The John Report: AEW Dynamite 09/10/25 Review
This week’s AEW Dynamite featured a 10-man tag team match with “money” on the line, Toni Storm in action, Hangman Page in the opening match, and more.
AEW is on the road to All Out on September 20th in Toronto. I agree with their decision to move the start time of All Out to 3 p.m. since WWE is running Wrestlepalooza that day. I don’t really care if it makes AEW look “weak” or whatever people want to say about them. I think it’s a better business move. It’s also better for us, the fans.
This review will be shorter than usual. I watched this on Wednesday night after a long day, and I didn’t feel like sitting at my desk to type 5,000+ words in a review. I wrote a results post on TJRWrestling while also watching my Toronto Blue Jays play at the same time. This will be abbreviated with more of my basic thoughts. I will likely have a preview of Forbidden Door and also review it live on Sunday.
This was AEW Dynamite episode #310 from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Follow me on Twitter/X @johnreport. Let’s get to it.
It’s Wednesday night, and you know what that means. The commentary team was Excalibur, Taz, and Bryan Danielson.
Bryan Danielson made his entrance to officially join the AEW Dynamite commentary team, which was announced earlier in the week. Danielson joined Excalibur and Taz on commentary. Tony Schiavone will likely remain as the lead announcer on AEW Collision.
Analysis: I won’t miss Tony on Dynamite, saying every match and every segment is amazing and one of the best things he has ever seen. He overdoes it. I don’t watch Collision.
Match #1: AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page defeated Josh Alexander by pinfall.
It was a good match between two talented veterans who hit hard. The thing about a match like this is that in AEW, you know that Josh has a 0% chance to win, so it just drags on a bit until Page puts him away. The story basically is to feed Hangman somebody from the Don Callis Family so he can beat them because of who Page is facing at All Out. The Don Callis Family losers, like Lance Archer and Rocky Romero, tried to interfere, but Page easily stopped them from having an impact. Page hit a Buckshot Lariat to win. It’s still a very good match at 16 minutes. I think it’s better to book the AEW World Champion Page in a way where he wins more decisively in about 10 minutes, instead of going nearly 20 minutes. Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5).
After the match, Hangman Page did a promo saying that AEW is about the wrestling and he is the World Champion. The TNT Champion, Kyle Fletcher, interrupted with Don Callis. Kyle mentioned that he challenged Page for the AEW World Title on Collision last week. Page told Fletcher to challenge him in the ring. After Fletcher got in the ring, Page said that Fletcher wasn’t ready. Fletcher disagreed and said he’s ready right now. Page told Fletcher he can challenge for the AEW World Title, but leave the Don Callis Family out of it. Fletcher said he doesn’t need them, and he’s leaving All Out as the AEW World Champion.
It’s official. At AEW All Out on September 20th, “Hangman” Adam Page will defend the AEW World Title against Kyle Fletcher, who is the TNT Champion, but that title is not on the line.
Analysis: Good promos from both guys. I think Fletcher has a 0% chance to win at All Out. There’s no way Page is losing the World Title so soon after winning it. While Fletcher is a future World Champion, it’s not happening at All Out. I think it will be a very good match, of course, and Fletcher will take him to the limit, but it’s going to be another Page win.
There was a promo from MJF after his appearance on AEW Collision this past Saturday, which was a day after MJF’s wedding to AEW interviewer Alicia Atout. MJF had a message for Mark Briscoe. MJF said he’d accept any stipulation that Briscoe picks for AEW All Out.
Analysis: Congrats to MJF on the wedding last week and the movie role. He’s a talented guy who is very busy these days as well.
The Young Bucks were featured in a skit hanging out with other wrestlers in catering. Their friend Brandon Cutler was there, but he wanted nothing to do with them and said, “Shut up, Young Bucks,” so Cutler left. Jon Moxley talked to The Young Bucks, saying the Bucks can have $250,000 each in the $500,000 tag team main event, and told them to show up to win their tag team main event match.
Analysis: The fake money prizes are beloved in AEW. At least the line by Cutler was funny and got a pop.
Match #2: Riho & Alex Windsor defeated Mercedes Mone & Emi Sakura by submission.
