AEW Dynamite Hit List: Hangman Page vs. Kyle Fletcher in an Owen Hart Foundation tournament semifinal match, Toni Storm vs. Miyu Yamashita in an eliminator match, The Hurt Syndicate and MJF

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

AEW Dynamite Hits

Hangman Page vs. Kyle Fletcher in an Owen Hart Foundation tournament semifinal match: Two of AEW’s finest working a high-stakes match. What’s not to like? Well, I’m still not a fan of Don Callis sitting in on commentary rather than being in the corner for his crew’s important matches, but I digress. This was a pay-per-view caliber match in quality, length, and importance. Fletcher shined in defeat even though Page got the expected hometown win. This set up an intriguing first-time match with Page facing Will Ospreay in the tournament finals at Double Or Nothing.

The Hurt Syndicate and MJF: The most consistently entertaining story in AEW continues. It was fun to watch MJF bow up after Lashley gave him another thumbs down, only to have Bobby Lashley aggressively back him into a corner of the ring. Is there light at the end of the tunnel now that Lashley told MJF that he needs to hurt someone? My guess is no. I suspect that the Hurt Syndicate will have a fourth member, but the timing of the way things are playing out makes me wonder it will be Cedric Alexander, whose 90-day noncompete with WWE expires around May 10. That said, I wonder who MJF will hurt in the meantime. I vote for Tony Schiavone (kidding).

Toni Storm vs. Miyu Yamashita in an eliminator match: Shockingly, speed reading through the narration of a brief video package wasn’t enough to make the live crowd offer more than a polite golf clap for Yamashita’s entrance. I guess I shouldn’t bitch since there was a time when AEW wouldn’t have bothered to air a video package on an international star who had limited exposure in the United States. Baby steps. The actual match was well worked. Storm’s popularity was more than enough to keep the crowd engaged, and Yamashita’s big kicks left the fans gasping on more than one occasion.

“The Opps” Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Nick Comoroto, Rhett Titus, and Myles Hawkins: The match was a quick showcase for The Opps. The post-match angle with Joe choking out Jon Moxley again was an effective way to build to their championship match in two weeks. Joe adding the steel cage match stipulation to the title match is a nice touch. Here’s hoping AEW goes old school by having a straightforward cage match with no outside interference.

AEW Dynamite Misses

Kenny Omega, Mike Bailey, Mark Briscoe, and Kevin Knight vs. Kazuchika Okada, Ricochet, Matthew Jackson, and Nicholas Jackson in an all-star eight-man tag: Yeah, I know this is blasphemy in the eyes of match junkies. There was a sequence with all eight wrestlers consecutively missing elbow drops, Ricochet covering his head with Matthew’s hair, and the heels all yelling brainbuster before the babyfaces countered by suplexing them, er, giving them brainbusters (that looked just like suplexes). I know there are fans love the playfulness and the big spot style. Good for them. Like what you like. But it was just too cutesy, not to mention that the thrill of watching lengthy spot-fests with nothing at stake is long gone for this viewer. AEW dedicated a lot of time to this match and built it around Omega and Okada sharing the ring again. As someone who loved their New Japan Pro Wrestling matches, it was actually a little sad when they tagged in late in the match for what was intended to be a moment, only to have the live crowd react like they weren’t seeing anything special. I hope Tony Khan got the message that not every AEW fan was watching NJPW back in those days, and he needs to put in the work to sell those fans on the heavily teased Omega vs. Okada match at All In Texas. It sure would help if it Okada could be bothered to actually give a damn. Finally, what was the point of having Ricochet take a loss to Briscoe last week, just to have Briscoe take the pin in this match?

Nick Wayne vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH TV Title: The match was fine. I just couldn’t care less about ROH or any ROH title belts (not held by Athena) in 2025. It was hard to get excited about Lethal challenging for a title when he’s been one of Jeff Jarrett’s wacky lackeys for far too long. I wish Wayne had been the one who defeated Daniel Garcia for the TNT Championship, especially given Christian Cage’s history with that belt. That said, the friction between Wayne and Cage makes for good television.