Ganso Bomb

Write Forever: It's time for The Bayne Event on AEW Dynamite for March 26

Write Forever: It's time for The Bayne Event on AEW Dynamite for March 26

Last week was filled with feeling like absolute dogshit and late-night wrestling by way of Slam Dunk Saturday and its twin sister Slam Dunk Sunday. I didn't feel up to it to look at a computer screen last Saturday, let alone write about professional wrestling. And, as predicted, I was in bed by the time the Slam Dunking started on the weekend so that was always going to be out.

But not a bad week for AEW! I did watch the shows, and I did enjoy the shows. Megan Bayne is on an upward trajectory and Jon Moxley got a back full of nails.

"Speedball" Mike Bailey and Ricochet locked in their spots to wrestle Kenny Omega for the International Title at Dynasty and Billie Saints Starkz had a fucking incredible TBS Title match against Mercedes Moné.

And tonight? It's Minecraft Wednesday! Whatever the hell that means! Kenny Omega wrestles Blake Christian, Brody King wrestles Kyle Fletcher, Toni Storm & Thunder Rosa wrestle Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford, Powerhouse Hobbs wrestles Mark Davis, Mark Briscoe wrestles Konosuke Takeshita and we get answers (maybe?) in the ongoing sagas of MJF/MVP and FTR/Adam Copeland. What a fuckin' night of wrestling!

Keep your Ring of Honor out of my AEW

I don't dislike Ring of Honor on principle. I loved Ring of Honor for a lot of years. I sat on 6-hour Greyhound bus rides just to see Ring of Honor shows in New York City. I'll never not love Ring of Honor.

But when I watch AEW, I don't need or want to see Ring of Honor.

Tonight, Chris Jericho laid out the challenge to Bandido: Mask vs ROH World Title. And would this challenge be happening at the upcoming Supercard of Honor on May 2? No! Of course not! It's happening at AEW Dynasty!

I just don't understand it. If you keep putting your more important Ring of Honor things on AEW shows, then nobody is ever going to feel the need to subscribe to Honor Club or go to a big ROH PPV.

Maybe ROH is just an extra toy that Tony Khan likes to play with and that he doesn't feel the need to make it its own legitimate brand/company. The matches are taped at AEW shows, so other than PPVs there aren't any standalone ROH events. So, in general, there are no real added costs to taping Ring of Honor.

What's the endgame of Ring of Honor, though? Taping matches in front of tired crowds to produce a show that doesn't feel unique or hot? I wish someone could explain it all to me.

I thought we left dumbshit promos behind with that horrid MJF/JJ segment?

MVP really beefed it for me in the segment with Big Bill & Bryan Keith. MVP is wonderful and a gem on the mic. But, you don't always need to hurl every zinger you can think of at someone whenever there's a pause in the conversation. The way he ran down Bill and Keith hurt the segment, hurt the story, and just made Bill and Keith look like idiots.

It felt similar to when Adam Copeland first came in and he kept trying to improv lines that fell flat and killed the flow of the segment, namely that one time he was going back and forth with Ricky Starks. It doesn't help anybody and makes the whole deal feel awkward.

Not to mention the big punchlines of the whole promo were "I'm gonna call everyone a bitch", "Bryan Keith is a girl actually", and "You two would be gay except Bryan Keith is a girl". Lazy, tired, grating dogshit content.

Can't we just leave all of this behind at this point? Do we need the big punctuation mark of a wrestling promo to still be one person saying "bitch"? Do something fucking creative, you goons.

Kyle Fletcher vs Brody King: Your All In 2026 Main Event

Kyle Fletcher and Brody King had one hell of a match beating the christ out of each other. There's no doubt in my mind that both of these guys could and, more importantly, should be two of the guys the future of AEW is built around. They're both excellent in the ring, they're both constantly over, and they both feel so effortlessly natural when they're on screen.

If these guys don't get singles titles runs at some point in 2025, it will be two huge missed opportunities for Tony Khan. If neither guy is a singles champion by the time All In 2026 rolls around, it'll be an even bigger pair of missed opportunities.

I'm perhaps being a little facetious in saying that these two should wrestle again in the All In 2026 main event, but I wouldn't hate it at all. Both of these guys have what it takes to be the AEW World Champion some day, and that day should come sooner than later (sooner being relative, I guess – the next string of champions should probably be some combination of Swerve/Hangman/Ospreay).

