On a night where my partner and I pre-gamed Dynamite with A Goofy Movie, we get a Valentine's Day Texas Death Match and more from the lovely H.E. Butt Arena in Cedar Park, Texas. Every now and then I'll miss the old stomping grounds of Austin, and AEW seemingly popping up there every quarter kicks that into gear. I especially miss the easy access to Topo Chico and authentic Mexican baked goods.

Unlike the quality of Torchy's Tacos, though, AEW in 2024 is just getting better and better with Revolution looming in the distance.

The In-Between

Second verse, same as the first. You could probably make some money betting on what I'd put in this section each week.

Tattoo Time with Toni Storm

As I've said before, I don't dislike Toni Storm. I even think her character work is funny.

But, the AEW Women's World Title being stuck in a similar purgatory as the World Heavyweight Title was stuck in with MJF for far too long is a bummer. I know we're getting to the Revolution Factory in a matter of weeks, and I do hope Deonna is the one who takes the belt off of Toni.

And then? Maybe a technical wizard feud with Serena Deeb to usher in a new era for the Women's World Title similar to how Samoa Joe injected life back into the World Heavyweight Title.

Weird choice for a main event, but okay!

I love Matt Taven. I'M MATT TAVEN! But, it felt like an odd choice to make a non-title match with Orange Cassidy in a Texas Death Match, announced on Twitter in the past couple of days, the main event of this episode of Dynamite.

I get it – Texas Death in Texas. I do wish they had let the stipulation rest a bit coming off of the classic Swerve/Hangman Texas Death Match at Full Gear.

All that being said, this match absolutely whipped ass. Taven setup a table at an odd angle on the announce table and then proceeded to lawn dart himself through it on a missed topé.

OC and Taven both bled a ton in short order here with the match devolving into a complete cluster with the involvement of the Undisputed Kingdom and Trent Beretta. With a chain-wrapped Orange Punch on Taven and a bodyguard-esque save from Trent to protect Orange from Roderick Strong's jumping knee, Cassidy picked up the win.

Not the greatest Texas Death Match of all time but certainly a fun match to cram into your TV main event on a whim.

That being said, let's maybe cool it on this particular version of a plunder brawl so it means a little more the next time it rolls around.

The Good

Men kissing men, people losing their minds, and multiple attempted murders. A regular Wednesday night!

Crop-Tops & Kisses

Say what you will about FTR, but you've got to appreciate Dax Harwood's crop-top. Sure, it was a long crop and the sleeves of his shirts are always cut at such an odd location – but a crop-top nonetheless!

Couple that with a smooch from Mox to Dax and an even harder one reciprocated and we had an opening match for lovers on this Valentine's Day. Just two kisses, though – disappointing for anyone who thought the smooch-off was going the way of an Eddie Kingston chop battle.

Last week saw FTR confront the BCC somewhat out of nowhere, but perhaps spawned from Mox putting the entire locker room on notice a few weeks back. Unlike many mouth-breathers on Twitter, I don't need every single match to have a Godfather-esque story behind it so the reasoning doesn't matter all that much to me. Two guys are gonna beat the piss out of each other for my enjoyment? Fine by me!

Head trauma was on full display with some truly gross unprotected headbutts, excellent and snappy piledrivers from each guy, and one of the nicest brainbusters on record from Dax.

Mox picked up a tapout win but after refusing to let go of the hold, things fell apart once more with FTR/BCC post-match. The BCC left FTR laying, which should cement them as big ole heels at this point – but it probably won't because everybody just likes everyone in the group (except Wheeler) to boo them consistently.

Obviously just one more chapter in this story, with much to look forward to with FTR facing any combination of guys from the BCC.

Tidbits & Good News

Sometimes you don't need to write a lot of words about things that happen on the show, but the things that happened are still good.

For instance, the announcement of Konosuke Takeshita versus Will Ospreay at Revolution? Yes, please!

In other, unrelated good news – Mister Wardlow can walk! Things looked a little dicey for ole Wardy last week when his knee buckled during a powerbomb, so even though his match was a big fat squash amounting to nothing it was nice to see him not missing any ring time.

Love those Young Bucks and their ever-changing and terrible facial hair. From pencil mustaches to goatees to soul patches, they're on a roll with awful (wonderful) choices.

