AEW Dynamite 4/16/2025

AEW Dynamite 4/16/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/aew-dynamite-492025.html

Dynamite officially has more episodes than WCW Nitro with this show. However, Dynamite was on TNT originally and then moved to TBS, so they do not have that record. They also do not have the record for longest running wrestling show on TBS, as they have another 5 years before they catch up to some of the other WCW shows, yet alone stuff like Georgia Championship Wrestling.

We are in Boston, MA. Excalibur and Tony Schiavone are on commentary.

Women's Owen Hart Tournament Semifinals - Mercedes Mone vs Athena

This is a lose-lose here as one of the champs loses and both are on undefeated streaks.

They lock up and roll onto the stage. They then stupidly go into the stage with it. Mone then waistlocks her and they roll into the ring. They shoulder battle. Ath rolls her her off the lockup and Ath is legswept. Ath rolls her up then Mone backslides her. They then roll around trying to do cradles to each other. Mone headscissors her into a roll-up. Mone knees her in the face then sunset flips her into the buckles. 

Mone corner meteora's her. Ath hits kicks. Ath forward cartwheel forearms her for 2. Mone headscissors her into a crossface. Mone thne rolls her out to the floor with it. Mone meteora's her on the apron. Ath stunners her on the floor.

We go to PiP break and return. They fight in the ring and trade shots. Mone forearms her. Ath ducks a PK and superkicks her. They sloppily reverse tombstones and Mone drops Ath chest first onto double knees. 

Mone hits a ddt on her for 2. Mone slaps her then suplexes her three times. Ath pop-up powerbombs her then does 2 more powerbombs off of it. Mone gets out of a powerbomb and hits a neckbreaker over the back. Ath rolling death valley drivers her. Mone hits forearms. Mone jumping double knees her through the ropes.

Ath blocks a gemran off the apron. Ath stomps Mone on the apron. Ath front kicks her on the apron then powerslams her on the apron over the middle rope. Ath crossfaces her and they do a pin attempt. Ath twists her off her shoulder into a double knee.

Ath charges at her outside and goes into the rails. They stand on the rail and try to slap each other. They get down and Ath shotgun dropkicks her into the rail LED board. Mone blocks an o-face backrolls her for the win.

Thoughts: Athena lost as expected here, just like she did the last time she was in this tournament. It had some sloppy moments in and wasn't quite the classic they were hoping for. I thought some of the spots were silly with them going to the ramp then back in the ring with a lock-up then standing on the rail together and struggling to stay up. They tried but as I said, this was a lose-lose no matter what that was avoidable.

Toni Storm and Luther then appear up in the seats.  

Adam Page is interviewed in the back. The Bucks and Okada go up to him. They say they accept his apology for walking out on them at Blood and Guts last year. A Buck says they can fix Page's issue with The Death Riders. They then say Page can win the Owen Hart Cup and bring the title back to The Elite. Okada asks why Page is always angry and says to smile. Okada then calls him "b!tch" and acts like a goof.

They then have a Boston Bruins player with the Stanley Cup on the stage in an advertisement for the NHL Playoffs.

Men's Owen Hart Tournament Quarterfinals - Adam Page vs Josh Alexander

This is Josh Alexander's AEW debut. I wasn't a big fan of this signing and think he will just get lost on Collision or ROH in no time.

Josh rolls out of a wristlock and suplexes Page. They trade foreams. Josh running facekicks him. Page fallway slams him. Page hits a corner lariat. Page forearms him. Page springboard lariats him. Page is dropped face first on the apron. Josh gets stuck on the rail. Page jumps off the ramp and lariats him down.

We go to PiP break and return. Josh germans him for 2. Josh lariats him. Page spinning lariats him. Page back body drops him on the apron. Page top rope moonsaults outside. Page pop-up powerbombs him. 

Josh forearms him from behind. Josh then spinning torture rack drops him for 2. Josh ankle locks him. Page enzugiri's him. Page moonsaults and catches him with a tombstone for 2. Josh slams him on the apron. Page is sat on the apron and Josh crossbodies his back. Page then cradles him and wins.

