The last "AEW Dynamite" before Revolution has come and gone. Willow Nightingale defended her TBS Title, Kyle Fletcher defended his TNT Title, and all kinds of other things happened, which you can read about on the results page.It's now time for the Wrestling Inc. Staff to tell you what they loved, and what they very much didn't from Wednesday's show in San Jose. There were dizzying highs, like the title action, or the War Dogs getting a big win over Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin, but there were also worrying lows, like whatever the hell was going on with that main event press conference.Enough of my bloviating, though, let's get to the best and the worst of the March 11, 2026, edition of "AEW Dynamite" from the San Jose Civic in San Jose, CA.
The March 11 episode of "AEW Dynamite" had a lot going for it when it came the in-ring action, and one of the standout matches of the night came in the form of The Dogs taking on Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy. David Finlay shocked the world last week when he decided to stay loyal to his old Bullet Club War Dogs instead of joining his dad and brother in "WWE NXT," and given how this match ended up going, he is going to feel right at home in All Elite Wrestling.Flowers have to be given to Darby and Cassidy. They are two of the most unique characters in the company, but they have great chemistry together. However, they are also fantastic at making other people look their best, and that's what happened in this one. We've already seen what Darby can get out of Gabe Kidd, but his exchanges with Finlay really sold the viciousness of the "Savage King." If any AEW fan hadn't seen Finlay's work in NJPW, having Darby and Cassidy be his punching bag essentially was a great choice.Something else that was a great choice was the fact that Finlay and Kidd actually got the win. I wasn't the biggest fan of Cassidy and Tomohiro Ishii beating Kidd and Clark Connors a few weeks back, primarily because it feels strange to debut a dangerous new group and have them lose in their first big televised test. With that said, putting Finlay in there instead of Connors and having The Dogs win not only gives the team a much-needed win, but it also sells how important Finlay is going to be during his matches. You might be able to get the better of Kidd and Connors, but when Finlay is involved, it's a different story.As for the angle involving Roderick Strong afterwards, that was fine. It set up the trios match between Darby, Cassidy, and Strong taking on The Dogs at Revolution, which will most likely be a fun match, and while I would like to see both Cassidy and Strong branch out and do something different in 2026, keeping them as friends for now feels like the right call.This match isn't going to win any Match of the Year contests, but it was another excellent TV wrestling match that served its purpose, didn't overstay its welcome, and was full of great action. The Dogs have the potential to be a real force to be reckoned with when they eventually get some other big wins under their belt, and if the matches they're involved in are anything like this one, they will be a trio of fantastic signings for AEW.Written by Sam Palmer
I can't say I'm not excited to see Jon Moxley and Konosuke Takeshita go to war for the Continental Championship in a match with no time limit at Revolution, because that match is going to rule, and I honestly don't know who emerges victorious. However, tonight, we got the stereotypical go-home show multi-man tag team matches pitting Moxley and the Death Riders against Takeshita and the Don Callis Family, which was fine, but there was one big story beat to the post-match angle that was glossed over with all the other pre-Revolution excitement of the night.After the match, following the Death Riders' victory, Lance Archer handed Takeshita a steel chair to get in on the beatdown of the opposing faction. "The Alpha" didn't want any part in smacking Moxley with the chair, and while the Don Callis Family members in the ring were annoyed by him, Takeshita's seemingly full babyface turn was barely acknowledged by commentary throughout the rest of the night, even when Callis himself was on the desk. And, on a packed night of "Dynamite," there was no backstage segment where Callis acknowledged it to Takeshita himself or anything, which also would have made sense.It seemed odd because when I started to scroll through social media during a break, all I saw were people talking about Takeshita finally turning full face, something that a lot of us have been waiting on for a hot minute. I'm sure the turn will come into play more during their match at Revolution, possibly when Takeshita loses, and the DCF comes out to beat down Moxley, and he won't let them, but tonight, it just kind of fell flat. Maybe this should have happened during a post-match angle at the pay-per-view itself instead of on a busy go-home edition of "Dynamite."Written by Daisy Ruth
If there was any reason that you had some reservations about either "Speedball" Mike Bailey or Kyle Fletcher in the ring, then look no further than their TNT Championship match to put those to rest, as I think it's a perfect example of just how incredible they both are between the ropes.This "Dynamite" may have been stacked with really good matches all around, but this was still the one that stood out from all the rest and was my personal favorite one that came out of this show. Full of fast-paced, intense, and high-flying action throughout the entirety of the contest, Fletcher and Bailey really proved why they should be in the conversation for who the best talent in AEW are. Everything about this was a ton of fun, and a super engaging watch, I would recommend for anyone who has yet to see it.My only small complaint about the match would be the manner in which it ended, but I can't really fault either Bailey or Fletcher for that. I can see why AEW didn't necessarily want a clean win in this match in order not to weaken either man ahead of their AEW World Trios Match at Revolution and to give Bailey a case for a potential rematch, and at least in this case, the interference makes sense because it's The Don Callis Family who win via interference most of the time.Written by Olivia Quinlan
