All Elite Wrestling returns this evening from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida with their second show under the Coronavirus Pandemic “Empty Arena Show Era.”
AEW Dynamite tonight is advertised to feature a face-to-face confrontation between Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho, Cody will join in for special guest commentary for the show and several high-profile matches involving Kenny Omega, Cody and others have been announced.
Featured below are results of the Wednesday, March 25, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite:
AEW DYNAMITE RESULTS (3/25/2020)
This week’s show kicks off with no immediate video intro. Instead, we shoot live inside the “Closed Set” empty arena as Tony Schiavone, joined by Cody and Kenny Omega, welcome us to the show.
Schiavone runs down some of the action scheduled for tonight’s show, including the AEW in-ring debut of “The Exalted One” of The Dark Order — Brodie Lee, a face-to-face confrontation between Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho and more.
Schiavone gets comments, including several shoot remarks and inside jokes already, from Cody and Omega as he runs through the action set for tonight.
Cody vs. Jimmy Havoc
They finish by revealing Cody vs. Jimmy Havoc will kick off the action in the ring. Cody jokes that Havoc is 3-0 so far and he is pulling double duty tonight, before taking his headset off and making his entrance first for the opening contest.
Havoc makes his way to the ring as we see a shot of some of the wrestlers watching the action together backstage, with Omega joking about whether or not that many people in one room is even legal in this state.
The bell sounds and our first match of the evening is underway. Schiavone puts over Havoc as one of the most promising prospects in AEW. Havoc jumps off to an early offensive lead, taking it to “The American Nightmare.” Cody finally slows Havoc down with a series of near falls back-to-back-to-back on the mat.
Cody and Havoc shake hands in an unexpected sign of respect before going back at it. Schiavone mentions Jim Ross will be live-tweeting during tonight’s show on Twitter. Meanwhile, Cody locks Havoc in a figure-four leg lock. He pulls on the ear lobe of Cody to try and fight his way out. He pokes Cody’s eyes and escapes.
The action spills to the floor as we see another shot of the wrestlers watching the action in a locker room backstage. Chris Jericho joins the guys, who are all clearly rooting hard for one guy or the other, as Schiavone brings up the gambling done on last week’s show, primarily by MJF. Cody and Havoc fight to the entrance way where Havoc stops to put on an announcers headset, making Cody not the only one who has provided guest commentary in addition to wrestling.
Havoc is dominating the action now as the match returns to the ring. He stomps on the elbow and hand of Cody as we see a split-screen shot of the wrestlers watching backstage again. Cody back body drops Havoc over the top rope and out to the ramp way outside the ring. Cody with a flying lariat before the match resumes inside the squared circle.
Cody takes his weight-lifting belt off and throws it to Brandi Rhodes on the outside. We see another split-screen shot of the wrestlers watchnig backstage as Havoc surprises Cody by slapping an armbar on him out of nowhere. Cody is stuck in the hold for several moments before finally making it to the ropes, bringing AEW referee Aubrey Edwards in to break the hold.
Back on the feet, Havoc blasts Cody with a modified Codebreaker type of move. He pulls on the fingers and hand of Cody as we see Jericho and the rest of the AEW locker room shouting on as they watch from a monitor in the locker room. Cody hits a reverse superplex off the top rope before two Cross Rhodes finishes off Havoc, giving him his first singles loss on AEW Dynamite. The locker room reacts, some happy and some upset.
Winner: Cody
Jake “The Snake” Roberts Hypes Lance Archer, Delivers Challenge To Cody
Jake “The Snake” Roberts is featured in a pre-taped promo hyping Lance Archer and talking about him chomping at the bit to get inside the ring with anyone from All Elite Wrestling.
The WWE Hall of Famer continues to put over Archer as we see a fire blazing in the background in a very dark room, with the fire snapping and crackling as Roberts delivers a devious message to Cody.
