AEW Dynamite 01/15/25: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," which was distinguished this week by being the only wrestling special named after a 1990s Marvel Comics storyline! Yes, this was the Wednesday night edition of "Maximum Carnage," headlined by Jon Moxley defending his world title against Powerhouse Hobbs. The WINC staff had some thoughts about that main event, especially in comparison to the first-ever Women's Casino Gauntlet Match, which featured the long-awaited "Dynamite" debut of Megan Bayne; indeed, there aren't many things we don't have an opinion on this week, though not all our emotions merit a full write-up (we're all very happy Samoa Joe is back, but not for any deeper reason than "Samoa Joe rules").

As always, be sure to check out our "Dynamite" results page if you need to catch up on anything you may have missed. Once you've done that, however, be sure to come back here for some good old fashioned opinion and analysis. These are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 1/15/25 episode of "AEW Dynamite."

It takes a special type of wrestler to have four returns in the space of a month, but that's the power of Kenny Omega. He returned to AEW at Worlds End, he returned to the ring at Wrestle Dynasty, and he returned to AEW TV last week — but at Maximum Carnage he returned to an AEW ring, and man, it felt so good to see him.

Right from the word go, Omega looked like he hadn't missed a beat. Phenomenal shape, busting out the old classics when needed, but also adding a new wrinkle to his work, selling the midsection. Diverticulitis almost killed him and Brian Cage (and the rest of The Don Callis Family) knew that and targeted his gut, which is going to make some of Omega's bigger matches later down the line even more dramatic as he now has that Bryan Danielson-esque level of selling in his game where he can make people believe that he's in career-ending levels of pain.

Let's not take anything away from Cage either. This was most certainly a way to showcase Omega getting back into the swing of things, but he provided a great base for some of Omega's more flashy moves, while also showing people why he is incredibly dependable when called upon. The big superplex, the running powerbomb on the ramp where he threw Omega back into the ring, Cage had his working boots on tonight and I'm always happy to see him get a big opportunity like this.

As expected, this wasn't a match of the year contender or anything, and depending on who you ask this might not have been the best match on this show. However, this match achieved what it needed to. It made Cage look like, well, a machine, and it gave Omega enough of a solid TV performance that people can call this a good match, while also holding enough back that fans want to see more from him in future bouts.

If there was one thing I would mark this whole segment down on, it would be that the whole thing ended virtually the same way as last week with Omega and Will Ospreay staring at each other, only this time we had Konosuke Takeshita helping the heels stand tall, but it didn't feel like a big enough story beat to make fans go "wow what an excellent next move." Having said that, we are most likely getting Ospreay and Omega against Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher at Grand Slam Australia, and you can guarantee I and many other fans around the world will be seated for that one.

Written by Sam Palmer

Did you hear? MVP made his return to in-ring competition after two years of not lacing up his boots! Or, at least, that's what AEW commentary would have you believe. Of course, one visit to Cagematch will tell you that MVP wrestled two matches at the end of 2024, but that's okay. Tony Khan, we don't mind. We just really didn't need the spectacle of this being a long-awaited, super-unlikely return to the ring! It's okay if MVP has wrestled twice in the past two months, Tony — just don't lie about it!

Even if MVP hadn't wrestled those two independent dates at the end of 2024 — perhaps AEW doesn't consider them canon for whatever reason — Wednesday's in-ring return did not live up to the hype of an established, historic wrestler dusting off the boots. MVP teamed up with Shelton Benjamin and Bobby Lashley as the Hurt Syndicate to take on Mark Briscoe and current AEW Tag Team Champions Private Party in a six-man tag match, and while their lock-up was cute, it definitely was not the welcome that one would expect from a veteran like MVP.

To give credit where credit is due: Briscoe took great care of MVP, and MVP wrestled a lot more than I thought he would in this match. The opening portion of the match saw Briscoe and MVP locking up, and while Lashley and Benjamin quickly took over things for the Hurt Syndicate, it was nice to see MVP get a few blows in. It would have been better if MVP had actually been two years removed from in-ring action, instead of two months.

The rest of the match was watchable, but nothing to write home about. Lashley and Benjamin made quick work of Briscoe (really, the workhorse in this match) and Private Party, and the match — again, what AEW would have you believe is MVP's first professional wrestling match in *two whole years* ended with ... Benjamin getting the pin. Isn't this whole thing about MVP getting back in the ring with his boys? If MVP wasn't going to get the pin, why is he fighting in the first place?

