SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
EDITOR’S NOTE: This column was written before this week’s Dynamite. There will be a new version of this column based on last night’s Dynamite soon!
Welcome everyone!
What a little interaction we had at the start of Dynamite this week – “Hangman” Adam Page to start, followed by Will Osprey, and ending with the Don Callis Family coming out.
I asked last week if we would see more fire from Osprey in the build up to his match with Hangman and I was quickly answered this week on Dynamite. I loved every second between the two of them.
Next week’s tag match with Osprey & Hangman vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Josh Alexander should be fun. Later in the show, Swerve Strickland being the one to lose the match for his team was surprising. Swerve already has five losses this year (more on that later).
The end of Dynamite saw Samoa Joe take out a member of the Deathriders, Claudio Castagnoli (still have to look that one up to spell it out, shesh) going into next week’s cage match. Mox will be down a man with Claudio being slammed on that chair, but I’m sure Mox has something up his sleeve.
Starting off Collision we were graced with “Timeless” Toni Storm for the second week in a row and once again she is one of the few that shows up every week on both Dynamite and Collision. She is such a star.
Like Collision most weeks, this was a wrestling-heavy episode. I still love that fact that lower-card wrestlers get a chance on here. Hey, I just think wrestling is at its best when an entire card is over. The rise of wrestlers such as Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho in WCW or the Hardy Boyzzzzz in WWF were huge reasons the Monday Night Wars were amazing. (Shout out to the PWTorch ’90s Pastcast!)
The Don Callis Family was all over the show and all six members were on the winning side of two different matches. I loved the fact that the Dark Order were taken out by Takeshita and Alexander ahead of their match with Osprey and Hangman. I’m sure it will just piss off an already mad Hangman.
Another highlight was Willow Nightingale vs. Kris Statlander. I enjoy almost every match between them. Willow is SO strong’; her powerbomb of Statlander during the match was impressive.
Closing out the show was Dax Harwood vs. Daniel Garcia. More on that later, but I think I like where FTR is going. They can be the biggest heels in the company over the next year.
Rising Star of the Week
Samoa Joe
“Joe! Joe! Joe!” They really need to just let The Opps come out to Joe’s music. It’s so good! Anyways, I am really happy to see Joe get another shot at the World Title. I don’t think he will win, but I feel like they have done enough to build him up to face Jon Moxley.
Since returning from injury at the end of January this year, Joe has 10 wins and 0 losses. Granted 8 of the 10 wins were in Trios or Tag matches, but that’s okay for me. Why? Because of what he did to Claudio this week and what he did the last time he and Mox were in the ring, if you remember. If you don’t, Joe choked Mox out after a Trios match.
So here we go next week. Joe, who is probably not winning the World Title, has begun the beginning of the end for the Deathriders. Or it’s how I feel but I will be watching to see what happens.
1st Runner Up: “Speedball” Mike Bailey
Where did this guy come from? Yes, I actually know the answer, but still. He came flying into AEW and has quickly become one of the more popular acts around and it’s all because of his charisma and in-ring ability (remember his face-to-face on the mic with Kenny Omega? Awkward). Despite being on the losing side of a six-man tag on Dynamite this week, he picked up a singles victory over Dralistico on Collision.
It appears next he will “get the horns”as he and Rush are headed for a – wait for it – Collision. Bailey has just been amazing in his wins, but he might have been even more impressive in some of his losses. That’s what makes him a rising star to me. He’s not losing matches he shouldn’t lose and we are seeing him on a journey right now when he is facing someone higher on the card. Bailey has definitely been the biggest surprise so far on the AEW roster in 2025.
2nd Runner Up: “Timeless” Toni Storm
Storm was in a four-way “AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator Match”(well, that’s a lot of words) against Thunder Rosa, Penelope Ford and Anna Jay. Ford eventually tapping out to Storm’s TCM Chicken Wing and, as a movie guy, I love the name of her new submission hold. Storm followed that up with just another Classic “Timeless” promo.
Back to the Dynamite match, we did get to see “The Megasus” herself, Megan Bayne, come out and get into it with Anna Jay setting up their match next week on Collision. For me all this is doing is setting up match number two between Storm and Bayne. I like keeping them apart, but it has to be coming. Maybe post Storm vs. Mercedes Mone. Sorry Jaime Hayter, it appears to be Mone’s match.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Falling Star of the Week
Swerve Strickland
Okay, okay, wait. I see the face you are making. Hear me out. I am a HUGE Swerve fan. Believe me, my wife hates that I walk around singing his entrance song so much, but I told her I can sing that or just randomly yell “WHO’s HOUSE?!” and I would want her to respond “Swerve’s house!” She told me the song is fine.
Anyways, like I said earlier, he has lost five matches so far this year. I am positive the story will play out and Swerve will get some wins and be back in title picture, but right now he’s not doing so well in the ring. His last three singles TV match wins were against Pac (who got injured in the middle of the match), Clark Connors, and Blake Christian. Swerve did have a PPV win wedged in there against Ricochet before losing at the following PPV to Mox.
Following the Blake match, Swerve was taken out by the Young Bucks. That was followed up by Matt Jackson of the Bucks pinning Swerve in the middle of the ring on this past week’s Dynamite. So I am just saying Swerve has had a rough month since losing to Mox at Dynasty. That said, I am sure he will step it up and be on the better part of my list before too long.
Runner-Up: Daniel Garcia
I am going to start off with saying that, unlike Swerve, I am not a huge Danny Garcia fan. He just lacks something that keeps him from connecting with me as a fan. This week on Collision the match between Garcia and Dax Harwood was okay, but it was definitely overshadowed by a “retired” announcer finally having enough of FTR’s shit.
While I do think the inclusion of Nigel McGuiness will help this feud, I also think Nigel just overshadows Garcia completely. Nigel will get the bigger reaction and upstage a guy in Garcia who is suppose to be part of the future of AEW. It appears they are setting up a tag match between the four. I am wondering if Garcia ends up turning on Nigel and we just get all three of them (FTR and Garcia), attacking Nigel or if Garcia is taken out and FTR continues their “Ledgend Killers” rampage. We shall see.
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