AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from April 15

The All Elite Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship was up for grabs Wednesday night in the main event of Dynamite as Jon Moxley defended against Jake Hager in an Empty Arena Street Fight.

The match, weeks in the making, headlined a broadcast that also featured the latest quarterfinal bout in the TNT Championship tournament as "Murderhawk Monster" Lance Archer battled Colt Cabana.

With a pay-per-view quality main event and an undercard aimed at building toward the Double or Nothing pay-per-view in May, the latest episode continued the company's quiet consistency at a time of great uncertainty.

The latest quarterfinal round match in the tournament to crown the first TNT champion kicked off this week's show as Colt Cabana battled the seemingly insurmountable Lance Archer.

Cabana kept Archer off-guard early, unloading chop after chop and reddening the Murderhawk Monster's chest. Archer responded, almost nonchalantly, downing the veteran babyface. He toyed with him, his dominance evident early, as the show headed to commercial break.

After the timeout, Cabana mounted a momentary comeback but Archer shut him down with a pounce, reminiscent of his fellow Impact Wrestling alumni Monty Brown.

Moments later, the explosive big man finished Cabana off with a reverse Razor's Edge for the impressive pinfall victory.

     

Result

Archer defeated Cabana

    

Grade

B-

    

Analysis

This was a one-sided match that saw Archer dominate the resilient babyface Cabana, as it should have been. Unfortunately, the commercial break really hurt the flow of the match and cut out what could have been a more meaningful Cabana comeback attempt.

Archer has been fantastic in his two in-ring performances to date and Cabana is a seasoned pro who really made everything thrown at him look good.

This was good for what it was but with a little more heat and some added time, this could have been superb. bit of storytelling that really elevated the urgency of the tournament.

Dr. Britt Baker returned to the squared circle, one week after tasting her own blood in a battle with Hikaru Shida, and squared off with young Cassandra Golden. 

Shida watched from ringside as Baker dominated her opponent and finisher her by putting her teeth around the bottom rope and stomping the back of her head. 

Baker talked trash to Shida after her win while Chris Jericho applauded her for creating her own patients on commentary.

    

Result

Baker defeated Golden

   

Grade

A

   

Analysis

A week after a bloody battled with Shida, this was the squash match Baker needed to recoup some of her heat and stay in the thick of the women’s title picture.

The “A” grade is not reflective of a mat classic but, rather, that the win showcased Baker and helped her stay exactly where she should be in the grand scheme of things in AEW. Plus, it kept her on television. As one of the top female competitors on the roster, that is especially important as the company looks to build its collection of young talent.

Suge D made his Dynamite debut, squaring off with The Inner Circle’s Sammy Guevara in singles competition.

Chris Jericho put over his team with Guevara early, referring to themselves as Le Sex Gods and claiming that they will be future AEW Tag Team Champions later. 

The babyface answered early arrogance from The Spanish God with a big arm drag but Guevara blasted him with a knee to the face. A vertical suplex gave way to more in-ring dominance from the young heel. A fireman’s carry, coupled with a couple of squats, led to a Samoan Drop.

A reverse Torture Rack into a modified Go-To-Sleep, uninspiredly labeled The Torture Knee by Tony Schiavone, earned him the win.

After the match, Guevara vowed to beat the s*** out of Darby Allin in the TNT Championship tournament and added a few stomps to Suge D before Allin made the save.

    

Result

Guevara defeated Suge D

    

Grade

C+

    

Analysis

It was nice to see Guevara get some shine in a squash like this. One of the most gifted young stars on the roster, he needs wins to build up credibility, particularly after taking so many losses earlier in his AEW career. 

This probably went too long and did not feature enough to warrant the run time, hence the just slightly above-average grade.

With that said, it did what it had to: it put the spotlight on Guevara and hyped his match with Allin on next week’s show, so it was successful.

As he prepared to do battle in the TNT Championship tournament, “Superbad” Kip Sabian battled Chuck Taylor in what, on the surface, was a tune-up match.

After enduring an early onslaught from Taylor, Sabian goaded him to the floor and caught him coming back into the ring. Every time he tried to establish a stranglehold on the match, Taylor cut him off. 

A missile dropkick and a straight kick to the face allowed Sabian to finally gain some sort of advantage and interference from Penelope Ford on the floor allowed the arrogant heel to maintain control. 

Taylor mounted a comeback with some hard rights and kicks to the midsection, then put Sabian down with a powerbomb for two. An ill-fated top-rope attack put the babyface down and allowed Sabian to fire up on him.

