AEW Dynamite 1/29/25 (from Huntsville, Alabama) started with an electrifying the crowd from the get go, Will Ospreay defeated Brian Cage in the opening match! Fun kicker to amp up the crowd.
Look, individuals on social media will continue to circulate photos of empty arenas or intentionally blocked off areas, or state “the crowd is dead” for engagement. I love reading twitter threads of people so desperate to agree with podcasters. What do you think will happen? They’ll “like” or “retweet” your post? Invite you onto their show?
Come on you ol’ keyboard warriors. Touch some grass. Unless you are allergic. Don’t do that.
That being said, Ospreay vs. Cage was a fun and enjoyable match to start the night off. Was Dynamite “spectacular” from top to bottom? No! It doesn’t have to be. Does every episode of RAW or SmackDown have to be epic? No! Everyone acts like each weekly AEW show needs to be PPV-quality or it’s “tHe wOrSt ePiSoDe EVER.”
Did the beat down by The Callis Family drag on a few minutes too long? It sure did. Were there production issues? There sure were. But over on NXT, when the ref inadvertently counted a pinfall when Jakara Jackson covered Naomi, was there crying from podcasters that NXT was done or dying? NO. No there were not. They complained about the spot and moved on with their lives.
Which it seems many of you so-called wrestling fans should do too.
Dynamite moved on with their show after the opener, Renee trying to talk to “Hangman” Adam Page, who is searching for Swerve. Interesting. However he bumps into MJF backstage, and after a brief staredown, Page leaves and MJF opts to take the screen time to give a warning to Jeff Jarrett about the consequences of turning his back on The Devil.
Claudio Castagnoli defeated Jeff Jarrett
Decent match, more emphasis on the “drama” or “story” of Jarrett’s last run as a wrestler. He really wants a shot at the world championship. Unfortunately, interference prevented it from becoming reality, as the Death Riders would interfere, thus giving Claudio the edge for victory. The finish seemed a bit off, not sure if something else was supposed to happen or not.
Fans were supposed to feel some sort of sadness, Jarrett’s chase appears to be over. However, these feelings were not allowed to simmer as MJF came out and further added insult to injury.
Didn’t let this one breathe. Should have let Jarrett sit, sad, let the fans feel bad, and then have MJF ruin it all.
Guess the inevitable Jarrett/MJF will happen soon, but now we’re all looking past it and want Hangman/MJF instead. AEW needs to slow down the fast-forward booking.
Ricochet defeated AR Fox
Swerve and Fox seemed to bury the hatchet, adding a bit more emotional and personal investment. Great match, cool spots, but without Swerve interfering, it was a no-brainer Ricochet wins again. Had Swerve been allowed to interfere, then could you imagine Ricochet further descending into madness with a loss?
AR Fox is a great wrestler, but put him on TV for a match he doesn’t need to lose.
Promo for Danny Garcia defending the TNT Championship against Kyle O’Reilly and Lee Moriarty. Nothing against Mr. Taiga Style, but given how Shane Taylor seems to have the beef, he should have been in the match instead. Unless he’s injured or something. I really like Shane Taylor.
In other segments, Powerhouse Hobbs warns Big Bill their fight is not over. Later on, Chris Jericho in another “New York Minute” segment once again berates Big Bill, who has that look in his eyes and then promotes his movie Dark Match. Then both he and Bryan Keith challenge The Outrunners to a tag match on Collision.
“MANDELA EFFECT!” – Bryan Keith.
Jay White defeated Wheeler Yuta
Here we go, another fun match. Yuta has got something funky going on with the Shaggy haircut, or lack thereof. Can he see? Where are his eyes? It’s been made plainly clear he is the whipping boy of the Death Riders and my guess is he just doesn’t care. He’s in a club with the big bullies. However, despite Yuta holding his own, and looking good in doing so, Jay White still out-thinks the youngster and gets a clean pinfall win. Afterwards, Death Riders of course attack, but are chased off by Rated-FT-R. Dax challenges them to a Mid-South Street Fight. Ooh, now this sounds exciting. AEW produces some very good street fights, and FTR never seems to disappoint.
I expect Rated FT-R to challenge for the Trios Championships at the March PPV, Revolution.
Mariah May Promo: She tries valiantly to show being unfazed by the dramatic reveal on Collision. Her promos continue to be menacing and downright chilling. However there seemed to be signs of a crack forming. Perhaps showing some fear?
Promos!
Hyping up the Return of The Gunns, while backstage MVP offers an open challenge to the two men who are the best at what they like to do, and the like to hurt people.
Mercedes Mone retains the TBS Championship against Yuka Sakazaki
A fun closer. Yuka looked fantastic and easily the MVP of the match. It helps that Mone sold everything the Magical Girl dished out. Mone delivered some great counters and offensive of her own throughout. One spot saw Mone nearly hit the finish, but Yuka countered with a smug “I don’t think so” and then nearly stole a win with a rollup and again following a spinning Magic Carpet Ride. Despite this being another title defense with a 99.99% predictable ending, there was the fraction of a chance of a title change based on how good this match turned out to be. We might hate Mone, but she puts on great matches.
Once again, the Death Riders segments feel repetitive, despite the brief clip of the YouTube segment which honestly didn’t convey the idea Mox tried to present. Maybe if it was done sooner it might have made a difference. I still can’t get behind the idea of “not seeing the title.” Or when he says, you “don’t win” a title. We know, you have to fight, earn, and claim. But this isn’t a storyline which is pulling fans in to think this way. If it’s off TV for too long, fans forget, or worse, a title loses credibility. That’s my fear.
Again, there is no clear contender to believably take down Mox. Unless Bryan Danielson resurfaces for one more match, it is pretty clear there is only one man who can take the fight to Mox, get dirty, and put an end to this madness.
That man, you guessed it, is Eddie Kingston.
