By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Andrade El Idolo vs. Kenny Omega: A strong match with a surprising outcome. As much as I wish they’d retire Don Callis’s screwdriver, it served the purpose of drawing out Swerve Strickland to save Omega, which led to the referee distraction that ultimately cost Omega the match. The distraction finish didn’t bother me. In fact, the distraction finishes were fine individually, but having three on one show was overkill. The post-match friction between Omega and Swerve set up what should be another interesting match.
Ricochet vs. Jack Perry for the AEW National Championship: Ricochet and Perry work well together and produced a good match. Stealing wins works for the obnoxious heel Ricochet character. GOA’s involvement was a simple way to help Ricochet go over, and led to the Young Bucks coming out to help set up Saturday’s tag team match.
Konosuke Takeshita, Josh Alexander, and El Klon vs. Jon Moxley, Pac, and Daniel Garcia: Good action from start to finish. While there was some mystery regarding the outcome, the only question for me was whether Klon or Garcia would take the loss. The overprotection of Garcia by having him kick out of so many big moves before he ultimately lost felt unnecessary. Despite a couple of knocks, this was a good opener.
AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron vs. Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford in an eliminator match: The AEW World Champion and AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions lost eliminator matches on the same night. No complaints. The champions win the vast majority of AEW’s eliminator matches, and it’s good to show that the challengers can occasionally win. Bayne continues to improve, and she and Ford work well together.
Hangman Page vs. Mark Davis: A soft Hit for a well-worked match that felt more competitive than it needed to be. While it’s logical to make Davis look good while he waits for tag team partner Jake Doyle to return from injury, perhaps they should have gone with a different opponent so that Page could have been more dominant heading into the No. 1 contenders’ match at Grand Slam Australia.
Orange Cassidy and Toni Storm vs. Jordan Oasis and Brittnie Brooks: The standby match went on second after a nearly 14-minute opening match? Weird. Anyway, a soft Hit for a decent showcase match for Cassidy and Storm, followed by an entertaining promo segment.
AEW Dynamite Misses
AEW World Champion MJF vs. Brody King in an eliminator match: The idea of King beating MJF to earn a title shot was cool, but the execution left a lot to be desired. It looked hokey when MJF passed out almost immediately after King put him in a sleeper while standing on the apron. I also wasn’t crazy about Hangman Page being such an obvious distraction for MJF. A more ambiguous approach would have been more intriguing, leaving fans to decide whether MJF was distracted or just using that as an excuse for losing. The approach they took protected MJF, but it didn’t make King seem like more of a threat to beat MJF for the AEW World Championship. Even so, I am looking forward to seeing the rematch on the loaded Grand Slam show.
Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors leave Darby Allin in the desert: As if choking out a company employee in the production truck wasn’t enough, Kidd and Connors aired footage of their apparent attempt to murder Allin by leaving him in the desert. This was over-the-top nonsense. I may be reaching, but I could see them playing with the theme that scorpions live in the desert, and this somehow leading to Sting’s son, Steven Borden, saving Darby and becoming his tag team partner.
(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.)
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