A basic tag team match to give Riho a win going into her TBS Title match against Mercedes Mone at All Out. Since they just gave Riho the title match without winning any matches to earn it, they did the right thing by having her win here. Riho made Sakura tap out with the Half Crab submission. Windsor put Mone in a Half Crab submission at the same time to prevent a save. Of course, Mone was protected because Emi took the loss for her team. It went about 10 minutes. Rating: ***
Ricochet was interviewed backstage with Gates of Agony by his side. Ricochet told Shelton Benjamin that for their match on Dynamite, they should ban their allies from ringside so it’s a fair match.
A video package aired promoting the Adam Copeland & Christian match with FTR at AEW All Out.
FTR and Stokely did an in-ring promo trashing Copeland and Cage, who were not on the show. Dax Harwood is arguing with some fans and beating up some guys on AEW’s production crew.
Analysis: This filled up a few minutes. Not much to it.
Shelton Benjamin was interviewed by Renee Paquette, with MVP and Bobby Lashley standing by. Shelton said he accepted Ricochet’s deal to have a match without their wrestler friends at ringside.
Match #3: Ricochet defeated Shelton Benjamin by pinfall.
This was a lot of fun, featuring two super athletic guys who matched up well. Shelton moves around so well for a guy who is 50 years old and he looks younger than he is. Ricochet has thrived as a heel. The fans really got into some of the nearfalls as the match went on. Ricochet’s buddy Bishop Kaun appeared at ringside to distract the referee so that Toa Liona could headbutt Benjamin, which allowed Ricochet to get the rollup on Benjamin to win. What that meant was that “heels lie” because Ricochet lied about his friends not being involved in the match. It went about 11 minutes. Rating: ***1/2
After the match, MVP & Bobby Lashley showed up to fight with Benjamin against Ricochet, Kaun, and Liona. Those six guys are facing off in a six-man tag at All Out.
Hook was featured in a video where he wondered if it was time for him to stand on his own, but then he pondered that and thought maybe not.
The TNT Champion, Kyle Fletcher, was interviewed with Don Callis by his side. Fletcher told Callis to trust him that Fletcher can win the AEW World Title on his own and bring it home to the Don Callis Family.
Match #4:AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defeated Skye Blue by pinfall in a Philly Street Fight.
A lot of weapons were used during the match. They had a lot of creative spots in the match like when Storm had some beer Sandman-style, which was a nice tribute in the old ECW Arena. They had some unique spots like when Storm used an electric fly swatter and Blue hit a Powerbomb onto a trash can. I felt like there were some spots where they didn’t sell much and just wanted to move on to the next thing because they had a lot of “toys” to play with. The finish was a bit sloppy because Storm barely put the sign in front of Blue’s face against the turnbuckle and Blue had to hold it in place so Storm could hit the running hip attack. At least try to wedge it between the ropes so it looks less silly. Anyway, Storm hit a Storm Zero on a steel chair with her butt taking the bump and Storm covered to win. Once again, it was another match where the result was never in doubt. It went about 12 minutes. Rating: ***1/4
After the match, Toni Storm was attacked by Julia Hart and Thekla. Jamie Hayter and Kris Statlander made the save. Hayter accidentally took out Kris with a clothesline. After Hart and Thekla sent Hayter out of the ring, Thekla hit Storm with a Spear. Thekla stood tall to end the segment.
Analysis: The AEW Women’s World Title match at All Out is a 4-way with Storm against Kris, Hayter, and Thekla, so it was a way to make Thekla look strong. It seems like every AEW PPV has a 4-way match. I don’t see Storm losing.
Willow Nightingale was interviewed by Renee Paquette. Harley Cameron interrupted with a song, so Willow said she was cool, but regarding Kris Statlander, Harley needs to watch her back.
The main event was a 10-man tag team match with $500,000 going to the winners. The money prize is something AEW does for tag team matches as a way to give a storyline reward for winning matches.
Match #5: $500,000 10-Man Tag Team Match: The Death Riders (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta) & the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) defeated AEW World Tag Team Champions Brodido (ROH World Champion Bandido and Brody King) & AEW World Trios Champions The Opps (Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsuyori Shibata) by pinfall.