Roberts says he just wants one meeting with Cody and Archer and they’ll get done what they want to do. He tells Cody the ball is in his court before closing with his old WWE catch phrase, “Trust me, Cody.”
We head to a commercial break as we watch Cody reacting slowly to the message from Jake Roberts as he exits the ring and we go to our first break of the evening.
Darby Allin Talks Superbad People
A new Darby Allin black-and-white vignette airs with Allin talking about dealing with super bad people before claiming he is going to make a sacrifice of Kip Sabian tonight to send a message to The Inner Circle.
Kip Sabian (w/ Penelope Ford) vs. Darby Allin
After the vignette, we shoot back live where Sabian makes his way to the ring accompanied by Penelope Ford as highlights are shown of his interaction with Colt Cabana on last week’s show.
From there, Darby Allin gets a cool ring entrance treatment, as a video shows him in Marty McFly fashion skateboarding outside as he holds onto the back of a truck. It pulls him in to the entrance circle and ramp of the AEW Dynamite set and he rolls to the ring as Cody puts him over on commentary as a man with a young Sting vibe.
The bell sounds and the action goes as Cody and Schiavone talk about Sabian’s interaction with Colt Cabana on last week’s Dynamite. Allin slaps a head lock on Kip that Kip shucks off. Allin shoulder blocks Kip down and Kip slides out of the ring to get a breather.
When the action continues, we see Allin getting ready for a high spot and then Penelope gets involved, prompting Allin to go flying out to the floor. Kip follows him out and begins taking over control of the offense, taking it to Allin.
We get a miscue it seems, as Cody and Tony send it to a commercial on the TNT broadcast and then comment about how they are continuing on Fite TV, however we still see about ten more seconds of action before the show abruptly cuts to commercial just as the match was about to re-enter the ring.
When the action continues, we see Allin getting ready for a high spot and then Penelope gets involved, prompting Allin to go flying out to the floor. Kip follows him out and begins taking over control of the offense, taking it to Allin.
We get a miscue it seems, as Cody and Tony send it to a commercial on the TNT broadcast and then comment about how they are continuing on Fite TV, however we still see about ten more seconds of action before the show abruptly cuts to commercial just as the match was about to re-enter the ring.
The action resumes as we return from the commercial to see Penelope Ford looking good in a close-up before the camera pans back and we see Sabian taking it to Allin on the floor, still in control of the match.
Sabian sends Allin back in the ring and it is there where Allin starts taking over, making a fired up comeback while selling his leg. Allin with a brutal Cutter for a close near fall. Cody is doing excellent on commentary throughout this entire match, and show in general, thus far.
Kip is back in control of the match now as Cody and Tony enjoy a Bill Watts cement floor — no mats — reference from “The American Nightmare” as a big spot happens on the floor. Back in the ring again, Allin starts fighting his way back in the match. He gets a Last Supper leg lock submission that he turns into a pin. He gets the three.
Winner: Darby Allin
Jake Hager vs. Chico Adams
We return from the break and we see a cool video package showing the history of Bellator MMA heavyweight contender Jake Hager’s journey into AEW as part of Chris Jericho’s “Inner Circle.”
After the video, Hager begins making his way to the ring. Brandi Rhodes formally introduces him and his opponent, Chico Adams, who is already in the ring. The bell sounds and about two minutes later it sounds again. Hager wins with ease.
Winner: Jake Hager
After The Match: Jon Moxley & Jake Hager Showdown
After the match, we see Hager celebrating his squash match victory when out of nowhere, AEW World Champion Jon Moxley emerges in the entrance way in a leather jacket.
Moxley charges at the ring, climbs in and he and Hager stare each other down before going at it. Moxley immediately blasts Hager with his Paradigm Shift DDT finisher. Hager pops up, however, and snatches up Moxley in his ankle lock submission finisher.
Moxley escapes, Hager slides out of the ring and retreats. We head back to break.
