By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Darby Allin vs. Kyle Fletcher for the TNT Title: My favorite match of the night. It would have been easy to book a cheap finish to avoid having Fletcher take the loss, but AEW delivered a satisfying finish that won’t damage Fletcher in any meaningful way. I wish other companies would take notice that it’s okay to have wrestlers lose clean under the right circumstances.
Will Ospreay vs. AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada for the AEW World Championship: A strong main event that deserved a better build. In fairness, they may have had to scrap some plans when last week’s Dynamite became a Pac tribute show. Even so, the first Ospreay vs. Okada match for the AEW World Championship warranted more than a one-week build. They just didn’t put the work in to make Okada feel like a threat to beat Ospreay. So while the match was very good, it lacked suspense. And don’t even get me started on Don Callis sitting in on commentary rather than being at ringside while one of his men is challenging for the AEW World Championship. With those negatives out of the way, I enjoyed the work of both wrestlers in front of a hot crowd and that the match concluded with a clean finish.
Bandido vs. Kofi for the ROH Championship: It was a nice win for Bandido to pin a former WWE Champion. Kofi taking a high-profile loss early in his AEW run sends the right message to the locker room. Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland’s involvement distracted from what was happening in the ring at times, but their ongoing feud is highly entertaining and a big part of the feud over the AEW Trios Titles.
Mark Davis and Jake Doyle vs. Jon Moxley and Gabe Kidd: It was nice to see an upset on a show that was filled with big title matches that had predictable outcomes. Davis and Doyle are more likely to be featured as a tag team, so I like the call of having them go over. I’m still not sure why Davis pinning Kidd set him up with an AEW Continental Championship match. That said, we’ve definitely seen worse logic used to justify someone getting a title shot, and it’s better than AEW running back the tag team match so that Moxley and Kidd can get their win back.
Mercedes Mone vs. Queen Aminata for the AEW Women’s Championship: A soft Hit for a good match with no mystery regarding the outcome. The broadcast team played up Aminata’s recent winning streak. All of those wins took place on AEW Collision or in Ring of Honor. If they knew they were going to put Aminata in this match, then why not show her winning matches on the company’s most-watched show?
AEW Dynamite Misses
Samoa Joe vs. Jack Perry in a Clockwork Carnage match qualifier: This was a fine match until Perry went into badass mode again. Perry couldn’t just be pinned without flipping off Joe and spitting in his face first. I don’t buy Perry playing this type of character, and it left me wondering why Joe’s character didn’t hold off on the pin until he beat the ever-loving shit out of Perry for disrespecting him.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time since 1997. He hosts the weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and 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.)