I know I complained about this last week in this very column, but I really would have thought ahead of Revolution that AEW would have done something to remedy the lack of top women's talent, especially the AEW Women's World Champion, on "Dynamite." Remedy, as in, get them on the darn show at some point, rather than have a silly press conference segment that had no business taking up time.While I'm all for giving people time off, and I'm assuming that's what was happening here, I don't really think that's a good thing in the days leading up to a pay-per-view, especially AEW's first big event in a few months. Thekla, Kris Statlander, and "Timeless" Toni Storm were all missing from tonight's show ahead of their matches at Revolution on Saturday.TBS Champion Willow Nightingale defended her title against Peresphone tonight and had her fellow AEW Women's World Tag Team Champion Harley Cameron alongside her in a backstage segment. Marina Shafir accompanied the Death Riders to the ring during their show-opening match as well, but it just wasn't enough to build to the pay-per-view. It felt like just enough for AEW to say, "Hey, at least there were women on the show tonight!"Sure, Nightingale's match against Peresphone ruled, and she set up two different matches for herself for both of her championships at Revolution, but the big matches already set for the show were barely acknowledged. Shafir should have had a ringside brawl with Storm since she was out there already. It might not have fit the vibe of the match, which was more for Jon Moxley and Konosuke Takeshita to be on opposing teams ahead of their Continental Championship match, but when has that ever stopped the "Timeless" one from doing whatever she wants?If I didn't follow AEW on social media, I don't think I would have any idea that Thekla is defending her AEW Women's World Championship in a two-out-of-three falls match with Statlander. That entire rematch has been set up on "AEW Collision" on Saturdays, which is fine, I guess, but a video package or a recap about it all would have been nice to see tonight.While I thought "Dynamite" was pretty solid overall, I thought this was a pretty big issue. The AEW Men's World Championship got an entire press conference-turned-brawl segment, while the women's title was barely acknowledged. As we move forward into AEW's big pay-per-views of 2026, especially Double or Nothing, All In, and All Out, I hope this doesn't become a trend.Written by Daisy Ruth
This week's show saw fellow Mercedes Mone-slayers Willow Nightingale and Persephone clash for the former's TBS Championship, putting two of the more exciting names on the roster against one another, as well as a clash between champions of three belts Nightingale as TBS and Women's Tag Champion, Persephone as CMLL Women's Champion.But that was just the billing for the bout. They still had to go out there and have a good match. And of course they did, a match that for a brief second had this writer believing the challenger could steal it. Nightingale remains both a star in her own right and a star-maker whenever she steps in the ring, and Persephone continues to get better the more she steps between the ropes, too.When all was said and done, it took a backslide to both escape from the finisher and get the winning pinfall for Nightingale's retention, making Persephone look good even in defeat to the double-champion. And it continued Nightingale's plot as someone actively fighting on two fronts, setting the stage for her later challenge to Megan Bayne and Lena Kross. Should she have her way, she will be defending the Tag titles against them and the TBS title against Kross on the same night.Written by Max Everett
When the trios match that saw Tommaso Ciampa and FTR beat The Young Bucks, and Mark Briscoe ended, I thought to myself, "That was a great episode of AEW Dynamite, genuinely one of the most consistently fun shows the company has done so far this year." It was at the end of the two hours, the show was over, it should have been over. Then this happened.To sell the importance of the upcoming Texas Death Match between MJF and Hangman Page, a press conference was held to promote the Revolution main event. It's a nice idea, let the audience know that this is a match that matters, and since it happened in the overrun, it might catch the eye of any channel-hoppers. But the execution was bad, really bad. Not bad enough to ruin the whole show by any means, but it tried its hardest.I'm not saying this to throw shade at another company or anything, but this genuinely felt like a WWE press conference that used to be held after Premium Live Events. Members of the media asking the most nothing questions you've ever heard, absolutely zero substance to the questions being asked and somehow even less substance from the answers. It all just felt so forced and fake, and yes, I understand that wrestling is fake for the most part, but when you try too hard to be real, it makes you look more fake.What didn't help this segment was that it was clearly being shown on the screen so the fans could see it. However, when the fans realized that they were essentially watching a mini media scrum, they started chanting "boring" and booed it, and good on them for doing that, because it was boring. Who was this for? If you wanted to do something like this, put it on social media or YouTube. Don't put it on TV where the crowd can take a dump on it, do a contract signing or something where the guys can feed off of the audience and their reactions.It did end in a little brawl that spilled from the back and into the ring, which was alright, but it was far from good enough to save the end of this show. I'm still excited to see the Texas Death Match, but this didn't exactly get me to the point where I was falling over myself with anticipation. Also, Dave Meltzer was literally in the front row for this show (you can spot him if you look hard enough) and he didn't even get to ask a question despite being the most well-known wrestling journalist in the entire world. Don't do this again, AEW.It was bad.Written by Sam Palmer
