Tonight’s AEW Dynamite features the fallout from All In and the build to All Out in less than two weeks’ time.
New AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson will address his future after winning the title from Swerve Strickland this past Sunday. Danielson has stated that this will be his final year as a full-time pro wrestler.
Strickland is also scheduled to speak on tonight’s episode.
New AEW Women’s World Champion Mariah May will hold a celebration after defeating former mentor Toni Storm for the title at All In.
Jamie Hayter will return to the ring for the first time since May 2023 as she takes on Harley Cameron while new AEW signee and former WWE star Ricochet will make his Dynamite debut against Kyle Fletcher.
Hangman Page will take on Tomohiro Ishii while The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy, Mark Brisoce & Kyle O’Reilly) will team with Hook against Chris Jericho, Roderick Strong, Big Bill & Bryan Keith.
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It’s Wednesday and you what that means, as Excalibur welcomed us to this week’s Dynamite before he cued a recap of Bryan Danielson’s big AEW Championship win at All In: London 2024. We’ll hear from Danielson tonight. Hangman vs. Ishii, plus Jamie Hayter vs. Harley Cameron, and Ricochet vs. Kyle Fletcher were all hyped ahead.
Jon Moxley Returns
We start the evening with the surprise return of Jon Moxley to AEW, his first appearance since Forbidden Door 2024. The crowd reacted loudly for Moxley (who had his “Death Rider” theme music) as he walked through the crowd while Tony Schiavone headed to the ring in the hopes of interviewing Moxley.
Schiavone started right away by asking if Moxley was doing okay. Moxley said he was doing a lot of thinking as of late and that he was looking for a man who wasn’t here, but it was a conversation that needed to be done. That man Moxley was talking about was Darby Allin, as he told Allin that he wasn’t hard to find.
Moxley interrupted Schiavone by saying that this wasn’t “his” company anymore before walking off abruptly.
– The Conglomeration was interviewed by Renee Paquette regarding their matches tonight. Mark Briscoe said that Tomohiro Ishii was going to whoop some “cowboy ass” while the rest of the group would take care of business in the big eight-man tag match. Willow Nightingale said that she was going to challenge Kris Statlander to a Chicago Street Fight at All Out. Briscoe said his word of the day was “indefatigable”, which meant “unable to feel fatigue”, which is what we’d see later tonight. Ishii walked off ahead of his match which was coming up next.
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“Hangman” Adam Page def. Tomohiro Ishii
Page and Ishii started off in the middle of the ring, trading repeated elbows to one another in a heavy-hitting standoff. The exchange of elbows lasted for a couple of minutes until Page had Ishii stunned for a bit. Ishii countered with a shoulder block. We then had the two men exchanging chops. A very hard-hitting start for this match. The action went to picture-in-picture with Page in control.
We returned to live action with Page dropping Ishii head first with a DDT. Page threw Ishii back in the ring and went up to the top, connecting with the clothesline, but that got a two-count. Page remained in control as he worked over Ishii’s leg with a submission.
In the corner, Ishii fired back up by absorbing Page’s blows before he floored him with a headbutt. He then landed a back suplex on Page for the near fall. Now it was Ishii in control as he set Page up on the top turnbuckle. Ishii headbutted Page to stun him as he then hit an impressive superplex. That got a very close two-count.
Page slammed Ishii with a Death Valley Driver, but he got rocked with an Ishii German Suplex in response. Another exchange of strikes between the two ends with a double down as we headed to another picture-in-picture break.
Dynamite returned with the slugfestcontinuing as Ishii and Page exchanged counters of their big power moves. Page eventually got the upper hand after a German suplex as he then headed to the apron. Buckshot Lariat attempt by Page was countered into a Deadeye variant by Ishii as he then got flattened by a strong-style lariat for the two count.
Ishii headbutted Page, who responded with his discus elbow strike. More hard-hitting action that saw Page take over with a hard strike, followed by the Deadeye. He had Ishii in position for the Buckshot Lariat and finished Ishii off for the pin and win.
I really enjoyed this opener. Just two big men battering the hell out of each other. If this is it for Ishii’s summer excursion in AEW, you could not ask for a better ending.
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Swerve Strickland Makes a Challenge
– Before Page could celebrate, the music of Swerve Strickland interrupted, which signaled the arrival of the former AEW World Champion. Page got into Strickland’s face before he backed off as Strickland began to speak.
