Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: A mixed bag of final hype for Full Gear with a botched finish, blow spots, and odd no-selling, the possibility that a quick and decisive loss will lead to an AEW National Championship win

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

AEW Dynamite Hits

AEW World Champion Hangman Page vs. Katsuyori Shibata in a non-title match: A soft Hit for Page getting the expected win heading into his title defense against Samoa Joe. The build to the Page and Joe rematch has been questionable. Page won the first match and is the heavy favorite to retain his title in the rematch, yet the build was more focused on him taking out Joe’s allies than it was about attempting to sell viewers on the idea that Joe is a threat to win the championship. The Opps heel turn at WrestleDream was strong, but it’s been all downhill for them ever since.

Interim ROH TV Champion Mercedes Mone vs. ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet in a unification match: A solid match that closed the three-hour block. While I can’t say that I care about the ROH Women’s TV Championship, this beat the usual approach of closing three-hour shows with a throwaway trios or all-star eight-person tag match. But what was up with Kris Statlander not selling after Mone released the Statement Maker? Statlander popped right up and even carried Velvet to the back.

Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Roderick Strong and Orange Cassidy: A bounce back win for Moxley and Castagnoli after the Death Riders lost the Blood & Guts match. Pac also cut a good pre-taped promo that delivered the final push for his Full Gear match with Darby Allin.

Josh Alexander and “The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson vs. “SkyFlight” Scorpio Sky, Dante Martin, and Darius Martin: There was some good action, but this was more about playing up the drama regarding whether the Bucks will join the Don Callis Family. All signs point to an Elite reunion, and it will be interesting to see how they get there.

Megan Bayne and Marina Shafir vs. Anna Jay and Tay Melo in an AEW Women’s Tag Team Title tournament first-round match: A soft Hit. The right team went over. Ideally, Bayne and Shafir would have plowed through Jay and Melo in a glorified squash match to establish their dominance as a new powerhouse tag team, but it’s not like it was surprising to see Jay and Melo get some offense in before bowing out of the tournament.

Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa vs. Riho and Alex Windsor in an AEW Women’s Tag Team Title tournament first-round match: An in the middle for a match that felt like it went longer than it needed to. Excalibur told the story that Riho and Windsor were the fresher team because they did not compete in the Blood & Guts match. Unfortunately, that was one of the only times anyone on this show attempted to sell the impact of last week’s WarGames-style match.

AEW Dynamite Misses

Bobby Lashley vs. Ricochet for the No. 1 spot in the Casino Gauntlet match at Full Gear: Ricochet’s long promo was weak. Look, pal, if you want to drone on about your favorite football team, start your own pro wrestling podcast. Er, never mind. Anyway, Lashley destroying Ricochet while also roughing up Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun was a baffling move. Ricochet has become a good heel in AEW, but they are taking the piss out of his act by having him get his comeuppance so frequently. Having said that, the decisive manner in which Ricochet lost this match left me wondering if the plan is for him to bounce right back by becoming the inaugural AEW National Champion.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Mike Bailey for the No. 2 spot in the Casino Gauntlet match at Full Gear: This was fine, but it became a minor Miss due to the botched finish with the referee stopping his count despite Bailey’s shoulders being down. Bailey stuck his leg out, and it seemed like he was supposed to be closer to the ropes, but I’m not sure why the referee didn’t just count the pin. That said, Paul Turner is a good referee, and we all have our bad moments. The broadcast team’s approach to Lashley and Benjamin earning first and second entry into the Casino Gauntlet should have sparked a lot of conversation about whether Lashley and Benjamin will fight one another or join forces and use their numbers advantage in a way that leads to one of them winning quickly.

AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Mascara Dorada in a double jeopardy match: A minor Miss for a match that had some clunky moments, including the frightening botched huracanrana from the top rope that resulted in Dorada landing awkwardly on his head and shoulder. On the bright side, I did enjoy the way Okada showed disdain when Don Callis announced Konosuke Takeshita as one of his partners for the CMLL Trios Championship match that will be held on the Full Gear pre-show. Speaking of which, the announcers dropped the ball again by acting as if all Dynamite viewers are familiar with El Sky Team.

(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.)