It was hard for me to get into the match because it felt like we got the same 8-man or 10-man tag team match nearly every week. Sometimes the people are the same in those matches, and there are times when different people are involved. The whole thing feels like a replay of a previous match. I don’t know why AEW’s creative minds have fallen in love with these meaningless tag team matches. And I know there’s $500k on the line, so that is their attempt to reward the winners, but as a viewer, it’s just not interesting. I don’t even know if the most hardcore AEW fans would find it appealing. I’m guessing the casual fans would be bored by it. Anyway, Matt Jackson pinned Bandido while Nick Jackson held onto Matt’s legs against the ropes, and the referee never saw the cheating. This was one of those matches that could have used a bit more time, but they ended it suddenly. It went 13 minutes. Rating: ***1/4
The Young Bucks celebrated with the bag of money because Jon Moxley told them earlier that they could split the $500,000 between the two of them. After the match, Brody King and Bandido fought with The Young Bucks to the back.
Analysis: The deal is that The Young Bucks are “poor” since they lost their EVP Titles two months ago, so now they are “rich” again because we have to believe that grown men pushing 40 don’t know how to save the previous money they have earned over 20 years in pro wrestling. What a riveting storyline, huh? Anyway, it seems like it will be Brodido against The Young Bucks at All out since Matt pinned Bandido here.
For the third straight match, there was more action after the match. The Death Riders beat up The Opps after the match. Darby Allin made the save for The Opps and fought with Jon Moxley, his All Out opponent, in the ring. Allin dropkicked Moxley into the turnbuckle. A wrestler in a hoodie attacked Allin from behind with a forearm. The wrestler revealed himself to be former TNT Champion Daniel Garcia. The fans booed Garcia loudly. The fans chanted, “You sold out” at Garcia.
Daniel Garcia placed Darby Allin’s head above a steel chair and stomped on the back of his head into the mat. I’m pretty sure he was supposed to stomp Darby’s head into the chair, but the chair was missed entirely. Garcia did it again, and this time he stomped Allin in the back onto the steel chair. Garcia kicked, stomped, and kneed Allin until Moxley told him to leave. Garcia left with Moxley and Marina Shafir to end the show.
Analysis: There’s the heel turn of Daniel Garcia, who should have turned heel much earlier, but they waited and now he’s with the top heel group as part of the Death Riders with Jon Moxley. Messing up the stomp into the chair didn’t help. (In the video below, they didn’t show the initial stomp that Garcia missed.) I don’t think Garcia is that big of a deal. When he was TNT Champion, it was one of most forgettable title reigns I can remember in AEW because he doesn’t have any charisma other than comedic dance moves. Garcia will likely be better off as a heel. Maybe he can eat some pins in tag team matches instead of making Wheeler Yuta take the pin every time.
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Three Stars of the Show
- “Hangman” Adam Page
- Toni Storm
- Ricochet
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The Scoreboard
This Week: 7.5 out of 10
Last Week: 8
2025 Average: 7.41
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Final Thoughts on AEW Dynamite
It was a good show in terms of in-ring action, but there were predictable matches, and also another meaningless multi-man tag team match. They do those 10-man and 8-man tag team matches way too often. I don’t think anybody cares about who wins or loses those matches because of how often they happen. The last three matches all had fighting after the match, which also happens too often. I have a bit of AEW fatigue. It’s just the same things over and over again.
In terms of stories, they advanced a few, like the Page/Fletcher match at All Out. Other than that, there was Daniel Garcia turning heel in the main event. Big deal? Not to me. I hope it helps his career because he was so dull as a face.
I’m glad that this is the last Dynamite in the old ECW Arena. I understand the nostalgia of the building, but running three straight weeks of shows in a 1,000-seat venue makes AEW look small. You need to make AEW look bigger, not smaller. Make it seem like a big deal to buy a ticket to be at the show.
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Thanks for reading. Go Toronto Blue Jays. You can contact me using any of the methods below.
John Canton
Email: [email protected]
Twitter/X: @johnreport