DYNASTY, Season 2 - 4/6/2025

[Casey]

Oh god Jack Perry is the wild card isn’t he?

[HarryArchieGus]

I watched til Briscoe-Fletcher, and thoroughly loved what I saw. The Philly crowd was hot.n ready for most of what I saw. Ospreay-Knight was what it needed to be. I thought the tag title match slightly over delivered. I hope Bill keeps an aim on the Hurts. Great isolation finish on the MJF interference. Mercedes-Julia was well contested down the finishing stretch. Rated ftr-Riders was wonderful. The closing angle warmed my heart. Perfectly executed heel turn. Ft-refresh! Bayne-Toni was expectedly fun (if a bit much?). Briscoe-Fletcher was the brutal bomb fest it was destined to be. Maybe their best.

Got back to the action early this morning. Had to skim Bandido-Jericho, but looked like they had some fun with the finish. Cole-Garcia looked like a helluva battle from the last stretch. Omega-Bailey-Ric met my expectations and then some. Pretty great ppv debut for Bailey. All three were awesome. I only caught the closing stages of Mox-Swerve. I loved the very little I saw. Bring on the Bucks v Hanger/Swerve. Okay, now I’m off to Arena Mexico! 

Edit: AR Fox on the pre show may have been the highlight of the night. Fun trios match.

Edited April 7, 2025 by HarryArchieGus

[Mike Campbell]

The only black marks on the card were the tag titles, which at least had the angle advancement with MJF, and the Jericho match. Am I exxagerating to say that Jericho slowly crawling over and pinning Bandido looked just as bad as HHH/Booker T from Mania 19? But everything else delivered. Megan Bayne is a made woman unless TK really fucks things up. I was loving Garcia's newfound aggression and I was hoping he'd jump Cole afterwards and turn the friendly rivalry into a real feud. And until the ref bump and usual BS, this was Moxley's best title defense since he won the strap.

[For Great Justice]

Absolutely dreadful, viewer-repelling ending.

This is going to lead to Hangman and Swerve vs the Bucks. Who wants to see that?

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[The Natural]

14 minutes ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

 

*Record Scratch* *Freeze Frame*

You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.

[Brandon Bones]

I’m not booking Swerve to go over before the stadium show and short him on a title run to end so soon in Texas.  Just can’t do it.  Don’t do it.  I can wait a bit longer for this.  
 

Moxley may not have upped his credit limit on this run but IMO he still has a lot to spend as champion.

I wasn’t kidding last time that my going to bed early and missing the main event made it “the greatest PPV evaaah”!  This show was very good but not quite reaching some of AEWs high water marks.  Though old man Bones was crawling in bed and finished watching the ME on my phone.
 

I suppose highlighting that, after an hours long show…. I was still thinking about how good AR Fox is doing right now (being so early in the show) at all is also a backhanded dig at the show.  
 

This wasn’t an episode of the rasslin’ that was designed to pay much off.  So if the ultimate goal was to give a bunch of underserved talent a shot on the big stage?  I believe they largely succeeded in both getting them there AND the matches were very good to somewhat overachieving.  I’m patient enough to make allowances to let those things play out.
 

For Knight it was an absolute home run.  While some talents like Julia, Cole, and Garcia could use some character work. Even the Hurt Syndicate is still an evolving act.  Also understand that I’m not even measuring the success rate by how over they are.  They all got great responses from the crowd.  I’m just surprised by how vocal they got for acts I’m not particularly invested in.  Which this show had a bunch of.

Moné continues to dominate and I’m excited for the Texas match with Toni.

Tickets are 25 bucks for All-In?  This I’m paying attention to.  Mostly because when AEW was announced as a thing.  I recall them highlighting all these progressive ideas they had.  Such as finding ways bring the shows to say the hearing impaired.  There had been some talk about making tickets more generally affordable.  I haven’t heard much about that in the last few years.  This is a great lesson I’m hoping might make that pricing more consistent.  Especially if it helped fill in that stadium I’m kind of worried about.

Toni Storm is the best act in wrestling.  THE MEG really delivered a career making match.  More than held up her end.  
 

I had a few thoughts throughout the show about one critique that often used to get applied that AEW is luckily avoiding.  The one about former WWE washouts slumming it in a different Fed being something to highlight.  The entire Death Rider act is made from this.  But there is nothing “WWE” about it that has carried over so nobody seems to go there.  It used to be by default.  So hopefully that stays dead.  Or I just don’t run in the salty circles of E fandom.

That being said Edge vs. Mox is more than Cope vs. Mox in name value.  So there are pluses and minuses.

Yep.  Still love AEW.  Still rules the motherfucking world.  Still not going back.

[The Natural]

I think this was the second longest AEW PPV ever behind AEW Double or Nothing 2022.