Backstage: Jon Moxley Is Out For Blood
We return from break as Schiavone mentions how Jon Moxley just showed up unannounced and took out Jake Hager. He says we are going to attempt to get a word with him backstage.
From there, we shoot backstage for a Jon Moxley promo. Moxley says he told us he shows up where he wants, when he wants, and he called Hager a big gruesome son of a bitch and spoke about him running away from the fight this time.
Moxley says things are far from over, promising he is out for blood. He walks off to end the segment.
Backstage: Jon Moxley Is Out For Blood
We return from break as Schiavone mentions how Jon Moxley just showed up unannounced and took out Jake Hager. He says we are going to attempt to get a word with him backstage.
From there, we shoot backstage for a Jon Moxley promo. Moxley says he told us he shows up where he wants, when he wants, and he called Hager a big gruesome son of a bitch and spoke about him running away from the fight this time.
Moxley says things are far from over, promising he is out for blood. He walks off to end the segment.
Brodie Lee “Exalted One” Vignette
After a quick check-in with the announcers, Schiavone kicks it to another pre-taped video package featuring Brodie Lee.
Brodie Lee addresses the “out-of-touch old man” Christopher Daniels, once again confirming he is Brodie Lee — The Exalted One of The Dark Order.
Cody says he knew Brodie Lee by a different name, and he says it’s time to find out what he’s all about bell-to-bell. Before his in-ring debut, Schiavone kicks it to another video package that shows how Lee treats his minions.
“The Exalted One” Brodie Lee Treats His Minions Bad
From there, we cut to a mafia style segment with Lee seated at the head of a fancy dinner table eating a nice meal. He says they are the lions of AEW who preys on the weak. He asks what’s wrong with these two, addressing the other members of The Dark Order.
As one tries to take a bite of food, he yells at him. Lee scolds him and chases him off, saying you don’t eat before I’m done eating. He yells at the other one and chases him off for sneezing.
QT Marshall vs. “The Exalted One” Brodie Lee
Cody’s best friend in the wrestling business, QT Marshall, is introduced and makes his way out as Cody puts him over on commentary. The two discuss Brodie Lee’s video package and how he treats the other members of The Dark Order.
Finally, The Exalted One Brodie Lee is introduced and out he comes. For the third time tonight Cody mentions that he knew him by another name. Lee makes his way out in the same cool outfit we saw him in last week during his debut with the white jacket with gold and purple.
He takes the coat off and hands it to the members of The Dark Order. Brodie Lee vs. QT Marshall is up next. We see a shot of the locker room as the wrestlers start making some noise as they get excited for this contest.
The bell sounds and in his serious voice, Schiavone says, “Look at the size of him .. my god!” as Lee charges at Marshall and blasts him with a big boot to the face as soon as the bell sounds. He knocks him out to the floor.
Lee goes out after him, dominating Marshall with brutal offense as the announcers put him over on commentary as the next potential big thing. Back in the ring, Cody praises Lee for his Kevin Nash-like agility. Lee is dominating what has thus far been a complete and total one-sided squash match.
Schiavone puts his serious voice on again as Lee lays out Marshall with what Cody described as a Big Bossman like slam. Lee then hits a discus lariat to take out Marshall, pinning him and then staring at the camera with a serious stare as his music plays and the announcers put him over some more.
Winner: “The Exalted One” Brodie Lee
After The Match: #JoinTheDarkOrder
After the match, Lee and one of his minions leave a mask on the laid out body of QT Marshall before exiting the ring and heading to the back after a flawless debut. After that, we head to a commercial break.
Recapping Matt Hardy’s Debut & Nick Jackson’s Injury
We see a video recap of Matt Hardy’s debut on last week’s AEW Dynamite before we shoot to the announce table where Cody and Tony Schiavone promote tonight’s face-to-face confrontation between Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho.