Strickland talked about how he could’ve gotten mad for Page getting involved during his AEW Title Match, but he can only feel sorry for Page. Strickland said that he saw that Page as a petulant child for the way he’s acted, and that even though he wasn’t the World Champion, he’ll always be regarded to one.
Page fired back by angrily saying that Strickland was not a champion, but a piece of shit. He said that Strickland wrestled Page three times and couldn’t do it alone. He said that he wanted Swerve all to himself. Strickland quickly responded by issuing the challenge for All Out: Page vs. Strickland one more time inside a Steel Cage.
Strickland said that he drove ten minutes up the road to Hangman’s house after the Revolution triple threat match, as he said that he saw Page and his pregnant wife. He said that it was the man Hangman Page was supposed to be. Strickland said that he focused his energies on becoming AEW Championship and that he’ll do it once more.
Page, meanwhile, became too obsessed with Strickland, which has caused his career to go up in flames, according to the former AEW World Champion. Strickland asked what kind of man Page will be in the Steel Cage at All Out, and what kind of man his kids will see. Page walked off angrily.
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Jamie Hayter def. Harley Cameron (w/ Saraya)
The fans chanted “welcome back” to Hayter as the match started with Cameron gaining momentum. Hayter fougth back and stomped Cameron in the corner before flooring her with a clothesline. Cameron escaped Hayter’s attempted slam as she attacked with kicks to the face.
Hayter used her strength to block a springboard bulldog attempt by Cameron as she floored her with a big boot. She blocked a Sole Food attempt and repeatedly hit multiple backbreakers on Cameron, before she ended it with a Hayterade lariat for the one, two, three.
After the match Saraya ran off, clearly not wanting to face the returning Hayter.
Just a short and sweet match to get Hayter back into the fold. It’s just so great to see her back in AEW after she’s been gone for so long.
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Renee Paquette was backstage with Chris Jericho and the Learning Tree, plus Roderick Strong. She asked Big Bill about the positive reaction he got from the U.K. crowd. Bill said that fan reactions are like the leaves, they changed and that fall is just around the corner.
Jericho did his shtick as he said he was “proud” of HOOK for winning the FTW Championship. Roderick Strong said that he was proud of being in the “Jericho Vortex”, and he wanted Jericho’s help to take care of Orange Cassidy. Jericho said that Cassidy would “pay” for ruining his $7,000 suit a couple of years back (during their feud in the Pandemic Era of AEW). As everyone walked off, Bryan Keith shouted “you’ll pay the damn price”.
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– We got a recap of Will Ospreay’s win over MJF in the International/American Championship match at All In: London, as well as Daniel Garcia’s involvemen in the finish.
MJF Addresses All In: London
MJF showed up in his usual, non-American attire, as he sported some tape around his neck after he took Ospreay’s Tiger Driver ’91. MJF said that he’s been in so much pain and that he’s had a splitting headache, as he told the crowd to keep quiet or he’d go after everyone in the arena.
The fans chanted “shut the f&#! up” to MJF, who talked about how he lost “his” championship, his Diamond Ring, and got injured. He said he denounced his American citizenship, and that he didn’t want to be associated with this country, other than the “most magical place in the world”: Plainview, Long Island, NY.
MJF said he was sick of the fans living in lies, and that AEW without him was a “circus”. He turned his attention to Will Ospreay, as he claimed that he “cheated” to win and that this was not over yet. He warned Ospreay that just as he was close to winning the greatest prize in the history of the sport, he’s going to cut him off at the knees with a smile on his face.
MJF threatened Daniel Garcia next, but he got attacked from behind by Garcia himself. Garcia applied a guillotine on MJF and choked him out cold. He lifted MJF up for a piledriver, but had second thoughts. Garcia put MJF up the top rope and looked like he was going to hit an avalanche piledriver before security ran down to stop Garcia. This gave MJF a bit of a chance to get an advantage. That was shortlived, as Garcia battered MJF and looked to hit the avalanche piledriver one more time. Security and Christopher Daniels intervened before Garcia could finish the job. We then saw multiple security officials restraining both men before Garcia took the microphone.
