11 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Mar 31)

8. Everything Makes Perfect Sense

What a sensational angle this was, and it was sensational analysed from every angle.

QT Marshall was (inadvertently) buried as a trainer, much less a wrestler, by Lee Johnson a month or so back. This rejection mutated into anger. QT at several points distanced himself from the Nightmare Family before appearing to explain himself last week. He only wanted a chance, through a friendly exhibition match, to prove that he deserved more respect.

The exhibition match was arranged, and Cody invited the Nightmare Family trainees to observe it at ringside. It was a match worked between two of the head trainers, and it represented an opportunity for the students to learn something. The exhibition itself was strong - the mat-based wrestling and its barely suppressed tension was yet another display of AEW's immense in-ring range on the night - but the angle was even better.

Revealing the ruse, QT decked Arn - there are few better ways to get over as a heel in any promotion - and through the fracas, a new faction emerged: QT, and "trainees" Nick Comoroto, Aaron Solow and Anthony Ogogo. This was a richly organic scene earned through the blocking of the segment, and Agogo in particular carried himself like a star. That is because he is; in the one fluffed beat, the commentary team through the chaos didn't do enough to put over his legit credentials as an Olympic medallist amateur boxer.

With all of his associates beaten down or corrupted, QT was able to drag Cody onto the steel steps before Red Velvet intervened. Those steps were presented, visually, as a throne seized from the Prince of Pro Wrestling in the sort of gorgeous detail only AEW is capable of.