TJRWrestling AEW Dynasty 2025 Preview
It’s AEW Dynasty featuring Jon Moxley facing Swerve Strickland, Kenny Omega against Ricochet & Mike Bailey, and a whole lot more.
This is the second annual AEW Dynasty PPV from Philadelphia. This is the weekend that WWE often hosts WrestleMania, but with WWE pushing WrestleMania back two weeks, AEW smartly stepped in and they are running Dynasty on Sunday night.
It was one year ago at Dynasty 2024 when Swerve Strickland beat Samoa Joe to become the AEW World Champion. This year, Swerve will try to end the reign of terror of Jon Moxley. Many people who watch AEW want Moxley’s title reign to end since it hasn’t been that exciting and there have been a lot of cheap wins thanks to his Death Riders group. With the AEW All In Texas show just three months away, it will be interesting to see if Moxley loses here or keeps the title until that big show in Texas.
The strength of AEW is their matches, so when I watch their PPVs, they usually entertain me and they deliver the outstanding matches that their hardcore fans love. In terms of stories, there are some strong ones going into this show. In other cases, they are just quarterfinal tournament matches that could have been on TV, but AEW wants to put them on PPV so that the likes of Will Ospreay and Mercedes Mone can be in PPV matches since they had nothing else to do.
There is a ten-match main card for AEW Dynasty and their PPVs usually run for four hours, so it will be a full night of action. I don’t watch the pre-show, but there will be matches on there too. There is Double or Nothing on May 25th and then All In Texas on July 12th, which is arguably the biggest show of the year. I think it’s important to look ahead to try to predict some of these matches.
Check out AEW’s website for information on how to order the show. I’ll probably use Triller for it. Let’s get to it.
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I am only previewing the main Dynasty PPV. I wrote this on Friday before anything was announced for the pre-show. I don’t watch AEW PPV pre-show matches because the main shows are long enough for me at four hours.
Owen Hart Cup Men’s Tournament Quarterfinal: Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe
There’s a big reward for the winner of the Men’s Owen Hart Cup tournament because they get to challenge for the AEW World Title at AEW All In on July 12th. The winner of this match gets the Adam Page/Wild Card winner in the semifinals. I think Page will make it to the finals.
This should be an entertaining match because Briscoe is fun to watch with his chaotic style, while Fletcher is a very talented guy in his mid-20s with a bright future. Fletcher has had some incredible singles matches over the last year and certainly could be a future AEW World Champion. I’m going with Fletcher here, but if it goes to Briscoe that’s certainly fine with me too because I like him a lot.
Winner: Kyle Fletcher
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ROH World Championship – Title vs. Mask: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Bandido
It’s a rivalry that has been building for several months. Jericho has been a cocky heel champion who has tormented Bandido and his family. They built up Bandido over the last few months as some outlaw kind of character to try to give him some personality. Since it’s Title vs. Mask, that makes me lean towards Bandido winning. I doubt the majority of AEW fans care if Jericho is or isn’t the ROH World Champion. The ROH brand is a thing that exists, but to sit here and pretend like it’s making money or relevant in any way in 2025 is ridiculous. I find it funny how months ago, Jericho said Tony Khan had a plan for ROH in terms of distribution, yet it’s still on WatchROH on a website that probably has a few hundred subscribers. The brand could go away tomorrow, and nobody would notice. Getting back on track, I’ll go with Bandido getting the win in what should be a solid match.
Winner AND NEW ROH World Champion: Bandido
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Owen Hart Cup Women’s Tournament Quarterfinal: Mercedes Mone vs. Julia Hart
The TBS Title that Mercedes Mone holds isn’t on the line in this match. Even if it was, I’m picking Mone. Picking Mone to win matches in AEW is easy to do since she is booked stronger than anybody in the company since she signed there over a year ago. Julia Hart had a good run as TBS Champion in the past and has improved a lot as a mysterious character. Her matches have improved, too. I don’t think Hart has much of a shot here, even though she’ll probably get some moments to shine.
I think Mone will win the Women’s Owen Hart Cup and face Toni Storm at All In Texas in a Champion vs. Champion Winner Take All match.
Winner: Mercedes Mone
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AEW Tag Team Championships: The Hurt Syndicate – Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin (c) vs. Big Bill & Bryan Keith
The team of Big Bill & Bryan Keith get a Tag Team Title match because Bill and his former tag team championship partner, Ricky Starks never got a Tag Team Title rematch because…AEW booking? Sure. It’s a very weak storyline. Anyway, Bill & Keith beat some random teams to set them up for a title match. Remember when AEW’s tag team division was one of the biggest strengths of the company? It’s nowhere close to that now. Just saying. This should be another dominant win for The Hurt Syndicate team, which is running over teams. Keep it under ten minutes.
Winners: The Hurt Syndicate – Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin
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Owen Hart Cup Men’s Tournament Quarterfinal: Will Ospreay vs. Kevin Knight
This is Knight’s first AEW PPV match and he’s a talented guy who will shine in a match like this against Ospreay. They’ll probably get 15 minutes because it’s an Ospreay PPV match, so you know AEW is going to give him plenty of time. Knight will probably come close a few times and earn a lot of cheers from the fans. This should be a win for Ospreay, and if it’s not, I would be very surprised. This will be one of the better matches on the show.
Winner: Will Ospreay
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TNT Championship: Daniel Garcia (c) vs. Adam Cole
This match will have no time limit and no outside interference. I don’t watch Collision regularly, so I have missed their matches and the story going into this one.
