AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from March 11

AEW Dynamite exploded onto the TNT airwaves Wednesday night with an episode geared toward building momentum to the Blood and Guts episode on March 25.

The lineup for the night's broadcast featured:

• Hangman Page and a mystery partner vs. Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara
• Joey Janela and Private Party vs. Death Triangle
• Jurassic Express vs. MJF, The Butcher and The Blade
• Cody vs. Ortiz

Who is trending up heading into steel cage warfare in two weeks?

Find out with this recap of the March 11 broadcast.

On the heels of a threat from the legendary Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Cody was forced to refocus as he battled The Inner Circle's Ortiz in singles competition.

Interference from Santana at ringside downed The American Nightmare and allowed his partner to control the pace of the match. Cody fought back, pounding away at his opponent in the corner. Another distraction by Santana allowed Ortiz to crotch his opponent on the top rope and set him up for a superplex.

Cody fought out and then Brandi Rhodes used her belt to whip Santana, taking him out of the equation for the moment. A fired-up Cody wiped out both members of Proud and Powerful at ringside, then watched as Roberts instructed the debuting Lance Archer to not jump the guardrail and engage the EVP yet.

Back in the ring, Cody delivered a corkscrew leg whip in the ropes and applied the Figure Four to score the hard-fought victory.

After the match, Cody found himself on the receiving end of a beatdown before The Elite's Matt Jackson and Kenny Omega made the save. Chris Jericho appeared on the video screen and reiterated his threat to the AEW roster before vowing to beat the hell out of The Elite at Blood and Guts.

From there, he revealed The Inner Circle attacked Nick Jackson and slammed a garage door on him.

     

Result

Cody defeated Ortiz

   

Grade

B+

    

Analysis

The match itself was a nice preview of the upcoming Blood and Guts match in two weeks.

While Cody and The Elite got the upper hand in the form of a win, Jericho and The Inner Circle would not be outdone, sending a message loudly and clearly in the form of a vicious assault on Jackson. It was a nice reminder to the AEW roster and its fans that Le Champion will not be outdone and he is not taking his championship loss lightly.

In fact, he and his cronies are as dangerous and unhinged as ever, and everyone is paying for it.

Interesting also was the fact that Omega was able to make the save for Cody but is unable to compete later Wednesday with tag team champion partner Hangman Page when the beer-drinking Virginian battles Jericho and Sammy Guevara.

That Page did not come to the ring in defense of Cody speaks volumes and continues to insinuate that Hangman does not trust, or particularly like, the men he once considered as close as brothers.

AEW women's champion Nyla Rose saw battle with two of her top contenders in tag team action this week, teaming with "Top Gaijin" Bea Priestley to battle Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander.

The Native Beast and her unflinchingly ferocious partner isolated Shida and worked her over, pummeling the smaller competitor while cutting her off from Statlander.

Shida finally created some separation and made the hot tag to Statlander. The extraterrestrial competitor of the women's division erupted with a flurry of offense but ate a clothesline from the champion to halt her momentum.

Shida re-entered the match, endured a crushing spear from Rose and succumbed to the Beast Bomb as the heels picked up the hard-fought victory.

       

Result

Rose and Priestley defeated Shida and Statlander

      

Grade

B

   

Analysis

So now that Rose has defeated Shida and Statlander in tag team action, can we move on from them as top contenders to her title? Especially after the latter lost a pay-per-view match to The Native Beast and has done nothing to really earn another shot. She was directly eliminated from the match by Rose, leaving Shida to take another key loss on her journey to a title opportunity.

Priestley still feels like a competitor with untapped potential, but given her busy schedule in Japan, it is understandable as to why management would be hesitant (or flat unable) to give her a more expanded role on the show.

She was more than solid here and brought a ferocity to the match that helped elevate it beyond other similar bouts produced by this company's women's division.

Despite showing early intimidation of the masked competitor, MJF joined The Butcher and The Blade in a six-man tag team match against Jurassic Express.

The heels worked over Luchasaurus, taking the biggest man in the match down by targeting his legs. A hot tag to Jungle Boy sparked a babyface comeback, though, and Marko Stunt's speed kept the heels off guard. A huge dive by the massive Luchasaurus continued Jurassic Express' roll.

Stunt stomped away at MJF in the corner to a thunderous ovation, crawled under referee Aubrey Edwards and continued his attack. The Bunny hopped on the ring apron, providing a distraction and allowing MJF to apply the Salt of the Earth armbar to force a tapout from the smallest man in the match.

    

Result

MJF, Butcher and Blade defeated Jurassic Express

     

Grade

B+

    

Analysis

This was a damn fun match that highlighted the continuity of MJF, Butcher and Blade's relationship while putting over the babyfaces as a high-energy team capable of hanging with the top stars in the company.

MJF is the detestable heel who only picked up the win by picking on the smaller Stunt after interference from The Bunny. This win, like his victory over Cody, is a tainted one that will allow him to brag, but behind all of the accolades is the hint of doubt that he can win against the top stars without some sort of interference.

Tony Schiavone introduced Dr. Britt Baker for another on-stage interview.

Baker insulted the crowd, criticizing them on their health and appearance. She made an inbreeding joke before Big Swole interrupted the proceedings. She answered an insult from Baker regarding her husband, Cedric Alexander, with a dig of her own referencing Baker's boyfriend, NXT champion Adam Cole.

The segment ended with Baker throwing coffee in her newfound rival's face.

    

Grade

A

     

Analysis

This was more good stuff from Baker, who is finding herself as a heel with every passing promo. Her insults were better, her confidence was obvious and her interaction with Swole was exactly what it needed to be to instigate their rivalry.

Both women are talented performers who could use some time working in a secondary promo before rising to championship contention again. The dynamics of their characters should make for an entertaining program, if nothing else.

Death Triangle made its official in-ring debut this week as Pac, Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr. battled Private Party and "The Bad Boy" Joey Janela.

Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy popped the crowd early with Silly String to Fenix. Janela threw caution to the wind, wiping Death Triangle out on the floor heading into the break.

During the break, the heels gained control of the bout, working over Kassidy. A hot tag to The Bad Boy brought the babyfaces back into the bout, courtesy of a tope suicida from Janela to Fenix. The surging team delivered a Gin and Juice into a Death Valley Driver by Janela. A swanton bomb from Kassidy failed to put Fenix away as Pentagon broke up the fall.

With Pac on Janela's shoulders, Kassidy delivered a dive onto Fenix, followed by a DVD onto the ring apron that drove the air out of The Bastard. A top-rope elbow drop by Janela earned him a two-count on Pac.

A tope by Fenix, though, wiped out Private Party, and the Black Arrow to Janela earned the heels the win.

   

Result

Death Triangle defeated Janela and Private Party

    

Grade

A

     

Analysis

This was a fun, fast-paced, effective six-man tag team match that put the new trio over while simultaneously presenting Janela and Private Party as worthy, fiery competition. The innovative maneuvers, pacing and near-falls came together to create an engaging match whose outcome may never have been in question but whose entertainment value never waned.

The post-match save by Best Friends ensures the rivalry between them and Death Triangle continues, and given the fact that other factions and teams are busy building to Blood and Guts, this is the perfect spot for Pac and The Lucha Bros to be in for the time being.

Dustin Rhodes vowed to join one-half of the AEW tag team champions, Hangman Page, and do some "cowboy s--t" in the night's tag team match against The Inner Circle's Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara.

Page took the fight to Jericho and Guevara, even stopping to drink a beer. The heels recovered during the commercial break, dropping Rhodes and cutting the ring off from his partner. Page tagged in late and leveled Jericho with a hard right hand on the arena floor.

Back inside the ring, Rhodes delivered a destroyer piledriver to Guevara and Hangman followed with the Buckshot Lariat to pick up the win.

After the match, The Inner Circle hit the ring, instigating a brawl that included Cody and Matt Jackson. The fight spilled to the ramp, where Jericho bashed Page and Jackson with a chair and stood tall to close out the show.

      

Result

Page and Rhodes defeated Guevara and Jericho

    

Grade

B

      

Analysis

I know you don't typically want to beat a guy as hot as Page is right now, but why continue to pin losses on Guevara when he is the one guy in this match who can least afford it?

The Spanish God has told us from day one he is the future of the industry, but he has yet to pick up even a signature win that would support that. His booking certainly has not.

As for the post-match stuff, it's all something we have seen before, but Jackson stopping to flip Page the bird after their interaction earlier in the night was a nice touch. The brawl built Blood and Guts effectively, and at this point, that is the primary objective.