Adam Copeland's (2nd) Best AEW Match

I think anyone would be hard pressed to say that Copeland has had any match better than his match with Christian Cage for the TNT Title. His match with Daniel Garcia tonight, though, falls closely behind it.

Nobody should be surprised by anyone having a great match with Garcia at this point, but Copeland gets some bonus points for leaning more heel than usual. It was a common refrain with the opening two matches with generally beloved guys working heel in favor of their arguably more beloved opponents.

This is especially great for Garcia, a younger wrestler who shouldn't have to compete with someone else for cheers when his rise has been steadily built over the past several months.

The lovely thing about AEW is, this doesn't need to be a full heel turn for Copeland. He can easily just be a dick for one match and then shed that for his next match, but it's a nice bit of character work on display to be able to pull that out every now and then.

The finish legitimately caught me by surprise because AEW does so few finish-by-DQ endings to their matches. It's a bit of a cop(e)out, but I'm not mad about it. This should lead to a TNT Title three-way at Revolution with a Patriarchy vs Garcia/Copeland/Daddy Magic trios match along the way.

And that should make everybody's nipples hard.

Don't put in the papers that Hangman Adam Page was mad

I'm not about to start dishing out star ratings for promos or anything, but the promo-off between Samoa Joe, Swerve Strickland, and Hangman Page was great.

Joe has swiftly reestablished the AEW World Heavyweight Title as a serious championship after it languished in MJF World for far too long.

Swerve, yet again, has cemented himself as a top guy (if not THE top guy) in AEW and it's clear that the crowd wants that AEW World Heavyweight Title around his waist.

And Hangman Page? Well, his descent into madness been a true delight over the past couple of weeks. Storming out to interrupt Joe and Swerve sans music, just shouting about how he was, in fact, NOT mad last week just pushes everything over the edge.

Unlike Mox and Copeland, I don't think Hangman's heelish tendencies are a detour. This should be who Hangman is from here on out – a fully broken-brained maniac who can't get his nemesis out of his mind long enough to focus on what is actually important. At Revolution, his obsession with Swerve is going to cost him.

You DO NOT TOUCH Tony Schiavone!

It feels bizarre to think and write that a Young Bucks/Top Flight match was just fine. Nothing about the match blew me away, which isn't an indictment of anyone – it was just a good TV match.

I do enjoy heel Young Bucks quite a bit more than babyface Young Bucks. And, specifically, I love the entitled heel version of the Bucks. My favorite run of theirs in AEW was without a doubt when they were breaking Tony Schiavone's phone and throwing money at him to pay for the phone and the fine.

Break Tony Schiavone's phone all you want – break a million of them! But you do NOT put your hands on Tony Schiavone! If you could only have heard the audible gasp that I gusped when the Bucks set Tony up for the EVP Trigger.

The post-match was the real story here, with Darby Allin saving Tony to officially setup Sting & Darby vs The Bucks for Revolution.

Willow gets by with a little help from her friend(?)

The ongoing saga with Willow Nightingale, Kris Statlander, and Stokely Hathaway has been a highlight of AEW TV the past several weeks. Tonight, I think we saw the picture of what's ahead become a little more clear.

Stat reluctantly welcomed Stokely into the fold with an even more hesitant Willow vocalizing her uncertainty at every turn.

Over the past couple of weeks, Stokely has seemed to soften a bit as have Stat and Willow. They've looked downright friendly with each other!

On tonight's Dynamite, Willow had a great match with Skye Blue. Skye has improved a ton as of late, especially with the character change. Her in-ring work has become more dynamic and interesting, and she's looked much more comfortable in this role than she did in the somewhat less concrete babyface Skye Blue character.

As the match reached its end, Stoke leapt up from the commentary to distract the referee just as Skye hit Code Blue and wrapped Willow up for the pin. Willow was covered for much longer than a three count, but Stokely kept ref Aubrey preoccupied for a bit.

Eventually, Willow was able to recover and hit the Babe With The Powerbomb for the win.

Was Willow aware of the Stokely distraction? Did she win the match via interference knowingly or unknowingly?

This feels like a fun little wrinkle in the story where we could see Willow adopt a less-than-perfect attitude towards the rules if it means victories continue to come. Could this sour the friendship between Willow and Stat? Or will the pair come to their senses and dump Stokely before things become too dire?

There's a nice bit of intrigue here with this latest bit and I'm looking forward to what comes next.