AEW Dynasty 2025 Discussion

[d-d-d-dAz]

This is what Moxley does. He's coarsened the UKFF discourse.

Get the belt off him, for the good of the chat.

Edited April 7, 2025 by d-d-d-dAz

[Snitsky's back acne]

8 minutes ago, Chili said:

Annnnd the threads gone to fucking shit.

Has it, or should we just wait to see how it plays out?

[Hannibal Scorch]

I skimmed the pre show. Thought Bowens could have been re-debuted on the main card or TV, but he looked great.

I’m not going to go match by match but thought Mone/Hart was good. I wanted Megan to go over but she looked strong in defeat. Lovely video package led me to believe we were going to be seeing Rocky 1, not 2. 
 

Garcia/Cole was the right choice. Jericho/Bandido had a weird finish, not a fan but thought it was Jericho’s match in a while. Only got the 3 way to watch but thought the Main event was decent. Better than the match with Cope, but was slow paced. And I’ve said all I need about the story/plans. 
 

7.5/10.

[LaGoosh]

2 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Am I being too negative? 

Not negative but dense, as per usual.

As for the show itself, I haven't finished it yet. Probably won't. Too much wrestling for one day. 10 matches I mean come 

Knight/Ospreay was fine, exactly as expected. Not feeling Knight so far, hopefully he's got more to him character wise that cocky guy in jacket and sunglasses. 

Tag titles - thought this was pretty decent. Good showcase for Big Bill, he looked great.

Skipped Mercedes/Hart.

Trios was good action. Wheeler Yuta doing fantastic work as a sneak attack chaos gremlin. The fans hate him, it's brilliant. The post match angle worked for me, suitably nasty.

Storm/Bayne was tremendous from start to finish. Proper bloody wrestling. Storm is the best and Bayne was a brilliant foil.

Fletcher/Briscoe predictably brilliant like the other 3 matches they've had. Best heel in the business vs one of the best babyfaces and incredible action. Doesn't get much better than this really. "BOO THIS MAN" is my spot of the year.

Jericho/Bandido was rough. Jericho looks like shit these days (though better than any of us will at that age I'm sure) and it actively hurts anyone who has to sell his terrible offence. I hated that fake finish because really why doesn't every match with outside shenanigans get restarted? All it would need is a second ref sitting at ringside to keep order. That powerbomb on the floor did not look like fun to take.

Skipped Cole/Garcia because it's 2025 and I'm too busy to justify to myself any reason to watch an Adam Cole match.

Might get round to watching the rest later but the show hasn't hugely inspired me. Eh.

[RedTwoster]

3 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Tag titles - thought this was pretty decent. Good showcase for Big Bill, he looked great.

I’d love to see him get a few singles matches under his belt against good opponents. He’s been really impressive as of late, and he’s also really good on the mic. AEW isn’t typically a promotion in which larger wrestlers thrive, but I’d like to see him given an opportunity to.

5 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Skipped Cole/Garcia because it's 2025 and I'm too busy to justify to myself any reason to watch an Adam Cole match.

It’s…OK. Pretty much what you’d expect a Cole/Garcia match to be. Battle of the blands.

[WyattSheepMask]

Only upto Fletcher v Briscoe so far, but what’s gone before it has been perfectly fine. I even quite liked Mone’s match which is really saying something.

Thought the FTR heel turn was decent, although the pair of them being too thick to realise they could’ve done the two man conchairto rather than just have Wheeler do it was a bit silly. I know that in reality it’s so that Cope’s brain doesn’t get turned into mashed spuds, but in kayfabe having them do the more devastating two man version would’ve got them more heat. 

Edited April 7, 2025 by WyattSheepMask

[LaGoosh]

22 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

love to see him get a few singles matches under his belt against good opponents. He’s been really impressive as of late, and he’s also really good on the mic. AEW isn’t typically a promotion in which larger wrestlers thrive, but I’d like to see him given an opportunity to.

Yeah he's really good. His punches are rubbish but apart from that I've been impressed. Matches with the likes of Ospreay, Omega, Kingston, Hangman, Swerve really interest me. 

Time for him to move up the pecking order I think.

[BomberPat]

Probably the most skippable AEW PPV in a while, if not ever. Not a lot I will remember in a week's time. 

I'd probably think better of it if not for the main event.

I thought the Triple Threat was brilliant, though I can see why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. It's still hard to believe Ricochet had this heel act in him, and I'm a big fan of Mike Bailey, so seeing him get this spot has been really cool. Some great spots, some unique use of the stipulation that I really enjoyed, and Speedball just generally being great - there have been so many bland, colourless and super-serious "martial arts" gimmicks over the years that Speedball just unironically playing a 1980s action movie idea of a karate guy is brilliant stuff. It didn't need to go as long as it did, but had enough great stuff in it to have not outstayed its welcome.

Bandido staying down for a solid three Booker Ts at least after that baseball shot was ridiculous, especially to then just do a crap Dusty finish afterwards. That finish did nothing to help Bandido that just kicking out after the baseball bat wouldn't have achieved better in half the time. That, and the point of a Dusty finish is that a second referee has to see a wrestler do something illegal while the referee who calls the finish is distracted or incapacitated. Having Aubrey overturn Bryce's decision because Bandido's mum told her she'd seen Jericho use a weapon was ridiculous, and sets a very daft precedent moving forward. I bet Swerve Strickland is fuming that Bandido's mum had gone home and wasn't there to grab a completely different referee to tell Paul Turner that the Death Riders interfered.

