Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: Orange Cassidy vs. Wheeler Yuta, Darby Allin vs. Claudio Castagnoli, eight-man tag match, the final push for Full Gear

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

AEW Dynamite Hits

Konosuke Takeshita, Kyle Fletcher, Lance Archer, and Brian Cage vs. Will Ospreay, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricochet, and Mark Davis: One of AEW’s better “all-star” tag matches. Hobbs leaving the match due to a knee injury and then returning later was well received. The finish was done in a way that points to Davis turning on Ospreay and joining the Callis Family. I just hope that’s not a big part of the finish to the Ospreay vs. Fletcher match at Full Gear.

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Darby Allin: It was legitimately surprising to see Allin take such a lopsided loss. It was obviously good for Castagnoli, but it will be interesting to see if Allin gets his win back. Going into the match, Allin seemed like the logical next challenger for the AEW World Championship. He’ll need to bounce back quickly if that’s actually the plan.

Kris Statlander vs. Hikaru Shida: A soft Hit. This same match would have been a true Hit had it taken place at a time when the outcome wasn’t so predictable. You had to know there was no way Statlander was going to lose when she’s challenging for the TBS Title on Saturday.

Bobby Lashley vs. Joe Keys and Cheeseburger in a handicap match: A soft Hit for a basic handicap squash match win for Lashley. It was nice to see Cheeseburger again. He was a popular underdog in ROH, so I’m surprised he hasn’t been used more since Tony Khan acquired the company.

AEW Dynamite Misses

Go-home show: Dynamite wasn’t all bad, but there was nothing about it that made me more excited about ordering Full Gear than I was going in. In fact, most of the key pay-per-view segments were so bad that I’m actually less excited about Full Gear than I was prior to Dynamite. This was a failure as a go-home show.

Orange Cassidy vs. Wheeler Yuta: I don’t know if anyone expects Cassidy to win the championship at Full Gear. So why in the world was this match laid out to make him look like an even softer challenger by having him give so much offense to Wheeler F’n Yuta? I like the role that Yuta plays in The Death Riders. Heck, he and Jon Moxley are the only two members of the faction who have actual characters at this point. But the company has to stop trying to get Yuta over as an in-ring badass. It’s just not working and he’d be so much more effective as a pest heel.

Daniel Garcia and Matt Menard kidnap Jack Perry: How was this nonsense supposed to get anyone more excited about the TNT Title match at Full Gear? Does this mean Perry is next to join The Final Testament?

Mercedes Mone: The live crowd chanting “shut the f— up” said it all. This was another bad promo. The highly paid Mone has been a flop in AEW thus far.

Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly: The drama involving Cole, O’Reilly, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, and Roderick Strong never ends. I wish it would. They are all talented wrestlers, but the back and forth between them being allies and enemies has played out in three companies now. It’s more than run its course and yet AEW just won’t move on.

The Costco Guys: They have over two million followers on TikTok and apparently not one of them attended this show. I get the idea of working with these guys to help raise brand awareness, but their segment was a turnoff and no one in the crowd seemed to care.