By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Kyle Fletcher vs. Kazuchika Okada in a Continental Classic tournament Gold League match: The tournament opened with a bang in the form of Fletcher beating Okada in a tournament match for the second consecutive year. It was a nice bounce-back win for Fletcher after he lost the TNT Title to Mark Briscoe at Full Gear. Furthermore, Fletcher’s win puts the reigning Continental Champion in a tough spot right out of the gate. Fletcher and Okada work well together, and I look forward to an eventual full-fledged feud between the two somewhere down the road.
Kevin Knight vs. Darby Allin in a Continental Classic tournament Gold League match: The biggest night one upset. For as much as AEW showcased fresh, young talent during the company’s early years, they’ve slipped a bit. The company hasn’t had much roster turnover, so they haven’t been as proactive when it comes to signing and developing independent standouts. They need to create new stars, and Knight is a good choice in that he’s a charismatic young wrestler with a lot of upside. It will take more than back-to-back losses to cool off the ever-popular Allin, and his character works better from underneath both in matches and in tournaments.
Jon Moxley vs. Mascara Dorada in a Continental Classic tournament Blue League match: Although Moxley was the favorite and went over, there was at least a bit of mystery regarding the outcome, as it felt like there was at least a chance that Moxley’s slump would continue. Moxley gave Dorada a fair amount of offense, and Dorada rebounded with a good match after the rough outing he had with Kazuchika Okada on Collision.
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Orange Cassidy in a Continental Classic tournament Blue League match: The rivalry continued with another quality bout. I typically question whether it’s a good idea to have Castagnoli singles matches in the main event slot, but that won’t be an issue if they close next week’s show with his match against Jon Moxley. It was logical to have Castagnoli beat Cassidy clean now that we know they are going with the battle of the Death Riders next week. I like that they sat on the announcement of Moxley vs. Castagnoli until after this match was over, as hyping that many beforehand would have made it obvious that Castagnoli was going to beat Cassidy. The post-match brawl was nothing special. In fact, it looked awkward when Marina Shafir stood and watched Mascara Dorada climb to the top rope and then dive onto some Death Riders and other heels on the floor.
Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron vs. Julia Hart and Skye Blue in an AEW Women’s Tag Team Title tournament semifinal match: A soft Hit for a decent match with a crowd-pleasing finish. I thought Willow and Cameron were going to lose to Mercedes Mone and Athena in the opening round, but it’s been a pleasant surprise to see them make it to the finals. Is the babyface duo winning this match a tell that the heel team of Marina Shafir and Megan Bayne will advance to face them in the finals?
AEW Dynamite Misses
Samoa Joe celebrates winning the AEW World Championship: It wasn’t all bad. Joe held up his end of the segment nicely, and the crowd was hot for Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland. But the video package that was supposed to connect the dots of everything that led to Hook’s heel turn didn’t actually connect anything. Hook’s bad entrance theme still doesn’t work even after his heel turn. Worst of all, it made no sense for Tony Schiavone to share the ring with The Opps without showing even a hint of concern. After all, we’re just a few weeks removed from Joe wanting to kill Schiavone for the part he played in the ruse that Page pulled off on the Fright Night-themed edition of Dynamite.
Full Gear follow-up: AEW had been doing a better job over the last few months of making their pay-per-views feel important on the fallout editions of Dynamite. Unfortunately, they slipped back into their old ways for the post-Full Gear show, while also failing to make some of their title changes feel like major happenings. Mark Briscoe had a good pre-taped promo about winning the TNT Title. Excalibur mentioned Samoa Joe winning the AEW World Championship while he was running through the show’s lineup, but it lacked the fanfare that a world title change warrants. The AEW Tag Team Title change and the crowning of the inaugural AEW National Champion were afterthoughts until the broadcast team plugged that the new champions would appear on Collision.
(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.)
The good thing about the Continental Classic this year is that there are no obvious scrubs who are clearly there to lose all their matches. If they do go with the obvious final of Okada vs. Takeshita, I really hope they give Takeshita the win. He’s way overdue a proper push.