses Yuta against the ropes and lands a forearm to the mid-section. Danielson with an arm-drag, then works over the arm and hand, Danielson bridges Yuta but Yuta slides out and they stare each other down while laughing. Danielson pushes Yuta to the ropes and slaps him in the face, Danielson runs the ropes and clocks Yuta with a forearm. Danielson tosses Yuta to the corner, lands a bevy of strikes, backs up and goes for the running knee but Yuta explodes out of the corner with a vicious drop-kick. Yuta unloads strikes to a downed Danielson then applies the figure-four but Danielson rolls to the ropes to force a break. Yuta sends Danielson to the corner, nails him with a forearm, throws him down to the mat, goes up top but Danielson kips-up and unloads a kick to Yuta's mid-section in mid-air before we head to a commercial break. Back from the break and Danielson's working over Yuta but Yuta counters and plants Danielson with a German suplex. Yuta latches onto Danielson's back, Danielson gets control back with a front-kick then lands a German suplex of his own before going for the cover but Yuta kicks out. Danielson takes the eyes and unloads elbows to Yuta's chest. Danielson plants Yuta with a pile-driver and locks in the Labell Lock while head-butting Yuta and Yuta taps-out!
Winner - Bryan Danielson
— After the match we see a video package highlighting the feud between Darby Allin & Sting against The Andrade Family Office.
— Adam Cole alongside Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish of reDRagon make their way down to the ring. Cole, KOR and Fish have the AEW World Championship as well as the Tag Titles that they stole from Adam 'Hangman' Page and Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus of Jurrassic Express. KOR says the haters say reDRagon don't have enough wins in AEW to challenge for the tag titles and to the haters, he wants to say that the rankings don't matter and that they're awesome. Fish says the title celebrations have been epic and their reputations are above the titles. Fish says he'd put he and KOR's résumés up against anybody in the industry and they're the 'three baddest dudes' that the company has to offer, bar...no-one. Cole says the celebrations won't stop tonight and the AEW World Champion Adam 'Hangman' Page's music hits and he makes his way down to the ring! Page takes out all three men, they retreat up the entrance ramp before Page can hit Buckshot Lariat but Christian Cage, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus attack from behind, they all retrieve their titles and it's announced that we'll hear from the new AEW Women's Champion Thunder Rosa after the break.
— Back from the break and Tony Schiavone is on the entrance ramp and introduces the new AEW Women's Champion Thunder Rosa, who makes her way out. Rosa says she's the first-ever Mexican-born wrestler to become a women's champion in a major promotion. Rosa said when she joined AEW, she fought and clawed her way to be at the top of the women's division in the company but she wants to be the face of all of women's wrestling. Rosa said every time that she's at the top, bullies try to knock her down. Rosa said she's going to be a foundation in the company and calls out Nyla Rose. Rosa says she's there to fight and it doesn't matter who she has to wrestle because she wants to wrestle the best in the world and says wherever Nyla wants to fight, she'll be there.
— We cut backstage and Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler of FTR are shown. Cash says on Friday night, they'll become Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions and after that, they'll become the first-ever two-time AEW Tag Team Champions. Dax says they came to AEW to build a reputation and they love professional wrestling too much to wait around and be complacent with being number two. Dax challenges the Young Bucks to a match to see who really is the greatest tag team in the world. Dax says 'top guys, out' and we head back to the ring for our next match.
Bunny vs. Toni Storm (surprise opponent) — Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Qualifying Match
— Toni Storm makes her way out and she's the surprise opponent for Bunny! Storm gets in Bunny's face, Bunny pushes her back, Storm drills her with knee, Bunny trips her up, Storm with a slam, then a cover but Bunny kicks out. Storm sends Bunny to the corner, looks for a splash but Storm slides out and tosses Bunny aside. Bunny takes control with a few strikes, Storm comes back and applies a head-lock and then a spine-buster before going for another cover but Bunny, again, kicks out. Storm works over the arm, stomps on Bunny's left shoulder, Bunny shoves her aside, Storm tosses Bunny to the apron and charges at her but Bunny avoids and kicks Storm in the chest that sends her out of the ring and we head to a commercial break. Back from the break and Storm knocks Bunny back with a running shoulder, then a fisherman suplex into a corner but Bunny kicks out. Bunny lifts and slams Storm, goes for a cover but Storm kicks out at two-and-a-half. Bunny drills Storm with a super-kick and goes for another cover but Storm kicks out. Bunny sets up Storm for an inverted DDT, Storm tosses her aside and plants Bunny with a power-bomb and gets the three-count!
Winner - Toni Storm (qualifies for Owen Hart Foundation Tournament)
— Backstage, we see Nyla Rose and Vickie Guerrero with Tony Schiavone. Vickie says Thunder Rosa fears Nyla Rose. Nyla says Rosa won't become the foundation on her watch because she [Nyla] is the cornerstone of AEW and she refuses to become a footnote in this industry. Nyla says Rosa clearly has a deathwish, so she'll gladly grant it for her. Nyla says 'abra cadabra, bitch!' and she and Vickie exit. Commentary runs down next Wednesday's card as well as this Friday night's card for Rampage and we head to a commercial break ahead of our main event.
Darby Allin (with Sting) vs. Andrade El Idolo (with Jose The Assistant)
— Andrade attacks Darby before the bell and launches him over the barricade and into the crowd. Andrade fires Darby back-first onto the apron and sets him up against the steel steps, goes for a running knee but Darby moved and jumps on Andrade's back with his skateboard. Andrade tosses Darby over the barricade and wallops him with some punches. Andrade grabs the steps, referee Bryce Remsburg urges them to get back into the ring, they don't listen and Andrade picks up and launches Darby into the steps. Andrade gets into the ring, Remsburg checks-on Darby at ringside and Andrade celebrates. Darby waves off Remsburg and slowly makes his way into the ring. Remsburg gets clearance from Darby to ring the bell, Darby urges Andrade forward and this one is underway. Andrade with a knee to a downed Darby in the corner then tosses him into another corner...then another. Andrade with a running double-knee strike to Darby in the corner, goes for the cover but Darby has his arms under the ropes to force a break. Andrade celebrates, Darby with a head-butt to the neck but Andrade launches him back with an overhead slam as we head to a commercial break. Back from the break and Darby slams Andrade, both men struggle to their feet, Andrade's up first and lands a knee to Darby in the corner. Back on the feet, they exchange strikes and they both take each other out with simultaneous right hooks. Andrade takes off his belt, Remsburg grabs it and tosses it out of the ring, Darby with a low-blow and plants Andrade with a cutter before going for the cover but Andrade kicks out at two-and-a-half! Andrade lands a back-breaker, goes for a cover of his own but Darby lifts the shoulders after a count of two! Andrade puts Darby on the top turnbuckle, follows him up, lifts him, Darby tries to fight back with elbows, Andrade launches them both with a back-slam, Darby counters into an arm-bar, Jose rushes down to make the save but Sting takes him out from behind. The Butcher and The Blade make their way down, Darby goes up top and dives on the both of them as well as Jose and rushes back in the ring but Andrade grabs him and tosses him into the corner with a slams then nails Darby with his patented DDT and gets the win!
Winner - Andrade el Idolo
— After the match, Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen of Private Party rush the ring and they, alongside Butcher and Blade attack Darby and Sting. Matt and Jeff Hardy's music hits and The Hardys rush down and make the save. Butcher, Blade, Jose and Andrade retreat, Matt and Jeff take out Private Party and both teams argue from afar as the show goes off-the-air.
