Review: AEW Dynamite (6-25-2025)
Live from Kent, Washington, once again!
Matches
Swerve Strickland & Will Ospreay vs Lee Johnson & Blake Christian: This is made the opener because the Young Bucks hit the big screen to be Heel Authority Figures, conveniently chosen time as usual. Otherwise they don’t do much. Ospreay and Strickland do their best to look like they weren’t fully ready, adjusting their shoes and pads and such. Johnson and Christian were already out here, though, they were ready, they surely got the heads-up from the Bucks early since they’re meant to be some type mercenary duo for this match. And yet! They have no hope of winning. I don’t much care for Blake Christian and doubt I ever will, but he has gotten a little better about not constantly trying to make every movement of his body part of an Epic Banger. We get Young Bucks distraction that leads to nothing much at all, and the match is mainly about showcasing the incredible potential that Swerve and Ospreay have as a cohesive unit. “Why, I reckon these fellows are so good at being a tag team that they could wrestle the Young Bucks in a tag team match!” That sort of thing. I would have had them more thoroughly run over the HonorScrubs but I don’t book this company. ***
Post-match, yes, Swerve and Ospreay challenge the Bucks for All In. Ospreay challenges them to put their EVP positions on the line in the match. After the Bucks are chased off and we have a break, the Bucks speak backstage and suspend Swerve for putting his hands on an AEW official. Kazuchika Okada arrives and introduces the Bucks to his new friends, RPG Vice and Konosuke Takeshita. Matt Jackson agrees they have a common goal, even if Don Callis is “kind of a prick.” Trent Beretta is trying real hard to seem crazy and I just don’t think I’m buying it! Shocking.
After the others leave, Takeshita sizes up Okada: “Remember, this is just temporary.” Okada: “OK.” Okada is so funny.
Trent Beretta vs Kota Ibushi: Beretta has been assigned the task of taking out the returned Ibushi before he can really begin a comeback. In all reality, Beretta has also been assigned the task of, as a very sound veteran wrestler, testing out where Ibushi is at in a live rounds situation. One thing to accept is that Ibushi is never going to be Ibushi again. But his strikes look better than last I saw him, and he’s not quite so sluggish. Again, he’s not gonna go back to being prime Ibushi, but this Ibushi has something to offer, he’s just going to have to find the way to adjust his approach that makes what he can still do count as much as possible. Not the exact same thing, but Katsuyori Shibata has managed it quite well prolonging his career. Ibushi is good enough to do something similar. Beretta does his job very well here, as you would expect. He’s very capable in-ring. A real solid hand. I tell you what. ***
Post-match, Kazuchika Okada is back again and goes forehead-to-forehead with Ibushi before walking back out. Breaking news, they meet next week on Dynamite!
Pre-next match, Earlier Today, AR Fox just might have some momentum from all his losses, Renee Paquette theorizes. Anyways, here’s Ricochet. Rick offers Fox an audition to team up against “JetSpeed.” Fox doesn’t seem enthused, but Ricochet kinda forces a handshake and leaves. Fox seems confused. Renee looks very nice :)
Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey vs AR Fox & Ricochet: Think this is pretty good. That’s the theme of this ‘sode so far: “That was pretty good!” I’m not as wild for the sort of wrestler AR Fox is right now as some people are, like, I just think I’ve had my fill of “the really talented guy who never wins shit” across all of wrestling, in part because that’s not handled like it used to be as TV is different. I watch this dude wrestle for 10-20 minutes a week basically and the story is always the same. Back in MY day, I would watch Hakushi be obviously rad but it was generally only for a few minutes a week kicking some goober’s ass and it stayed fresher for me even though that story was always the same, too. It’s easier to re-watch High Noon than it is to re-watch Avatar, is all I’m saying. Then again I am the person who has watched The Irishman like 10 times so I’m probably full of shit here. Just completely talking out of my ass. Anyways, Fox is very valiant but ultimately pinned. !!!!!! This time it’s ostensibly because Ricochet ditched him, but not sure that holds water because that’s how every AR Fox match goes. ***
Post-match, Bailey quotes Spider-Man and challenges the Hurt Syndicate on behalf of himself and Knight. They must rescue the tag titles! Like Spider-Man would! I’m a bit of a nerd, I like the most popular things on the planet, so I get these references. Knight makes a Seattle SuperSonics reference, too. Hurt Syndicate arrive to beat their asses. Kinda had it coming. They get put through a table and everything. MVP has some nice old guy sneakers. That is just a sharp guy in every way. The lads go to the ring and accept the challenge while eating up more time.
Konosuke Takeshita vs Roderick Strong vs Bandido vs Mark Briscoe: Wow, this match has two guys (Takeshita, Briscoe) I could argue are the proper Best in the World right now, plus Bandido who has been wrestling like he wants into that conversation lately, and then Rod Strong, who is always a deep breath and a flip of the switch from showing he can be right on par with anyone. This is for the key opening spot in the Casino Gauntlet at All In. The men’s one, that is. HEY! Guess what! Rod Strong took the deep breath and flipped the switch, holy shit is he great in this match. Maybe my guy knows that following Adam Colebaby around, bless Adam’s lovely heart, is no longer a gimme gig. What I’m saying here, flat-out, dead-ass, is that Roderick Strong is the best wrestler in this match on this night. And it ain’t that the other three are “off.” Jesus, this rules. He eats the pin and it’s Mark Briscoe who enters first. This rocked ass. Great four-way wrestling, and we’ve had plenty of good four-way matches recently. ****¼
Any and all support makes a massive difference for me! If you’re feeling generous or just loving all this Great Content, you can tip via Ko-fi!
Thunder Rosa vs Willow Nightingale vs Athena vs Kris Statlander: And now for the No. 1 spot in the women’s Casino Gauntlet. Billie Starkz looks like she’s unsure if she should be here while walking to the ring with Athena. There’s good and not-so-great in this match, I’m not as high on it as Meltzer was. But a lot of that is on a few missteps from ol’ Thunder, who always has an oddly tough time recovering from those things. Just a weird thing about her. But she does some good stuff too and overall I like the match a lot more than don’t. Statlander looks excellent, Athena and Willow are always reliable, and we do get a Stat/Willow showdown. Stat wins, helped by a Marina Shafir and Wheeler Yuta distraction that costs Willow her focus on a finish. That is probably the right call if they’ve actually figured out something concrete to do with her for more than a month, it isn’t if they haven’t. ***½
The Beast Mortos vs Hangman Adam Page: Nothing super special about this one but it’s good and Mortos again shows he’s plenty good enough to hang with the franchise stars of AEW, the big boys, the top dogs, the Players. Page is pretty great as usual. Just a real good match. Absolutely love watching Mortos and Page really is one of the most chameleon-like wrestlers in the world, just works tremendously well off of any style there is. Real nice finish, Page with a poison rana, lariat, and then the Buckshot, emphatically ending a competitive, high-level match. ***¾
Post-match, lights go out, and when they come back on, the Young Bucks are in the ring with Hangman in their clutches, hitting the EVP Trigger. This makes the Death Riders confident they can hit the scene, so we have Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta and Marina Shafir. Kind of a reduced crew there, Moxolini.
Before Moxolini can choke Page to death with a chain, The Opps hit the ring. Without Hook I think they are cool enough that I have ditched the quotation marks. EVPs and Yuta have the high ground, but that only lasts until Will Ospreay arrives, showing enough guts to just bust through the line, which weirdly the Opps didn’t. Moxley talks at the camera again to close the show.
Other Stuff
Toni Storm gets attacked backstage by a cowboy hat-clad Mercedes Mone. Toni’s also in her current Little Outfit, her Carmen Sandiego shit1. This spills out onto the entrance area and Mercedes is giving Storm the business here. Kind of understand Mercedes’ perspective here, that Storm is just doing a “stupid act.” Mina Shirakawa makers her way out in some high heels for the save.
Jon Moxley sits on some stairs and two cameras capture him saying all that Jon Moxley shit about his All In match. “Hangman Page is afraid to become what the world needs him to be. Shies away, ‘Aw shucks, I’m not so special.’” Speak on it, Jon, to be honest. CRYBABY EMO CRAP! These Moxley promos kinda have me rooting for him to retain at All In because he keeps reminding me of all the more annoying things about Hangman, which ALSO gives Page the opportunity to break free from that stuff, like when Liv Morgan finally stopped crying every time she won a match and it turns out she’s cool.
MJF does a promo after the Hurt Syndicate and “JetSpeed” bit. MJF is aiming for the world title again. He’s answered by Mark Briscoe, who says MJF has a small penis. Reportedly, MJF has really wanted to do an angle with Mark, which tells me he definitely learned from hanging out with Jericho. It’s not the exact same deal, because MJF is in his prime, but he knows that if you’re spinning wheels, best to be linked up with someone organically popular that the crowd loves and will always go 100% to help you deliver. Mark’s a perfect choice for MJF right now, and hey, it gives Briscoe something pretty notable to do, too. He’ll lose the feud, of course, but it just keeps him in the mix. They’re also a great promo match, Mark is so flexible and weirdly effective at everything he does on a mic.
Adam Cole makes a Thursday Collision open challenge to any Don Callis Family member. TNT title on the line! “And THAT…is UNDISPUTED!” Adam no.
Renee speaks with FTR and Stokely, the latter single saying the former duo are disappointed in the Outrunners seemingly “turning on” FTR last week. They want to meet up with their old pals the next night on Collision. Cash and Dax say nothing, it’s all Big Stoke.
Three Stars of the Show
Roderick Strong: Reports of Rod Strong’s demise didn’t actually exist, but if they had, they would have been premature! When he gets the chance, he’s still one of the absolute best out there, just a joy to watch.
Kota Ibushi: He wasn’t terrible which is a remarkable step back in the right direction in a big league singles match, and when you consider it was his first match at all since mid-February when he worked a mixed tag in Tokyo.
Mark Briscoe: Good promo, great match. The Mark Briscoe Way. Every week.
I’m into film noir and I know what she’s actually trying to do but this is color television and it’s a red coat and hat, I’m going to think “Carmen Sandiego.”
Until I hear otherwise I’m assuming Toni’s outfit is a tribute to that Hollywood classic Dicky Tracy.