That crowd were so hot for the idea of Swerve beating Moxley. And you shouldn't always give the audience what they want, that's part of the game, but we've had months of ending every pay-per-view on a downer ending after a slow and plodding Moxley match, a ton of run-ins, and then all the babyfaces left for dead while Moxley and his mates fuck off through the crowd. When the rest of the show most weeks feels like it's on an upward trend, ending every show like this is just getting in the way of the general good vibes that AEW should be able to project with their shows now. At least this finish was different, even if it didn't make a single bit of sense. I'm not really looking forward to whatever the Young Bucks' justification for helping the Death Riders is, as I don't really have any faith in them to pull off making any sense of this or making it halfway believable, but at least it's something.

That pretty much guarantees that Moxley is holding the title until All In, because I don't think they're introducing the Bucks into the equation only to have Moxley lose the belt the PPV before the biggest one of the year. I think that's a mistake. I don't think his is a title reign with two more PPV cycles in it. The only saving grace is the prospect of them doing a Death Riders & Young Bucks vs. Swerve, Hangman & The Opps Anarchy In The Arena/Stadium Stampede at Double Or Nothing instead of a title match, so at least there's something different and the chance of a babyface finish.

Feels pretty nailed on to me that Ospreay is winning the Owen now as well, to set up Ospreay vs. Moxley at All In. Thing is, I'm actually not convinced Ospreay wins there either. I can still see them holding out until they know for sure if/when they get Darby Allin back. So this might just keep on going.

 

The problem with the Death Riders and Moxley being on top, outside of the constant downer endings and ref bump and run-in filled main events every single PPV, is that the kayfabe reputation of the Death Riders requires that they be uniquely violent, uniquely dangerous, and transgress the norms of pro-wrestling. The story requires it. But instead, Moxley probably bleeds less in this run than he did before, and there are plenty of people on the roster who have been in more bloody and more violent matches than he has as champion. His matches aren't telling the story that the show we're watching wants us to believe is being told, and the show suffers for it. 

Edited April 7, 2025 by BomberPat

[LaGoosh]

The Deathriders bullshit also robbed Hangman Page of the top heel title run he should have got following All Out. Alas what could have been.

Worth highlighting again how great Kyle Fletcher is. He stooges absolutely fearlessly while also having offence that looks like it fucking kills the other person. He needs to be the top heels champion after whoever beats Mox. Also I think Takeshita should turn babyface asap, he's not really working as a heel and a feud with Fletcher/Callis would be really great.

My guess is Mox/Ospreay, Young Bucks/Swerve & Hangman and FTR/Copleland&Cage for All In.

[RedTwoster]

26 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Worth highlighting again how great Kyle Fletcher is. He stooges absolutely fearlessly while also having offence that looks like it fucking kills the other person. He needs to be the top heels champion after whoever beats Mox. Also I think Takeshita should turn babyface asap, he's not really working as a heel and a feud with Fletcher/Callis would be really great.

Once the Death Riders story is over, AEW is going to be rather light on top heels. They’d be wise to turn Moxley I think; but if they do that - with Christian also likely turning - they’re going to need to push some new names, or turn someone. Your top three heels would likely be MJF, Ricochet and Jericho, and that’s simply not going to cut it in the longer term.

[Snitsky's back acne]

4 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Not negative but dense, as per usual.

 

'Your opinion on something is different than mine therefore you're dense'.

[Chris B]

It came across as 'and' more than 'therefore'.

[Snitsky's back acne]

17 minutes ago, Chris B said:

It came across as 'and' more than 'therefore'.

I'm sure it did. 

I'm beginning to remember why I generally steer clear of AEW threads.

[Guest]

I warned you all. 

 

Edit: Ok I should probably add some substance.

I just got done watching this with a mate, and really enjoyed it. It was, however, an hour (90 minutes?) too long, which meant I started struggling toward the end. Maybe we didn't need the Owen matches on the big show. We sure as hell didn't need Garcia/Cole, which I skipped until the last minute or so. 

Loved the triple threat, Toni conquering the odds, thought Mone and Ford was decent, really enjoyed the Owen matches even though they made the show too long, but also really enjoyed the main event. Even enjoyed the finish, with Hangman not quite making his decision, not just throwing the scars of that feud away, but showing a glimpse that he might be ready to move on. 

Like others, I pondered Jack Perry being the wildcard against hangman, but whoever wins that match is facing Fletcher, so it sort of has to be a babyface. 

Hangman and Swerve shouldn't be uniting until All In, if ever, so we've got some time to tell that story (if that's the story), though I do accept it's quite close to Edge and Christian coming back against FTR.  Maybe Swerve will presume Hangman sent his friends after him and that'll drive them apart? Maybe the Bucks did it to help their friend? How will Adam Cole worm his way into this? Dunno, but I'm here for it. 

 

This was a show of story advancement rather than to conclude things, which makes sense as the last show ended a lot of stories and All In is coming. Looking forward to it.

Edited April 7, 2025 by Duke

[gmoney]

Absolutely ludicrous to have the absolutely explosive Kyle Fletcher do fantastically in his match and then follow it with Jericho. Like following up a filet mignon with a turd fashioned in the same shape.

I thought this was decent, not as down on the main event as some. Mainly because I knew I wouldn't like it so I skipped half of it and predicted they string this worst title reign ever out for a bit longer.

Great to see Bowens squash that gimp. Julia Hart is not very good, sad to say. Triple threat was amazing in parts, but as others have said it really went on too long, too many beats. You could feel the crowd getting less and less into it. 

My favourite match was probably the six man. FTR don't miss, and Yuta's shit bag little caveman act is incredible.