{"id":211781,"date":"2026-02-09T16:30:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=211781"},"modified":"2026-02-11T18:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T00:24:18","slug":"aews-top-matches-of-the-week-omega-match-gives-another-booist-to-andrades-sudden-rise-ciampa-strong-claudio-was-good-but-the-spitting-needed-more-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/02\/09\/aews-top-matches-of-the-week-omega-match-gives-another-booist-to-andrades-sudden-rise-ciampa-strong-claudio-was-good-but-the-spitting-needed-more-reaction\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW&#8217;S TOP MATCHES OF THE WEEK: Omega match gives another boost to Andrade&#8217;s sudden rise, Ciampa-Strong-Claudio was good but the spitting needed more reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2141621745\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Excuse me while I wipe the tears off my keyboard after my Patriots just got their asses handed to them by the Seahawks. Good lord, that was a beating. Our offensive line looked like a bunch of AEW security guards trying to hold back \u201cHangman\u201d Adma Page and Swerve Strickland.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, let\u2019s get to this week in AEW wrestling. I had the opportunity to co-host the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/aew-dynamite-did-aew-blow-it-by-not-delivering-an-actual-main-event-and-ending-with-cartoon-sleeper-ko-is-darby-still-dying-in-the-desert--69805548\">Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show<\/a> with Wade Keller after AEW Dynamite last week and it was really a treat to talk wrestling with Wade and the live chat participants. In my personal life, I do not have anyone to really talk about wrestling with. All my buddies no longer watch wrestling, and my wife has about as much interest in wrestling as I do in watching \u201cGossip Girl\u201d with her on her fifth rewatch.<\/p>\n<p>The closest I\u2019ve gotten to talking wrestling with my buddies was when my best friend, Vinnie, sent me a Tik Tok of Rhea Ripley a few months ago and said, \u201cI thought we were best friends? How could you have never told me about her.\u201d So, to be a part of the PWTorch community now and have an outlet to write about wrestling and talk about wrestling has really been fun.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve had a few extra days now to think about the ending of the Brody King and MJF main event on Dynamite and my initial reaction has not changed. I really did not like it. I\u2019ve read and listened to a lot of talk about the ending, and I\u2019ve seen a lot of \u201cIt made Brody look strong\u201d and \u201cIt made Brody.\u201d Did it? He choked out a guy who was distracted and had his back turned to him. That makes a guy look strong.<\/p>\n<p>I think we can all guess that MJF will be beating Brody in Australia. I guess I just don\u2019t understand the thought that \u201cBrody was made\u201d when he took advantage of a situation and choked a guy out from behind and now in the real match he\u2019s going to lose. I guess the part that I can\u2019t get past is the choke out of MJF and how over-the-top it was. AEW has been on a great run lately, don\u2019t get me wrong, so I guess I was just disappointed in how that all played out.<\/p>\n<p>I was excited about that match and if I was in that crowd I seriously would have been pissed, especially considering all the distraction finishes on the show to that point. I also went back and listened to it three times because I wanted to make sure I was hearing it correctly. The audience groaned when Hangman\u2019s music hit. They were not happy that he came out because they most likely knew what was coming.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Kenny Omega vs. Andrade El Idolo \u2013 Dynamite 2\/4\/26<\/h3>\n<p>Was this the classic that I thought it was going to be? No, but it was still very good in my opinion. Isn\u2019t it crazy how a guy can instantly become interesting and feel like a big deal the way Andrade does now? When he came back for the second time I was not even remotely interested and now here, I am thinking they made the right call by putting him over Kenny in this match. I love that the storyline of Kenny chasing the AEW World Title is going to continue. The eventual MJF and Omega match needs to feel important and having Kenny chase a little longer is going to make that happen.<\/p>\n<p>My favorite part of this match was Omega and Andrade countering and blocking each other\u2019s moves. It made it seem like they had been scouting each other and it made the match seem more important to them. Andrade went for a moonsault and he missed and then went for the standing backflip on Omega and Omega got his knees up to block it.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-73094037\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The week before Andrade had hit that move on Swerve Strickland and then there was a spot where Andrade ducked a big knee from Omega that Omega had also hit in a match the week before. I also really loved Andrade hitting the Three Amigos, but hit the last one on the outside floor after dragging Kenny out of the ring. I thought that was a cool variation to that move. Andrade also hit Omega with a reverse powerbomb off the top rope which was awesome.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t mind the distraction finish here with Swerve coming out and costing Kenny the win. I like the fact that it\u2019s setting up Kenny and Swerve who have both now been screwed by Andrade with his cheating antics. They can both still claim they deserve a chance at the title and now they can fight it out to see who is next for MJF.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/aew-dynamite-did-aew-blow-it-by-not-delivering-an-actual-main-event-and-ending-with-cartoon-sleeper-ko-is-darby-still-dying-in-the-desert--69805548\">CLICK HERE<\/a> (or search \u201cwade Keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AEW DYNAMITE: Did AEW blow it by not delivering an actual main event and ending with cartoon sleeper KO? Is Darby still dying in the desert?