AEW Dynamite 01/08/25: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the show where Kenny Omega returned from his triumphant Wrestle Dynasty victory and promptly teamed up with his old rival to beat up a sexagenarian! Yes, in case you hadn't guessed, we here at WINC had rather a lot to say about that particular main event segment, along with Will Ospreay vs. Buddy Matthews, the Casino Gauntlet match, Jeff Jarrett's promo segment with MJF, the women's Casino Gauntlet qualifier match, and of course, Jon Moxley running away. Always running away, that man.

Unfortunately, we didn't have anything terribly interesting to say about the Hurt Business/Private Party stuff, and words our insufficient to express our feelings about Harley Cameron challenging Mariah May to something called "hot girl graps," but hey, that's what the results page is for. For this column, the WINC staff offers only our strongest opinions. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved from the 1/8/25 episode of "AEW Dynamite."

There was a time when Buddy Matthews's role on "205 Live" was, for lack of a better way to put it, "The guy who watched that weekend's NJPW show." He'd often debut a move, usually out of Will Ospreay or Kota Ibushi's arsenal, collecting the moves of non-WWE stars like a kind of cruiserweight Thanos. So there was something heartwarming about watching him and Ospreay trade Ospreay-isms.

While I'm not the biggest fan of Ospreay's style, an opponent like Matthews provides a pretty effective mirror. It's essentially the appeal of AEW, having guys like Ospreay and Matthews open up a random TV show in January with their brand of athleticism. The promise of the promotion has always been in its exhibition matches, and the two men hit a sweet spot, delivering a substantial opener that never overstayed its welcome. It can be a delicate dance to have a match like that. Ospreay has also come a long way in his ability to pull back on his go-for-broke style without sacrificing entertainment value.

It's hard to describe what worked about Wednesday's opener without talking about it like a cold splash of water to wake up the senses. The rest of the show might've left me wanting, but Ospreay and Matthews set the episode up well.

Written by Ross Berman

I know that bashing Tony Khan is something that a lot of people get a kick out of doing, and in fairness some of his decisions in recent months have left a lot to be desired, but there is one thing that you cannot take away from him and that is (in my opinion at least) the Casino Gauntlet match is easily the most original and most exciting match that has ever come out of AEW, and might be the best new gimmick match anyone has come up with in years.

The first two showcased the potential of the bout, while the third one at All In London was genuinely one of the most exciting matches AEW produced in 2024. The tag team version of it didn't exactly land the way some would have hoped and that is partly down to the tag division being colder than the inside of a freezer, but this match in Clarksville, Tennessee was another slam dunk effort. Many of the participants had legitimate claims to be the rightful winner, and the match had some fantastic story beats layered throughout.

Continuing the "they match each other's freak in a weird sort of way" feud between Jay White and Hangman Page was a great way to open things up, Ricochet getting more heat on himself with the Swerve Strickland tease for his entrance that adds a little wrinkle into their feud without Swerve even being there, and Jeff Jarrett trying to make good on his promise of getting a hold of one last world championship that he carefully mapped out the week earlier. Sure, The Undisputed Kingdom guys didn't really do much, Lance Archer and Wheeler Yuta made up the numbers, and Daniel Garcia seems to be doing everything other than defending the AEW TNT Championship, but this match made the show feel more alive than any other portion of the show.

Then there is the winner. I was one of the many people who were a bit stumped as to what would be next for Powerhouse Hobbs after Worlds End and his loss to Konosuke Takeshita, but he grabbed the match by the scruff of its neck and made it his. A truly inspired winner that no one probably saw coming, who actually has a personal gripe with Moxley to make their match mean a little more as the injury Hobbs sustained in April 2024 came against Moxley. Do I think he will dethrone the leader of The Death Riders? Of course I don't. It would be great if he did, but having Hobbs in around the AEW World Championship scene is LONG overdue. Let's just hope this isn't a flash in the pan, and more of a permanent move.