Cole has yet to win a singles title in AEW while Garcia got the title after he chose to re-sign with AEW instead of going somewhere else. The TNT Title used to be the second most valuable men’s singles title in AEW, but it feels like it has been surpassed by the International Title and perhaps the Continental Title as well. Garcia has held the title for over four months, so he could lose. I was going to go with a Cole win, but I think it’s more like that Cole loses, and instead of a handshake post match, Cole will kick Garcia in the groin to go heel. That’s fine because Cole is better as a heel.
Winner: Daniel Garcia
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AEW Trios Tag Team Championships: Death Riders – Claudio Castagnoli, Pac & Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Rated FTR – Cope, Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler
There are issues brewing between the Rated FTR team since Dax Harwood hasn’t been happy about losing matches and Cope losing multiple AEW World Title matches. Perhaps Rated FTR could get on the same page in this match to win the “coveted” Trios Tag Team Titles, but I think the issues are going to continue. I think the finish is going to be something like Cope is going for a Spear on one of the heels, they move out of the way and Cope hits the Spear on Dax. One of the Death Riders will pin legal man Dax to win. After the match, perhaps Wheeler and Harwood will turn heel on Cope. That would lead to Cope finding a partner to set up a tag team feud down the road, which brings me to the next point.
At some point, Cope has to reunite with Christian Cage as a tag team before they retire. It seems like Nick Wayne could turn on Christian soon, so perhaps the wheels are in motion for Cope & Christian together again and if you turn FTR heel before that, then you do Cope & Christian against FTR as a huge tag team “dream match” down the road.
Winners: Death Riders – Claudio Castagnoli, Pac & Wheeler Yuta
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AEW Women’s World Championship: “Timeless” Toni Storm (c) vs. Megan Bayne
Megan Bayne has been built up as a powerful threat against Storm, whom Bayne pinned in a tag team match. Bayne looks the part of a credible wrestler, and I think it’s great that AEW is pushing a newer woman to the top. They don’t book a lot of their women well, but at least with Bayne she looks like a threat early in her run. I think Bayne will be in control for most of the match, but Storm will find a way to win, perhaps with an inside cradle or something other than a Storm Zero just to show how close it was.
As I mentioned earlier, I see Storm against Mone at All In Texas, so I don’t see Storm losing the title before that.
Winner: “Timeless” Toni Storm
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AEW International Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Ricochet vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey
This certainly could be the best match of the show since it involves Kenny Omega along with two guys in Ricochet and Bailey, who are excellent in-ring performers. The pace should be very fast with a lot of cool moves. I think the crowd will be hot for it. I would have liked to see more interaction between Omega, Ricochet and Bailey during the build of this match. I know Ricochet got married recently, so he was likely given some time off. There were some segments between them, but there was nothing special about it. I think Omega will beat Bailey in this match, and then they’ll do Omega against Ricochet at Double or Nothing next month.
It has been rumored for months now that Omega will likely face his greatest NJPW rival, Kazuchika Okada at AEW All In Texas in July. Omega hasn’t faced Okada in AEW yet, so they are saving it. Since Okada has the Continental Title, that match could merge the Continental and International Titles together. It makes a lot of sense and I think it will happen, so Omega will keep his title until at least All In Texas in July.
Winner: Kenny Omega
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AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Swerve Strickland
The build for this match has been very good, and I’m looking forward to the match. Swerve was an outstanding heel in the past, but he’s also a great babyface and one of my favorite people in AEW, so I’m happy to see him in a main event match again. The title reign of Jon Moxley hasn’t been great by any means, but he does get heat by leading a stable of heels and doing a lot of cheap attacks to build up his matches.
I know people are thinking that Swerve Strickland should win to put an end to Moxley’s AEW World Title reign, but I don’t think Swerve is the guy to beat Moxley. Swerve was already a World Champion last year. I think the guy to beat Moxley for the AEW World Title is the Owen Hart Cup winner Will Ospreay, who is arguably the most popular wrestler in the company. He has been kept apart from Moxley for a reason and I think the showdown is coming at All In Texas with Ospreay getting the title from Moxley at that show. If Swerve does win here, then they can put him against Ospreay or Hangman Page because that’s a classic rivalry, but I think Moxley against Ospreay is the most likely All In Texas main event. I think Ospreay will be the AEW World Champion at that show.
Winner: Jon Moxley
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BONUS TOPICS FOR AEW DYNASTY!
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
I am going with Moxley/Swerve just to see how they book it, but I think in terms of matches, the Omega-Ricochet-Bailey match will be the best.
The Match I Care About The Least
The Hurt Syndicate vs. Big Bill & Bryan Keith. I like the champions a lot. I just don’t think the build has been very good.
Longest Match
I’ll go with Moxley/Swerve around 25 minutes.
Shortest Match
The Hurt Syndicate vs. Big Bill & Bryan Keith. I think it will go about 10 minutes.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
I’m at about a 7.5 out of 10. I think the Revolution card was better on paper because they had over two months to build that up, and they had a lot of big matches going into that show. This one has some matches that will be outstanding, but they are lacking in terms of stories for some of them, since they are just tournament matches with predictable results. I like most of the main matches on the card, but again, it wasn’t as strong as what they had at Revolution. I think most of the show will make hardcore AEW fans happy.
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In Closing
I’ll be back with a review of AEW Dynasty on TJRWrestling.net on Sunday night.
You can also find me on X/Twitter @johnreport. If you want to send an email, send it to me at mrjohncanton@gmail.com as well. Thanks for reading.