The road to AEW Full Gear has begun, and it began in San Antonio, TX, where “AEW Dynamite” brought an evening of untamed motion. With the dust settled and the outcomes written, it is time to break down what worked and what didn’t from the October 22 broadcast.
There was plenty of fine and there was loads of bad, and the Wrestling Inc. Staff has done their best to flesh out what was what. There have been tremendous highs, like much of the title motion throughout the night, or Mercedes Mone’s ever-intensifying feud along with her puppet doppelganger. There have been also woeful lows, just like the incontrovertible fact that there are quite a lot of feuds sticking around past their WrestleDream expiration date, or the overwhelming sense that everyone seems to be twelve now.
As usual, we is not going to be stepping on the toes of the outcomes page, but as a substitute coming straight from the center, straight from the gut, straight off the dome, and whatever off-the-cuff synonym you’ll be able to consider. So without further ado, the nice, the bad, and the downright ugly from Wednesday’s show.
Loved: Bandido Cannot Stop The Rainmaker
Bandido got one in all the largest victories of his profession at AEW WrestleDream 2025 when he became only the third man in AEW to pin Kazuchika Okada, while also retaining the AEW Tag Team Championships in the method. Naturally, this led to an AEW Unified Championship match for this week on “AEW Dynamite,” and while I personally think a match of this size could have sat very nicely on a Full Gear card that I literally cannot predict without delay, this was a superb TV wrestling match.
One in all the largest issues that individuals had with Okada when he initially got here to AEW was that his big matches on pay-per-view at all times delivered, but he would at all times short-change you on television for the easy incontrovertible fact that he is not used to wrestling shorter singles matches. Nonetheless, “The Rainmaker” looked as if it would figure it out during last 12 months’s Continental Classic tournament, and now he’s flourishing on this recent role in The Don Callis Family because the AEW Unified Champion.
For Bandido, I do not even think it’s an exaggeration to say that he might genuinely be one in all the purest babyfaces in all of wrestling without delay. Each time he’s within the ring, the group gets lost in his infectious energy, and he has a catalog of impressive moves that he can mainly use on anyone, even with one good arm. That was the story on this match as Okada zoned in on Bandido’s already beaten-up shoulder, knowing full well that he might have the ability to do certain moves with one arm, however it would take every little thing in Bandido’s being to get it done.
The closing stretch of this bout is especially special as Bandido hits a Rainmaker of his own on Okada, and because of how protected that move has been in AEW, there was a real rush through the group of “wait a minute, is Bandido going to beat Kazuchika Okada?” Obviously, that never happened, and Okada got his win back after hitting a Rainmaker of his own in a breezy watch that provides you barely enough to call it an important match, while also preserving a number of things for in the event that they ever meet on an even bigger stage.
The aftermath of the family being torn between Okada and Konosuke Takeshita builds anticipation for his or her eventual match, and “Dynamite” went off the air with a way of satisfaction that you simply don’t at all times get. Sometimes, “Dynamite” is primary evented by whatever match Tony Khan thinks is cool, but Bandido versus Okada felt like a primary event, was treated like a primary event, and performed by two guys who belong within the primary event. An amazing finish to an important show throughout.
Written by Sam Palmer
Hated: Everyone Is Twelve Now
There is a recent unified theory sweeping online circles called “Everyone seems to be twelve now,” and it does explain lots of the problems I are inclined to have with an evening of AEW programming.
“I feel the bravest thing a person can do is a kickflip on Mt. Everest,” after all you do, you are twelve. “Every other tag match must be for half one million dollars,” hell yeah, homie, you are twelve. “I feel the ring must be surrounded by the faces of comic book characters,” bless your heart, my twelve-year-old buddy.
Nowhere else was that more apparent than within the announcement that the brackets of the AEW Women’s Tag Team Championship tournament could be partially decided by the winners of a four-way tag match picking their first-round opponents.
Women’s wrestling fans have been waiting for the tournament ever since Tony Khan announced the long-expected titles after which went radio silent for quite a lot of weeks. The announcement of the teams alone could’ve been enough of a hook, however the four-way tag match, in addition to the somewhat last-minute, unserious union of Athena and Mercedes Mone, added a certain immaturity to the proceedings. The team of Athena and Mone actually works as a metaphor for the ladies’s tag titles, as every little thing about it’s tremendous on paper, but there’s something in regards to the slapdash way that it’s come about that leaves me feeling a bit of cold, as in the event that they don’t trust the allure of the ladies’s tag division.
“This long-awaited women’s tag title tournament is so boring! How can we make it fun and gimmicky?” Aw, my guy, that is exactly what I’d expect a twelve-year-old to ask.
Written by Ross Berman
Loved: Jon Moxley’s downward spiral
The one consolation the smallfolk can take solace in is that while Empires will rise, absorbing what they will until there could be very little left, oppressing and depressing the numerous for the advantages of the few, is that they are going to at some stage or one other begin their descent.
Tying that to skilled wrestling, the identical might be said for the heels that surround themselves with numbers and exert their very own will upon others for his or her personal gain – whether described as a mission or a familial obligation – only to make enough enemies to make their position untenable. The more distinguished example in recent memory could be that of Roman Reigns with The Bloodline, though more recently, Seth Rollins experienced an analogous yet necessarily abrupt end with The Vision, and now in AEW, it actually appears as if Jon Moxley and the Death Riders are entering that territory. Moxley did what he had promised he would never do, uttering the words ‘I Quit’ to a Scorpion Deathlock applied by Darby Allin in the midst of the ring.
His reign with the World Championship resulted in July, failing to get it back in a rematch, losing alongside the Death Riders and their allies against Allin and his in a Lights Out Steel Cage match, and now, with the loss to Allin in such a way, a matter needed to be asked whether he would still have the support of his faction. The immediate answer during “AEW Dynamite” was yes, with them coming out to assist him after he was exposed in a singles match with Kyle O’Reilly, forced to attack the referee and prompt a disqualification as he neared submission for the second time within the space of every week. But while they fought, Moxley retreated, rattled and visibly defeated by O’Reilly and, even having lost a lot in recent months, looking essentially the most vulnerable he has for quite a while.
His faction also lost to the Conglomeration in a subsequent trios match, further rattling all the group as they sought to run roughshod over their rivals in a post-match attack. They, more specifically Claudio Castagnoli within the ring, were caught by Allin with a baseball bat to avoid wasting Orange Cassidy, and were swiftly run off by the group. It is going to be interesting to see how they address the clear cracks of their group, especially with Moxley dragging them into battles they carry on losing. In spite of everything, this is identical group that turned on Bryan Danielson. In any case, it was cool to see Moxley’s character reacting to his defeat this past weekend organically and believably, and it was a wrestling disqualification done right. That deserves some love.
Written by Max Everett
Hated: A Pointless Promo From A Relentless Man
If there’s one thing that AEW affirmed in my mind tonight, it’s that the mix of little airtime and a pointless sentiment in a promo doesn’t make a superb mix with each other.
Darby Allin is coming off an enormous win in his I Quit Match against Jon Moxley at WrestleDream. While it is sensible to have him appear on “Dynamite” due to that, his appearance in the course of the post-match brawl that broke out between The Death Riders and The Conglomeration would’ve sufficed. There was absolutely no reason for him to come back to the ring simply to say that he was willing to die for AEW and would not stop coming after The Death Riders so long as they’re respiratory, as his coming to assistance from The Conglomeration would’ve gotten across the message that Allin is not set to stop feuding with The Death Riders anytime soon. This whole segment was completely pointless and lame, feeling prefer it was nothing greater than a method to eat up some extra television meant to get in as much screen time for Allin as possible.
Written by Oliva Quinlan
Loved: Puppet Mone ‘celebrates’ with ’12 Belts Mone’
I assumed tonight’s celebration of Mercedes Mone and her now 12 belts could be a bit boring. Not because I dislike the “belt collector” gimmick or Mone, however it just appears like we so often get these celebration segments for her, and they don’t seem to be too exciting. Thankfully, tonight, I used to be very improper, and I must have figured something fun could be in store following AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander accepting Mone’s challenge for a match at AEW Full Gear earlier within the night. When “Stat” accepted the challenge in the course of the backstage segment, she gave a bit of, not-so-subtle wink and nudge to the audience when she told Mone to enjoy her championship celebration tonight.