From there, the two talk about an upcoming medical update on Nick Jackson before kicking it to a video package showing the attack by The Inner Circle to The Young Bucks member that resulted in his being taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
Vanguard 1 v.2.0 Update
Vanguard 1 v.2.0 the drone helps us with a look at Rancho Cucamongo, CA. where we see The Young Bucks member reaching for the drone only for the video to cut to a “Signal Disconnected” error as we shoot back live inside the empty arena.
AAA Mega Championship
Sammy Guevara vs. Kenny Omega (C)
Cody and Tony welcome us back in the arena as the theme music of “The Spanish God” of “The Inner Circle” plays, signaling our next match of the evening here on AEW Dynamite.
Sammy Guevara makes his way to the ring as our AAA Mega Championship contest is up next. We head to a commercial break during Guevara’s ring entrance.
When we return from the break, Kenny Omega, the AAA Mega Champion, makes his way to the ring. Omega, who is also one-half of the AEW Tag-Team Champions alongside “Hangman” Adam Page, goes one-on-one with Guevara now in this AAA Mega Title bout as the bell sounds to kick this one off.
Omega takes it to Guevara early on, with The Inner Circle member holding his own, but the reigning title-holder jumping off to an early offensive lead. We see our first shot of the wrestlers cheering on their respective favorites as they watch the action on a monitor in the back. Guevara back-flips his way out of a cool standing arm lock by Omega.
Things speed up now, which results in Guevara catching Omega with a drop kick before dropping down to the mat and break-dancing as Omega slides out to the floor to recover. Back in the ring, Guevara is starting to take over things on offense as he knocks Omega out to the floor again.
This time, however, Guevara follows Omega out and slams him into the ring post. We see the wrestlers watching on again as Guevara whips Omega into the steel safety rail.
Guevara starting to get cocky now, mixing in some comedy spots as Cody mentions Chris Jericho’s style rubbing off on the young up-and-comer due to his role in the Inner Circle alongside the Fozzy front-man. Guevara still firmly in control of the offense as we head to a mid-match commercial break.
We return from the break and we see “The Spanish God” still very arrogant and in control of the action of this, the third defense of the AAA Mega Championship since Omega won the title. Omega finally takes over as Guevara gives him an opening by being too arrogant when the action was out on the floor once again.
Omega is dominating Guevara now, bashing his knee into the ring steps over and over and over and over again. The match resumes inside the ring where Omega hits a big splash off the top rope onto Guevara. We see a shot of the wrestlers getting tense in the backstage area as they watch the action. Billy Gunn and Austin Gunn have to be restrained as Schiavone again mentions that there is probably money on the line.
Schiavone now plugs the new book written by Jim Ross who they once again mention is doing some live-tweeting as he watches tonight’s AEW Dynamite show. Check out the comments from Good Ole’ J.R. by checking out his official Twitter page. With the action picking up in the ring, Omega is blasting Guevara with some heavy chops that echo throughout the arena while Cody puts over the power of the chops of the AAA Mega Champion.
Omega gets Guevara across his shoulders and appears confident he is about to finish him off, however Guevara bites at Omega’s ear to escape the hold and then blasts him with a unique kick before locking in a submission attempt on the arm of Omega. He stomps and drops an elbow on the arm of Omega now as he settles back in the offensive driver’s seat in this one. We head to another mid-match commercial break on that note.
We return and see the two exchanging punches. Guevara takes over and hits a standing shooting star press before executing an amazing springboard cutter off the top rope. He knocks Omega to the floor and hits a tope suicida with a flip at the end of it. Guevara is one talented cat. Omega with a V-Trigger once the action resumes in the ring. The pace picks up in this one now as each guy scores near fall after near fall after blasting the other with high impact offensive moves.
