By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Rebel: Brock Lesnar can stay retired. Pro wrestling has an even bigger badass.
Swerve Strickland and “New Level” Kofi and Austin Creed vs. Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly for the AEW Trios Titles: Another strong match for Kofi and Creed, who are off to a strong start in AEW. I’m not sure what to make of Swerve at this point, because he went from being a ruthless heel to teaming with a babyface duo. Hopefully, we’ll get some mic work from the trios champions soon to help establish their dynamic.
Andrade El Idolo vs. The Beast Mortos for the AEW National Championship: A strong television match. With the right build, the match would have meant more and could have gone longer, but it felt like the appropriate length for the way it was presented. Andrade continues to be one of the most popular wrestlers in the company. Mortos is great in the ring, but his gimmick is limiting.
AEW World Champion Will Ospreay vs. David Finlay in an eliminator match: A soft Hit. Much like I felt they should have done with Jon Moxley as AEW Continental Champion, and they are essentially doing now with Andrade, I’d like to see babyface champion Ospreay blow off the idea of wrestling in eliminator matches in favor of defending his title in every match. It would make his television matches a little more suspenseful. In fairness, though, I don’t think this match would have been more suspenseful had the title been on the line. This was Ospreay’s first singles match since he won the title, so Ospreay winning was inevitable. It was fine for what it was. On a side note, the backstage segment with Ospreay and Moxley was compelling. Ospreay showed confidence, while Moxley played it cool until Ospreay left, and then he let his frustration out.
Britt Baker, Persephone, and Hikaru Shida vs. Maya World, Hyan, and Thunder Rosa: The Hit is for Rebel delivering the glove that Baker wears while applying the Lockdown. The post-match scene with Baker sitting on Rebel’s lap while they rode her power chair to the stage was great. I was hoping for one more appearance by Rebel at the end of the night, but the ones she made were terrific, and the video she was featured in was awesome.
Excalibur: The emotional reading of his prepared comments regarding “The Butcher” Andy Williams was incredibly moving.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight vs. “The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson in a tables match: A minor Miss. It was odd seeing AEW close a show with a match that ended with blatant outside interference. This happens in so many WWE television main events that I’m numb to it, but I’m surprised that AEW didn’t place this match elsewhere on the show since it had that finish. It seemed like the goal was to establish Fletcher and Knight as a team, but the interference shifted the focus entirely to FTR and Stokely Hathaway. The post-match handshake with the Bucks and the team of Darby Allin and Steven Borden didn’t feel like the big moment the broadcast team tried to make it out to be. The company didn’t play up the history that Darby and Borden’s father had with the Bucks lately, so I don’t think most fans were even thinking about it when they ended up in the ring together at the end of the night.
Darby Allin and Steven Borden vs. Mark Davis and Josh Alexander: A soft Hit for match quality. AEW is doing a lot of things well, but the aforementioned closing segment with Allen, Borden, and the Bucks, along with this match, showed some of the company’s presentation weaknesses. In this case, the match landed as a minor Miss because AEW could have done a lot more to generate interest in Borden’s first Dynamite match. The build was basic, and it felt like this was just another match on the show rather than something special. Putting that aside, Borden is green, but he has a great look and the fans are behind him. And perhaps they don’t want to overhype Borden because he’s still green, but they still should have gotten more out of his Dynamite debut than they did. Borden is starting his career late, but so did Dallas Page, who went on to have a very successful career. I don’t know if Borden will be as successful as Page, but it will be fun to follow his progress.
(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 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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