[Curt McGirt]

I'll make it short. In the Discord we mainly remarked on how everyone was trying to out-bump each other all night. Every damn match had another crazy spot. Chicken about died, Bandido got splattered and Jericho got a receipt in kind, Megan Bayne blasted her face and almost landed on her head, Edge did get killed, Ricochet ate those kicks and Speedball DESTROYED his knees (that was so painful I couldn't rewatch it). Paul Turner got a chair to the face even! 

It was funny that they did a Dusty Finish to Jericho/Bandido and then outdid that with an NWO/Main Event Mafia finish for the main. They might be building up an enormous Blood and Guts but that might be the only thing good that could come of this. 

[Technico Support]

9 hours ago, dorfus malorfus said:

The most depressing thing about the Death Riders debacle is that all this wasted time is leading to Ospreay getting the title in Texas instead of Darby.

Anything other than Hangman winning the belt at the end is awful.  Ospreay ending the Death Riders' reign of terror, when he's had nothing to do with them forever, is ridiculous, like "oh I guess I'll stand up for AEW and save the company now!"  It would be like Beta Ray Bill showing up out of nowhere at the end of Endgame to defeat Thanos.

Darby winning it after taking months off so third world sherpas, who make a fraction of his salary, can carry him up and down a mountain alongside CEOs and influencers, is equally shit.

Edited April 7, 2025 by Technico Support

[For Great Justice]

Dang, Ospreay as BRB (presuming Omega is Thor in this analogy) is excellent

And yeah, Hangman is AEW’s Cap. Has to be him. Darby is their Batman or Wolverine, who is The Guy in a lot of ways but not The GUY Guy 

[Technico Support]

Just now, For Great Justice said:

Dang, Ospreay as BRB (presuming Omega is Thor in this analogy) is excellent

And yeah, Hangman is AEW’s Cap. Has to be him. Darby is their Batman or Wolverine, who is The Guy in a lot of ways but not The GUY Guy 

I can't take credit...it's early and I'm still working on coffee #2.  I just Googled "Marvel heroes not in Endgame." 

Darby started as Wolverine, now he's slowly morphing into some faux edgy Leifeld shit.

[Iron Moose]

7 hours ago, Casey said:

Oh god Jack Perry is the wild card isn’t he?

... if it includes unsuccessful Bucks interference to get Hangman more oriented against the Death Riders that's not the end of the world...

[Cobra Commander]

Also, nice to hear that Jericho lost the title in a way where one could accuse him of not really putting Bandido over

[Casey]

2 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Anything other than Hangman winning the belt at the end is awful.  Ospreay ending the Death Riders' reign of terror, when he's had nothing to do with them forever, is ridiculous, like "oh I guess I'll stand up for AEW and save the company now!"  It would be like Beta Ray Bill showing up out of nowhere at the end of Endgame to defeat Thanos.

Prepare for disappointment. He’s in the Bucks vortex now.

Also, what you said about Ospreay applied to Swerve until the end of Revolution last month. That didn’t stop everyone from plugging their ears and covering their eyes and praying he won.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

In before the "Idk where you guys are getting this from, no other wrestling spaces dislike The Deathriders like DVDVR does" post lol. The evidence I bring forth is TK being asked about it at the scrum. Clearly it's a bigger thing than just here if he's getting asked if he ever considers pivoting when the crowd is disliking a story.

Hate to keep dwelling on the negative but it's such an overwhelming grey cloud hovering over the whole company it really drags even the fun stuff down (for me).

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

I like Anthony Bowens' new look aside from the shoulderpads/chestplate thing, hopefully it's just entrance gear he didn't have time to take off.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

10 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

In before the "Idk where you guys are getting this from, no other wrestling spaces dislike The Deathriders like DVDVR does" post lol. The evidence I bring forth is TK being asked about it at the scrum. Clearly it's a bigger thing than just here if he's getting asked if he ever considers pivoting when the crowd is disliking a story.

Hate to keep dwelling on the negative but it's such an overwhelming grey cloud hovering over the whole company it really drags even the fun stuff down (for me).

Have you considered that maybe one of us snuck into the press conference? Huh? Did you?! I BET YOU DIDN'T

[Cobra Commander]

14 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

In before the "Idk where you guys are getting this from, no other wrestling spaces dislike The Deathriders like DVDVR does" post lol. The evidence I bring forth is TK being asked about it at the scrum. Clearly it's a bigger thing than just here if he's getting asked if he ever considers pivoting when the crowd is disliking a story.

I’m amused at the r/SC posters who are getting angrier at Darby over climbing Everest instead of being around to end this angle

[The Natural]

There will be big expectations on Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega V with how highly those matches are regarded especially the first and fourth. I'd try to keep those expectations in check as both are eight years older with more mileage on the clock.

