7 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (22 Mar - Review)
6. Orange Cassidy, Sting & Darby Allin Vs The Butcher & The Blade & Kip Sabian
AEW
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.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
