By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
“FTR” Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler vs. Adam Copeland and Christian Cage for the AEW Tag Team Titles: My favorite match of the night. I became a little numb to near falls after seeing so many as the show went on, but that wasn’t an issue with this match being held early in the card. They made good use of Stokely Hathaway, particularly when Christian sent him crashing into Harwood to break up a pin. The match was suspenseful, as it seemed likely that Copeland and Christian would win the titles in Canada. I really like the call to keep the titles on FTR, rather than take the belts off them when they are thriving as champions. Copeland and Cage came out of this looking really good in defeat after putting up such a good fight.
“The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson vs. AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita: They started the show with a bang. There was great wrestling, entertaining humor, and good storytelling. It will be interesting to see where Okada and Takeshita go from here. The story was that Callis said Takeshita would get a shot at Okada’s AEW International Championship if they worked together. They did for the most part, but Takeshita releasing Nick’s leg so that he could hit the Bucks’ finisher on Okada gives Callis an out. Will they find a way to get to the match at Double or Nothing or continue to stretch out the build to their eventual showdown?
MJF vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship: A good main event that would have been better had they trimmed roughly ten minutes. It was another long pay-per-view, and it felt like they could have told the same story even if they cut ten minutes from the match. That said, it was an enjoyable match, even with the ref bump. AEW hasn’t overdone ref bumps, so I didn’t mind seeing it here. Omega got the visual pinfall, and MJF can now boast that he kicked out of the One Winged Angel, even though he had the benefit of having extra time before the second referee arrived to make the count. MJF is having a hell of a title reign. As much as I like Darby Allin, the ideal move would be to keep the championship on MJF until AEW All In. It’s always good to have a long-reigning champion heading into a company’s biggest annual event. In this case, MJF should be positioned as a strong champion so that it means more when/if Will Ospreay beats him for the title at Wembley Stadium.
Darby Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo: Well, that had to be a first. I can’t remember a time in wrestling where thousands of male fans chanted for a male wrestler to take off his pants. Andrade was ready for it and quickly obliged in what was a fun sequence. The overall match was top-notch, as these two work really well together. Darby going over was the expected move, but I thought he was being set up to challenge for the championship at Double or Nothing. His logic for wanting to hold the match in the same city where he started his career was sound. While I can’t rule out a title change, I could also see them going for heat by having Hangman Page and/or Swerve Strickland attack Darby. Either way, it’s encouraging to see three title matches scheduled for Wednesday’s Dynamite, especially after the weak Dynamite that followed AEW Revolution.
Jon Moxley vs. Will Ospreay for the AEW Continental Championship: Another very good match. They went a little crazy with Ospreay kicking out of so many big moves. Sure, it gets a big pop in the moment, but it makes life difficult for the matches later in the show. Ospreay hitting two Hidden Blades to start the match made for a hot start. It was easy to follow the story that he was more concerned with revenge than winning the championship at that point. Perhaps this also explains why the Continental Championship seemed like an afterthought throughout the build to the match. I wonder if the plan his for Ospreay to avenge this loss by beating Moxley in the finals of the Owen Hart Cup tournament to earn the AEW World Championship match at All In.
Ricochet vs. Chris Jericho: The Vancouver crowd was red hot early in the show and gave Jericho the type of reaction he was surely hoping to get in Winnipeg and Edmonton. Jericho looked great, especially for a 55-year-old wrestler having his first match in a year. Working with Ricochet surely helped, and I’m happy they had the heel go over to hopefully extend the feud. Ricochet’s character has a lot to gloat about after beating Jericho with his own move in Canada.
Casino Gauntlet match for the vacant TNT Championship: The finish made the match. The crowd ate up the spot fest with all of the near falls, but the wrong outcome could have moved this into soft Hit territory for this viewer. Kevin Knight winning his first singles gold in AEW was a pleasant surprise. Hitting his UFO Splash finisher on Daniel Garcia, who had Mike Bailey locked in his submission finisher, looked great. Better yet, the move took out Bailey, who did not appear pleased as he watched his tag team partner celebrate, which is a nice hook for the follow-up on this week’s television.
Thekla vs. Jamie Hayter for the AEW Women’s Championship: A soft Hit for a good match until the weak finish. This was a chance to give Thekla a clean win over a quality challenger rather than having her cheat to win. Worse yet, she grabbed the bottom rope right in front of the referee, who had to act oblivious. Even so, Thekla and Hayter worked well together. They provided a nice change of pace from the high-spot heavy matches. The crowd was still coming down from the Casino Gauntlet match when the match started, but they won over the crowd by the end.
AEW Dynamite Misses
“The Dogs” David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, and Clark Connors vs. Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly for the AEW Trios Titles: It was a nice moment for O’Reilly to return from another injury layoff to win the trios titles in his hometown. But I just don’t care about the trios titles, and the recent game of hot potato they’ve been playing with the titles isn’t helping. It was also disappointing to see The Dogs drop the titles just 24 hours after winning them. It turned out to be for the best due to the unfortunate shoulder injury Kidd suffered during the match. Here’s wishing him the best in his recovery.
(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.)
Has anyone ever seen Aubrey Edwards and Frau Farbissina from the Austin Powers movies in the same room? Go and listen to Aubrey’s first 10-count in the Jericho vs Ricochet match and tell me they are not the same person.