[HumanChessgame]

I don't know if it's the Death Riders in general, but Moxley definitely sounded like he was getting go home heat last night rather than just the standard heel reaction; 

[stuntmanc]

a couple of quick notes from Dynasty last night, as I'm fn exhausted bc it was so late, then having to wake my daughter up to go to school (her spring break is next week or else I would've played "cool" dad and let her stay home today, lol)

-Bowens legit got top 5 of the night pop.  It was awesome, the song, the presentation, everything was top tier.  I can't wait to see what they do with him and where they go.

-I genuinely fely sympathy for Caster.  I dont know the end game for this whole thing, but if it's to make him a sympathetic lovable loser babyface, its working with me at the least.

-Kevin Knight/Ospreay was phenomenal.

-I could go for them running back Bill and Keith v Hurt Business.  That was a fun watch and as someone stated, over delivered.

-My daughter lost her mind for Mercedes/Julia.  "Dad, theyre two totally different aesthetics and i love them both", though i have a sneaking suspicion that she was a little let down that Hart lost.  

-I've never been an Edge guy , i respect what he has done, liked some matches he's been in, but he's never been my cup of tea.  I AM an FTR guy, so seeing them just absolutely murder him after what was a good match was *chefs kiss* and boy, did philly HATE Yuta.  Heel FTR is the best FTR.  Edge and christian v FTR at All In incoming?

-Toni/Bayne was mine and my daughters MOTN.   Rocky montage beforehand, Toni wearing Rocky colors, doing the Drago/Rocky overmatched shtick.  It all clicked and Bayne looked like a million dollars.  As much as I'm happy Toni won, i really wouldn't have mind if they strapped up Bayne, Toni innuendo intended haha.

-We missed Fletcher/Briscoe, as it was a lot of sitting in close quarters, so we took a walk in the Liacouras so we could both get a second wind and sort of "reset".

-I loved Bandido/Jericho, but holy shit, the entire air got sucked out of that arena when it looked like Jericho won.  I ove Bandid winning, but fuck that fake finish nonsense shit.  I hated that more than anything else on the entire show.  That powerbomb off of the apron was just mean.

-Cole/Garcia was good, but it just want engaging to me, personally.  

-Omega/Speedball/Ricochet was top tier and worth the price of admission.  It woke the entire crowd back up and it was kiddos second favorite match of the night.

-

So here is where im going to lose people.  I liked the main event, a lot actually.  I liked the ending, i liked the Bucks coming back and at least in the arean, it hit in a good way for heel heat.  I've seen the online discourse and i understand it, but personally, i like where it might lead.  Also, anyhting that gets us to Hangman/Swerve murdering the Death Riders is okay by me.  I've seen it said that this is for a blood and guts and the might turn out okay.  I have no idea where the main event angle is headed, but i went from not hating it, to being totally out, to not hating it again and having gthe Bucks back at least adds a new wrinkle.  

 

 

[Sex Machine Gun]

Can't add much that hasn't been said but that crowd was deathly quiet for looooong periods last night. Either Adam Cole or Daniel Garcia or both could have exploded during their match and it would have seemingly only gotten a momentary "huh, so that happened."

[Curt McGirt]

A little bit more:

I really never expected Ricochet to end up being an MVP (pardon the use of that, Mr. Porter) in this fed, especially how he started out. He has just taken this heel turn and ran away with it. If there is one guy who's bulletproof to getting beat it's him. That said... man, that was a long match. 

The other guy who's bulletproof to loss is Chicken. That was MOTN to me. I was positing that he had seen the clips of Foley getting destroyed in his Dark Side of the Ring and said "hold my beer". And Fletcher, jeez, the other best heel they have has to be him, right? 

EDIT: Oh! And the Jericho/Bandido match -- an actual apuestas over a belt and a mask -- being stuck in the cool-off slot on the card was... well, the way they did it, I guess it wasn't as bad as how Cole/Garcia got reacted to, and they really didn't give the crowd anything on top of that crap ending. I know this isn't Mexico but at least treat it like such? Would it hurt to just have a little realistic hate come out of either guy, maybe some frickin' mask ripping at least? 

Edited April 7, 2025 by Curt McGirt

[tbarrie]

17 hours ago, The Natural said:

So Anarchy in the Arena and Blood & Guts will see Death Riders/Young Bucks vs ?. Forbidden Door Jon Moxley will defend the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship likely against someone from NJPW and then hopefully loses it at All In likely to Will Ospreay. Fuck. Hangman Adam Page is my first choice then Darby Allin.

Forbidden Door is in August this year, after All In in July.

I fell most of the way asleep during the show and missed most of Jericho-Bandido, Garcia-Cole, and the three-way. I saw the results though. (I then paused the show and went to bed, watching the main event this afternoon.) Are any of those three matches worth watching when I already know who won?

And one thought: I'm amazed so many people are complaining about poor booking in the main event, when earlier in the night they put a singles title on Adam Cole. You all have some weird standards.