I understand that MVP's position now is to support Lashley and Benjamin. However, when MVP — who is, again, a well-respected, 25-year veteran of the business — is the subject of hype, it feels odd that Benjamin got the pin without MVP's help, only to have MVP slide into the ring afterwards to celebrate with his boys. It felt odd to have MVP not involved with the finish at all — again, it was Lashley and Benjamin. It's as if this match was not planned to feature MVP as its star at all, and all of that promotional material — again, built on misinformation — was tacked on last-minute. Why even put him in the ring at all at this point?

This whole match wasn't bad. It was just kind of weird, and not in a good way.

Written by Angeline Phu

I'm taking one for the team on this one; everyone here at WINC involved in our "Dynamite" coverage detested this segment. From Jeff Jarrett getting knocked off his game after the crowd started chanting for MJF, to the sub-pair insults slung from "The Last Outlaw's" end, to just how long this lasted, not much was great about Jarrett and MJF having a promo battle in the year 2025, as hard as MJF tried to make it a shocking one. The segment was so long that during the middle of it, I personally had to stop and remember just why these guys were mad at each other. It's simple, of course, MJF is upset Jarrett is trying to go for the AEW World Championship one last time, and MJF is upset and feels like Jarrett is cutting him in line. They just don't seem to have too much chemistry together, at least in this longer segment.

And MJF did indeed try his hardest to keep things spicy and keep the crowd interested. He called Karen Jarrett a MILF, then mentioned he'd take her home, then mentioned a raunchy bit about Kurt Angle without actually naming him. My personal favorite, however, was MJF calling Jarrett a "real life grim reaper," because "he's the last thing you see before a wrestling company dies." Woof. He's great especially when he's taking real-life bits and crafting them into insults, so well that fans feel like they're looking behind a curtain of some sorts. That being said, there was so much potential in this segment, but it went off the rails when Jarrett tried to fire back, and the crowd began chanting "He's our scumbag!" about MJF. Jarrett never really regained any of the "oomph," basically started a "yo' mama" thing to MJF, and it just all didn't work for me. There was nothing that could get this back on track, and it felt awkward, and awfully stretched out.

So, how does it end? With MJF taking shots at Jarrett about being friends with the late Owen Hart, of course. I'm sure some people will call it distasteful, especially since AEW works closely with the Owen Hart Memorial Foundation, but I found it more unnecessary than anything. You're never going to get me interested in Jarrett versus MJF, so there wasn't a need to pull out something that below-the-belt, shocking, distasteful, whatever you want to call it. Jarrett then of course starts beating MJF up for the "HA, your friend's dead!" insult, and that's where this segment, mercifully, ends.

I can see what AEW are going for here, but I think Jarrett and MJF are just too mismatched that it's never going to work. Their back-and-forth last week was enough with MJF revealing the length of Jarrett's last contract, and that was enough of a feud before match between the pair for me. Sadly, there's no date set for one yet, so I'm sure we'll have to suffer through at least one more of these awkward exchanges.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I'll be honest: in thinking back to the Men's Casino Gauntlet Match from last week, I didn't have high expectations for the Women's Casino Gauntlet Match tonight especially because it was set to be the first of its kind. However, I was very pleasantly surprised when I found myself much more invested in it than I was in the one from last week and enjoyed every single second of the match from the "Dynamite" debut of Megan Bayne to the action throughout it.

It would've been relatively easy for anyone who's been watching AEW over the course of the past few weeks to pick Toni Storm as the winner of the match, but sometimes the simplest choice is the best one to go with. AEW Grand Slam is happening in Storm's native country of Australia and she still has unresolved issues with Mariah May, allowing for a story to be quickly built before now and the event with little effort needed to tell it given their extended shared history. That being said, there were several other competitors in tonight's match that had legitimate cases to be the new Number One Contender and would've been perfectly good options. From Kris Statlander who's been receiving something of a push as of late to fan favorite Willow Nightingale and fellow Australian Harley Cameron to give her a big match in her home country, the field of competitors was stacked which is part of what made it such an exciting watch. Despite the limited amount of time that the match was given, the women in it made the most of it, putting on both an entertaining and engaging bout that was easily the in-ring highlight of the show.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

There were a few names expected to take part in Wednesday's inaugural Women's Casino Gauntlet Match. Kris Statlander had staked her claim on the coveted entry spot, and other AEW female mainstays, such as eventual winner Toni Storm and former AEW Women's Champion Jamie Hayter, made their understandable appearances in the fight.

