AEW Dynamite – “Fight for the Fallen”
January 1, 2025
By: John Siino
Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina
Commentary: Excalibur & Tony Schiavone
- NOTE: This is the first AEW show being simulcast on the ‘Max’ streaming service, which will be the preferred viewing for my reports, from now on.
RESULTS
- Adam Page over Orange Cassidy via pinfall (12:54)
- Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin over Anthony Bowens & Max Caster via submission (4:11)
- Julia Hart over Jamie Hayter via pinfall (9:59)
- Jay White over Swerve Strickland, Roderick Strong via pinfall (10:34)
- Powerhouse Hobbs over Rob Killjoy & Jon Cruz via pinfall (1:13)
- Cope, Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood over Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta via pinfall (18:38) (Recommended)
I’m So Excited
New theme song here for ‘Dynamite’ as we get The Pointer Sisters with ‘I’m So Excited’. Cue the Jessie Spano memes.
We go to Rated FTR in the back who are hyped up for tonight’s main event against Death Riders, as Adam Copeland says that he is sicker than Jon Moxley and tonight will be fun.
Looks to be a two-man booth on commentary with Excalibur & Tony Schiavone. Should be noted that the graphics are promoting Revolution for March, as opposed to the Grand Slam Australia show
Orange Cassidy vs. Adam Page
They go after each other right away, as Adam Page counters a Beach Break and the Orange Punch, before Orange Cassidy dodges the Buckshot Lariat. They take it to the outside where Orange back body drops Page before punching him in the corner, with Page seated on a chair. Back inside, they go back and forth for a bit before taking it back outside, as they head to picture-in-picture. For the Max feed, they do not stay with the action and we get ads instead of seeing the picture-in-picture action like on TBS.
More back and forth as we return, with Orange dodging a Buckshot Lariat to hit a Beach Break for a two-count. After four tries, Page finally lands the Buckshot Lariat to get the pin and the win.
Winner: Adam Page by pinfall at 12:54
Page keeps attacking Orange after and hits him with two back-to-back Dead Eyes until officials come out. Christopher Daniels comes out and tries to reason with Page but gets knocked out as Page tells him to ‘Stay out of his business’.
Path To Moxley
We go to Jay White in the back who talks about Wheeler Yuta costing him his moment at Worlds End and he promises to show Yuta over and over again how he feels, but he still has a path to Jon Moxley by winning the Casino Gauntlet next week and will face off against Mosley at the Maximum Carnage episode of Dynamite in two weeks. For tonight, he has to deal with Roderick Strong & Swerve Strickland in a three-way.
The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) vs. The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin)
We had comments from The Acclaimed before the match, where Anthony Bowens interrupted Max Caster and asked him if he hit him on purpose during his match against Chris Jericho on Rampage, and Caster says it was an accident. Caster said he’s focused and he won’t even rap, which he didn’t. The Hurt Syndicate making their tag team debut here in AEW. MVP went and joined the commentary team as Caster & Shelton Benjamin started the match. MVP talks about how Lashley & Benjamin told him that they ‘don’t want Caster’ as we see Lashley attacking Caster in the corner with shoulder blocks. Bowens tags in and goes to town, but Caster blind tags himself in which gets The Acclaimed to start bickering amongst each other. Benjamin starts hitting a flurry of German Suplexes to Caster. Lashley enters and hits a spear and chokeslam on Caster, as Bowens just watches on from the outside. Lashley puts on The Hurt Lock on Caster as Aubrey Edwards calls off the match.
Winners: The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) by submission at 4:11
Alex Marvez is in the back with Swerve Strickland & Prince Nana and brings up the three-way tonight for the #1 spot in the Casino Gauntlet Match for next week. Swerve says he’s been distracted the last couple of weeks but it all ends tonight and he gets back to doing what he does best.
Jamie Hayter vs. Julia Hart
This is Julia Hart’s first match since losing the TBS Championship at AEW Dynasty back in April 2024. They quickly take it to the outside and battle on the steel steps, as Hart sends Jamie Hayter back-first onto the steel steps as we head to picture-in-picture.
