AEW Dynamite Fight For The Fallen 1/1/2025: 3 Things We Loved And Hated

It is a new year but this is the same Wrestling Inc., which means that it's time to once again break down the highs and the lows of "AEW Dynamite."

The year kicked off with Fight For The Fallen in Asheville, NC, supporting the victims of Hurricane Helene in the town and the surrounding areas. The show was also "the mother of all simulcasts," as it was the first simulcast of AEW on TBS and Max, a practice that will continue for all AEW programming going forward. The show had plenty to love, like the main event or Ricochet's bloody beating of Swerve, and plenty to hate, like...well...MJF

Without further ado, here's the best and the worst of the first of the year.

The main event of "AEW Dynamite: Fight for the Fallen" on New Year's Day served up some of the best dumb fun you could extract from wrestling; Rated FTR debuted against Jon Moxley and The Death Riders in a main event that more than crossed the boundaries of a traditional trios match, with Copeland and Moxley sharing the ring briefly before taking their melee to the outside and through the crowd, all. At the same time, referee Paul Turner chased them and it became crystal clear The Death Riders truly didn't care about AEW's guidelines. It helped to deliver the spectacle of the main event, and everyone played their part when it came to putting in the legwork. Bodies were flying everywhere, and it was frankly a mess, but it was a fun mess and it never felt like there was a dull moment throughout the 18 minutes.

Jay White's cameo, sliding into the ring amidst the mayhem to take out Wheeler Yuta, felt like an interference done right; the match had already descended into chaos and it felt like White's intervention not only fit into the wider arc but also in that he, of all Moxley's adversaries, would be the one to do a hit and run after getting back on track earlier on. Cope got the crucial pin over Yuta to seal the comeback victory, and with him having earlier thrown down a challenge to face The Learning Tree this Saturday, it feels like a win over the Trios Champions might predicate an eventual return for the gold. The trios division has been in dire need of a substantial storyline and that feels like a great way to continue Rated FTR against The Death Riders in the coming weeks while Moxley defends his World title, and if that promises more matches like Wednesday's main event, then I am unapologetically down for that.

Written by Max Everett

On the January 1 edition of "AEW Dynamite: Fight for the Fallen," Powerhouse Hobbs attempted to get back on his winning streak after a well-fought battle against AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita at Worlds End. Hobbs found his opponents in Jon Cruz and Rob Killjoy, two North Carolina locals, and proceeded to run through them in less than five legal minutes.

Yes, according to Cagematch, Hobbs' match tonight was less than five legal minutes. Hobbs hit a grand total of five moves to secure the victory over Cruz and Killjoy, and the world...immediately moved on. I'd be hard-pressed to find a person who seriously got on the Hobbs bandwagon after just that match.

I don't care how much sense a squash match makes, it is one of the stupidest character-building techniques in professional wrestling. The point of a squash match is to either make a wrestler look like a powerhouse of a threat — the wrestling equivalent of a nuclear warhead — or to turn the crowd on somebody (see: Becky Lynch at SummerSlam 2022). At least for the latter reason, squash matches work to an extent (see: how hesitant people were to turn on Lynch after SummerSlam). For the former, however, I'd argue that squash matches don't put someone over as frequently as bookers might think. In fact, I think that squash matches bury the talent that they are trying so desperately to build.

I'm not saying that Hobbs should've had a 50/50 match with Cruz and Killjoy. I get that Cruz and Killjoy were enhancement talents for Hobbs they didn't even get their own entrances. However, you cannot tell me that 80% of the AEW audience thought any more highly of Hobbs after he squashed two local guys. Trying to make talent seem strong by putting them over two nobodies (sorry Cruz and Killjoy) is like being afraid of a serial killer when they only kill old ladies. Like, anyone in the AEW locker room could have beat up Cruz and Killjoy. Hobbs is not special, and while Hobbs stacking and pinning them might have looked cool in the moment, I guarantee that half of the people who watched Wednesday's episode will forget about this match come tomorrow morning.

How do we actually build talent back up? Give them veritable matches. They don't have to win them, but let them fight and show their talent. Kris Statlander lost twice to Mercedes Moné, but she fought extremely well, and I'd argue she looked a lot stronger coming out of those two losses than Hobbs did coming out of his squash victory. At the very least, you care about Statlander more after those two amazing matches. Hobbs shouldn't have been fed two local guys to begin with. Start putting him in with the big dogs. We cannot get excited for new talent when we only see five minutes of them at a time.

If you thought this Hobbs squash is indicative of a push, I hate to be a Killjoy.

Written by Angeline Phu

If you were a new AEW fan tuning in for the first time on Max, you certainly got a taste of what the promotion can be like when it comes to brutality and blood, and it was in a great feud to be introduced to tonight. The triple threat match pitting Swerve Strickland against Roderick Strong and Jay White was a great one, and though I held out hope for Strickland, one of my personal favorites, to get the victory to earn the upper hand in next week's Casino Gauntlet match, I should have known that Ricochet would be lurking after Strickland embarrassed him with the toilet paper gimmick at Worlds End. At least White is getting his opportunity, though, so I can't mind too much, especially when the post-match angle was so good.

Usually I'm not one for "blood and guts," as they say, but it always works so well when it comes to Strickland, because he just brings such intensity to every feud he's in. It was done well tonight, with Ricochet cutting him open with a pair of golden scissors, right on the forehead. AEW does a great job of using random, yet not too random, items as weapons, and for whatever reason, I thought gold scissors suited Ricochet well. The other thing that worked so well visually in this segment was how "American Psycho"-esque Ricochet was with Strickland's blood all over his button-up shirt, but his tie, glasses, and everything just so perfectly in place, it was almost unnerving.

