The final Dynamite from Ontario, California, before AEW Grand Slam brings the hits heading into the weekend. Another majorly stacked card. Like the previous episodes on paper look to be pretty solid, and wouldn’t you know it, delivers yet another PPV-quality night. Dynamite featured two championship matches, and the first Match of the Year candidate for 2026.
Dynamite kicks off with Kenny Omega in the ring with Tony Schiavone. He blames Swerve Strickland for his recent loss and failure to qualify to contend for the AEW Men’s World Championship. This brings out Swerve, who holds nothing back regarding how he feels about Omega returning and coming right into the championship scene.
Swerve reminds Kenny, he is the most dangerous wrestler in AEW. However, Omega offers a different perspective, such a title should be bestowed upon one Brody King.
Omega slaps Swerve after words get intense, and the two brawl all over the arena, ultimately going off the stage, crashing through tables.
Good grief, this was an insane start. Omega vs. Swerve incoming!
The Death Riders (Mox, Claudio, PAC) defeated the Don Callis Family (Alexander, Davis, Takeshita)
Likely the best trios match between the two factions to date. This trio of the Death Riders easily can be seen as the toughest. Each time they had their rival. Claudio and Davis are the heavies, PAC and Alexander are the ring vets, Takeshita and Mox mirrored anything the other threw. A constant flow and back-and-forth action kept the pace unpredictable and each near fall became more dramatic than the last. Mox got the pin on Alexander, but Takeshita appeared to have Mox’s number on more than one occasion. Mox and Takeshita will collide this Saturday for the Continental Championship.
Mox winning or losing will likely feel the same. Takeshita however, I am not sure a loss will do anything valuable to his character.
Kyle Fletcher defeated Tommaso Ciampa to win the TNT Championship
This my friends, is the Match of the Year Candidate. Ciampa and Fletcher put on one hell of a show. For every move Fletcher attempted, Ciampa had an answer, with interest! Ciampa stops his challenger mid-flight, then drops him hard onto the steel stairs at a horrific angle. It definitely had to hurt. Ciampa at moments completely dominated Fletcher, but the Aussie refused to stay down. Later on, Fletcher began his rally of fast strikes, suplexes, and spine-shattering powerbombs. Ciampa retaliated with a barrage of running or diving knee strikes which made the V-Trigger look like an Atari joystick. Both men dropped each other with brainbusters, near falls again. As the announcements indicated the time limit was winding down, both men turned up the pace and the crushing delivery of move after move, after move. Ultimately, Fletcher was able to score with a final brainbuster in which Ciampa sold like Death itself, getting the pinfall with minutes to spare, and the TNT Championship.
I have no doubt the internet will both celebrate and whine. Celebrate because an unexpected championship change is great for viewership. Shock like this draws attention. Fletcher going into Australia, his home country as TNT Champion is a smart booking move for the fans over there. Will he retain it for long? This is uncertain. His challenger for Grand Slam is revealed to be Mark Briscoe and will challenge Fletcher in a Ladder Match.
It feels a bit overplayed now to have Briscoe yet again face Fletcher, even though their matches have been great. My gut tells me Fletcher needs a convincing win for the hometown crowd, and this is how he’ll get it.
I would have preferred a three-way Ladder Match to include Tommaso Ciampa.
Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong defeated Daniel Garcia and Clark Connors
This one was a mixed bag. Connors appears to be with the Death Riders in some capacity, in part due to Gabe Kidd’s involvement. Cassidy went for a hot tag after being overpowered for some time, only for Strong to walk out. Despite this, Cassidy wound up winning after Darby Allin showed up to fight Connors. Garcia was left alone, Cassidy wraps him up for a pinfall.
Connors and Kidd’s feud with Darby Allin is a fun one to watch, even if it doesn’t make complete sense. Let’s just go with Gabe Kidd wants to fight with the guy who beat the Death Riders and brought in Clark Connors to do it. Kidd and Connors feel like they are in and out too much, more consistency is needed in front of an audience to remain a presence. It feels like Kidd and Connors need this feud more than Darby.
Will there be any consequence with Roderick Strong bailing? He has said all along he wasn’t part of the Conglomeration. This cements it. A heel turn has been in the works for a really, really long time. We finally got the payoff but now there needs to be a big follow up. Does Kyle O’Reilly return?
After the match, Toni Storm arrived to cut a promo on Wheeler Yuta and Marina Shafir. Funny stuff. Not so funny when they brought out Mina Shirakawa and the heels cut her hair! Is this a sign of things to come?
The Young Bucks defeated The Rascalz and Private Party to qualify for the AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championships.
This was a riot. Insane spots, wild action, non-stop insanity. Some unique spots between all teams.
The returning Private Party was met with cheers from fans. They looked good, Marc Quen in particular definitely hulked up. The three teams delivered the match one would expect from six high flyers in an AEW ring.
Bucks vs. FTR is not novel, but they deliver a classic every time they compete together. The Bucks have seemed to earn themselves a second or third wind, a match with FTR while not needed or expected will still be very satisfying to watch.
Thekla defeated Kris Statlader to become the new AEW Women’s World Champion in a Strap Match
It was made clear that while Thekla had Julia and Skye in reserve, Willow and Harley were already in Australia, so Statlander would not have her main backup. But why not have others instead?
Stat was busted open early on. If you were unaware she had a funny response to some recent resurfacing criticism of the Women’s Blood and Guts match. However, despite the blood used every element of her strength and power to put Thekla through hell. Thekla, in turn, raised some hell of her own, using the strap relentlessly without remorse. In between the brawling and use of the strap, both women used their strength and resilience in delivering slam after slam, suplex after suplex, driver after driver, and more and more punishment. Ultimately, interference from Skye Blue and Julia Hart pushed the match into Thekla’s favor, allowing her to pin and win the championship. After the match was over, Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor, dubbed the Brawling Birds, rushed out for the save.
Really? They couldn’t have come out BEFORE Statlander lost the title?
In any event, a heel champion is always good to have, giving babyfaces someone to chase. Also, gives Big Stat Daddy a new story arc for retribution.
Fantastic go-home show for the upcoming Grand Slam event in Australia. While it is not a PPV, it is certainly being hyped like one.