Thoughts: Josh lost on his debut which was stupid. There was no reason for it but this stuff happens all the time here and it wasn't surprising. It was an average to okay match and thankfully they didn't overdo it here.

Kyle Fletcher and Don Callis come out after. Kyle fights with Page and Page lariats him in the ring. Don tries to say stuff to Josh then Josh nails Page from behind. Josh then powerbombs Page and Don celebrates. Kyle brainbusters Page.

Nick Wayne, Kip Sabian and Mother Wayne do a promo. Nick says The Patriarchy is the heirarchy but when the father disappears...Christian Cage then walks in. He says, "daddy's home, Nick". He said he heard Nick say he knew why he didn't stick to the plan on the cash-in. Christian then tells him to hear why. Nick says it's because he didn't want to see Cope become champ before him if he failed to cash it in. Christian said he liked the fire Nick had last time and said he gave him his month to keep the fire going. He said he gave him something and got him a spot in the NJPW BOSJ Tournament. He says the best way to get a spot in that is to keep your momentum going. He says he will face Komander for the ROH TV Title and win it tomorrow. He says he knows Nick would never let his father down. He then slaps Nick. 

Tony says FTR was suspended and fined for their attempted attack on him on Collision.

AEW Tag Titles - The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin) vs The Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona)

I'm sure The GoA are totally winning here after months of not being on TV. Kristaps Porizingis is in the audience and looks confused.

Toa hits SB from behind to start. SB ddt's Toa when he bends over. Toa headbutts him in the gut. Kaun plancha's BL. SB is double teamed in the corner. Kaun takes corner spears from BL. BL flatliners Kaun then suplexes him. Kaun is lariated over the top and we go to PiP break.

Kaun and BL do a double clothesline. Toa hits forearms on BL. Tora samoan drops BL then superkicks him. Toa sentons BL. Toa hits BL in the corner and hits corner lariats. Kaun breaks up a full-nelson and Toa lariats BL over the top. BL is sent into the rail.

Kaun shotgun dropkicks SB into the corner. SB hits a big kick and release germans Kaun. Toa is pulled over the top and is speared by BL from the side. SB step up knees Kaun in the corner. BL spears Kaun and pins him.

Thoughts: I liked it and was surprised The Hurt's took as much offense as they did here. It was a nice heavyweight match and it's just a shame The GOA wasn't built up better so it would seem like they had a chance here.

MJF comes out after. MJF says to give it up for The Hurt Syndicate. He makes a racial remark saying the crowd is "way too White", but he makes racial remarks all the time. MJF says some of the people are slow learners and motions towards Bobby. Bobby then gets mad.

MJF brings out a bunch of women. MJF says they can have a night out of with them if they give him 3 thumbs up. I'm sure Bobby's wife wouldn't be up for this. SB says he needs more time. SB says he wants MJF's watch. MJF says he will if SB gives him a thumbs up. SB teases doing so but gives him a thumbs down.

MJF says he thinks he's growing on SB and gives him his watch as a token of appreciation. MJF says he can have the girls too. He says there will be more watches and women when he joins The Hurt Syndicate. He says BL is known for being The Almighty, but he's known for getting what he wants. 

They have a production error and we go to break.

Renee interviews The Hurt Syndicate in the back with the girls. Bobby says he doesn't trust MJF. MVP says its a personal reaction but this is just business. MVP says they can use MJF to get what they want. MVP asks him to ease up and says if he gets out of line, he can get hurt. MVP asks if they can have a good time.

Men's Owen Hart Tournament Semifinal - Konosuke Takeshita vs Will Ospreay

Will takes down KT by the arm. KT leglocks him. Will goes for the armbar. Will chops him in the corner. KT side headlocks him. KT shoulders him over and Will kips up. Wll armdrags him into an armlock. KT pops him up and is hurricanrana'd. Will slingshot swantons him.