Guevara misses a shooting star press off the top rope. Omega blasts Guevara with a V-Trigger as soon as he stands up. Guevara bites the hand of Omega, which has been a focal point of his selling in the second half of this match, with the announcers constantly reminding us of Omega’s recently broken hand. A snap-dragon suplex does nothing, as Omega stands back on his feet. Guevara hoists Omega up but Omega escapes and hits a running V-Trigger before a big J-Driller for a near fall as we see the locker room popping for the 100th time in this AAA Mega Title match.
Omega says this one is for you and then hoists Guevara up. He hits a flawless one-winged angel for the pin fall victory. Omega wins and retains. We see highlights of what Cody just described as “A good fight.” We head back to commercial after the match.
Winner and STILL AAA Mega Champion: Kenny Omega
Chris Jericho & Matt Hardy Confrontation
We return to the show and Chris Jericho’s music hits as the former “Le Champion” makes his way to the ring. He takes the camera from the camera man and has holds it, pointing it at him as he plays the role of the fans singing Jericho’s theme song this week, continuing to rock out after the music in the arena cuts off.
Jericho gets in the ring and gets on the mic, he talks about Matt Hardy debuting last week as the replacement for Nick Jackson in the first-ever AEW Blood & Guts showdown between The Elite and The Inner Circle.
As Jericho continues to speak, he tells Hardy to come out to the ring. Instead, the buzzing done flies out to the ring. Jericho fires up, cutting a promo on the drone, calling it a piece of “sh*t” and a “b*tch” as it flies off ignoring Jericho’s offer to the drone to join The Inner Circle.
While Jericho yells at the drone as it flies off, some cool music plays and we see Hardy appear in the rafters the same way he did for his debut on last week’s show. In a bizarre moment, Hardy, in hologram fashion, teleports to different spots in the arena closer and closer to the ring until he finally magically appears at ringside. He enters the ring.
Hardy begins speaking and talks about being magic when Jericho questions how he did that. Hardy says this place, AEW, represents freedom. It is his arcadia. He says he cannot allow Jericho and The Inner Circle to ruin this paradise. Jericho brags about making names and stars out of everyone in the Inner Circle, who he lists one-by-one.
He says he can do the same for Hardy. He says he’s going to tell him one more time not to align with The Elite, but to instead join The Inner Circle. Hardy says he is DAMASCUS and DAMASCUS is over 3,000 years old. He says he loves to create chaos.
Jericho calmly says, “Hey DEMASCUS, if you’re 3,000 years old that means you’re probably pretty smart, right?” He goes on to describe Hardy’s appearance. He says he may be different but at his core he is still the same Matt Hardy he has always known. Jericho says Hardy is missing the point. He says like usual he is always one step behind. He says he lived in the shadows of his younger brother, bad booking and now by the leader of The Inner Circle and “Le Champion.”
He says he is going to ask Hardy one more time — are you Inner Circle or Elite. Hardy says DELETE! Jericho says Elite? Hardy says DELETE. They go back-and-forth in a moment of confusion. Jericho yells at Hardy to stop. He says there is no one here to cheer and chant with him. Hardy says there are 1,000s of essences here. Tony Schiavone informs us that they are trending number one worldwide right now.
Hardy references the essences who sing Jericho’s theme song every week, before singing a remix with the word DELETE and OBSELETE mixed in with the usual lyrics. Hardy references Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and other essences in the building after Jericho, frustrated, again points out to Hardy that no one is in the crowd.
Jericho takes his glasses off and Hardy tells him to go ahead and take them off. Jericho says Hardy is the same old Matt Hardy as always. He says maybe he’ll slap some sense into him. He goes to slap him but Hardy cuts him off and drops him. Jericho says maybe he is magic because he took him out with one punch. Jericho says he is magic too and tells Hardy to watch this. He says Abara-cadabara and out comes Sammy Guevara from behind with a cheap shot that decks Hardy.
Now Hardy is helped by Cody and Omega who leave the announce table to even the numbers game up in the ring. Hardy magically escapes the ring and yells DELETE, DELETE, DELETE as fire pyro explodes each time he says it.