Garcia said that he pawned off MJF’s Dynamite Diamond Ring for a round trip to London. He asked if MJF thought that was bad, that’s nothing compared to being stretchered out while his grandmother watched. Garcia said that seeing MJF suffer was his new “fetish” (in his words). All Garcia wants is to ruin MJF’s life, which is why he asked Tony Khan to grant him a match against Friedman at All Out. Garcia said that beating him in a match isn’t enough, dropping MJF on his head will bring him satisfaction. Garcia threw the microphone at MJF’s direction, actually making contact with Friedman.
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– A recap of Ricochet’s AEW debut at All In: London was shown.
All-Star Eight-Man Tag Match: HOOK, Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly, Mark Briscoe def. Chris Jericho, Big Bill, Bryan Keith, Roderick Strong
HOOK and Jericho started off before Jericho tagged Keith in, which led to Cassidy being tagged in as the Conglomeration had the advantage early on. Briscoe worked over Keith before Big Bill entered the match. Bill avoided Briscoe’s attack and responded with some hard chops to the chest. Briscoe was left isolatred in the Learning Tree’s corner as things broke down with all eight men fighting in the ring and all over ringside to lead us into picture-in-picture.
Back from break, Jericho was working over Cassidy against the ropes. Cassidy escaped Jericho’s full nelson hold by putting his hands in his pockets, before hitting a hands-free dropkick on him. Cassidy avoided Keith as Briscoe got tagged in and unleashed his Redneck Kung-Fu on Big Bill and Keith. Briscoe was cleaning house on the heels before Strong snuck up and hit a patented backbreaker on him.
The Learning Tree regained the advantage as they isolated Briscoe from his corner and worked him over for a bit. O’Reilly got tagged in and was a house of fire until Big Bill found his way into the match and unleashed his own fury on his opponents. Cassidy was flattened by an amazing super-spinning Black Hole Slam by Bill to send us to another break.
We returned with O’Reilly being sized up by Big Bill, but he avoided calamity. Strong got tagged in, but HOOK found his way into the match. HOOK threw Strong with an overhead throw, then following that with the T-Bone Suplex on Big Bill.
Northern Lights Suplex pin attempt by HOOK got broken up by Keith. Orange Punch attempt was blocked by Keith, but Briscoe threw him out of the ring. Jericho cracked Briscoe with a running lariat and teased doing a dive to the outside, but he stopped to wave to the fans. HOOK threw him with a suplex as we saw successive dives from Cassidy and Briscoe to the outside.
In the ring, Strong and HOOK were the last men standing as HOOK countered End of Heartache into Redrum. Strong’s foot was underneath the rope, but referee Aubrey Edwards called the match to stop.
Post match, there were brawls breaking out in and outside the ring, as Undisputed Kingdom attacked HOOK, ending with a running knee from Strong.
Not really a great match, per se, but it happened and it appears we’re seeing HOOK feud with Roderick Strong for the FTW Championship. Look for this match to be a part of either All Out or the Grand Slam shows in September. Other than that, I just couldn’t get into this match, despite the talent involved.
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– Backstage, Mercedes Mone was hosting a party for another successful TBS Championship win, as Private Party appeared. They talked about Mone’s NJPW Strong Championship defense against Momo Watanabe at NJPW Capital Collision this Friday. The Private Party boys attempted to hit on Mone, but Kazuchika Okada appeared. Mone asked Okada how to say “bye bitch” in Japanese. Okada whispered in her ear as Mone said “sayonara, bitches” to Private Party.
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Mariah May’s AEW Women’s Championship Celebration
Tony Schiavone introduced our new AEW Women’s World Champion, Mariah May for this interview. Schiavone congratulated May for her win, but the new champion took the microphone. She said that the Women’s Championship Celebration was postponed because she wasn’t doing it in Champaign, because it should be called “Flat and Stale” instead. May said that the women of this town desperately needed some glamour, and that she can provide just that. May said that she was about to take of herr robe to show off to everyone. As May took off her robe, she had the Women’s World Title around her waist before she left.
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– We got remarks from the Grizzled Young Veterans after All In: London as they were confronted by the Young Bucks. The GYV said that they were here to stay in AEW and that they were coming for the tag team champions, so the Bucks needed to grit their teeth when they saw the GYV coming. Afterwards, we got remarks from the two about their upcoming tag match on Rampage this Friday.
