The good, bad, and ugly from this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite

Heydorn’s AEW Dynamite Receipt 1/15/25

The good, bad, and ugly from this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite.

-If last week’s presentation of Kenny Omega was “A” level material, this week was a “C.” Everything was less boisterous and big-time. He has a cool entrance, but wasn’t treated as the major AEW star you need to see. Then, the 50/50 match he had with Brian Cage was just ok.
Why not here?

-AEW is building to a Will Ospreay & Omega vs. Kyle Fletcher & Konosuke Takeshita match. I’m on board with that, provided it’s a stepping stone to the true top of the card for Kenny. He has it in him. We’ve seen that with his work in Japan this year already. I’m not sure why he’s not presented in that same way in AEW, but maybe he will be once this first return feud is over.

Brass Ring Media is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Upgrade to paid

-There is everything wrong with the Learning Tree New York Minute segments. They aren’t funny and make Chris Jericho, Big Bill, and Bryan Keith come across as loser comedy guys. And look, maybe that’s what they are, but this material is still awful.

-Swerve Strickland and Ricochet had the segment of the night this week. Both guys are pulling the reactions they want from the audience and the story is easy to follow. A returning Swerve walking down the ramp looked like he was gonna kill someone. He uses body language to convey emotions incredibly well. Ricochet played his part as a chickenshit heel. Really good stuff.

It’s all about the cool

-The Hurt Business look so much cooler than Private Party does. So much so, that it’s going to be really difficult for Private Party to stay babyfaces when they inevitably face Hurt Business for the AEW World Tag Team Championships. The six-man this week was fine, but the psychology was off because Hurt Business wasn’t reacted to negatively.

-That’s a bush league promo by MJF and Jeff Jarrett and frankly, beneath MJF — or so I thought. It went on forever and the zingers weren’t all that deep, funny, or impactful. Jarrett no-sold most of MJF’s anyway and then tried to present himself as this slick talker — something he’s never been. They started with something solid last week and buried it this week.

Joe, Joe, Joe

-Samoa Joe is back in AEW and that is good for business. This is one of those situations in wrestling where a DQ finish makes sense. Because Joe was waiting in the wings, it made sense to not do a clean finish for Christian Cage vs. Hook. There is story left to go and the disqualification opened the door for Joe to intervene. It seemed like the Hook and Joe dynamic was cut short earlier this year. Here’s to hoping we get a longer run now. Hook could learn a lot from Joe.

-Some good action in the first-ever Women’s Casino Gauntlet Match, but way too short for it to become an epic thing. It happened and the fact that they only wanted seven women in the match tells you all you need to know about the depth. Megan Bayne was a surprise and a highlight, until she wasn’t. She’s a great talent, but AEW fans didn’t see any reason why. How about a cool spot or move from her? Instead, nothing. The best part of this was Toni Storm winning. That’s the only move to make and now Mariah vs. Toni Storm 2 is set for Australia.
Now what?

-Jon Moxley vs. Powerhouse Hobbs for the AEW World Championship was exactly what you think it was. Moxley gave quite a bit of offense to Hobbs, Moxley bled, The Death Riders got involved, and Moxley retained his championship. Hobbs should get more of a look coming out of this match, but like other challengers before him it’s just as likely that he fades into the backdrop of AEW again.