AEW Dynamite Review - September 3, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Darby Allin and AEW World Trios Champions The Opps Brawled with Gabe Kidd and The Death Riders

This was quite the chaotic opening coming off last week's chaotic ending. I don't know if Kidd is officially a member of Death Riders at this point, but I'll assume not for now. Either way, I like that we're getting more of him on AEW TV despite Forbidden Door season being over and I look forward to Kidd vs. Allin eventually. The Opps brawling with Death Riders was logical, but personally, I'm tired of them feuding because it's been going on for so long. The Opps interrupting Hook's entrance was interesting, though.

AEW TBS Champion Mercedes Mone def. Alex Windsor

I'm surprised this wasn't saved for All Out, but I guess they wanted to bring back Riho so they could do her against Mone at the event instead. I can't say that's an exciting attraction to me, but I'm sure it will be well wrestled and at least it's something we've never seen before. As for Mone vs. Windsor, it was a very good match. Windsor is adapting nicely to AEW thus far, though I'm worried she might get lost in the shuffle now that she's failed to win the AEW TBS Championship twice.

Mark Briscoe def. Lance Archer

Briscoe started out the segment addressing Kyle Fletcher as he wants a shot at his AEW TNT Championship. It turned into an impromptu match between Briscoe and Archer, which was fairly standard stuff. Archer hasn't meant anything in years, so it was hard to take him seriously as a threat to Briscoe. This served to give Briscoe a momentum-boosting win and that's about it. At least we know Briscoe will battle Konosuke Takeshita on Saturday's Collision.

AEW World Tag Team Champions Brodido def. The Death Riders (Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli)

When was the last time either Brody King or Bandido have had anything to do with Death Riders? Not to mention Castagnoli just lost to Allin in last week's Dynamite main event. As random as this was, it was an enjoyable outing, though it seemed to only exist so Allin could further this feud with Death Riders by costing them the win. Whatever Brodido do at All Out (if anything) is going to feel rushed because there are no ready-made challengers at the moment.

Adam Copeland and Christian Cage Brawled with FTR

This was rather tame compared to the hot opening segment they had on last week's Dynamite. The crowd was into the brawl and it effectively hyped their match for All Out, but I wish we got more mic work between the two teams instead of the brawling since we got a much better brawl to kick off the show. I wouldn't be shocked if this match headlines All Out since it's in Toronto and nothing else feels nearly as important.

The Don Callis Family (AEW TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher and Josh Alexander) and The Young Bucks def. JetSpeed, Kenny Omega and AEW World Champion "Hangman" Adam Page

We get so many "all-star" tag team matches in AEW (including multiple times a week!) that they mean so little nowadays, but to give credit where it's due, this was an entertaining main event with everyone playing their role well. They were given a ton of time and Fletcher picking up the win for his team indicates he'll be getting the next shot at the AEW World Championship. The post-match angle felt like a write-off for Omega, which would be weird seeing as how All Out is in Canada and it'd be asinine if he was left off that card (unless he's just not physically able to make it until then).

Overall Show

All Out is in a little over two weeks, yet only three matches have been made official as of now. Two of those matches were added on this episode, which was encouraging, but I honestly don't even know what the rest of the card will look like. That's a bit of an issue (it wouldn't be if they didn't typically have so many matches per pay-per-view), but hey, they moved the start time to the afternoon of September 20th, so at least they don't have to worry about airing opposite of WWE Wrestlepalooza. As for this edition of Dynamite, it was similar to last week in that it was decent and had some solid wrestling, but nothing earth-shattering.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews