AEW Dynamite Hit List: Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and the Young Bucks vs. Hangman Page, Will Ospreay, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsuyori Shibata, Toni Storm and Mercedes Mone

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

AEW Dynamite Hits

AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm and TBS Champion Mercedes Mone: The final segment between Storm and Mone was strong. The overall build to the AEW Women’s Championship match at All In Texas failed to make it feel like an epic showdown, but I suspect it will still feel like one once the bell rings on Saturday, simply because of the wrestlers involved. These are the top two female stars in the company, and it feels like either wrestler could go over.

Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Matthew Jackson, and Nicholas Jackson vs. Hangman Page, Will Ospreay, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsuyori Shibata: The match was a Hit and served as a bit of a preview of three pay-per-view matches (assuming an AEW Trios Titles match is added). But I am baffled by the decision not to give Page a go-home promo. Perhaps we’ll get one on Collision, but it really should have happened on the A-show. The heels looked like morons for freezing when Swerve Strickland appeared on the big screen, but that’s par for the course in pro wrestling. The live crowd loved Swerve smashing the Bucks’ limo, but didn’t the Jacksons previously state that they put the limo on the company credit card? I wish this was the last all-star eight-person tag match for at least a few months, but there are two more advertised for tonight’s Collision. Sure, they often feature good action and get good reactions from the live crowds, but they are also trivial and typically end with the most predictable person taking the loss (see Shibata losing last night).

MJF and Mark Briscoe talky-talk: A babyface so lovable that he’s one of the few men on the planet who can say “talky-talk” and have it come off endearing. MJF is such a despicable heel that it would have been surprising had he not brought up the death of Jay Briscoe to get under his brother’s skin. In fact, MJF has pushed it so far in the past that I’ve become a bit desensitized to most of his line-crossing insults. The bonus portion of the segment saw the two teams that will challenge for the AEW Tag Team Titles on Saturday get one up on the champions. I like the idea of Lashley having a storyline knee injury because it makes him and Shelton Benjamin look vulnerable for the first time as a team since they arrived in AEW.

Konosuke Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher vs. ROH Champion Bandido and Brody King: I’m surprised they didn’t have Bandido team with TNT Champion Adam Cole to make this a preview of two weekend title matches. Nevertheless, it was a well-worked match, and Takeshita pinning Bandido made the challenger look strong heading into their ROH Championship match at Supercard of Honor.

Samoa Joe vs. Wheeler Yuta: A quality television match that didn’t overstay its welcome. I wasn’t a fan of Yuta being positioned as a badass who could hang with the company’s top wrestlers, but he’s adopted more pest heel qualities, which is more believable and generates more heat. One can only assume that Gabe Kidd’s involvement means he will replace Pac in teaming with Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli in an AEW Trios Title match.

Megan Bayne vs. Tay Melo vs. Queen Aminata vs. Thekla in a four-way for the No. 2 spot in the women’s Casino Gauntlet match: More of an in the middle. The match was sloppy at times, but Bayne going over was the right call, as she and Kris Statlander are a good pair of initial entrants in the gauntlet match. I just hope whatever they have planned for Statlander and the Death Riders breathes some life into her cold act.

AEW Dynamite Misses

Ricochet vs. Blake Christian: A well-worked match that would have been fine on most shows. It just felt out of place on the go-home week show. We didn’t get a Hangman Page go-home promo, but there was time for this match? On the bright side, I remain optimistic that the Gates of Agony aligning with Ricochet will finally lead to bigger and better things for Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona.