Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: Title Tuesday with more Darby Allin insanity, live crowd rejects Kyle vs. Kyle nudges, Mercedes Mone’s open challenge for the TBS Title

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday Hits

AEW World Champion Hangman Page and Samoa Joe meet face-to-face: Strong mic work from both wrestlers, with the champion getting the last word and closing the segment on a high note. Page seems much more confident during his second run as AEW World Champion in terms of how he carries himself and with the strength of his promos. The match is appealing even though it will be tough to sell viewers on the possibility of Joe beating Page to regain the championship. Like Kyle Fletcher before him, Joe feels like he was randomly selected for the title match, as opposed to being a wrestler who was built up to feel like an obvious contender. It looks like we can expect more of the same going forward, as no one jumps out as someone who is presently being built up to serve as Page’s next challenger.

Kyle Fletcher vs. Kyle O’Reilly for the TNT Championship: The Conglomeration promo gave the live crowd their cue to chant “Let’s go, Kyle” and recreate fan chant silliness during the first Kyle vs. Kyle match. These fans didn’t play along. Even if they had, Daily’s Place wasn’t the right location. It’s clearly a tough venue to mic, as any crowd chants throughout the night sounded muffled. Fletcher and O’Reilly work well together, but there was no reason to see O’Reilly as a threat to win the TNT Title. After all, his last meaningful singles match victory in AEW was when he beat Darby Allin at Double Or Nothing 2022. The post-match angle with Fletcher avoiding Mark Briscoe, only to be informed a short time later that he will face him at WrestleDream, was nicely done. And unlike O’Reilly, Briscoe is coming off a big win over MJF at All Out, so he feels like a credible challenger.

AEW Tag Team Champions “Brodido” Brody King and Bandido vs. Kazuchika Okada and Konsuke Takeshita in a double jeopardy eliminator match: Okada and Takeshita won the match to earn a shot at the AEW Tag Team Titles. The champions were protected due to Bandido selling a shoulder injury that the heels exploited. The friction between the Okada and Takeshita characters is building, and I’m curious to see what will finally cause their inevitable meltdown. Could it be as simple as losing the tag team title match?

“The Hurt Syndicate” Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, and MVP vs. “The Demand” Ricochet, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun in a Street Fight: The Demand won the pay-per-view match, and The Hurt Syndicate got their win back in front of the bigger television audience. These veterans aren’t stupid. Anyway, this was a good brawl, so it lands in the Hit section even though the outcome of the match was disappointing. This was a chance to double down and really make Ricochet and GOA by having them win again, which would have given Lashley, Benjamin, and MVP a mountain to climb. Instead, the Hurt Syndicate is right back to looking invincible, and whatever The Demand gained from winning at All Out was diminished.

Orange Cassidy vs. Pac: A soft Hit for a quality match that was brought down by the weird finish. Darby Allin handcuffed Pac’s leg to a barricade off the main floor. Pac somehow broke free (the production team failed to show how) and then he was able to beat the referee’s insanely slow ten count, only to be pinned seconds later. Whatever Cassidy gained from winning in this manner was quickly forgotten because the focus immediately shifted to Allin, whose character has become insanely over the top (more on that later). Oh, and maybe it will grow on me, but thumbs down for my first look at Pac’s new ring gear.

“Jurassic Express” Jack Perry and Luchasaurus vs. KM and Orion: A soft Hit for a spotlight win for the reunited babyface duo. The post-match angle with the Young Bucks leaving Perry and Luchasaurus lying was a quick and effective way to set up the WrestleDream tag match. But can anyone explain why Tony Khan would grant Nick’s request to make the tag team match a money match? The Bucks and Perry attacked Khan in a big television angle, and yet for some reason, Khan’s character agreed to book a match that would result in at least one of his attackers getting a share of $500,000?

AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday Misses

Darby Allin: He set Jon Moxley on fire at All Out. Days later, he brought out a flamethrower on Dynamite. He followed up those stunts by using mace and a stun gun, and then attempted to light a Molotov Cocktail all in one ridiculously over-the-top angle at the end of this show. Allin is among the most popular wrestlers in AEW. He doesn’t need this over-the-top campiness. Perhaps the idea is to create memorable moments, but they have to know that these stunts are memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Mercedes Mone vs. Lacey Lane for the TBS Championship: Meh. I hope there’s a place for Lane on the AEW or ROH roster, but she was an underwhelming mystery opponent. And that’s coming from someone who thought the former Kayden Carter showed a lot of potential during her days as a singles wrestler in NXT. But the party girl tag team gimmick with Katana Chance felt phony, and the duo never received a consistent push on the main roster. It’s one thing for Mone to give AEW undercard wrestlers a lot of offense, but it feels like it sends the wrong message to have an undercard WWE castoff be so competitive with the TBS Champion.

Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii: A minor Miss. Ishii is a legend for his work in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but he’s never even won a singles match in AEW (no, Ring of Honor doesn’t count). So while I can appreciate the work of both wrestlers, the thrill is gone when it comes to watching Ishii have long, competitive matches with predictable outcomes.

(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)