Written by Sam Palmer

Usually in a single promo segment, there's only one issue that would cause me to not gel with it. However, the segment between Jeff Jarrett and MJF had more than one glaring issue and definitely did not work for me personally.

Not only did having MJF offer his help to Jarrett feel very out of eft field, but it feels quite contradictory to have Jarrett announce his intentions of capturing the AEW World Championship last week. He had essentially set himself up as new challenger for Moxley (possibly by having won the Casino Gauntlet Match) only to turn around and get into a verbal exchange with MJF to set up a storyline between them. While it's very possible that AEW is waiting for a bigger stage such as a pay-per-view event to have Jarrett challenge Moxley, then there would be no point in having Jarrett make his intentions of wanting gold known until after his storyline with MJF. If AEW still insisted on having Jarrett put Moxley on notice, then it would've been easy for them to simply tease it either last week or this week only for MJF to cut off Jarrett and set up a storyline between them.

On top of that, the AEW World Championship picture as is right now already has challengers between the looming contract that Christian Cage has for a title match and a new challenger next week in Powerhouse Hobbs. There's no need to introduce Jarrett as a potential challenger and then introduce a second potential challenger in MJF, as it makes the title picture feel overcrowded and becomes confusing as to who is actually Moxley's next proper challenger. In the case of Jarrett, it's a little more understandable since this current contract is his last one in his own words from last week, but there's no need for MJF to be set up as a potential challenger as he doesn't need a championship in this stage of his career.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Well, the good news is that for once, Jon Moxley didn't cut a promo that was supposed to make him sound bad-ass before The Death Riders jumped one or more babyfaces and almost did something mean to them before getting run off by one or more other babyfaces.

The bad news is that Adam Copeland (sorry, COPE, how could I forget) cut a promo that was supposed to make him sound bad-ass before The Death Riders jumped him and almost did something mean to him before getting run off by Powerhouse Hobbs, a babyface.

It's actually starting to feel like parody, the amount of times this happens. And it's somehow getting worse — despite my very witty and clever good news/bad news framing, this week was actually a step down, since Moxley at least has a baseline degree of competence in cutting the same promo over and over. Cope is out here like "You know how you can tell I'm tough? Because of how many times I've been injured!" which I feel like might not be the flex you think it is.

"What exactly can you do to me that hasn't been done before?" Cope asked, after reminding everyone of the broken leg he suffered against Malaki Black. To which, if I were Jon Moxley, I would have responded with something like, "I don't know, man, I guess I could break both your legs, which seems plausible? Even if I only broke one, which has definitely been done before, you still had to vacate your title and go away for six months, so that still seems like a win for me, if that were to happen again. Do you not remember that? Is it because you're a 51-year-old who's famously had his head smashed between two chairs multiple times?"

Of course, Jon Moxley did not respond like that, but instead responded the way he always responds, which is to bring out his four best friends and briefly appear threatening before running away at the wispiest suggestion of resistance. Just like he did on "Collision," just like he does every damn time he shows up these days. Gonna go out on a limb and say he's beating Hobbs next week, probably due to outside interference, and then we can do it all again with a different opponent. Remember when this was the hottest angle in wrestling, like, three months ago?

Written by Miles Schneiderman

AEW's men had their Casino Gauntlet Match Wednesday, which is a shame, because they were almost immediately outshined by the women's triple threat for the #1 Spot in the Women's Casino Gauntlet Match. Toni Storm, Kris Statlander, and Willow Nightingale showed the Tennessee crowd a phenomenal wrestling bout. No gimmicks, no outside interference — just great wrestling. Storm, Statlander, and Nightingale showed us that AEW is truly where the best women wrestle.

The match, admittedly, started off with a slow roll-up sequence. Things picked up when Nightingale nailed Storm with a spinebuster, to which Statlander responded with an arm drag. Statlander and Nightingale had a really solid grappling sequence — a staple to any wrestling match that is often sorely underappreciated. Of course, you have your AEW ridiculousness in that collaborative low-blow, with Nightingale sent Storm face-first into a bragging Statlander's crotch.

