By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Jack Perry, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Dezmond Xavier, and Zachary Wentz vs. Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler, Ricochet, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun in a Mile High Madness match: All action from start to finish in this Anarchy in the Arena style match. These crazy spot fests are a lot of fun in small doses, and they always get a rise out of the live crowds. One minor concern is that this is at least three straight weeks that the Young Bucks have gotten the better of FTR on Dynamite, and it feels like this match erased a lot of the heat the Harwood and Wheeler generated when they attacked the Bucks’ brother Malachi on Collision. Hopefully, there are big heat segments planned for FTR over the next two weeks heading into the Revolution pay-per-view.
Brody King vs. Mark Davis: A fun hoss fight. King continues to be over big with AEW live crowds. He typically comes off a little too laid back during his promos, but he showed good fire while addressing the crowd afterward. Meanwhile, Davis appears to be morphing into an unhinged big man based on his look and facial expressions. He’s in good shape and is starting to click with this viewer despite losing most of his singles matches. Ideally, Davis will get some wins to boost his credibility so that he and Jake Doyle can get back to being a killer heel tag team once Doyle is healthy.
AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley vs. El Clon in an eliminator match: The pleasant surprise of the night. With no mystery regarding the outcome, the decision to go sixteen minutes was questionable, but the wrestlers made it work. It still seems strange to me that Moxley has had so many eliminator matches when they could be playing up his recent wins as successful title defenses had they taken a different approach.
Gabe Kidd vs. Orange Cassidy: An enjoyable match followed by Clark Connors attacking Cassidy, followed by Darby Allin making the save. The post-match portion was especially well done. It was one of Allin’s best appearances in recent memory, and it didn’t require him to do anything crazy. The spot where he rolled his skateboard toward Connors and then hit him with a Canadian Destroyer after he bent over to pick it up was simple and fun. I was surprised they didn’t announce a tag team match involving these four wrestlers for an upcoming television show. Are they saving that for Revolution?
MJF and Hangman Page: A minor Hit for a segment that got things back on track following some confusion after their previous in-ring discussion about their match stipulation. The double-headed coin gag was fine if you could get past the fact that MJF could have just picked his stipulation per Page’s comments last week. Swerve Strickland said he no longer has regrets despite telling Page he did at one point. Will Strickland help MJF win at Revolution to permanently eliminate Page as a contender to the AEW World Championship?
Kevin Knight vs. Mansoor: The brief match was fine, but it wasn’t really a Hit or a Miss. Even so, it was good to hear a post-match promo from Knight. At some point, I hope he gets a chance to share his backstory (worked or shoot) so that viewers can get to know his character better.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron vs. Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford for the AEW Women’s Tag Team Titles: I feel for Ford. She missed two years for health reasons at point and returned in January after missing a few more months due to injury. She was hurt again while performing a top rope moonsault onto both opponents on the floor. For some reason, Willow and Cameron seemed to part like the Red Sea and didn’t do much to break Ford’s fall. It looked like the remaining wrestlers had to go with a new finish after Ford got hurt. I don’t know if it was poorly executed or just a bad plan, but Lena Kross hitting Willow with one of the tag team title belts even though Bayne was at no risk of losing was awful.
(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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