DQ’s are usually a letdown but Moxley getting DQ’d made sense, Okada vs. Bandido had some little touches that worked – AEW’s Top Three Matches of the Week

Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O’Reilly – Dynamite 10/22/25

Jon Moxley is truly the definition of “No days off” when it comes to professional wrestling. I thought it was a mistake to have him back so soon after his loss to Darby at WrestleDream. Then this match happened and I fully understood why he was back so fast. I loved everything about this match.

What a smart move to have Moxley face Kyle O’Reilly who is a submission expert right after Moxley just quit to Darby Allin. I thought commentary did a phenomenal job playing up Moxley’s mental psyche during the match, and this might have been Bryan Danielson’s best showing as a commentator since he started.

The crowd also did a good job here chanting “He’s a quitter!” throughout the match which really helped the story they were trying to tell here. Kyle O’Reilly constantly getting Moxley into submissions throughout this match was so smart. As the match went on you could see and feel the desperation in Moxley. There was a spot in the match where O’Reilly hit Moxley with a dropkick off the ring apron that looked brutal.

I just thought from top to bottom this was such a brilliantly put together match and a great follow up to the story they are telling with Moxley. I normally don’t like endings like the one we had here with a wrestler purposely getting DQ’d, but I thought this was one of the very few instances where it totally worked. Mox knew there was no way in hell he could give up again, and desperation makes men do desperate things.

A desperate Moxley is very intriguing to me, and someone already as dangerous as Moxley on the edge could be a fun watch.

Kazuchika Okada (AEW Unified Champion) vs. Bandido (AEW World Tag Team Champion) – Dynamite 10/22/25

I’m so happy Kazuchika Okada ditched the three belts and is just using the one Unified Championship (which is a beautiful title belt). I thought this match was one of Okada’s better showings in singles competition; he’s really taken it out of first gear lately and moved it into second gear in his matches recently.

Don Callis had a great line at the beginning of the match when he said Bandido “looked nervous.” Saying someone with a mask on looks nervous is so good. He’s really had some great one-liners recently on commentary. I thought Bandido and Okada had great chemistry in this match and I liked the touch of Bandido having his family ringside. (I think at one point either Bandido’s mother or grandmother gently touched Okada’s hand and he kind of broke character for a second and gave her a smile.)

I’m still amazed at how strong Bandido is, and Bandido also had a spinning backfist in this match that caught Okada flush that was really nice. Okada still has the best drop kick I’ve ever seen, so it’s a shame we will never get him in a match with Randy Orton because he has the second-best dropkick I’ve ever seen. It would have been cool to watch them both hit one in a match against each other.

I also really loved the overhead shot of the frog splash from Bandido. I love when they switch to that camera angle during a frog splash. Bandido took the loss here, but I don’t think it hurt him at all. They really played up his shoulder injury throughout the match and I’m guessing that injury is eventually what is going to cost Brodido the tag titles.

I really liked the post-match staredown from Takeshita to Okada. Okada just laughing at him makes Takeshita even angrier. The match between these two is going to be good, I can’t wait.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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Jet Speed & Jurassic Express vs. FTR & The Young Bucks – Collision 10/25/25

Well, this was a lot of fun as I think we kind of all knew it would be. It was very weird seeing FTR and The Bucks on the same side here, and it was really funny watching the Bucks come out to FTR’s entrance music. The Bucks entrances are becoming must see every week. Jurassic Express is getting a bigger reaction each week also and I think they have looked great in their few matches back as a team.

Cash Wheeler popping that beach ball with the chair before the match was so funny too. He absolutely smashed that thing. Using the chair was so over the top in a good way.

This match had a lot of good spots, and one of my favorites was the shotgun drop kick off the top rope by Kevin Knight. He absolutely nailed that thing. I also liked Cash Wheeler doing the dive over the rope instead of the Young Bucks. He got so much height on that dive; I was really stunned how high he got.

FTR and the Bucks all diving off the top rope onto Luchasaurus was a great spot too. The Power and Glory into the elbow drop into the 450 splash was really a cool visual when they used the overhead camera. I also got a good laugh with The Bucks and FTR going to do the BTE trigger together. Mark that down for things I thought I’d never see.

The right team won here, as we now get to watch the Bucks fall deeper and deeper into debt. I liked seeing Nick Jackson rocking back and forth in the ring after they lost and I liked Jack Perry throwing the Bucks a $100 out of pity.

Notebook…

– MVP really has main character syndrome.

– I was really disappointed in that Samoa Joe promo. Taking the low hanging fruit of going after sports teams and fat chicks really stunk. It’s the same complaint I have with MJF sometimes. Joe is too good to do that lazy stuff.

– Why did Kris Statlander spin in that promo? That was weird, right?

– Another promo I was really disappointed in was Darby Allin’s promo this week. We get it, you’d die for AEW… But now what?

– I liked Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford being Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn this week to tie it into the DC comic promotion AEW was doing this week.

– Kris Statlander being under the table was a nice swerve this week. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why Mercedes Mone didn’t just rip Harley Cameron from underneath the table right away.

– The only reason to have another Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe fight is to put the title on Briscoe. I may have been a month too early with my prediction.

– The final of the Women’s Tag Team Tournament is so painfully obvious. I’m really going to enjoy the dynamic of Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa, though. I think they are both great. I hope they win and get a nice run as a team. The promos will be bonkers.