The feud between these two really needed to get into second gear after Worlds End, in my opinion, because the toilet paper segment with Ricochet just standing in the ring, taking it like a goofball, was a little too silly for me, especially when Strickland was the one dishing it out. I didn't necessarily hate it, but this is what I wanted to see more of. I'm glad this didn't happen on Worlds End, which was full of enough blood, and it fit really well into tonight's episode of "Dynamite." With Strickland in the Casino Gauntlet Match next week, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if Ricochet wasn't in the match next week to cost Strickland the opportunity at Jon Moxley's World Championship. I'd prefer him wrestling in the match, but if he interferes from the outside again, I don't think that would be necessarily bad, either. I love that AEW finally hit the gas on this feud, and I think the first simulcast on Max was a good place to do it. I can't wait to see what's next for this feud, and if us fans know anything about Strickland, Ricochet better be watching his back, both at home, and in the ring.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Fresh off of what was one of the best women's matches in AEW history (and one of the best AEW matches in 2024 regardless of gender), Mercedes Mone blessed the people of Asheville, North Carolina with her presence, told everyone how good she was, and that was it really.

Literally, that was it. I don't know whether it's the years of watching heels play video packages while they are blowing their own trumpet sort of thing, only to be interrupted by someone who is very clearly going to be their next challenger, but I was left waiting in this segment for something that never ended up happening. You sit down and think "okay, well no one came out after the video package, maybe when she talks about her goals for 2025?" Nope, not a single woman in that locker room thought to themselves "this is my chance to start the year off right." They all sat in the back and didn't even attempt to grab the golden opportunity that was presented for them.

But don't worry, she's got a match at Wrestle Dynasty in four days against Mina Shirakawa, and there's champagne in the ring. You think "Mina loves herself a champagne celebration, maybe this is going to be used to build to that match and have Mina send in a pre-taped promo or something?" WRONG AGAIN. It was simply Mercedes saying that Mina has a belt that she wants and on Sunday she's going to take it, and then she did her little dance and that was the segment over. Surely in a story, a character is meant to walk out of a scene in a different spot compared to how they walked in, but Mercedes Mone walked in celebrating her win over Kris Statlander, and somehow left still celebrating that.

If you took this segment off of the show, it wouldn't have made a single difference. If anything it would have been nice to give it to one of the matches like Jamie Hayter vs Julia Hart that could have really gotten going with a few extra minutes. I get that she's a big star and you needed her on this show because it's on MAX and all that, but at least give her something to do, because when she gets back from Japan, who is actually going to challenge her? Mercedes, it was nice seeing you, but please get to the airport because those flights are long, and take Claudio Castagnoli with you since he wanted to be on this show too.

Written by Sam Palmer

When it comes to 2025 retirement tours, WWE has John Cena, New Japan Pro Wrestling has Hiroshi Tanahashi, and now AEW has Jeff Jarrett. Well, I say it's a retirement tour for Jarrett, he didn't divulge any details regarding when his brand new AEW contract is set to expire, but with that said we are entering the final years of the career of a true great that is really only getting his flowers now.

I'm personally a sucker for these veterans giving everything they have because they only have a few years left. Whether that be Sting, Bryan Danielson, even Keiji Mutoh in NOAH in 2023, a farewell or a goodbye just hits different, and this promo segment by Jeff really set the stage for a special period in his career. Talking about importance of the decision his grandmother made nearly 80 years ago that, if she never decided to take up that second job, Jeff wouldn't be standing in that ring. Praising the work his father did in the Tennessee territories, focusing in on the high risk, high reward mindset that would ultimately pay off for Jeff and TNA when that launched in 2002.

Then he got to the meat and potatoes of the promo. I've seen enough Jeff Jarrett promos in my time to know that this sort of thing wasn't going to end with him retiring, but I knew that there was something he's got planned, and that's this last ride he wants to go own. He wants to win the AEW World Championship, he wants to win it so much he saw the Casino Gauntlet returning next week and went "sign me up," because of course he did, that's really what everyone else in the company should be doing, but Jarrett just wants it more.

Not only does he want it more, but he's an expert in getting his point across. No fancy bells and whistles to it, just straight up "I want this, and I will do anything I can to get it," making every moment with Jarrett between now and the end mean something because he's on a time limit. Do I think Jeff Jarrett will win the AEW World Championship? No. I would like to be wrong on that one all things considered, but I be on the edge of my seat for The Last Outlaw's last ride. Buckle up everyone, this is going to be special.

Written by Sam Palmer

MJF and Adam Cole's terrible storyline has, for the most part, been thankfully self-contained. It felt like a separate part of AEW programming, one you could ignore. Not anymore.

MJF making it clear that he'll be in the Casino Gauntlet means one of two things:

1. MJF wins and is back in the main event scene.

2. MJF is cost the match by Adam Cole, thus continuing this terminally long program.

Either option sucks. I was hoping their bloody match at Worlds End meant a respite for those two, but no, this storyline will keep going until the heat death of the universe. I am bored to tears with this ruined friendship, it isn't even good soap opera at this point. No matter my issues with the Deathriders lack of threat, the storyline has only been going on since October. This is a story that sucked in 2023, and now is much colder, and much moldier. 

Written by Ross Berman