Here’s your weekly recap and thoughts about the internet’s favorite promotion to crap on from the safety of a keyboard!
By the way, I like the show. I thought it was good. Because wrestling should be fun to watch.
AEW Dynamite 2/12/25 kicks off to set a positive tone, and it helps to have a hot Texas crowd ready for action. “Platinum” Max Caster continues his “Best Wrestler Alive” open challenge shtick, but boy does he get wasted as the call is answered by “Hangman” Adam Page. The match is more of a western beatdown as Caster did get some offense in, but inevitably had his ass handed to him.
After the match, Page storms out while Caster still maintains being the “Best Wrestler Alive.”
Backstage or pre-taped, not sure, Ricochet cuts another scathing promo on humiliating Swerve Strickland and how he continues to troll the haters. Prince Nana tries valiantly to convince Swerve to let this go, but Swerve reminds us all he doesn’t let things go anymore.
This feud is going to continue for a while and I have to wonder what the payoff in the end will be. Scissors on a pole match?
It should surprise anyone that Undisputed Kingdom and the Death Riders (Claudio, PAC, Yuta) put on one hell of a match for the AEW Trios Championships. The sequences were seamlessly fluid from everyone involved. The crowd was on fire for it which always helps. While the result felt like a disappointment, I felt it was a breath of life into a long-stagnating Trios Division. The last time the belts were defended, I think, was when the Death Riders initially won the titles. Maybe had once been defended afterward while Yuta was still unsure of his stance.
I thought a real swerve would see Undisputed win the trios titles, thus showing the Death Riders might be fallible, with Mox now being uncertain about feuding with Cope and Jay White.
Instead, 2.0 and Danny Garcia made the post-match save. Listen, if we get more of this life into trios and see this on both Dynamite and Collision moving forward, then no complaints. There is a lot of potential here.
Speaking of trios, The Opps – Samoa Joe, Hook, and Shibata make mincemeat out of Rosario Grillo, Aaron Solo, and everyone’s favorite jobber, Jon Cruz. Mostly comedy spots and some brutal offense. Crowd ate it up though.
Joe and crew are coming after the Patriarchy. Joe’s boys handle their business with violence. As they should.
Not sure I like “The Opps” as a stable name. I’m not hip.
Chris Jericho and Bandido have a Showdown
Okay, a bit weird of a segment but came off fun nonetheless. Big Bill attempted to cash in on Jericho’s bounty on Bandido’s head, but was stopped by Powerhouse Hobbs and The Outrunners. There’s a trio I never knew I needed and now want to be a regular thing.
Backstage: Cope and Jay White ambushed Mox and Marina Shafir, stealing the briefcase with the AEW World Championship inside. They challenged Mox to face off with them in-person, in the ring, tonight.
Backstage: Shafir then attacks Willow Nightingale out of anger.
MJF defeated Dustin Rhodes
It always hurts to see the hometown hero lose. This was a big one. I felt this could have been one of the rare opportunities to have the hero win, but still come out damaged as the bad guy gains the upper hand. Instead, MJF wins when Dustin passes out while trapped in a crossface. However, before MJF can continue to do more damage, Adam Page returns and we get one of the most intense brawls of the year. This felt massive. Page vs. Friedman is going to be huge when it happens.
The match between MJF and Rhodes was great. It really and truly was a beaut. Technical wrestling, no flashy stuff, just straight-to-the-mat wrestling. MJF hit a vicious looking piledriver mid-match. Wow.
Megan Bayne defeated Maya World
Short and to the point. Bayne is brutal and the Women’s division is put on notice. Kris Statlander came out for her match before Bayne made it backstage, this would lead to some feud-building as she returned to hurt Statlander after she defeated Penelope Ford. By the way, Ford was the MVP of the match. She has always been a solid, reliable wrestler, but lately she’s turned it up a few more notches. She’s gotten better and better so give her more time in the ring!
FEEL THE WRATH! Harley Cameron has her sights set on TBS Championship at Grand Slam Australia!
Watch #AEWDynamite on @TBSNetwork & @SportsonMax @harleycameron_ pic.twitter.com/v6v9e9zhtJ
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) February 13, 2025
Harley Cameron Rap/Promo
Extremely well done. Cameron has come a long way since the QTV days. Thank Primus for that. She may not win the TBS Championship, but she is proving to be quite the versatile wrestler and character in AEW. She’s going to be great moving forward. Keep this up, this is what the Women’s Division will benefit from.
The Hurt Syndicate retain the AEW World Tag Team Championships against The Gunns
Absolutely excellent match. The Gunns came out firing on all cylinders, working with a duo like Lashley and Benjamin turned out to be well worth it. A match like this proves an earlier point I made a few weeks ago, Benjamin and Lashley are booked as equals. Elsewhere, Lashley is always booked as an unstoppable powerhouse. I’m sure he still is, but in AEW, Shelton Benjamin is not just an unstoppable powerhouse, but an absolute suplex monster machine.
The Gunns also killed it tonight. They have always been great at telling their story in the ring, not just the wrestling, but they carry such character with expressions and movements in the ring.
This was purely awesome.
Backstage: Mariah May cuts a threatening promo to end Toni Storm once and for all.
Final segment of the night saw Cope finally get his championship match with Mox at Revolution. He brought out his buddy “Spike” to bash the briefcase, but the show closes with another big brawl which also hypes up Cope and White vs. The Death Riders.
I still feel the Death Riders angle is missing something or perhaps never had the steam to begin with. I would have Cope and White, open the briefcase, showing off the championship and making a big deal about freeing the belt. But then, at Revolution, Mox wins and like the sinister villain which he has become, puts the belt back in the briefcase.
This would have been, as the kids say, “cinema.”
Or, just bring back Eddie Kingston already. If he’s ready.
