AEW Dynamite 3/26/25 Review: Solid Groundwork Laid for Dynasty

Let’s keep something in mind, not every episode has to be near pay-per-view quality. For those of you who think every match needs to be five stars and anything less is considered garbage,  I can’t imagine the number of brains exploding during the ’80s and 90s of both WWF and WCW. 

Dynamite was a curious episode indeed. on paper a lot of healthy midcard matches, with some very promising promos. Let’s take a run through and see how good the show really turned out to be.

Opening up with Kenny Omega defeating Blake Christian. I expected a little more from the match, despite Christian being able to dazzle the fans with some high flying Maneuvers sporadically, overall this felt like an extended squash. I suppose the real story took place after the match where a promo by Ricochet taunting The Challengers of Omega, and Mike Bailey. Bailey confronted Omega offering congratulations, Omega cut a promo, somewhat humorous about not needing anymore friends because he already owns a cat. To be honest I’m not really sure what the promo did to Hype up their match, I think the fact that we’ve got three of the most athletic wrestlers in the world on a pay-per-view should speak volumes enough.

Backstage, Chris Jericho doesn’t seem to be as happy-go-lucky himself anymore. Probably after being completely owned by a child which was captured on camera likely soured his mood. He wants Big Bill and Bryan Keith to start stepping up more. Let’s not draw this out anymore than it has to. The Learning Tree is slowly decomposing.

In the ring, MJF intends to fall through on his promise of answering MVP’s offer. After some reluctant compliments, MJF states that he’s not looking for friends but he wants to engage in some serious business. As the two are about to shake hands, Shelton Benjamin and Bobby Lashley arrive. Curiously, Lashley rips up the card that MVP gave to MJF, and as MJF leaves with no conflict it seems that there are tensions running high in the faction. Please for the love of everything good and holy do not break up the Hurt Syndicate already. I don’t think that’ll happen, but it’ll probably lead to MJF recruiting some buddies to face off against them.

Kyle Fletcher defeated big bad Brody King in probably the best match of the night aside from the main event. Brody demolished Fletcher throughout the match, clotheslining him to hell four different ways, and throwing him around like a rag doll. Have to give Fletcher all the credit in the world he sold everything like he was on death’s door. It’s also Testament to Fletcher how he manages to power back, using his speed and ring prowess to outsmart and out maneuver the bigger individual. I’m not a big fan of watching Brody lose so often, but at least it’s a loss in a high profile match. 

Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Mark Davis. This match was already scheduled for dynamite, however with Davis interfering after Fletcher’s victory, it made sense to segue immediately with Powerhouse making the save and getting their match started. Surprisingly, Hobbs appeared to almost completely overpower Mark Davis. I’m a little confused by this booking, considering the week before he was a menace in the four-way International contendership match.

Backstage sit-down with Adam Copeland and FTR. This seems more like a very awkward family therapy session. Copeland conveying a somber tone, while Dax is more the apologetic aggressor, however holds a lot of resentment towards his standing and the events which led him there. cash, please the middleman of  “Hey, both you guys were there for me at my lowest.” We’ve heard that from Wheeler, so now I have to wonder if this is going to lead towards some convoluted heel turn. The trio challenged the Death Riders at Dynasty for the titles.

I would rather see the three of them win the titles, but I have an interesting other booking strategy. They can lose, Dax snaps. He blames Copeland for his troubles and challenges him to a match either on Dynamite or Collision. This keeps Cash neutral, after their match, which I hope Dax would win, they shake hands, patch it up and respectfully go their separate ways.

Backstage again, Nick Wayne, Shana Wayne, and Kip Sabian throw shade towards Christian Cage. Sorry, but this promo didn’t need to happen. Make this a face-to-face next time.

Once again backstage, Renee Paquette worked overtime tonight. “Hangman” Adam Page cuts a promo about his chase to the world championship, immediately interrupted by Swerve Strickland. This is the sort of promo people should study. This is a feud, in which no matter what happens, no matter who wins, no matter who loses, these two guys will hate each other forever. very much reminds me of the never-ending feuds between Taz and Sabu in ECW. I would start the chant “Feud Forever.”

Pull the damn trigger. Put the Death Riders story arc out of its misery. It’s over … FINISHED!  This is the only way I will accept this to come to an end without the involvement of Eddie Kingston.

Swerve, not done for the night!!! He comes out to the ring and calls out Jon Moxley.  Mox cut some sort of really bizarre convoluted promo which I think might have been a shot at WWE but I really couldn’t tell. Willow Nightingale showed up to roadblock Marina Shafir. Swerve’s promo completely and utterly outclassed Moxley. This is MUST-WATCH. This is the strongest indicator I have seen to date which should end Mox’s current character once and for all. Put the belt back on Swerve, and for the love of everything good and holy, do the right thing Tony!!!

Backstage: Samoa Joe questions Hook about choking out Caster last week. Hook simply responds that “He’s fun to choke out.” They find Max Caster trying to sell his character to Top Flight and whoever else is listening backstage. Joe sneaks up from behind and chokes him out. He smirks. “You’re right, that was fun.”

Yes. Yes. It was fun. May I have a turn? 

Top Flight defeated Alex Findley and Devo Knight

1. Cool. 

Sorry, I have nothing more on this. 

Konosuke Takeshita defeated Mark Briscoe

Takeshita winning Seemed fairly obvious, but I would have been more invested in Briscoe getting a surprise victory. After losing the international title to Omega, I would not have been surprised to see Don Callis starting to cause some more losses for the Alpha. Maybe the Don Callis lookalike in the front row would have gone along with that idea. For a moment I couldn’t tell who was the real one. An extremely enjoyable match, once again proving that Briscoe is there because he enjoys being a wrestler, and not one of the guys who needs to Main Event every show or even go title chasing. you can see it, the dude wants to wrestle and he loves what he does. 

Takeshita should continue to have good opponents going forward on Dynamite and Collision. Keep him on TV. 

Prior to the main event, Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa cut a hysterical promo backstage. By hysterical I mean Toni Storm was hysterical while Thunder Rosa did a solid job playing the straight woman trying to keep things serious. please watch it. 

However, Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford Soundly defeated that women’s world champion in a fantastic Main event. Bayne was presented as an Unstoppable menace, even no selling the dreaded hip attack in the corner. It’s also great to see women Main Event the show multiple weeks in a row. This is really making fans sweat. Could we see Timeless Tony lose her Championship so soon after regaining and vanquishing a long time nemesis? 

Overall I thought Dynamite was a good show, it wasn’t to the epic level that we’ve been accustomed to, which is good. we don’t want to feel spoiled every week, it will raise the bar to unrealistic heights. Give us a couple cool down shows before pay-per-view so we have something more to feel that anxious anticipation.

AEW Dynamite 3/26/25 is now streaming on MAX.