All women played their parts excellently in this match, particularly Storm. AEW has really allowed her expertise in in-ring psychology to shine, from her "Timeless" gimmick to her current, retro "Toni Time" gimmick. She spent most of the match trying to get offense in, only to be knocked to the outside by either Statlander or Nightingale — exactly how she would have been if she was legitimately a rookie. She was the one who ate the pin — exactly how she would if she was legitimately a rookie. While commentary is kind of ruining the illusion by bringing up her past as a three-time AEW Women's World Championship, I'm happy that Storm and AEW booking is not afraid to let her be booked like the rookie she is claiming to be.

I have already extensively written my praises about Statlander during her two TBS Championship matches against Mercedes Moné, and honestly, I am glad that she is being booked like the talented wrestler she is. I'd argue that, despite her two losses, Statlander has a lot of great momentum now — she has showed that she is willing to go head-to-head with the best, and she is being treated accordingly. While I don't believe that Statlander is the person to dethrone current AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May — and that's if she can translate pole position into a victory — I do appreciate that she is being posited as a possible player in the world title scene.

Nightingale was the star of the match for me. She is just so good in the ring, combining agility with brute strength to give a truly stunning performance. She was able to go toe-to-toe with the experienced Statlander, and she worked pretty well with the alleged-newbie Storm. She is just the full package, and while I do wish that she got the win, she still heavily contributed to making this Triple Threat a contender for Match of the Night.

With AEW's record of lackluster women's competition, I'm glad Storm, Statlander, and Nightingale performed as well they did. The rest of the locker room — men and women — should take notes.

Written by Angeline Phu

Wednesday was supposed to be about Kenny Omega's grand return after 13 months away through diverticulitis, following on from a teasing confrontation with Kazuchika Okada at Worlds End and an immense comeback match at Wrestle Dynasty. What transpired, however, felt like a return to the ebb and flow of Omega's seemingly eternal feud with Don Callis.

The Callis saturation in Omega's AEW run is just nauseating at this stage, and continues to shackle arguable the best wrestler in the world; the past year should be a reminder that Omega's time is not guaranteed, and it just feels like a waste to have him used in this way. His first match back in AEW after 13 months will be Brian Cage, and this is not intended to slight Cage as the performer he is but that just strikes as a waste of a genuine opportunity to sell a real main event. We are talking about someone who many – myself included – revere as the best bell-to-bell performer and he is being stuck in the ring with someone that wouldn't frankly make anyone's top 10. Even within Callis' family there is Konosuke Takeshita who would have made an extraordinary pairing, but he was conspicuously absent from the brawl.

Instead, Kyle Fletcher joined Cage and Lance Archer in their beatdown, prompting a save from Will Ospreay to strike up an uneasy alliance against a common foe. In a bubble, given their history it is a cool idea in concept for Omega and Ospreay to team together. But this didn't strike as the right circumstance for it to be done, and it just underwhelmed in general as a segment. It really, genuinely feels like Callis will never leave Omega alone, and it was bad enough that the same fate befell Ospreay. There was absolutely no reason to involve another of the promotion's best wrestlers in a program that hadn't exactly awed in the first place, especially when there is no much elsewhere on the table.

For example, why is the newly reinstated EVP not doing something about Jon Moxley's coup against the company? Moxley appeared on the show earlier, continuing his crusade of violence against Adam Copeland, but Omega didn't address that as any sort of problem. What about what he thought about his moment with Okada (simultaneously teasing Omega-Okada V)? How about his abrupt departure from The Elite? No, there was nothing addressed in that regard, no call backs to any loose plot threads. Just more of the same with Callis coming out and having his goons beat Omega up. NJPW just appears to book Kenny Omega better than AEW.

Written by Max Everett