When we return, Hart stays on top and puts on the Hartless, but Hayter escapes by using knee strikes and gets up on her feet while Hart still has the hold on. Hayter transitions right into a Death Valley Driver on her knee followed by a lariat for a two. Hart grabs the arrow that she was using in her comeback vignettes, but as Aubrey takes it away she uses the mist on Hayter to get the pin and the win.
Winner: Julia Hart by pinfall at 9:59
“Stay Out Of My Business, Bitch”
We get a recap of the Continental Classic, that ends with words from Kazuchika Okada telling Kenny Omega to stay out of his business. They announced Omega will make his return to Dynamite next week.
More Mone’, More Gold
Mercedes Mone’ makes her way to the ring and calls herself the greatest TBS Champion to ever exist. Mercedes shows a video of her highlights in 2024, before transitioning into talking about her match with Mina Shirakawa at Wrestle Dynasty this Sunday and brings up how Mina has the RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship and she is going to take it from her.
We see footage of Dax Harwood presenting checks as tonight’s show was to benefit Hurricane Helene disaster relief.
Alex Marvez is in the back with Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong as Cole says The Undisputed Kingdom is now complete and has all the divisions covered.
Roderick Strong vs. Jay White vs. Swerve Strickland (w/ Prince Nana)
This match is for the #1 spot in next week’s Casino Gauntlet match. They quickly take it to the outside where Swerve Strickland takes out Jay White with a Fosbury Flop as the crowd is fully behind Swerve. Roderick Strong stays in control as they go to PIP, with both Swerve & White spilling to the outside.
We get an ad that AEW Year 1 shows and special events are now streaming on Max, as Swerve is in control over Strong. Strong dodges the House Call as White comes in and tries to hit the Blade Runner, but Swerve escapes and hits him with a flatliner. As Swerve is on the outside, he gets attacked by Ricochet who came through the crowd and hit him with a golden pair of scissors. Back inside, White hits Strong with the Blade Runner to get the pin and the win.
Winner: Jay White by pinfall at 10:34
The Golden Scissors
Ricochet continues to attack Swerve after, as he’s busted wide open from the scissor attack. Ricochet keeps hitting him with headbutts while laughing in his face, as his white button-up shirt is all bloodied up as well. Prince Nana tries to take the chair away from Ricochet, but he knocks him down and attacks him with the chair. Ricochet puts Swerve on a chair and takes him out with the Spirit Gun. Ricochet’s whole demeanor gave me Jordan Peele ‘Us’ vibes, and I could see this as a way to introduce Samantha Irvin.
Unbreakable
Alex Marvez is in the back with Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh & Sonjay Dutt as Jeff Jarrett walks in and says tonight is a big night for him and asks where Karen Jarrett is. Sonjay asks if Jeff is sure about tonight and regardless they are behind him 100%. Karen walked in and said this business has brought them together but also came close to completely breaking Jeff as well. She knows this is hard, but what Jeff wants, she wants as they are unbreakable.
The Woman From Hell
Mariah May is in the back and sarcastically says she thinks the ‘women’s division is great’, and says it’s because she had the most matches last year while nobody else even came close; bringing up someone ‘not even knowing who she is’. She left a trail of broken hearts, bodies & minds and she made it look so easy you don’t even realize how good it was. She doesn’t have epics, she is the epic and now it’s time for the women’s division to prove themselves. She is the woman from hell and if they want to chance to breathe again, they have to work on it. They can’t touch her, but she’d like to see them try.
High-Risk/High-Reward
Jeff Jarrett heads to the ring alone and places a pair of boots in the middle of the ring as there is also a guitar there as well. Jarrett wishes everyone a ‘Slappy New Year’, before saying he’s been trying to figure out how to put words together and says there are so many things he has to be thankful for in his career. Jarrett starts talking about his family’s history in wrestling including his father being able to buy a promotion and promoted it for 40 years. Jarrett brings up dropping out of school and starting his career and continues talking about high-risk/high-reward decisions and says in 2002 he bet on himself by launching his promotion, which gets a TNA chant. Jarrett says that promotion has had some of the greatest wrestlers of all time, but that brings him to tonight, as he picks up the boots. The crowd chants ‘No’, as he asks if the Last Outlaw should just ride out into the sunset and he says the answer is hell no. Jarrett says he is there to announce that he re-signed with AEW (in his final wrestling talent contract) and in his last ride, he wants AEW gold, and he’s talking about taking the biggest risk of his career and says he will enter the Gauntlet next week. He ends by saying that on January 1, 2025, his New Year’s resolution is to become AEW World Champion.
We get a video from Hook who says he isn’t done with Christian Cage and tells him to ask Nick Wayne what it feels to be in the Redrum, as he’s going to choke him out. The match between Hook & Cage is announced in two weeks at the ‘Maximum Carnage’ episode of Dynamite.
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Rob Killjoy & Jon Cruz
Powerhouse Hobbs destroys both of these guys in this handicap match, as commentary announces Hobbs’ entry in next week’s Casino Gauntlet. Hobbs hits a spine-buster to Jon Cruz on top of Rob Killjoy to get the easy win.
Winner: Powerhouse Hobbs by pinfall at 1:13
The Hometown Heroes
Alex Marvez is in the back with Big Bill & Bryan Keith and asks where Chris Jericho is. Bill says North Carolina is good before Keith says it’s ‘ight’. Bill says Jericho isn’t here as we see Rated FTR next to them, which Bill calls the ‘hometown heroes’. Bill asks who should be more ashamed them or the people of Asheville. Bill says the ‘hometown heroes’ should be taken down a branch or two, as Keith calls them the ‘Rated R dumbasses’. Adam Copeland says Bill’s face is stupid before making a challenge for Collision for Rated FTR vs. The Learning Tree as Bill says to Keith that he has the same face as Copeland.
“What’s A King To A God?”
We get a video from MJF after his win over Adam Cole at Worlds End and says it’s now time for the next chapter and says it’s time to get his title back that’s now being paraded in a briefcase. He has a question for ‘Dictator Jon’ and asks ‘What’s a king to a God?’ because there isn’t anybody on the level of the devil and nobody knows that more than Jon Moxley. MJF doesn’t care who has his championship, but he is getting it because, in 2025, the Devil gets his due; part two.
Death Riders (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) (w/ Marina Shafir) vs. Rated FTR (Cope, Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood)
Adam Copeland is just going by ‘Cope’ now with his ring introduction, key, and commentary confirming the change he decided to go ahead with. Right before the picture-in-picture, Cope gets sent to the outside where he is attacked from behind by Marina Shafir, sending him into the ring-post.
We come back with FTR in control, getting a huge reaction here in their hometown. Cash Wheeler catches Wheeler Yuta off the ropes, into a power slam for a two-count before Dax Harwood joins in but Claudio Castagnoli is there to break them up. Harwood hits a suplex to Yuta from the ropes, but Claudio is there to break it up. Yuta hits a top-rope splash on Harwood but gets a two as we go to picture-in-picture.
Cope cheers on Harwood to make the hot tag to him, but as he does, Jon Moxley comes in as well as Cope & Moxley head-to-head. Cope hits him with an Impaler, but as he goes for the spear, Moxley escapes to the outside. Moxley & Cope take it into the crowd for a bit before heading back ringside. As Cope enters the ring, Yuta takes him out with an eye rake and teases hitting a spear himself, but Cope stops him with a Liger Bomb for two. Cope sets up the spear, but Claudio & Mox trip him up and pull him into the ring post. Wheeler tries to hit a dive on Moxley, but Claudio stops him with an uppercut. The Death Riders start clearing the table, as Moxley goes to hit Cope with a piledriver through it. During this, Jay White runs out and takes out Yuta with a Blade Runner as Cope reverses Moxley with a backbody drop on the desk before spearing Moxley through the barricade with a spear. Back inside, FTR hits Yuta with a Shatter Machine before Cope hits him with a spear for the pin and the win.
Winners: Rated FTR (Cope, Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) by pinfall at 18:38
