The Inner Circle were set to show their dominance in Utah as this week’s AEW Dynamite saw Le Champion and his troops taking on members of The Elite as we get on the road to AEW Blood and Guts in a few weeks’ time where the two will face off inside the WarGames-Esque Blood and Guts match.

Cody w/ Brandi Rhodes & Arn Anderson vs Ortiz w/ Santana

Cody seemed in his stride starting this match but another appearance from Jake The Snake Roberts distracted him as his client was revealed to be the recently signed Lance Archer. Neither men did much during the match other than sitting at ringside and slightly threatening to jump the rail but never actually did it which was a lame way of debuting Archer.

Ortiz took advantage of the distraction using his unorthodox style to combat the classic and honed style of Cody to keep him on his back but he managed to get back in the driver’s seat after a keen forearm and release suplex.

Santana tried to threaten Anderson with the Madball but Cody hit a suicide dive to Santana before planting Ortiz onto the ramp with a reverse suplex slam.

? @CodyRhodes absolutely on FIRE ?#AEWDynamite on @tntdrama pic.twitter.com/jixAoa2Ii7

— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) March 12, 2020

Draping Ortiz onto the ropes, Cody began targeting the legs before putting Ortiz into the Figure Four Leglock forcing Ortiz to tap.

Immediately after the match, Santana ran in to smash Cody with the Madball cutting his celebration short. Omega and Matt Jackson came down for the save but the Proud N Powerful pair had already retreated.

What have @IAmJericho and the #InnerCircle done to Nick Jackson?! #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/FRCq6ZYk3B

— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) March 12, 2020

Suddenly, Jericho appeared on the monitor stating he meant what he said about putting the AEW roster on notice and revealed they had laid waste to Nick Jackson whose head was trapped under a garage door and was bleeding from the mouth.

This was a fun match with a good angle with the Inner Circle that continues to up the ante with their mean streak but it is a shame they chose this time to also introduce Lance Archer who ended up feeling like a third wheel in proceedings with not much impact. Waiting to feature Archer after Blood and Guts may have been a smarter option and given him the chance to make a more impactful debut.

Kris Statlander & Hikaru Shida vs Nyla Rose and Bea Priestley

Rose and Priestley quickly burst into action and blindsided their opponents before the bell and despite a defiant face up to Rose, Shida got knocked down with a hard forearm strike. Despite not being seen on AEW in a while, Priestley made herself known as she bullied and beat Shida and worked very well in tandem with Rose.

After a harsh beating, Shida managed to break free after a high knee to get the tag to Statlander who proceeded to clean house and showed off her high strength offence before Priestley managed an impressive counter of the Big Bang Theory into an Octopus Hold.

Statlander took back control and made the tag to Shida as she then suplexed her own partner into Priestley who was draped in the corner. It’s okay, they agreed on it beforehand I’m sure. Priestley and Shida had an impressive Joshi style back and forth before Rose got tagged in and started to dominate again. The plucky pair fought back valiantly and got a close two count on Rose after Shida landed an impressive Falcon Arrow but couldn’t put the Native Beast away.

This POWER from @shidahikaru though!! If it weren't for @BeaPriestley that would've ended it! #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/Q7kGhDhhUT

— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) March 12, 2020

The match came to an end after Rose blindsided Shida with a spear while she was distracted by Priestley and hit the Beast Bomb for the win.

After the match, Priestley surprisingly turned her back on Rose and beat her down before posing with the AEW Women’s Championship.

An entertaining match with these women that once again shows off the amazing roster of female talent AEW has and Priestley in the title scene will always be a good thing.

Jurassic Express vs MJF & The Butcher & The Blade w/ the Bunny and Wardlow

This was a very entertaining match between these teams with MJF heeling it up from the get-go as he abused Marko Stunt and revealed he was wearing his “I pinned Cody” T-Shirt.

Luchasaurus had his eyes on MJF who was doing everything in his power to avoid fighting the big man before his lackeys took Luchasaurus out and started isolating him.

After a mauling from his opponents, Luchasaurus managed to break free for the hot tag despite having two members of the opposition holding onto his legs as Jungle Boy cleared out his opponents to thunderous applause.

? @boy_myth_legend just destroying everyone right now!! #AEWDynamite on @tntdrama pic.twitter.com/PjAw3ijDXq

— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) March 12, 2020

Dives all around as every member, even Luchasaurus, dove onto their opponents on the outside but it would not equal a victory as a distraction from the Bunny allowed Wardlow to sneakily take out Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy to be blindsided and Stunt forced to tap in the Salt of the Earth from MJF.

MJF is still undefeated and as much of a prick as ever. Great stuff.

Joey Janela & Private Party vs Death Triangle

Death Triangle came out to a mash-up theme of the Lucha Brothers’ and PAC’s themes which sounded awesome and they certainly earned such an awesome theme as they looked amazing as a unit here bursting out the gate which a huge amount of aggression.

As you’d expect from a match featuring these competitors, this was a real spot fest with some amazing feats of athleticism from both teams and the slightly less agile Janela still got his chance to shine in his spots as he hit some high-flying manoeuvres of his own.

Incredible teamwork from @JANELABABY and Private Party ? #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/qFczMS3gNg

— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) March 12, 2020

After an insane dive from Isiah Kassidy and a huge elbow drop from Janela only mustered a two-count to PAC, Death Triangle took their chance to strike as a unit. A cutter and an assisted Penta Driver from the Lucha Brothers and a Black Arrow to Janela sealed his fate.

The villainous group beat down their opponents after the match and put their opponents into a triple submission hold before the Best Friends made the save and caused Death Triangle to retreat.

To list the spots would have made this article far too long but if you love the high-flying action of the Lucha Brothers and Private Party then this had more spots than you could shake a stick at and Death Triangle looked formidable in their victory. If you’re going to watch one match on this episode, make this it.

Hangman Adam Page & Dustin Rhodes vs Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara w/ the Inner Circle

Rhodes revealed early in the night that he would be Page’s partner whether he liked it or not and the Cowboy seemed very angry that he wouldn’t be able to go it alone.

Despite this, the pair had chemistry right away with frequent tags allowing them to knock the young Guevara around like a ragdoll. However, the Inner Circle surrounded Page and distracted him long enough to let Jericho hit a springboard dropkick and take back control for the Inner Circle.

Jericho proceeded to do a spot-on impression of Page with a beer in hand but Page struck back with a chop before stealing the beer to take a sip himself. Unfortunately, this imbibement gave Guevara the chance to blindside Page with a baseball slide.

Maybe leave the ? drinking for @theAdamPage, eh @IAmJericho? #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/6MogoFBJT0

— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) March 12, 2020

Page broke through to get the hot tag to Rhodes after a snap suplex to Jericho as Rhodes showed experience trumps age when laid into Guevara. The Inner Circle pair didn’t take long to divide Rhodes’s attention allowing them to take back control as Jericho mocked the veteran with his trademark cocky pin.

Rhodes got the hot tag to Page after a knees-up on the Lionsault from Jericho as Page proceeded to unleash some Cowboy Shit onto his opponents before hitting an Orihara moonsault to the other Inner Circle members on the outside whilst Rhodes hit a crossbody on Jericho and Guevara.

This man @theAdamPage… HE CANNOT BE STOPPED!!! ? #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/hO8G1B2oB1

— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) March 12, 2020

The match ended with Rhodes hitting a destroyer to Guevara followed by a Buckshot from Page for the three-count.

Immediately after the bell rang, the Inner Circle swarmed the pair and beat them down. Attempts at saves from the injured Omega and Cody were for nought as the Inner Circle laid waste to them too. The group attempted to powerbomb Page through a table but Matt Jackson came for an impressive save against the entire Inner Circle and threw a middle finger to Page as revenge for last week to boot.

This exchange between the Elite members, unfortunately, lead to a chair shot from Jericho and the Inner Circle once again were left standing tall as they flipped off the camera for the show’s end.

A thoroughly entertaining final match capped off another great episode of Dynamite that had stellar matches and some great storytelling for the main Elite vs Inner Circle storyline that weaves in the tensions between Matt Jackson and Page perfectly. The only downside was Archer’s lacklustre introduction.

All pictures and videos provided by AEW