By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Dynamite Hits
Swerve Strickland, Kofi, and Austin Creed vs. “The Demand” Ricochet, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun for the AEW Trios Titles: The show and the All Out go-home hype peaked with this opening match. There was good in-ring work from everyone involved, and the Demand felt like more of a threat to win than I anticipated. I got a kick out of Kofi and Creed asking Swerve before the match if he had any friends in AEW before they arrived. The post-match angle with Hangman Page, Bandido, and Brody King confronting Swerve, Kofi, and Creed was well done. They wisely played up tension between Swerve and Page. King saying, “It’s only been three weeks” in response to Swerve and Kofi labeling Swerve a changed man was great. I still don’t care about the trios titles, but this was one of the only segments of the night that left me more excited about an All Out match than I was going into the episode.
AEW World Champion Will Ospreay and Mike Bailey vs. Claudio Castagnoli and Gabe Kidd: A quality television main event (this match aired at the end of the Dynamite portion of the three-hour block). I’m not a fan of Ospreay launching a U.S. version of United Empire because I find it much more interesting if he stands alone as the AEW World Champion. The post-match angle featured good performances from Ospreay and Moxley. I was hoping for something bigger between the two, but Ospreay showed confidence heading into the All Out main event, and Moxley told a good story through his facial expressions. I can’t say this made me more excited about their match, but I was already sold on the match coming into this episode.
Adam Copeland and Christian Cage’s in-ring meeting with The Young Bucks and FTR: More good than bad. They created more tension between Copeland and Christian and the Young Bucks before a solid brawl broke out. The big negative was the over the top attacks on the security guards. Copeland performing a Conchairto on one of the security guards was a dick move for a babyface, given that the guy was just doing his job from a storyline standpoint. I don’t think it was meant to tease a Copeland heel turn, but it was ineffective if it was, because babyfaces and heels beat up random security guards so frequently in most of the top promotions.
AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley vs. Dezmond Xavier in an eliminator match: A soft Hit for a decent match with a highly predictable outcome. There was no way to avoid the feeling of predictability with Moxley challenging for the AEW World Championship on Saturday. With that in mind, I would have preferred they saved this match for another day and dedicated some of this time to a longer verbal segment involving Moxley and AEW World Champion Will Ospreay.
AEW Dynamite Misses
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Jake Doyle: The most baffling match of the night. Ciampa feels like a big underdog heading into this match with Kazuchika Okada on Saturday, so it was strange to see him give up so much offense to Doyle. I get that Doyle was trying to soften up Ciampa for a fellow Callis Family member. Still, it seems like it would have been better to have Ciampa plow through a different opponent and look strong heading into his AEW International Championship match.
Persephone vs. Hyan for the TBS Championship: A minor Miss. The match was fine, but it also felt a bit flat, as there was no reason to view Hyan as a threat to win the championship. If you ask most AEW viewers who she is, they’d probably say she’s Maya World’s tag team partner, but they wouldn’t be able to tell you anything about her character. Only time will tell whether Persephone will be elevated through her on-air relationship with Britt Baker. Although Persephone is a good enough talker on her own, perhaps Baker’s star power will give her a boost. Baker could overshadow Persephone and do more harm than good, but I’m optimistic that it will work out for the better. Either way, it was good to see AEW announce the Baker and Persephone vs. Hyan and Thunder Rosa match for next week, as Baker’s latest homecoming after a long hiatus could help move some tickets.
(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 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.)
