Four and a half hours.
The 2025 edition of AEW Dynasty on Triller TV — a B level PPV for the company — was four and a half freaking hours long. That’s insane. First of all, as a company you want to have levers to pull for the really big shows that tell the audience that those are the really big shows. Is All In going to be six hours?
I know that length doesn’t always signify importance — obviously — but, there was no reason for this show to go on as long as it did.
Length aside, this was a strong show for AEW. The in-ring action across the board was good to very good and there was some storyline progression throughout the event as well.
The main event finish certainly will ruffle some feathers, but the booking — not the execution — was the exact right call to make. Good for you, Tony Khan.
Here are my Brass Ring Ratings for the event and here’s how they work … I call it like I see it and grade accordingly. Period.
Will Ospreay vs. Kevin Knight - Owen Hart Cup Tournament First Round Match
I really liked this match. Match of the night. This was so smooth from an in-ring perspective. More impressively, it balanced a lot. The goal was clearly to feature Knight as a player, but it had to be inside of a losing effort. They accomplished that goal. Knight was tremendous and it felt as if he had Ospreay on the ropes multiple times. Ospreay won in the end, but Knight got what he needed and delivered. This didn’t feature countless finisher kickouts either. It was a thoughtfully constructed and executed match that did a nice job setting the tone for the tournament.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOOO 1/4
Hurt Syndicate vs. The Learning Tree - AEW World Tag Team Championships
This was what it was. Not bad, but not memorable either. The Hurt Business got the win and MJF factored in and helped them out. Predictable given the story.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO
Mercedes Mone vs. Julia Hart - Owen Hart Cup Tournament First Round Match
A good match. It took a while to get rolling and starting out slow has been a pillar of recent Mone matches, but it picked up just over halfway through. The submission based finish stood out, but when Hart watches it back, she’ll wish she sold it all a bit better.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO 3/4
The Death Riders vs. Rated FTR - AEW World Trios Championships
The match was fine, but the FTR heel turn on Cope was laughably bad. They landed in a good spot with it and got the heat they wanted, but the turn itself was archaic and too cute. Not everything needs a swerve and it made no sense for Dax and Cash to butt heads on Dax attacking Cope only to be on the same page seconds later. A promo can clean up some of this, but it was way overbooked for my liking.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO 1/2
Toni Storm vs. Megan Bayne - AEW Women’s World Championship
Mission accomplished. Bayne was built up as an unstoppable monster ahead of this match and she showcased all of that hype during the match. The Rocky themes played up by Toni Storm helped drive home the narrative of how dominant Bayne was. Even though Storm won — and did so relatively cleanly — the announce team hard sold the fact that Storm wrestled from underneath almost the entire time and narrowly escaped with the championship. That’s what working for the talent means and it paid off here for Bayne … Storm too. There are certainly more matches down the road between these two.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO
Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe - Owen Hart Cup Tournament First Round Match
Another excellent tone setter of a match for the Owen Hart Tournament. These guys murdered each other. Big bumps, neck bumps, and more. This had it all. It went a little long, but established the stakes of the tournament. The urgency on the part of both guys shined. There wasn’t much drama given that Fletcher was almost assuredly going to win and he did.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO 3/4
Chris Jericho vs. Bandido - ROH World Championship vs. Mask Match
Obnoxiously long and with an equally obnoxious finish. So, people in the audience can alert the referee of cheating now? This neutralizes almost every heel finish wrestling has ever seen. Jericho didn’t need the protection of a restart and the match would have played much better had it been cut in half and had it dropped the nonsense with Bandido’s family getting involved. The action was better than expected while this operated as a normal match, but it falling off the rails at the end is what people will remember.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO 1/4
Daniel Garcia vs. Adam Cole - TNT Championship
Not great. Cole and Garcia worked fine together, but a tired audience couldn’t get up to care. That said, it didn’t look like Adam Cole really loved the fact that he won the TNT Championship either. He’s a singles champion, but that’s a long drop down the card for someone that was poised to and could have occupied one of the tip top spots in the company. The question now is will Tony Khan book Cole as champion in a more relevant way than he did Garcia? It’s a low bar to clear.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO
Kenny Omega vs. Ricochet vs. Mike Bailey - AEW International Championship
Tremendous action as you’d imagine, but I had an issue with this match outside of that. Who were you supposed to cheer for? It appeared as if the audience was along for the ride to simply enjoy a good match, rather than truly be invested in the outcome itself. The three guys played the hits and gave the audience what they were looking for, but you want more investment if you are AEW. Still, it’s hard to argue that this was bad because it wasn’t, but there are other layers these guys should want to reach with their matches and this didn’t get there.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOOO
Jon Moxley vs. Swerve Strickland - AEW World Championship
I really enjoyed the brutal nature of this. Unlike the triple threat match, it felt like Moxley and Strickland were out there to hurt each other. That said, this suffered from the show being so long. There are points in this where the audience was dead silent. A shorter show would have made this match feel more epic. This had a lot of interference down the stretch, but it juggled that successfully. Adam Page looks to be leaning toward Strickland’s side now and it’s good timing because Swerve will be looking for someone to help take on The Young Bucks. As for Moxley, his title reign rolls on. Look, it’s not the most exciting thing in the world. I get it. He had to win the way he did in order to maintain heat as a heel. If AEW continues to play their cards right, the audience will be salivating at the notion of Moxley losing the championship to Will Ospreay or another top babyface at All In. They have to get the babyface opponent right, but the other part of that equation is making Moxley’s reign come across as epic, but undeserved. That will make people want to see him lose. This finish helps greatly to that end.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO 1/4
What did you think of AEW Dynasty 2025? Let us know in the comments!
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