Oh my goodness! AEW Dynamite 6/24/26 gets explosive very quickly as many feuds continue to heat up and intensify exponentially. Does Dynamite deliver as the Go Home show before Forbidden Door?
The show opens with the Death Riders backstage, Jon Moxley delivering a motivational sermon to his club. Ospreay seems genuinely confused to what is happening around him, as they grab him for their traditional huddle, things get a bit wild and Ospreay inadvertently takes a spill. I don’t think it was planned. Kinda funny. The show kicked off with Claudio, Wheeler Yuta, and Moxley defeating Brodido and Mistico. Excellent match, Brody King channeled his inner cruiserweight to mesh with Bandido and Mistico. The big guy did things no one expected and boy did that light up the crowd. Definitely seems as though Brodido and Mistico would net the win, but underhanded cheating tactics would prove otherwise.
Guess we’re booing the Death Riders tonight.
Harley Cameron defeated Marina Shafir
Perfect. Harley the underdog against the dominating and intimidating Shafir. On paper, Cameron didn’t stand much of a chance, however the feisty Harley managed to frustrate Shafir with counters and escapes. As Shafir attempted to gain a submission win, Harley executed a creative reversal into a pinning combination for the win.
After the match we are treated to a video package hyping up the finals of the Women’s Bracket of the Owen, featuring Maya World and Mercedes Mone.
AEW has made me a believer. Maya World could believably win.
Backstage: The Conglomeration gets ready for their big Steel Cage Match. Renee asks how O.C. is doing. He replies that “it’s fine” then realizes what he has said and awkwardly runs off.
Will Ospreay defeated El Phantasmo (ELP)
An absolutely insane match. No words. All visual. The chops across the chests sounded like cannon blasts. Ospreay and ELP put on a dazzling clinic. Ospreay and ELP show respect, but as Ospreay is about to leave, Swerve Strickland comes out for his match, defeating Danny Garcia. Not a squash as one would have thought. While Swerve was clearly dominating, Garcia weakened Swerve by working over a leg, but not enough as Swerve managed to gain the win by using Ospreay’s own Hidden Blade.
Swerve was over with the crowd, despite being booked as a menacing heel, he is still cheered by fans. This changed slightly during the match, but once Ospreay came back to save Garica it became clear who the fan favorite is.
I don’t mind blurred lines for guys like Swerve. He has an imposing presence in the ring, menacing as ever.
Backstage: Don Callis and MJF talk up their team for the Steel Cage match at Forbidden Door, each man gets a chance to speak, except MJF cuts off Andrade, and then kicks Trent Barretta and Rocky Romero out. MJF cuts his promo and then unveils a shirt featuring himself and Don Callis in all their statuesque glory?
Again, Trent and Rocky being ignored and dismissed. Perhaps it might be time for RPG Vice to go back on their own again. Okada and Fletcher’s faces at the sight of the shirt were priceless.
Zack Sabre Jr. defeated “Jungle” Jack Perry
Excellent match. Perry is able to keep pace with ZSJ with his unlimited arsenal. Tons of counters and reversals throughout, but it became pretty clear Perry needed to up his game in order to have a chance of surviving. Unfortunately, ZSJ trapped Perry, forcing a submission. Immediately after the bell rang, we rolled onto the next match, which featured the other members of TMDK who were already at ringside, Bad Dude Tito and Mike Nichols facing off against The Young Bucks. A shorter match which saw the Bucks defeat TMDK with their ferocious tag team offensive.
Maybe crushed for time but this match seemed to go very fast and the Bucks appeared to dominate TMDK throughout. After the match Kenny Omega rushed out for a post-match brawl. It seems Omega and ZSJ plan to deliver one for the history books.
Queen Aminata defeated ROH Women’ s TV Champion Red Velvet to qualify for the TBS Survival of the Fittest Championship match
Starting off a bit slow, each woman measuring each other before striking. Aminata and Velvet turned up the action to a fever pitch where it was clear to be extremely unpredictable. These matches are the best ones where there is no possible way to predict a winner. Both women put on a hell of a match. Aminata earned the win, it had seemed Velvet had the match in hand, but a delay allowed the Queen to capitalize and take the victory.
Konosuke Takeshita retains the AEW International Championship against Ricochet
A banger of a main event. More than once it seemed Ricochet had won, not only when the ref’s hand accidentally hit the mat three times. An excellent main event between two excellent wrestlers. Both final matches of the night were fantastic. Honestly, Velvet and Aminata could have closed the show.
Except, the last match didn’t close the show. Mark Briscoe came out to cut his promo against MJF ahead of Forbidden Door. A rarity where a show’s final segment is a promo. Inevitably it turned into a brawl with all members of each team hitting the ring. Another “Attitude Era” finish where things take a wild turn when MJF appears to accidentally clock Andrade with the Dynamite Diamond Ring. Mark Briscoe slides back in to crush the AEW World Champion with the Jay Driller Piledrive to close it all out.
A fun episode with quite a few homages, intentional or not, to wrestling from the late-90s to early-2000s. Enjoyable episode, even if a couple of matches felt rushed. ZSJ vs. Perry, Ospreay vs. ELP, and Aminata vs. Velvet were the standouts of the night.
Collision also has a stacked card just a day before the PPV, it appears both Dynamite and Collision get their own respective Go home shows as AEW continues the hype train.
