{"id":189107,"date":"2026-04-23T14:17:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/?p=189107"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:17:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:17:52","slug":"powells-aew-dynamite-hit-list-thoughts-on-darby-allins-first-title-reign-a-big-upset-with-the-head-scratching-moments-that-followed-samoa-joes-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/2026\/04\/23\/powells-aew-dynamite-hit-list-thoughts-on-darby-allins-first-title-reign-a-big-upset-with-the-head-scratching-moments-that-followed-samoa-joes-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Powell&#8217;s AEW Dynamite Hit List: Thoughts on Darby Allin&#8217;s first title reign, a big upset with the head-scratching moments that followed, Samoa Joe&#8217;s return"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"prowr-3525467895\" class=\"prowr-apple-podcast-button-link prowr-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast\/id1365989370\" aria-label=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?fit=320%2C78&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?w=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?resize=300%2C73&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" width=\"320\" height=\"78\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p><b>By Jason Powell<\/b>, ProWrestling.net Editor (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prowrestlingnet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@prowrestlingnet<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>AEW Dynamite Hits<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Darby Allin vs. Tommaso Ciampa for the AEW World Championship:<\/b> A very good main event. This was Allin&#8217;s first title defense, so the odds of a title change were minuscule. This made it all the more impressive that Ciampa had a couple of believable near falls that the live crowd bought into. Allin is portrayed as a vulnerable champion who could lose the title at any time, which will make for some dramatic title matches if the company does it right. The post-match angle with Brody King challenging Allin to a title match on next week&#8217;s show created the vibe that it&#8217;s out of the frying pan and into the fire for the new champion. His title reign may not last long, but AEW has a good thing going with Allin as the world champion.<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Davis vs. Will Ospreay:<\/b> A major upset. While I&#8217;m not a fan of watching Ospreay take move after move on his surgically repaired neck, at least they got something more out of it than just sympathy for Ospreay. All signs pointed to him selling his neck throughout the match, only to make a big comeback to win in the end. So it was quite surprising when the ringside physician told the referee that Ospreay could not continue. This made the Ospreay injury storyline more interesting and gave Davis the biggest win of his AEW career. I wasn&#8217;t crazy about Davis leaving with his head slung low because the Death Riders intimidated him into abandoning his post-match attack plan. Davis strikes me as a crazed heel, and it would have been better if Callis had talked him down rather than Davis backing down. Even so, it was a good night for Davis. The company needs a strong follow-up. It has to be more than just Davis squashing a local wrestler. I don&#8217;t expect AEW to feed another top star to Davis, but they should double down by giving him a meaningful win.<\/p>\n<p><b>MJF promo:<\/b> MJF started the show with an entertaining, angry promo after losing the AEW World Championship to Darby Allin last week. TNT Champion Kevin Knight coming out to confront MJF was unexpected. MJF had to carry the promo, as it&#8217;s going to take more than Knight repeatedly telling us that he&#8217;s The Jet to get his character over. That said, the best way for Knight to improve is with regular reps on the mic, even if it means a few swings and misses along the way.<\/p>\n<p><b>Darby Allin promo:<\/b> Allin delivered a really good promo and acknowledged that his title reign could end at any time. Granted, that&#8217;s the case with any championship reign, but it&#8217;s different with Darby because he&#8217;s an underdog champion. There are plenty of potential challengers who feel like realistic challengers, and fans will be hanging on every near fall if they play it right. I wish Allin had been given more promo time before MJF came out. But he came off well before then while talking about how he won the title for his parents, his fianc\u00e9e, and his fans. Congratulations on the engagement, Darby, but you really should elaborate when you tell people that you met your fianc\u00e9e on a school bus, or they might get the wrong idea. Anyway, it was cool to hear Allin say he helped his parents retire. Many wrestlers would come off poorly if they said that during a promo, but Allin&#8217;s character is humble and comes from modest beginnings, so it feels like a genuine point of pride rather than him bragging.<\/p>\n<p><b>Hikaru Shida vs. Mina Shirakawa:<\/b> A soft Hit. The match had some clunkiness, but there was more good than bad.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>AEW Dynamite Misses<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Death Riders kidnap an injured Will Ospreay:<\/b> This was actually fairly compelling. The problem is what came next. The idea that a heel stable can carry off an injured adversary during the first hour of a show without anyone caring enough to provide an update is nonsense. It&#8217;s just as bad that the next segment featured an interview with Ospreay&#8217;s fianc\u00e9e, Alex Windsor, who wasn&#8217;t asked about Ospreay and showed no concern for her future husband while delivering a standard Brawling Birds style promo.<\/p>\n<p><b>Brody King vs. Lio Rush:<\/b> Rush morphing into the AEW version of Gollum is weird and should have come with a story. Viewers didn&#8217;t get to see Rush&#8217;s transition. He just showed up this way one week. It doesn&#8217;t really fit with the vibe in AEW, but it could if they framed it as him playing mind games with his opponents, similar to how Goldust&#8217;s antics were described in WWE. Even then, Rush&#8217;s character is pretty out there and looks like it would be a better fit in TNA&#8217;s Undead Realm than in AEW. As much as it&#8217;s not for me, I give Rush credit for how well he plays this character. That said, King should have been spotlighted before his AEW World Championship match next week, not having a competitive match with an oddball character that pulled the focus away from him.<\/p><div id=\"prowr-471319825\" class=\"prowr-content-4 prowr-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: prowrestling_incontent_2 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"prowrestling_incontent_2\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"prowrestling_incontent_2\", slotId: \"prowrestling_incontent_2\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><b>Samoa Joe vs. Cody Chunn:<\/b> Rather than surprise fans or come up with a creative way to reintroduce Joe, the company waited until roughly an hour before the show to announce online that he&#8217;d be &#8220;in action.&#8221; The match was fine, but Joe&#8217;s return should have packed more of a punch.<\/p>\n<p><i>(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast--3275525\">Pro Wrestling Boom<\/a>, and also appears regularly on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/category\/podcasts\/wade-keller-pro-wrestling-podcast\/\">Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast<\/a>. Reach him via email at <a href=\"mailto:dotnetjason@gmail.com\">dotnetjason@gmail.com<\/a> and on social media via <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/prowrestlingnet.bsky.social\">@prowrestlingnet.bsky.social<\/a>\u00a0or <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/prowrestlingnet\">x.com\/prowrestlingnet<\/a>. For his full bio and information on this website, click <a href=\"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/about-us\/\">here<\/a>.)<\/i><\/p>\n<div id=\"prowr-1232419655\" class=\"prowr-after-content prowr-entity-placement\"><a class=\"spreaker-player\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/show\/pwboom\" data-resource=\"show_id=3275525\" data-theme=\"light\" data-playlist=\"show\" data-width=\"100%\" data-height=\"340px\">Listen to \"Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast\" on Spreaker.<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":146926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,50,27],"tags":[2486,3033,2207,1956,2747,3803,4557,5185,2165,48,331,464],"class_list":["post-189107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jasonpowell","category-mustreadarticles","category-viewpoints","tag-aew","tag-aew-dynamite","tag-brody-king","tag-darby-allin","tag-hikaru-shida","tag-kevin-knight","tag-mark-davis","tag-mina-shirakawa","tag-mjf","tag-samoa-joe","tag-tommaso-ciampa","tag-will-ospreay"],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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