Megan Bayne was not on the shortlist of people I expected to show up, but with her short performance, I am convinced she can become an integral part in diversifying AEW's women's division.

Maybe it's because I've listened to the entire "EPIC: The Musical" score approximately twenty-five times as of writing, but I am bought into the Ancient-inspired Bayne — skill, gimmick, and all. She came out of the gate absolutely swinging, going blow-for-blow with Statlander, who is quickly rising through the division to become one of its best performers. Statlander's selling point has always been her height and her strength, and Bayne was able to hold her own against the record-holder for the longest women's match in AEW history. I mean, that leaping clothesline onto Statlander was a thing of beauty, both from Bayne herself and from the angle of the cameraman. While this is far from a certified, "tell me you're being pushed without tell me you're being pushed" moment, Bayne did look very good for someone who hasn't been on AEW programming in three years (and when she was on AEW programming, was only featured taking losses on "AEW Dark").

Not only does she seem to have in-ring chops, I am just in love with her whole aesthetic — she definitely stands out from the typical edgy or flirtatious female wrestling gimmick. While we haven't heard her on the microphone yet, just her commitment to a more niche character does give me hope for a strong, stable character that can make a wrestler a star in ways in-ring performance can't. I'm excited to see where she goes from here, given she returns to AEW on a full-time or full-time adjacent program.

Just looking onto Cagematch, it's clear that Bayne is hot on the independent scene. She is a GCW mainstay, and is currently the #1 Contender for Mance Warner's GCW World Championship. Tony Khan has hinted at a crossover between AEW and GCW after talent like Chris Jericho, Matt Cardona, and Ricky Starks have been in the crossfire of the other promotion's storylines, and if Bayne's appearance is part of that collaboration, it'll be very exciting to see more female independent stars get their spotlight, especially when they are as hard-hitting as Bayne. Hopefully her consistent presence will breathe some life into the AEW Women's division, which is notoriously Khan's second priority when it comes to booking.

Bayne spiced up the Women's Casino Gauntlet Match tonight. Even though she didn't win — and she was, admittedly, less involved in the match than I would have liked — she still performed extraordinarily well for someone who hasn't ran AEW's ropes in years. The verdict is out: Megan Bayne is EPIC.

Written by Angeline Phu

This week's "AEW Dynamite" had plenty going for it, whether that be the TV in-ring return of Kenny Omega, the exceptional women's Casino Gauntlet Match, or even the main event for the World title – which in itself I really enjoyed. But one thing that sorely stuck out as a live viewer was the fact that the main event just felt like the wrong choice on this particular night. Jon Moxley and Powerhouse Hobbs had a really enjoyable, bloody fight to close the show, and while I accept that Moxley himself works a very divisive style there is always a strong case for him to be in the main event if he is wrestling. Like it or not, he is AEW's top guy with or without the title, so with the title that idea is further compounded.

But he was defending the title that he'd pried from the remnants of Bryan Danielson's wrestling career in a bout confirmed just last week, so it wasn't as if there had been enough time to credibly believe Hobbs stood a chance. No matter how the story was going to be told, the outcome was clear from the get-go, and with that naturally comes a lack of excuses when it comes to why you would choose that as the closing angle to your show. Especially when in comparison there was an optimal main event in the women's Casino Gauntlet Match from earlier, one that was touted very heavily as the first-ever of its type, and one that delivered on the action and had the crowd truly invested.

Yes, it is worth noting that the men's Casino Gauntlet didn't main event last week. But that wasn't the first of its kind or anywhere near as pivotal as this one, with "Timelooped" Toni Storm winning and thus setting up an All In rematch with Mariah May at Grand Slam Australia. It had the main event angle written over it far more than Moxley and the Death Riders once more plowing through *insert babyface here* before being run off by *insert a few more babyfaces* to close the show. And for the average argument made that the women wouldn't have drawn whichever metric, I simply have to ask whether it seems like the World Championship picture is going to do any better. To be clear, Hobbs and Mox put on a perfectly enjoyable showing with a very deliberately flat finish. What would it have hurt to have a really fun match to close things off, rather than the same sad tune that's been told for the past 14 weeks?

Written by Max Everett