AEW Dynamite: Beach Break Review - May 14, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

"Hangman" Adam Page and Will Ospreay def. The Don Callis Family (Josh Alexander and Konosuke Takeshita)

You put four wrestlers of this caliber in the ring together and you can't expect anything less than an awesome match. Unsurprisingly, this was exactly that. They got a ton of time and delivered some excellent action. Page and Ospreay nearly came to blows during the bout, but they still managed to pick up the victory. Ospreay did accidentally strike Page afterward, but it didn't escalate beyond that.

Ricochet def. Zach Gowen

I've only seen Gowen's WWE stuff from over two decades ago, so I had no idea he was wrestling these days. Even all these years later, he's still super impressive with only one leg. This didn't last long, but it didn't need to. This was a fun little sprint from these two with Gowen hitting plenty of hope spots before Ricochet put him away. Post-match, Mark Briscoe made the save for Gowen to further his feud with Ricochet.

AEW World Tag Team Champions The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin) def. Top Flight in an AEW World Tag Team Championship Eliminator Match

From a storyline standpoint, it was pretty ridiculous that Top Flight got this Eliminator opportunity considering CRU just beat them on Collision a few weeks ago. Top Flight weren't completely dominated, but this was essentially a squash for Hurt Syndicate. The team of Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara as well as CRU emerged afterward to stake their claim at the AEW World Tag Team Championship, which not a single soul cared about.

The Hurt Syndicate Accepted MJF

With Cedric Alexander's 90-day non-compete clause from WWE expiring last Thursday, I started to think AEW waited so long to move this story along because Hurt Syndicate would reunite with Alexander on this show instead of welcoming MJF into their ranks, but they did accept MJF after all. Perhaps Alexander debuts next week and signs the contract instead of MJF? This segment felt like it was missing something, but it was entertaining, nonetheless.

Mina Shirakawa def. AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm, Skye Blue and NJPW Strong Women's Champion AZM in an AEW Women's World Championship Four-Way Eliminator Match (Non-Title)

I know we just saw one last week, but the idea of four-way Eliminator matches is silly to me. I realize Shirakawa pinned Storm and they wanted to hold off on the singles match until Double or Nothing, but Blue's return to the ring felt like an afterthought when she could have easily been showcased in a one-on-one situation instead. Despite that, this was a fun four-way and I'm looking forward to Storm and Shirakawa running it back (they originally faced off at Forbidden Door last year). Mercedes Mone attacked AZM afterward (AZM won her NJPW Strong Women's Championship in a three-way over the weekend) before Jamie Hayter fended Mone off.

"Daddy Magic" Matt Menard Saved Daniel Garcia and Nigel McGuinness from FTR

This storyline has largely been exclusive to Collision, so I don't really blame the crowd for not giving much of a shit about this segment. Garcia was practically begging McGuinness to team with him against FTR, but why wouldn't he have asked Menard, who saved them from FTR here? What about Adam Cole, who's also had issues with FTR as of late? I'd love to see McGuinness return to the ring again, but this was a strange segment that lacked logic. This probably would've been better suited on Collision.

AEW World Champion Jon Moxley def. AEW World Trios Champion Samoa Joe in a Steel Cage Match

You didn't actually think a steel cage would prevent interference, did you? Ha! A majority of the match was solid and this was one instance where I didn't mind the excessive amount of blood given the stipulation. Is Gabe Kidd an official member of The Death Riders now or just an ally? Either way, him sliding Moxley the briefcase and that being what led to the finish seemed to fall flat for this crowd (and this viewer). The post-match chaos predictably led to the announcement of Anarchy in the Arena at Double or Nothing. Oh, joy.

Overall Show

I had higher hopes for this show with what was advertised ahead of time. The show started and ended strong in my opinion, but there was quite a bit of stuff in the middle that was average at best and didn't inspire much excitement. In fact, this was a step below what we usually get from Dynamite and felt more like an episode of Collision to me. Not a bad show by any means, but there should be more buzz around the product with Double or Nothing coming up next weekend.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews