As the AEW Dynamite scene shifts to Philadelphia, let’s think back to the good times. The times when Extreme ruled (not Extreme Rules). The times when wrestling in a “bingo hall” was only starting to become a badge of honor. The times before union workers were riled up when wrestling was in town.
Ah well, those are two big positives, anyway. I titled this recap post before I started the episode, so it’s possible there might not be any blood and this’ll be a clickbait, AI-era headline. If that’s the case, I apologize, but you have to admit since this is AEW in the home of ECW, the odds were always in my favor.
Anyway, let’s dive in on some AEW Dynamite results.
We start off with a look back — back a whole three days, that is, to the end of Forbidden Door, where the Death Riders and Gabe Kidd beat the crap out of Will Ospreay at the end of their lights out steel cage match (bruv). That was done to write Ospreay off for the neck surgery he needs, and honestly, that was a heck of an emphatic way to do it.
FTR: No cheers, just cheers, plus the Cope problem hasn’t gone away
It’s probably at least a little fitting for this setting that Dax’s microphone doesn’t work at first. When we finally can hear him, he complains about the “miscarriage of justice” that took place at Forbidden Door and prevented FTR from becoming 11-time tag team champions. This crowd is living up to its reputation and really giving it to the top guys, even as they join Big Stoke in berating poor referee Paul Turner.
Adam Copeland makes his way to the ring to save Turner, looking behind him as if to see where Christian Cage might be. Turns out he’s already made his way into the ring from the other side, getting the drop on FTR and setting off a wild brawl. Security and refs hit the ring en masse, but even with those numbers, they have trouble keeping the two duos separated.
When the dust finally settles, Cage says “At Forbidden Door, we took care of my problem. Now it’s time to take care of my problem.” Copeland tries to stop Cafe from crossing the line by talking about FTR’s mothers but eventually relents. Cope reveals that it’s set: In Toronto next month, it’ll be C&C vs. FTR for the first time ever.
Darby Allin paints a picture in his own blood, sort of, while cutting a promo about how he’ll stop at nothing to take everything away from Jon Moxley. He doesn’t say it, but he’ll sacrifice his own body to do it, that’s guaranteed.
Jox Moxley vs. Daniel Garcia
It’s funny that the broadcast is censoring promos tonight but the fans are serenading wrestlers with plenty of chants featuring f-bombs. Not much anyone can do about that without the broadcast basically being silenced during matches, and no one wants that.
Daddy Magic is on the outside backing Garcia, hopefully countering the presence of eternal fan whipping boy Wheeler Yuta and Marina Shafir. What everyone gets to see is less brawling and more mat wrestling than you might figure, meaning this is more Garcia’s type of match than Mox’s.
Well, a DDT on the ring steps isn’t all that technical, so maybe Mox has this going his way now. Still no blood? These guys are trying to make a liar out of me.
Garcia has Daddy Magic to will him to beat the 10-count just like we all wish we had someone to will us to stop hitting snooze each morning. Danny gets Jon into a Dragon Tamer, then follows with a piledriver that can’t quite get it done. That’s too bad for him, since Moxley latches on with an inside cradle and holds on for the three count. Taste of Garcia’s own medicine there.
Winner: Jon Moxley by pinfall
After the bell, Moxley tells Yuta to say something on the mic, letting Darby know that Jon has no plans to face him in the ring. Moxley and Garcia continue to argue or exchange heated words on the outside, but they end up going their separate ways with no blows being exchanged.
Send Hook … to silence Yuta
We return from commercial to find hometown boy Yuta still egging on the crowd. He mocks injured wrestlers including Ospreay and Chuck Taylor, then claims he “slayed the dragon” and replaced Bryan Danielson. Wait, that’s the Hook signal! To the delight of pretty much everyone, Hook gives Wheeler a short beating and then walks back out.
In an interview shortly after his loss at Forbidden Door, MJF seems pretty upset that the fans chanted “you deserve it” after what he went through. He sounds regretful about not burning Mark Briscoe when he got the chance, as well as being told by Tony Khan he needs to give advance notice when he exercises his Casino Gauntlet Ladder Match contract. Once he deals with Briscoe, he warns Hangman Adam Page that the next match they have will be for Hangman’s soul.
Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford vs. Harley Cameron and Kris Statlander
These teams have some beef left over from Zero Hour this weekend, and I’ll be honest: I did not tune in for that because Forbidden Door was always going to be a long (albeit awesome) day of wrestling. Stat and Harley certainly work well together as a team, but are either of them a match individually for Bayne?
Actually, the heels are showcasing some nice teamwork too. They have things set up for simultaneous moonsaults, but both of their targets roll away. Statlander tries her luck at slugging it out with Bayne, but she’s foiled by Ford tagging in unexpectedly. No matter, as Stat catches Ford coming off the top and smashes her face first into the mat.
I’m not sure what Statlander’s leg triangle choke is called, but it’s pretty cool and does the job.
Winners: Harley Cameron and Kris Statlander by submission
Hostilities don’t end after the bell, so Willow Nightingale runs down to try to make sure things don’t get out of control. Things aren’t all good between Willow and Kris, and even though the fans urge them to “hug it out,” they are on opposite sides of Harley as she raises their arms in triumph.
The CEO and her nine belts are ready to celebrate
Now here’s a wrestler who gets a more split reaction from the 2300 Arena faithful: Mercedes Moné (also everyone take note: she definitely pronounces her own name “money”). She is impressed with herself but not as much with Renee Paquette talking to her about Alex Windsor. “If Alex Windsor wants to ride the Moné Train again, I’ll beat her so bad she’ll be in a hospital bed … right next to her husband.”
Just let Mercedes dance already.
Briscoe tells Philly he wishes he could be there tonight, but he has a good reason: Introducing baby Mac Briscoe, the latest member of the crew. Handing off the baby, Briscoe tells MJF he plans on setting all of his hopes and aspirations on fire, which is more figurative than what Max tried doing to him. That said, Briscoe admits that MJF saying he can’t win the big one does float around in his head, so he challenges Kyle Fletcher to a title match in Philly to settle that. Will Kyle man up?
Justin Roberts wants to do the ring intros for the next match, but Don Callis interrupts to do the honors for his own team members.
Hechicero, Josh Alexander, Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada vs. Jetspeed and Brodido
The only problem with a team as big as the current Don Callis Family is that only one guy can really be the top dog. That’s relevant because Takeshita and Okada seem to be irritated with each other when they both tag in at the same time, though they quickly get past it. Something to file away for down the road, maybe. For now, what’s fun is every member of the face team except Brody King flying to the floor at the same time.
Was just thinking that Okada is no stranger to eight-man tags thanks to his time in NJPW. The fans seem really into this one too, which is making it that much better.
Speedball hits the cool move where he backflips into double knees to the chest on Takeshita, but the rest of the Family make the save. Okada and Takeshita almost end up throwing down a moment later, so maybe file that away for much less time than I originally thought. Their discord doesn’t hurt their team, however, as Alexander is able to surprise Speedball with a roll-up to secure the victory.
Winners: Hechicero, Josh Alexander, Konosuka Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada by pinfall
Hangman Adam Page gets a hand from an old friend and tag team partner
Before he gets going, the AEW World Champion thanks Ospreay for everything he does for AEW, and while he doesn’t like speaking for others, he says the whole company will miss him. Page adds that when Ospreay does come back, he hopes it will be to challenge him for the title.
Turning to MJF, he notes that Max threw everything possible at him at Forbidden Door and still failed. Addressing the contract MJF still holds, he says that if Friedman ever gets the nerve to sign it, “I will beat your ass before the ink is dry.”
Callis picks that moment to interrupt, coming out to talk about the long history he has with Hangman. “I want that title back in the Don Callis Family,” he says, adding that it’s not a question of if the Family will get his belt but which one of the members will take it from him.
That boast brings out Lance Archer, Hechicero and Alexander, and Page tries to get the advantage by hurling himself to the floor at the Walking Weapon. The three-on-one odds aren’t great, and soon Jetspeed and Rocky Romero are all in there too. What can turn the tide? How about the arrival of Kenny Omega?
The clearing of the ring leads to Page and Omega reuniting to take out Archer, and the fans love seeing them back on the same side.
Toni Storm puts over Mina Shirakawa ahead of her matchup with Athena at Death Before Dishonor, who has been saying some mean things about Mina like any good heel champion does.
Ricochet and GOA (challengers) vs. The Opps – AEW World Trios Championship Match
Was going to comment on how much time this match is going to get before I remembered that there’s still a Darby match to come. So perhaps not.
Lots of wrestlers come back from devastating injuries or health problems, but seeing Katsuyori Shibata wrestling regularly in 2025 is nothing short of unbelievable. I try not to take any of his matches for granted.
Powerhouse Hobbs and Toa Liona’s faceoff gets the requisite meat chants from the fans, with Hobbs eventually prevailing. Joe runs through some of his trademark offense against Ricochet with the crowd eating that up as well. Joe ends up choking Ricochet out, though not without some assistance from a strange source: MVP.
Winners … and still AEW World Trios Champions: The Opps by submission
Let’s pay off that interference, shall we? The Hurt Syndicate runs down and starts scrapping with GOA as the crowd chants “we hurt people.” Also, hoping Ricochet isn’t actually hurt as he seemed pretty woozy after that match.
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Darby Allin – Falls Count Anywhere
If you thought Allin was going to let Castagnoli get to the ring before starting the violence, you must be a new AEW fan. He may soon regret it as he’s slammed through a 55-inch flatscreen TV on the concrete floor in the back.
Now they fight out toward the ring, where Claudio gives Darby the Giant Swing into the barricade. Also Allin climbs a long metal post and leaps back into a Coffin Drop to the floor. This dude remains an absolute daredevil.
Excalibur notes that Darby took a lot of damage at Forbidden Door and is lucky to even be mobile enough to take part in this bout. Claudio tells the announce team to move away from the table, then overhead presses his foe and hurls him from the ring to the table, which be bounces off of on his way to the floor. Holy crap.
As he does, Allin soaks up more punishment until he can trick Castagnoli into going through a table that the Swiss strongman set up himself in one corner of the ring. But then Claudio suplexes him from the middle rope onto a pile of chairs and smashes him through another table. Darby still kicks out.
Adrenaline now fully kicking in, Allin is able to run through several moves in a row to set up a pair of Coffin Drops for the victory.
Winner: Darby Allin by pinfall
But wait, we aren’t done here. After the bell, Gabe Kidd attacks Allin, and he’s soon joined by Moxley and Shafir. But Darby is able to shake free and run, literally out of the building as Kidd gives chase. All Kidd and the Death Riders get is frustrated, however, as the show comes to a close. See you in Philly Friday, Saturday and next week!