What I didn’t expect was an appearance on the celebration by “Mini Mone,” or puppet Mone, or whatever you need to call Harley Cameron’s Muppet-like version of the TBS Champion. I assumed it was cute that Cameron will need to have just rolled under the ring after the ladies’s tag team fatal four-way to get in positions to sneak under the table that was arrange, complete with an enormous ol’ sheet cake and a bottle of vodka. I figured Cameron had just moved on to be Willow Nightingale’s tag team partner, so I actually didn’t expect this.
I do not think I even have to openly gush anymore about how much I really like Cameron and her puppeting skills, though I’ll admit this was barely less impressive because it wasn’t exactly a ventriloquist act, but when the puppet popped up as a substitute of Mone’s music hitting following Renee Paquette’s grand introduction talking about how implausible “Ultimo Mone” is, I needed to laugh. Eventually, we did get “The CEO” down the ramp with all of her belt boys, but she shooed them and Paquette off to run down the fans, Cameron, and “Mini Mone” within the ring.
And, after all, if there is a cake involved in a wrestling segment, someone’s going through it. First, that was Puppet Mone, much to poor Cameron’s shock, but in the most effective a part of the segment, Statlander was revealed to even be under the table. Mone then got a face filled with cake, followed by a chokeslam through the table by the AEW Women’s Champion. There’s lots of hate for Mone floating around on social media without delay, and while I’m already not here for that, you’ll be able to’t deny the incontrovertible fact that she is willing to look silly for a superb moment to profit her opponent and the story overall.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Hated: I Thought We Were Done With This
For the record, I even have no problems with feuds spanning over multiple pay-per-views. Jumping from feud to feud based solely on the incontrovertible fact that there’s one other marquee event is not a formula that must be followed, and I’m glad that we’ve got mostly moved away from all of that. Nonetheless, I do have an issue when it looks like a feud has ended, and since there isn’t any real idea of what to do with people, the feud just continues.
That was one in all my primary gripes with the October 22 episode of “AEW Dynamite.” Fresh off a pay-per-view like AEW WrestleDream 2025 where we saw the fifth match between Kyle Fletcher and Mark Briscoe, and the “I Quit” match between Darby Allin and Jon Moxley, “Dynamite” gave us no signs of anything recent on the horizon and as a substitute decided to hint on the incontrovertible fact that two of the feuds that appeared to be over on the weekend are one way or the other still going.
A part of the rationale why Darby and Moxley headlined WrestleDream was since it was built as the ultimate showdown, the final word example of violence, essentially the most wince-inducing match this side of the millennium, and it ended with the hero conquering the villain in the precise way that that they had specified by the construct up. Outside of the incontrovertible fact that St. Louis didn’t allow them to bleed throughout one another, there is admittedly no have to keep the Darby and Moxley story going, and while they appear to have a neat direction for Moxley, Darby being like “So long as the Death Riders exist I’m not finished with you” doesn’t really look like inspired booking. They’re an inspired pairing needless to say, but that story has been told for now. Move forward, not sideways.
The Briscoe and Fletcher situation is much more frustrating because their whole deal was that Briscoe had Fletcher’s number, but as time went on, Fletcher grew in confidence and now has beaten Briscoe of their series three wins to 2. Tony Khan probably wasn’t going for a best-of-five series when he booked them for a match in June 2024, but the way in which it naturally ended up like that was such a superb method to finish it. Nonetheless, Briscoe wants another match, and, thankfully, Don Callis said no to that provide, and it should stay that way, giving Fletcher something recent and different heading into the ultimate few months of the 12 months. He’s proven he’s higher than Briscoe, let’s leave it there. This was an important show, all things considered, however the direction of a number of the top stars in the corporate just seems a bit uninspired.
Written by Sam Palmer