AEW Dynamite Review - March 5, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Swerve Strickland Attacked Ricochet During Their Revolution Contract Signing

As I've said before, Ricochet has really found his footing in the heel role (making me all the more disappointed that WWE never tried turning him during his six-and-a-half-year stint there) and he was super annoying in the best way possible while during his shtick in this segment. The stabbing with the scissors stuff is a bit over-the-top, but otherwise, this was a quality contract signing ahead of their highly-anticipated rematch at Revolution.

Will Ospreay, Powerhouse Hobbs and The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy and Mark Briscoe) def. Bryan Keith and The Don Callis Family (Murder Machines and Mark Davis)

I'm glad AEW has dropped the "All Star" billing for these multi-man tag team matches because this certainly wasn't that, but it was enjoyable for what it was. They received an ample amount of time and kept the pace consistent throughout. Kyle Fletcher emerged afterward to attack Ospreay before their Steel Cage match at Revolution. Davis briefly teased tension with Fletcher, so we'll see if the crowd cares when he eventually reaches his breaking point and breaks away from The Don Callis Family.

Cope def. AEW World Trios Champion Wheeler Yuta

Cope should've destroyed Yuta so we could've gotten Cope vs. Claudio Castagnoli on this go-home show instead. If they were going to do this match, it should've been shorter than it was. Yuta is easily the weak link of The Death Riders, yet he's the one AEW wants fans to invest in based on how the post-match angle played out with Cope showing him respect before he walked off on Jon Moxley. The match was well wrestled, but AEW's obsession with showcasing Yuta still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

MJF and "Hangman" Adam Page Brawled

This was another hot brawl between these two, much like the one they had a few weeks back on Dynamite. They've said all they can before they face off at Revolution, so this was a strong final sell for the match. My only nitpick is that I'm not anyone actually thought MJF would light Page on fire. Yes, it's happened in AEW before, but the crowd didn't sound like they were buying it. Otherwise, this was well done.

Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford def. Thunder Rosa and Kris Statlander

AEW has done everything right with Bayne so far, especially by establishing her as such a dominant force. Having her pick up the win for her team here was the correct outcome. The match itself was good, which was hardly surprisingly given the level of talent involved. I will say that Rosa and Statlander feel like stepping stones right now. Rosa has been booked that way for a while, but Statlander should have more momentum coming off those excellent matches against Mercedes Mone late last year.

Jay White def. Max Caster

Caster's open challenge is just a way to get someone on the show and to give them an easy win. This week, it was White. This was a total squash and I'm not complaining. Post-match, White cut a brief promo about having Cope's back. With the story being that everyone in The Death Riders except for Jon Moxley has been wiped out, could the idea be that White will be the one to cost Cope the AEW World Championship and that's the next feud for both men?

Ricochet and AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada def. Swerve Strickland and Brody King

Strickland got the better of Ricochet at the end of the contract signing, so it was logical for Ricochet to bounce back by pinning Strickland for the victory here. This was an entertaining, all-action tag team affair. Okada vs. King at Revolution came together on a whim, but at least Okada just beat Buddy Matthews at Grand Slam: Australia, so that's the connection there.

Overall Show

This was another good edition of Dynamite. Say what you will about the lack of buzz surrounding the AEW product at the moment, but they've put together a string a solid shows as of late, not to mention that the card for Revolution looks stacked on Sunday. I liked this show on the whole, but honestly, the best piece of pay-per-view hype on the episode was the final sit-down interview with Toni Storm and Mariah May. I'm looking forward to that and most of the other matches at the event.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews