All Elite Wrestling
AEW Dynasty 2025
April 6, 2025
Liacouras Center
Philadelphia, PA
Watch: Prime Video
Post-PPV Reaction Show: Instant Reaction LIVE
Meet our reviewer!
Brady Trappett: Brady has been writing for VOW for over two years, writing a Will Ospreay retrospective series and several columns, as well as reviews. Brady has reviewed every Deadlock Pro Wrestling show this year and will be releasing a DPW primer in the next couple weeks. You can follow him @ydarb.bsky.social
AEW Dynasty 2025 Zero Hour Results:
- CRU (Action Andretti & Lio Rush) & Nick Wayne def. AR Fox & Top Flight (Dante Martin & Darius Martin)
- Anthony Bowens def. Max Caster
Owen Hart Foundation 2025 Men’s Tournament Quarter Final Match
Will Ospreay def. Kevin Knight
This was a huge spot for Kevin Knight and he came out of it smelling like roses. After a slightly sloppy first half of the match, Ospreay and Knight recovered and had the match Knight needed to have. As usual, Will was pretty giving to the young guy, including a killer bump on the ramp after Knight reversed the Styles Clash into a DDT. As much as people complain about Ospreay’s style of offense, it absolutely worked in getting Kevin Knight over tonight. The crowd knew exactly what Ospreay was going for and were impressed with how Kevin Knight hung with Ospreay every step of the way. ****
AEW World Tag Team Title Match
The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) (w/MVP) (c) def. The Learning Tree (Big Bill & Bryan Keith)
This match was put together much more sensibly than Hurt Syndicate’s last PPV effort. Big Bill rattled the Hurt Syndicate before a pep talk from MVP kicked them into gear for a control segment on Bryan Keith. Big Bill got the hot tag and held his own before an MJF sneak attack that production missed about 95% of. With Big Bill out, the Hurt Syndicate resumed their squash of Bryan Keith, who somehow got less offense than the Outrunners did last month, and won the match **¾
Owen Hart Foundation 2025 Women’s Tournament Quarter Final Match
Mercedes Mone def. Julia Hart
This wasn’t the most exciting match on paper for me, but it may have been the most intriguing, and it turned out to be a tale of two matches. They worked hard, but it was sloppy in a lot of spots. They didn’t recover quite as well as the opener, but the crowd was very into Julia, and I really enjoyed the finishing stretch. ***
AEW World Trios Title Match
Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, PAC & Wheeler Yuta) (c) def. Rated FTR (Cash Wheeler, Cope & Dax Harwood)
I started this match watching and waiting for the angle, but the work was good enough to distract me until the bell. These guys physically can’t go as crazy as the six young guys in the pre-show match, but I still came away impressed with the pace and the trios offense from both teams. Wheeler Yuta picks up the win for the Death Riders. After the match, we got the FTR turn, which was predictable but executed so well that it transcended the tropes. *** ½
AEW Women’s World Title Match
Toni Storm (c) def. Megan Bayne
The story here was simple, and the one you would have predicted: Megan Bayne is too strong for Toni Storm, and also Toni is Rocky because the show is in Philadelphia. Megan controlled the early portion of this match with some suplexes and interference from Penelope Ford. After Luther carried Penelope up the ramp, the match started to even up. Bayne’s offense was very impressive here and Toni was very giving, even giving a Bayne kickout at one after a few hip attacks and a Storm Zero. Even after the kickout Bayne maintained control, before Toni dusted off ol’ reliable, a small package. This was about the best this match could have gone, with a great showing from Bayne in particular. Hats off to Toni for taking a beating here. ***¾
Owen Hart Foundation 2025 Men’s Tournament Quarter Final Match
Kyle Fletcher def. Mark Briscoe
Hot start in this one, which was a nice change of pace from the last few matches. Briscoe tried to introduce a chair to the match to do his running tope, and after his first chair was taken away, he responded by throwing more into the ring. Mark’s tunnel vision on the chairs came back to bite him as Fletcher suplexed him neck first into a set up chair, giving Fletcher an easy target for the rest of the match. Fletcher hit Briscoe with an apron powerbomb, a powerbomb on the barricade, and a nasty brainbuster on the apron. None of this was enough to put down Mark Briscoe, who had too much heart to quit. Mark gave it his all, but a Brainbuster on the turnbuckle proved too much. I have this a hair above the opener as match of the night. ****¼
ROH World Title Vs. Mask Match
Bandido def. Chris Jericho (c)
Another hot start as Jericho nearly beat Bandido in the opening minute of this match. Bandido looked incredible in the early going of this match, and Jericho came with his working shoes on. He ate all of a Bandido tope to the outside, he took a dive to the inside, and posted for an absurdly long time on a delayed vertical suplex. The tide turned with a nasty Jericho powerbomb from the apron to the floor. Jericho matches can occasionally fall apart, but this one kept humming without incident until Jericho hit Bandido with a bat and got the win… or so we thought. After Aubrey Edwards found the bat at ringside the match was restarted, where Bandido was able to pick up the win. Now, I am all for the sanctity of results to wrestling matches, but it seems that restarting the match at the request of the mother of one of the competitors is a bit shaky. I would suggest that Jericho initiate a protest to the result with the office. ***½
AEW TNT Title No Time Limit Match
Adam Cole def. Daniel Garcia (c)
This match was a victim of its stipulation. After a 20-minute draw and a subsequent announcement of this no-time-limit match, my brain was turned off for any finish inside the 20-minute mark. Unfortunately, the match ended within 20 minutes. Now I’ll put my hand up and say that’s on me, but I know I’m not alone and I think it hurt the match for a lot of people. They worked an injury scare early on in this one after Cole jumped off the apron, which Garcia tapped into pretty well with some heel leaning work on the leg. However, this work was quickly undone with a Cole neckbreaker onto his own knee and a Panama Sunrise. Cole wins after 15 minutes, and we have a new TNT Champion. ***
AEW International Title Three Way Match
Kenny Omega (c) def. Mike Bailey vs. Ricochet
I really enjoyed this match, but it went a hair too long. Maybe two hairs. All three guys were great and this was an excellent showcase for Speedball. The WrestleDream three way was going to be nearly impossible to top, and they smartly went for a bit of a different style with this one with a few comedy spots that fit like a glove. One thing that was better in this match than the WD match was Ricochet. He is in his element in this heel role, and walks the line between being a threat and being a goof perfectly. Kenny Omega remains one of the best wrestlers in the world who could carry any company he wanted at the drop of a hat. In the closing minutes I worried this had missed the peak, but the crowd was there for the excellent finish. **** ¼
AEW World Title Match
Jon Moxley (c) def. Swerve Strickland
Hoo boy. This match started slow, and stayed slow, and stayed slow, until every idea someone had for the finish happened at the same time. Early in the match it looked like they were going for hardway blood on Swerve, but that didn’t work so Mox threw Swerve over the announce table, crouched over him for about 10 seconds, and then Swerve came up bloody. It’s a shame they didn’t get the result they wanted because that spot couldn’t have possibly been for anything else. They seemed to lose the crowd during the grappling sections and didn’t get them back until a Swerve Stomp off a ladder and a Mox cutter to Marina Shafir. From here we got run ins from Hangman, Death Riders, The Opps, and lastly, The Young Bucks. Jon Moxley retains and we’re back at it again Wednesday to see how they explain what on its face is a strange cliffhanger. **