\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=69805548&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Jack Perry vs. Ricochet \u2013 Dynamite 2\/4\/26<\/h3>\n<p>Someone needs to take Ricochet\u2019s phone away from him. He has to stop tweeting about WWE. I like Ricochet, but it&#8217;s borderline pathetic the way he can\u2019t stop talking about WWE. You\u2019re in AEW and you are doing well in AEW. Just focus on what you are doing now and let what happened in WWE be a thing of the past. You still cashed those checks in WWE.<\/p>\n<p>I watched Dynamite twice this week because I wanted to make sure I didn\u2019t miss anything because I was writing down so many notes for my post-show appearance this week. On the second watch, I really enjoyed this match more the second time around.<\/p>\n<p>Also on the second watch, I really started to notice what Wade Keller said about Jack Perry gently throwing his opponents into the ropes. Overall, I thought these two had great chemistry and I really liked Perry starting off the match by diving through the ropes and I really liked his dive off the stage in this one.<\/p>\n<p>Ricochet hit Perry with a backdrop onto the commentary table that I also thought was a great spot. They had a lot of counters in this match as well, and overall, I just thoroughly enjoyed the match. This was one of many matches on this show with outside interference, but I understand why they did it to help set up the eventual six-man tag matchof GOA &amp; Ricochet vs. Jack Perry &amp; The Young Bucks.<\/p>\n<p>It was also nice to see the AEW National Title defended on Dynamite. AEW really needs to start heating up one of these undercard titles. It looks like they may be trying to do that with the TNT Title again, but whether it\u2019s the TNT Title or the National Title, they need to make one of these titles seem important.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2148684604\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Tommaso Ciampa (AEW TNT Champion) vs. Roderick Strong vs. Claudio Castagnoli \u2013 Collision 2\/7\/26<\/h3>\n<p>Don\u2019t look now, but Collision is quickly becoming a must watch show. This was a great showcase for Ciampa and AEW really picked the perfect opponents for him in this one. I liked the teamwork at the beginning of the match with Ciampa throwing Roderick into Claudio\u2019s arms on the outside and then Claudio launching Roderick face first into the ring apron.<\/p>\n<p>I also really liked the = spots where two guys would work together and then immediately go right at each other as soon as the third man was out of the picture. The Overhead Press Slam by Claudio when he scooped up Ciampa and tossed him face first into the announce table was also great. Claudio\u2019s back muscles looked insane during that spot.<\/p>\n<p>I hated the spot where Roderick Strong spit on Claudio. The reason I hate it is because spitting on someone is the ultimate sign of disrespect. If someone spits on you, your reaction should be to want to absolutely kick their ass. Too many times, wrestlers get spit on and there is either no reaction or an under reaction. Claudio should have wanted to maul Roderick after that, but after he got spit on, he simply gave him an uppercut and moved back to Ciampa.<\/p>\n<p>Overall though, this was a great Collision main event and I loved that Kyle Fletcher is back in the TNT Title picture. I love that in the post-match stare down he just walked in and immediately grabbed the title. I loved Ciampa hugging the belt once he got it back from him too. These two are going to tear the house down on Dynamite this week and I can&#8217;t wait.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Other Thoughts and Observations:<\/h3>\n<p>&#8211; I really liked the opening of Dynamite this week with quick vignettes of all the wrestlers talking about their matches coming up that night.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; I love that Jon Moxley is still selling his ankle after all these months.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; I\u2019m not sure when he\u2019s coming back, but that Will Ospreay promo got me fired the hell up. I can\u2019t wait for Will to come back.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Please find something better for Toni Storm. There has to be something better. I did like her denim ring gear though.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; So, is the TBS Title just nothing again? Cool.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; I hope if I\u2019m ever kidnapped by a madman and thrown into the back of a car, that my friends and family show more concern than Tony Schiavoone did for Darby Allin this week.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (2\/4) - AEW Dynamite w\/Keller &amp; Halley\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YW7eHI11-gk?start=4&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2486840196\"><div id=\"pwtor-1270229958\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Excuse me while I wipe the tears off my keyboard after my Patriots just got their asses handed to them by the Seahawks. Good lord, that was a beating. Our offensive line looked like a <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/02\/09\/aews-top-matches-of-the-week-omega-match-gives-another-booist-to-andrades-sudden-rise-ciampa-strong-claudio-was-good-but-the-spitting-needed-more-reaction\/\" title=\"AEW&#8217;S TOP MATCHES OF THE WEEK: Omega match gives another boost to Andrade&#8217;s sudden rise, Ciampa-Strong-Claudio was good but the spitting needed more reaction\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,52,27,4488],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlightarticles","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists","category-top-five-lists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-05-at-3.38.54-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211781"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211891,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211781\/revisions\/211891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}