Will handsprings and flips over KT's back. KT flying lariats him. Will double boots him out of the corner. KT hits a doi fives and a basement dropkick. KT tope con hilos him. We go to PiP break and return. I lost some of my review and here's where I picked up: Will hits a headscissors off a springboard and os cutters him for 2. KT hits a chaos theory for 2. They trade forearms. Will hits facekicks then is forearmed. KT hits forearms in the corner. KT forearms him over.

Will hook kicks him a few times. KT hits a forearm then a blue thunder for 2. Will flips off of a lariat and tries to land on his feet. Will goes for an os cutter and is forearmed for 1. Will hidden blades him for 1. They lariat each other at the same time and Will goes down.

Will hits a package tombstone and a wheelbarrow german. KT no sells it and hidden blades him. KT corner facekicks him. They go up top. KT lariats him off the top but Will lands on his feet. WIll hidden blades him for 2.

KT hits a jumping knee. Will hurricanrana's him. Will then does a styles clash for 2. KT hits a pumping knee to the face. Will hits a stormbreaker and wins.

Thoughts: The first 10 minutes or so were fine. Then it went on and on and they openly no sold a bunch of stuff. Then the match went down. They did way too much here and it's no surprise as both of these guys overboard when given the chance and that's what they did here. Will appeared to have hurt his eye during this one. 

AEW Trios Titles - The Death Riders (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta) vs The Ops (Samoa Joe and Katsuyori Shibata) and Powerhouse Hobbs

They said Hook was attacked before the show and is out of the match. Mox is filling in for Pac here since he's injured so they are doing The Freebird Rule here.

The match starts as soon as everyone gets in. Hobbs lariats Yuta. Mox's head is banged off the apron. Hobbs shoulders Yuta into the corner. Hobbs corner lariats Yuta then hits a lariat flurry. KS appears to maybe be injured.

Mox hits Hobbs from behind. Hobbs powerslams Yuta. Joe hits punches on Yuta then pele kicks him in the corner. KS hits chops on Yuta. CC throws KS into the rail. KS is worked on in the ring. He hits chops on CC and takes a short arm lariat.

We go to PiP break and return. Shafir hits Hobbs from behind. KS goes for a sleeper on CC but takes a jawbreaker. KS and CC trade forearms. KS STO's CC.

Joe forearms Yuta over and atomic drops him when they get in. Joe facekicks and sentons Yuta for 2. Jower powerslams Yuta for 2. Willow comes out and takes a chair from Mox. Yuta top rope dropkicks Joe. Everyone starts coming in to do a move. 

Mox facekicks Joe, Joe no sells it and lariats him. The Young Bucks come onto the ramp. A Buck grabs a chair, Swerve takes the chair and attacks The Bucks. He double stomps them together off the rails. KS sleepers CC on the ramp.

Yuta's tope is caught by Hobbs and Hobbs uranages him there. Shafir chairs Hobbs. Willow then lariats Shafir. Joe then chokes out Mox with a sleeper and wins. Shibata, Joe and Hobbs are the trios champs!

Thoughts: It was nice to see The Death Riders lose here. They did a nice job of getting multiple people involved here with Swerve, Shafir, the Bucks and Willow all getting involved. It was a fine main just not anything great.

Will Ospreay comes out with champagne and ice on his head. Then The Dark Order, Ishii, Mike Bailey, AR Fox and Nana come out and celebrate.

Overall thoughts: I would say Mone/Athena was mostly good but it had some moments I didn't like. The booking was a lose-lose situation though and I don't know why they did this. Josh Alexander debuted and lost as often is the case with AEW. It was an okay match. The Hurt Syndicate had a decent match with GOA and the angle after was fine. Will/KT was indy crap as expected. I liked the main. It was a heavy wrestling show with not much else going on. The crowd was really hot and helped this one out. I can't rate this too highly because of the stupid stuff like having Athena lose and having Josh lose in his debut, but it did feel like a bigger shower and they gave a stronger card out than usual. I'll give it a 6 out of 10, but I do feel like it's being generous due to some of the issues they had here.