7 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (22 Mar - Review)
6. Orange Cassidy, Sting & Darby Allin Vs The Butcher & The Blade & Kip Sabian
A white hot crowd elevated an opener that was already deliriously fun and a distilled version of AEW operating at its very best.
Orange Cassidy might be the International Champion, but you'd be fooled for thinking the strap slung in his backpack was the industry's richest prize. A monster, monster babyface, Cassidy's influence and impact was shrewdly promoted here thanks to his Iconic partner aping his lazy spots to get in the heads of the dastardly heels.
It worked a treat. The superhero squad acted in perfect harmony making relatively straightforward work of Butcher, Blade and Sabian, but the result was greeted as if the trio were the SuperBowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs. The whole thing was a stirring and stellar way to kick things off.
Allin locked eyes with the Double Or Nothing banner afterwards, and his look of longing fed into a video package topping up the AEW Championship chatter from last week. That match might not make the pay-per-view, but at least one of them could a take singles shot once the first-time meeting of all Four Pillars has taken place.