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– A hype package for Konosuke Takeshita’s impressive run in the G1 Climax tournament was shown, as we saw a graphic for a four-way match on Rampage featuring Takeshita versus The Beast Mortos, Lio Rush, and Komander.
Ricochet def. Kyle Fletcher (w/ Don Callis)
Callis joined Excalibur, Schiavone, and Taz on commentary, as per the usual. Meanwhile in the ring, Fletcher and Ricochet shoved one another to start off. Ricochet did a series of impressive dodges on Fletcher before he sent him outside with a somersault dropkick. He feigned a running dive to land his signature pose in the middle of the ring.
Fletrcher avoided a dive from Ricochet and responded with a tope suicida of his own on the newcomer. Fletcher sent Ricochet over the barricade with a running boot as he taunted to the crowd afterwards. Another attempt at a running boot was met by a springboard meteora from Ricochet. This brought us to a picture-in-picture break.
We returned to our main event with Ricochet attempting to fight back after Fletcher took advantage during the break. Fletcher snuffed out that attack and placed Ricochet on the top turnbuckle. We got a standoff between the two, but Ricochet won out with a headbutt, then laying out Fletcher with a springboard clothesline.
Both men struggled to their feet as the fans chanted Ricochet’s name to rally him on. Ricochet caught Fletcher with a springboard body strike. The Enzuiguri was followed by the Northern Lights/Final Cut combo from Ricochet. Running shooting star press by Ricochet got a near fall.
Fletcher ran through Ricochet with repeated clotheslines that took him down hard. Ricochet responded with a rolling dropkick that sent Fletcher scurrying to the outside. Ricochet threw himself into Fletcher with a unique dive through the ropes. Ricochet’s dive was intercepted by Fletcher’s boot, as he got dropped with a brainbuster for the near fall.
Fletcher sized Ricochet up with a running dropkick and attempted his belly to back tombstone. Ricochet landed on his feet kicked Fletcher in the head, following that with a Death Valley Driver. Again, only a near fall. Ricochet finally got the win after finishing Fletcher off with his lifting reverse DDT called “Vertigo”. And that’s it, over. Ricochet wins in his AEW Dynamite debut.
Fantastic debut from Ricochet and Kyle Fletcher was the perfect dance partner for him in this singles debut for AEW’s newest signee.
After the match, the new AEW International Champion Will Ospreay made his entrance, with a microphone in hand. Before Ospreay could say anything, PAC snuck up from behind and hit a poison rana on him. PAC told Ospreay that he should not forget The Bastard. He welcomed Ricochet to AEW and then told him to get to the back of the line as Ospreay belonged to him.
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– Jon Moxley was asked about what he meant earlier tonight as he walked up to some backstage personnel. Marina Shafir appeared and attacked the backstage personnel. Moxley said this was a lesson in humility as he walked off. Shafir shoved the camera to the ground before she too also walked off.
Bryan Danielson Addresses His Future
The new AEW World Champion made his way to the ring with his new AEW Championship and a great reaction from the crowd. The fans chanted “you deserved it” at Danielson.
Danielson started by saying that after trying and failing repeatedly, he was now the AEW World Champion. He said that over 50,000 people in Wembley Stadium, his family saw his biggest moment, and that his daughter said that this was the best day of her life. Danielson said that when he saw his peers congratulating him in the back, he knew this was the biggest moment of his entire career.
But, when he got to the press conference after All In, he was asked “what’s next?”. Danielson leveled with us by saying his AEW contract expires on August 31st, that he’ll need neck surgery, and that his family is ready for him to come home soon.
Danielson said that he has loved pro wrestling his entire life and that AEW’s existence has made pro wrestling better and his own life better. He says that it’s not time to go home yet and that he’ll fight for his AEW World Championship as hard as he can. However, if he loses the belt, it’s going to be all over, but until then, he’s got a lot of heads to kick in. Danielson says he’s going to throw out an open challenge for All Out to take on all comers. Before he can continue, “Scapegoat” Jack Perry interrupted.
Perry said that his future is to be the World Heavyweight Champion and to retire The American Dragon. He says that Danielson’s future is behind him, presaging a sneak attack in the ring by Perry on Danielson. Perry hit a devastating running knee on Danielson and raised both his TNT Championship and the AEW Championship to end the show as the fans rained down the boos on The Scapegoat.
