By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Mercedes Mone vs. Hazuki in an Owen Hart Cup tournament semifinal match: A very good match. It’s always fun to watch a wrestler win over an unfamiliar crowd. In this case, the live crowd was understandably slow to get behind Hazuki, but they got behind her as the match went on. Perhaps I should be careful what I wish for since this was a rough night for mic work, but it seems odd that Mone’s character hasn’t explained where she was, where all of her title belts went, or offered any hint as to whether she’s a heel or a babyface.
Bandido and Brody King vs. Jon Moxley and Daniel Garcia: A strong match that went 22 minutes without overstaying its welcome. Bandido was way too giddy about this win when he and King were interviewed afterward. King saying this win somehow proved they are one of the best tag teams in the world was a head scratcher. Winning the AEW Tag Team Titles last year didn’t do it, but somehow beating two singles wrestlers from the Death Riders in a tag team match provided it? It was just as puzzling that Bandido pinning Garcia in a tag team match somehow set him up with a shot at the AEW Continental Championship. And what does it say about Ring of Honor that Moxley offered Bandido a shot at his title, but he didn’t care enough about Bandido’s ROH Championship to push for a title vs. title match?
MJF, Kazuchika Okada, Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight, Andrade El Idolo, and Jake Doyle vs. Mark Briscoe, Darby Allin, Konosuke Takeshita, Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly in a 12-man tag match: As previously noted, the big spot-fest tag matches are fun for the live crowd, yet they can start to feel trivial and redundant for weekly television viewers. The stipulation that anyone disqualified during this match would not be allowed to wrestle at Forbidden Door added nothing. On the bright side, they did manage to add to the tension between MJF and Andrade, which could play a big part in the cage match at Forbidden Door. On a side note, it was strange to hear Darby talk about Briscoe winning the AEW World Championship when his character should be calling for a rematch with MJF.
Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland: A soft Hit for a verbal segment that felt a little too ambitious in terms of how much ground they tried to cover. I’m not sure whether it was strange to hear Ospreay talking about how he “smashed the life” out of his new wife before telling her to “clean herself up,” or the fact that neither he nor Tony Schiavone mentioned Alex Windsor by name. The highlight of the segment was Swerve pointing out that Ospreay has not beaten him in a singles match in over a decade (Ospreay’s only singles win over Swerve was in a WXW match in 2016). Ospreay is a heavy favorite to win at Forbidden Door in the eyes of most fans, so anything they can do to make it seem like it’s not a slam dunk win for Ospreay is a positive.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Kenny Omega and Zack Sabre Jr. Omega’s squash win over Tony Nese to open the show was fine. The one-sided verbal segment that followed did nothing to increase interest in Omega’s match with Sabre. It was bizarre that Sabre just walked out and stood there with Bad Dude Tito and Mikey Nicholls while Omega rambled on about nothing that might actually sell anyone on the Forbidden Door match.
Adam Copeland, Christian Cage, David Finlay, and Clark Connors: What an amazing stroke of luck that the cameras just happened to catch all of this during one of the only times they’ve ever cut backstage during an entrance. Connors messing with a crew member while apparently failing to notice the Canadian flag on the back of his jacket was silly. Even the normally hilarious Christian had a couple of his weaker lines. Copeland stating that Finlay and Connors are essentially him and Christian thirty years ago made me laugh for the wrong reasons.
(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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