All Elite Wrestling finished its Canadian loop with the Dynasty pay-per-view at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, with an estimated attendance of 9,000 fans. All things considered, I’m not sure the totality of this PPV truly progressed things within the organization or not, as some bouts seemed as though the narrative was comparable to running in place. In theory, that matters, as it’s much more difficult to sell a $50 broadcast on traditional pay-per-view in the modern era, but it’s probably moot since the buy rates over the course of the year remain relatively the same. That either translates to stagnant or consistent, depending on your prospective. Along the same lines, the product itself has many of the same positives and negatives on a regular basis so while there’s very little done to truly grow the footprint of the organization or expand the fan base, there’s undoubtedly a demographic of fans that will follow and pay for the product. If that means the potential success of the venture has plateaued or not is also a matter of prospective.
The show opened with The Young Bucks vs. The Don Callis family, and this was basically the same twenty-minute fireworks match that kicked off the card against FTR last month without the overkill that ultimately too away from the rest of the show later that night. Thankfully, this one avoided the blood, and had some meat on the bone in terms of storylines. It was essentially the paint-by-numbers Young Bucks tag match, which isn’t necessarily meant as a knock, but rather the best way to summarize the segment. The athleticism was impressive, it was fun for what it was, but the formula was very predictable. Furthermore, and this played out throughout the pay-per-view, it’s a booking flaw, at least in my opinion that Tony Khan more or less gives twenty minutes across the board to matches that he deems to have a certain level of importance. He’s a billionaire, and this is just my two cents on the matter, but part of the nuance of booking is being able to tailor the amount of time given to a segment based on what the bout and the storyline justify for it. This show went almost four and a half hours on a Sunday night, five or ten minutes too long in a few key segments adds up to an exhausting rather than enjoyable overall viewing experience. This match didn’t need twenty minutes, but the Kazuchika Okada/Konosuke Takeshita confrontation that allowed The Young Bucks to pick up the victory could be an indication that Takeshita could move up the card if he turns baby face during a feud with the stable.
Chris Jericho’s return to AEW and the follow-up promo the week after set up this bout with Ricochet. I’m not sure bring the list back was the best way to set a fresh run in the promotion, considering that Jericho made a point throughout his career to avoid being pigeon-holed as a nostalgia act, but how his persona develops over time will be the barometer of if there was still business to be down with Y2J in 2026. The match itself was solid, nothing too spectacular, but nothing subpar either. The counter with the code breaker as Ricochet jumped from the top rope is probably what the match will be remembered for. At times, Jericho showed some of his age, which is understandable at 55, but it does make you wonder if his in-ring appearances should be limited to certain occasions. I was somewhat surprised that Jericho put Ricochet over, not because it damages his status, it doesn’t, he’s a made man in terms of his star power. But, I have to be honest, given how aloof Ricochet seems to be in real life, including his social media blunders, there’s no reason the company should invest too much stock into him. A win over Jericho would be much useful for someone else on the roster. While the defeat doesn’t hinder his star power, it creates questions, is this the run where Jericho puts over other talent until he gracefully retires?
The Andrade/Darby Allin contest was entertaining and built momentum, even if it used a few of the necessary Darby troupes that weren’t really needed. The fact that they started off with a few technical wrestling sequences allowed for them to have somewhere to go as they built to the bigger bumps and risky spots before the finish. The narrative was Andrade’s power, and Darby taking bumps from it, as well as Allin using his speed to counter in specific spots. Darby hurdling himself at the Mexican grappler throw the ropes looked rough, as it seemed like they hit heads as they went to the floor. The dive where Darby and Andrade crashed into the barricade also looked like a spot where Andrade clipped his head. The suplex to the floor was brutal. The finish was well done, as Andrade hit the back elbow before Darby used leverage to get the flash pin. This segment went 15 minutes and was enough time for them to showcase themselves before anything dragged.
FTR beat Cope and Christian to retain the tag team titles. One thing that was very noticeable was that while Jericho showed his age at some points earlier in the night, that wasn’t the case for the challengers here, especially Christian. This was a good match that had a pace that built the drama toward the conclusion. This segment should be a lesson for the rest of the roster of how to use ring psychology to allow for the narrative to tilt back and fourth to get the most from the finish of a match. The counters and reversals kept the result in question until the actual finish. Cope got a hard way cut from the belt shot, which added some intensity before the pin fall when FTR won. I’m not sure this needed to go more than twenty minutes, but it was a very well done contest.
With Kyle Fletcher on the sidelines for an extended period of time with a knee injury, the gauntlet match was held to determine a new TNT champion. To parse detail here would be moot. This was a fun segment, and it was more or less exactly what Tony Khan looks for in the majority of the All Elite product. There were a lot of impressive moves and very little psychology to go along with it. Kevin Knight eventually pinned Daniel Garcia to win the title. Knight is a very talented athlete, but he works the same style as most of the roster so it will be interesting to see if he can use this reign as TNT champion to stand out from the myriad of other guys that work the high spot style.
Thekla defeated Jamie Hayter to retain the AEW Women’s championship. The match was fine, but somewhat disjointed and definitely became tedious at the latter stages of the bout. This one probably went about five minutes too long and it affected the quality of the segment. This wasn’t anything terrible, but I expected a better match, considering the performers’ skill level that we’ve seen prior to this.
Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley was textbook AEW style, both for the pros and the cons. They prostituted finishers for two counts that were designed to be near falls, but there was no doubt that it wasn’t the end of the contest. There were too many bumps that should’ve been used for the finish. There was the cliche spot where the baby face makes it back into the ring at nine for a half-hearted attempt to tease a possible count out. That being said, everything they did was top-notch in its execution. This was a quality performance, just to an over-the-top degree, depending on your perspective. If Tony Khan is absolutely set on booking overkill, and it seems like he is, this is the way it should be done rather than what’s usually seen on AEW PPVs. Moxley retained the Continental championship.
The Trios title match was a 10-minute segment that was basically used as a way to pace the card, which was fine, bur there wasn’t much to say about it. Sure, the belts changed hands, but they are merely props. Gabe Kidd dislocated his shoulder and looks to be on the sidelines for an indefinite amount of time.
The main event went too long at 40 minutes, but was still a very good contest. This is where I think Tony Khan does a disservice to his roster and audience when he books these marathon pay-per-views. When a show goes past midnight, it hinders the presentation of the main event. However, the rest of the card avoided the total overkill of gimmicks that we saw at Revolution, and it allowed for what was done in the world title bout to be more effective. The tombstone through the table stood out a lot more because there weren’t endless amount of tables broken earlier in the show. One of the main narratives from this contest was that Kenny Omega can still go at a main event level, and it was one of the better matches of MJF’s title reign. These are two top-tier performers and the quality of the segment reflected that. The fact that the table spot set up the finish was one of the better uses of psychology of recent AEW PPVs. MJF retained the championship.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
