AEW DYNAMITE PRIMER 4/1: Lance Archer makes his AEW in-ring debut, full TNT Championship tournament bracket revealed, Cody & Darby vs. Guevara & Spears

AEW DYNAMITE PRIMER
APRIL 1, 2020
AIRS ON TNT, 8:00 PM EST
BY JOSHUA CHAMBERS (@josh_chambers), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Arena

AEW announced this week that they were forced to move away from Daily’s Place due to expanded COVID-19 restrictions in Jacksonville, Fla. The site of this week’s tapings has not been disclosed.

Note: PWTorch editor Wade Keller has confirmed that AEW Dynamite matches and interviews will be completely live tonight.

Road to Dynamite

This week’s Road to Dynamite featured a segment on Kulture City, as well as the announcement of a tournament to crown the first-ever “TNT Champion.”

AEW Dark Results (PWTorch’s full report HERE.)

• Sammy Guevara defeated Matt Sells
• Shawn Spears defeated Shawn Dean
• Darby Allin defeated Preston Vance
• Jon Moxley defeated Faboo Andre

AEW Dynamite Matches and Segments

• Lance Archer’s in-ring debut
• The full TNT Championship bracket revealed
• Cody & Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara & Shawn Spears
• Kenny Omega vs. Trent
• The Natural Nightmare debut (Dustin Rhodes & Q.T. Marshall w/Brandi Rhodes)

Final Thoughts

The big news this week is the announcement of a tournament to crown the inaugural TNT Champion. The first half of the bracket was revealed on Road to Dynamite and features Cody vs. Shawn Spears and Darby Allin vs Sammy Guevara, with the second half being unveiled tonight. In my opinion, the announcement of a mid-card title is great news and will give the wrestlers outside the top 5 rankings something to do, and a launchpad for feuds and storylines.

My only concern is that there needs to be a reason that someone would want to be the TNT champion. In WWE they do not give us a reason why someone would want to be U.S. or Intercontinental champion; they are just belts that we understand to be less prestigious than the WWE/Universal championships. My hope is that AEW does something in the vein of the NWA National Championship, where the champion can relinquish their title in exchange for a match for the World’s Championship. All I want are stakes. I want my favorite wrestlers to behave in a way that makes sense and tells a compelling story.

The other big news this week is that AEW has moved production away from Daily’s Place due to COVID-19 related restrictions in Jacksonville. It will be interesting to find out where they go, and how long they stay there. When does producing new wrestling every week become unrealistic or unethical? AEW has enough quality pay-per-view content now to produce several pre-recorded, studio-style episodes of Dynamite that could feature match replays, analysis, and promos that still advance storylines while not putting anyone at risk.

RECOMMENDED: 3/25 AEW DYNAMITE TV REPORT: Keller’s report on Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho head-to-head, Omega vs. Guevara, Cody vs. Havoc