AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES (7/29): My wonderful in-person experience with praise for Omega-Ospreay, Willow’s celebration with Mercedes, in-ring action

INTRO

For those who have read this column before, this one is going to be formatted a little bit differently. You see, I had the absolute pleasure of attending Dynamite at the Masonic Temple Theater in Detroit, Mich. and wanted to give you my thoughts from an in-person experience of the show without going back and watching it afterwards. I am not aware of what the commentators said or how it looked on television. I will certainly re-watch it after I’m done writing because I’m curious exactly how it looked and felt on TV, but I can tell you it was probably the best environment I’ve ever witnessed at a wrestling event.

How could that be, you may ask. Well, I attended last year’s Dynamite at the same venue in May of 2025 and I had a great time. The place was not sold out, but had about 3,000 people in attendance. The venue is intimate and I was sitting in the second row of the upper balcony and it felt like we were right on top of the ring. It was an entertaining show that night.

The difference this year was immediate. Just walking to the venue, there was a line around the block and literally about three streets down. It moved quickly and we were in the building in plenty of time for the show, but this night had a different feel to it. The product has improved from last year and the people of Detroit and surrounding suburbs are starved for AEW. This is the same city that hosted the first ever Blood and Guts and the night Don Callis turned on Kenny Omega in his cage match with Jon Moxley. Both of those shows took place at Little Caesars Arena where the top sports teams in the area play.

Putting that much passion in a smaller place like the Masonic Temple was apparent right from the start when Detroit native Rhyno came out and won a quick dark match. The crowd’s reaction to that made me think they were very much engaged and we were in for a fun night.

I looked around just before Dynamite started and it was clear the place was nearly full. I checked the internet and saw that there were nearly 3,500 people in the building and they were ready.

I know this is a Hits & Misses column so I’ll provide a quick spoiler. I have no “Misses” this week. The show was fantastic and I’ll go through the highlights of it below. Actually, there was one “miss”, and it was the only issue of the whole night. It was freakin HOT in that building! Turn on the AC folks!! I was a sweaty mess by the end and likely dropped 5 lbs!

Okay, here we go with the “Hits”…

HITS

OSPREAY & MOX MEET OUTSIDE

While it was not in the ring, the opening segment grabbed the fans’ attention and set up the final showdown in the ring by continuing the story from the end of Sunday’s PPV. Seeing the video of Jon Moxley going back to his dressing room during the celebration of Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay and still rooting for Ospreay to “strike first” was well executed.

Seeing Ospreay face the Death Riders and return the patch let everyone know what he was thinking, but adding Hangman Page to it not only popped the crowd, but added yet another layer with Ospreay saying he was on his own and could not trust anyone. It also set the stage with the crowd showing the top stars were in the building and something important was going to happen.

OPENING 3-WAY MATCH

What a way to start the wrestling portion of the show! I looked at the announced matches and figured we’d get some good in-ring fun, but it wasn’t all that important in the storylines. This match may not have had ramifications in the bigger picture, but what a ride with great performances by Andrade, Jack Perry, and Nick Wayne.

I was sitting next to two people who don’t watch the show every week and they were both on the edge of their seats. The sequence on the outside where Perry, then Wayne both pulled off amazing spots had the entire building on fire (and not just with the high temperatures!)

I also received a text from a friend in the building saying, “Is it going to be all downhill from here?” I thought it might at the time, but it was actually the opposite.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: CLICK HERE (or search “wade keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)

WILLOW’S CORONATION

I was wrong. For weeks, I was down on the Willow character and really was intrigued by the uniqueness of Thekla and wanted her reign with the Women’s World Title to continue. I was bummed when Willow won on Sunday because I didn’t think her facing Mercedes again would excite me.

Then I watched the Redemption post media press conference. Willow was asked about a report of her having some issues with depression and she answered the question with such openness and really let the people into her personal life and personal struggle. It was a moment where we got to see past the smiling character and cheesy promos of Willow the performer, and got to see the real person.

I think this was a major factor in the response she got from the crowd. I was floored by the reaction and I have to admit, I was moved by it, as well as Willow’s reaction to it. You could even see on Renee Paquette’s face how moved she was and how happy she was to see Willow get that love from the crowd.

It won me over. Willow delivered the best promo of her career and Mercedes followed with one of the best I’ve ever seen her do. The crowd may have set the stage for it with their reactions, but the wrestlers deserved a lot of credit for feeling that energy and their deliveries no longer sounded scripted, but had real emotion.

COPELAND & CHRISTIAN/-YOUNG BUCKS INTERVIEW

I loved this sit-down interview because both teams got right to the point and had a conversation that had a bit of tension, but was grounded and made perfect sense to their characters. None of the four of them looked to be cute or come up with clever lines to pop a crowd. Christian’s facial expressions when the others were complimenting each other was fantastic. It’s often hard for a live crowd to sit through one of these, but almost everyone in the building was paying close attention.

OMEGA AND OSPREAY

This was a home run of a segment. It provided all of the answers the story has needed coming off of the end of Redemption. Was Omega turning heel? Did he have a legitimate reason for what he did? What was Ospreay thinking the whole time he was with the Death Riders?

Omega explained why he took Ospreay out and it made sense. Ospreay went through his thinking from the moment he decided to join the Death Riders and how he enjoyed being a part of their group, but didn’t share the same vision when it came to over-the-top violence against others.

Both guys hit it out of the park. It was so compelling and intense, and despite the fact we were pushing 30 minutes on the overun, everyone in the buidling was hanging on every word and every slap. I think many in the crowd were with Omega at the start, but Ospreay ended up winning them over by the end. The “Ospreay, Ospreay!” chants during his music afterwards were deafening.

This was a special segment and I’m sure I’m not alone in wanting to see that match tomorrow rather than waiting until the end of August. That’ll be the challege that awaits. Can they keep the momentum from this segment for the next four weeks?

QUICK HITS

– There were a few great chants during the Jon Moxley vs. Kommander match. First, a “F Ohio” directed toward Mox as the great people of Michigan are not fond of Ohio! Mox’s reaction to this chant was terrific and really added to the investment of the crowd toward the match. Second, there was a “Let’s go Kommander” chant, which I found ironic as most of the fans there were not happy a year and a half ago when the “Commanders” upset the Lions in the NFL Playoffs. (That one is for me, a Commanders, and Kommander fan!)

– Jon Moxley’s intensity is off the charts. Watching him walk around muttering to himself or his opponent is just great stuff.

– The trios matches on the show were both great. Kyle Fletcher really stood out on the heel side and the crowd was really behind Brody King, Bandido, and Speedball Bailey. The title match in the main event was fun as well with the fans even chanting for Roddy Strong. The Orange Cassidy comedy is always a winner with the crowd and while they were upset when The Demand won the titles, they came unglued when Hangman Page came out for the save.

If you got this far in this novel, thank you!! I may have gotten carried away with my love for this show, but if you were in that building, you would understand just how special it was. My son was there with me and compared it what it must have been like in the ECW arena back in the day. It was that cool. I have no idea if this was a one-off, or if the crowd will be the same Thursday night for Collision, or if it will lead to a PPV in Detroit. What I do know is that AEW can be special and they did an amazing job rebounding from what many would call an average PPV on Sunday to start the build to Wembley Stadium and their show of the year.

Please check out the weekly free podcast I’m part of, “The All Elite Conversation Club” that drops on Fridays the PWTorch Dailycast lineup. Joel Dehnel and I have a great time breaking down all things AEW. Search “pwtorch” on your podcast app to subscribe. Send questions and comments to allelitecc@gmail.com.