By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Hangman Page angle: It was odd to have a contract signing right after the match, and that’s something they could have addressed by having FTR immediately sign a contract after winning the tag team four-way. There was also some bad acting, and Powerhouse Hobbs and Katsuyori Shibata were looked like bumbling henchmen. Even so, the actual gag of Page fooling Joe by dressing up as Tony Schiavone came off really well. Most of the fans in the building seemed legitimately surprised by the reveal, and this felt like a big moment. The problem coming out of the angle is that it calls for The Opps to take out Schiavone for clearly being in cahoots with Page. It’s hard to imagine non-wrestler Schiavone taking a physical beatdown. I suppose they could have someone else dress like Schiavone to serve as his stuntman, but I’m guessing that Page will save Schiavone once, and then they’ll just move on like the whole thing never happened. And while this was a fun way to close the show, they really need to put heat on Joe, who just lost to Page at WrestleDream, and then got played by him during this segment. Give viewers a reason to think that this the outcome of the Page vs. Joe rematch could be different.
FTR vs. The Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express vs. JetSpeed in a four-way for a shot at the AEW Tag Team Titles at AEW Full Gear: The best match of the night. It seemed likely that one of the heel teams would win to earn a shot against babyface champions Brody King and Bandido, but there was some mystery as to whether that team would be FTR or the Bucks. I’m fine with the decision to go with FTR, who had a 30-minute draw with Brodido in the finals of the eliminator tournament in August.
The Callis Family Summit: The latest Callis painting was funny. There was a lot of forgettable talking until they finally got to the Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada confrontation. Takeshita offering up a handshake per Callis’s demand was met with Okada channeling Craig from South Park once again by flipping off Takeshita. Will Takeshita and Okada reach their breaking point in time for a match at Full Gear?
Julia Hart and Skye Blue vs. Jamie Hayter and Queen Aminata in an AEW Women’s Tag Team Title tournament match: The Hit is more about the upset than the match quality or the weak Thekla interference spot that the production team somehow missed live. It seemed like a sure thing that Hayter and Aminata would advance to face Mercedes Mone and Athena in the semifinals. Hart and Blue getting the surprise win left me questioning whether the company will book a heel vs. heel match in the semifinals or go with another upset of Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron beat Mone and Athena next week. On a side note, the Megan Bayne and Marina Shafir team that was put together due to Penelope Ford’s injury looks really fun on paper. Will Bayne and Shafir self-destruct or win the whole thing?
Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O’Reilly: Another strong match with O’Reilly once again getting the better of Moxley, yet not beating him by pinfall or submission. O’Reilly is a hell of a wrestler, and it’s great that Moxley is trying to elevate him, but there’s only so over O’Reilly will get as long as he continues to act quirky during his promos and backstage segments. They got too cute with the Blood & Guts challenge that followed the match. I get what they were going for with the usual gag of Cassidy’s monotone delivery, but it didn’t land with this live crowd, causing the challenge to come off flat.
Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy vs. Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta in a Trick or Treat tornado tag match: The live crowd was hot for the brawl and the babyface duo, which got the show off to a high-energy start.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Samoa Joe vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Ricochet vs. Hook in a four-way for a shot at the AEW World Championship at AEW Full Gear: No one bothered to explain why these four wrestlers were given this opportunity, and it’s probably because there was no good explanation. Joe just lost to Hangman Page at WrestleDream. Ricochet has wrestled one singles match since August. Even worse, Lashley has wrestled one singles match since February. And Hook’s singles wins since his return in September were over Griff Garrison, Aaron Solo, and the mighty Rosario Grillo (shout-out to Cagematch.net for the info). Still, it was good to have another high-stakes match on the show as opposed to having matches just for the sake of having great matches. Unfortunately, the wrestlers lost me when Joe had to hold up Hook in the Muscle Buster position for what felt like an eternity while Lashley got in position and then ran the ropes before spearing Joe. They also failed to sell me on the possibility of anyone other than Joe winning, and the video package they showed on Page and Joe earlier in the show didn’t help their cause.
No interference allowed in the four-way matches: Excalibur explained that Stokely Hathaway had to sit at the broadcast table during the tag match because the stakes were so high that absolutely no interference was allowed in either four-way. Does that mean AEW management is okay with interference in other matches? And if there are no disqualifications in four-way matches, how could they even enforce the no-interference rule?
(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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