Ford hopped on the apron and provided a distraction that inspired Orange Cassidy to do the same. It backfired for the babyface, who ate a nasty implant DDT on the floor from the interfering Jimmy Havoc. Back in the ring, Sabian scored the rollup victory over Taylor.

     

Result

Sabian defeated Taylor

    

Grade

C+

    

Analysis

Sabian needed this win. Like Sammy Guevara in the previous match, he has lost too often early in his AEW career and as he approaches his quarterfinal match in the TNT Championship tournament with Dustin Rhodes, he needed some credibility enhancing.

With that said, it would have been nice to see him pick up the win without relying on interference from Ford and Havoc to get it. Ford is more forgivable because she is an integral part to his heel act and will factor in for the foreseeable future.

Havoc felt forced and unless there is a tag team to be formed or a faction being built, it made little to no sense, nor did Sabian struggling to beat a primarily tag team specialist in Taylor if we are to believe Superbad has any chance of beating Rhodes.

Still, the match was solid enough to warrant the grade.

Nashville wrestler Justin Law sought an unlikely victory Wednesday night as he battled AEW’s Chairman, Shawn Spears in singles action.

An overconfident Spears toyed with Law early, even offering his back like in amateur wrestling, only to nearly fall victim to the biggest upset in company history. Frustrated, he unloaded on his opponent with a clothesline that turned Law inside out.

Spears delivered a running C-4 to pick up the mostly uncontested victory while Chris Jericho put over the arrogance and insult of the victor not even taking his shirt off for the match.

    

Result

Spears defeated Law

    

Grade

B-

    

Analysis

The tease of a possible upset, followed by the ruthless beatdown by Spears, made this different from the night’s other squash and much more interesting.

Spears is such a technically sound wrestler, with a personality just begging to break free in a high-profile company. He has had the opportunity to show as much over the last month thanks to the closed-set shows and hopefully, will get the chance to do so once fans flood back into the arenas.

The undefeated Jake Hager provided Jon Moxley the toughest challenge of the AEW champion’s stint with the company, battling the unpredictable antihero in an Empty Arena main event this week.

Mat wrestling dominated the early portion of the bout, with Moxley tenaciously seeking a submission at one point. The champion followed with a dive to the floor, wiping Hager out and looking for an armbreaker despite the referee ordering the fight back into the squared circle.

Back from the break, Hager sent Moxley in the guardrail. Moxley responded, sending him over the railing onto the floor. As the fight spilled into the stands, Moxley unloaded a series of knees, then applied a figure four around the railing leading up the stairs.

Hager exploited the injured shoulder and midsection of Moxley, sending him into the guardrail and driving his knee into the sternum area. The challenger tried for the Hager Bomb but Moxley evaded it and delivered a Regal Knee, halting his opponent’s momentum.

Back from the break, Moxley answered a corner attack with a big clothesline. Hager recovered and applied his trademark choke, but the champion reached the ropes. A frustrated Hager wedged a chair between the turnbuckles and sought to send Moxley face-first into it. The champion put on the breaks at first but ultimately ended up colliding with it.

Back from the break, Hager applied the ankle lock and looked for a tapout. A defiant Moxley screamed obscenities and refused to give up. He finally countered the hold and sent Hager to the floor. As the champion rushed back into the ring, he ran right into a takedown and guillotine choke.

Hager fought out and an exchange of blows ensued. A low blow by Hager downed him but Moxley recovered and delivered the Paradigm Shift on a steel chair for the win.

     

Result

Moxley defeated Hager

     

Grade

B-

    

Analysis

This was a physical match but...it never felt like the pay-per-view main event it should have.

Maybe it was the lack of fans in the stands, which is through no fault of the performers or AEW by any means. Perhaps the commercial breaks hurt the flow. Whatever it was, it lacked the intensity that all of the build and video packages implied.

It lacked the big-match feel that the drop-ins from Bellator personalities and AEW wrestlers suggested.

Most importantly, it had a rather lackluster finish that came from out of nowhere.

Yes, they teased the use of the chair but the matter-of-fact finish essentially diminished Hager’s aura and unraveled all of the work the company did to build the unstoppable badass into the No. 1 contender. For a company that thrives on false finishes and high spots, this lacked the drama late that ever made Moxley appear in jeopardy of losing his title or emphasized the significance of Hager losing.

It was a good match that never achieved greatness and worst of all, it cut Hager off at the knees, preventing him from achieving the level of success he could have as the top contender to the title had they not rushed the contest for an episode of Dynamite rather than a PPV main event.