This match led nicely into Will Hobbs vs Mark Davis which also kicked ass. Davis has been on fire as of late and Hobbs has looked great since coming back from his injury. There was an unfortunate misstep toward the end, but they were able to recover things into an ending that was still hot enough to get the crowd to pop for the spinebuster.

These are another two guys who could easily be singles champions at some point this year. They're always bringing it in the ring and have nowhere to go but up.

It's tiiiiime for your Baaaayne Event!

There had been enough talk!

For the second week in a row, the women main evented the show – this time with an excellent tag match between Thunder Tits and Baynelope. Coming up at Dynasty, we've got Toni Storm defending the World Title against Megan Bayne and this was one of the last stops on the road to that meeting.

As of late, Bayne has been wrecking Toni Storm & Friends at every step. With Penelope Ford by her side, she's laid out Storm herself, Rosa, and Kris Statlander. I can't think of a woman who has come into AEW and looked stronger than Bayne as quickly. From her awesome showing in the Women's Casino Gauntlet she's been on an absolute tear.

And it's clear with the main events the last two weeks that Tony Khan has faith in what Bayne and Storm are building. Storm is transcendent in her role, especially since regaining the World Title from Mariah May at Revolution. Could her reign be short-lived, though?

It does feel like time to shake something up in the women's division. Not that Toni's act is tired or that she needs to step out of the spotlight as the face of the division, but they've done such a tremendous job at building Bayne over the last several weeks that it almost feels counterintuitive to beat her at Dynasty.

Tonight, Bayne got a taste of what that would be like by pinning Storm clean in in the middle after Fate's Descent. Toni Storm can be beaten, and Megan Bayne knows how to do it.

I have to say, every time I see Thunder Rosa in a tag match I just want women's tag team titles even more. She excels in tag matches in a way she hasn't in singles matches since coming back. The women's roster is so deep and talented that it could absolutely support tag titles, especially if rumblings of unifying the men's International & Continental Titles are true.

Wrapping Up

It wouldn't be an AEW show without shoddy audio, and boy howdy did they deliver during Ricochet's call-in segment. Who knows if it was just recorded poorly or if it was the transition of recorded audio to in-building speakers to television broadcast, but it was gnarly. Safe to say the Ricochet/Omega/Bailey match will be of a much higher quality than the audio in that segment.

In the ongoing saga of Rated FTR, we got to the bottom of Dax's behavior when he refused to help Adam Copeland up following his World Title Street Fight with Jon Moxley last week. In all, it was Dax's own frustrations, self-doubt, and insecurities coming out the wrong way. He apologized and then proclaimed that it was time for FTR to get back in the Tag Title chase – until Cash and Copeland outvoted him, challenging Death Riders for the Trios Titles at Dynasty.

Dax was nonplussed at this and even more nonplussed at the end of the promo; Copeland delivered an "FTR, out" to which Cash replied, "Even better [than 'FTR out']". Dax responded with a deadpan "Okay." I don't know where this all ends up, but I hope it's not an FTR split. I'd much rather see them lose again and murder Adam Copeland to turn heel. But, this is also at odds with my desire to see Mox & Death Riders lose everything so we can move on from their whole thing. I'm so conflicted!

We got some next steps in the Swerve/Jon Moxley feud, but nothing much to write home about. They had a promo segment that started a little shaky but ended strong with the crowd right there with both men – plus, Willow Nightingale and Marina Shafir trying to beat the shit out of each other!


Best AEW Matches of 2025

Don't see a match on the list? It's not because I didn't see the match, but because I didn't do a write-up for that show for whatever reason (timing, schedules, etc.). This list is as comprehensive as it can be.

I've also decided to omit squashes from the list since they're just going to crowd space at the bottom.

  1. Toni Storm vs Mariah May: Women's World Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  2. Swerve Strickland vs Ricochet (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  3. "Hangman" Adam Page vs Orange Cassidy (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  4. Swerve Strickland vs Ricochet (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  5. Daniel Garcia vs Mark Briscoe: TNT Title (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  6. Konosuke Takeshita vs Orange Cassidy: International Title (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  7. Mercedes Moné vs Momo Watanabe: TBS Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  8. Will Ospreay vs Kyle Fletcher (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  9. MJF vs "Hangman" Adam Page (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  10. Konosuke Takeshita vs Kenny Omega: International Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  11. FTR vs Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  12. Rated FTR vs Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Wheeler Yuta (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  13. Roderick Strong vs Jay White vs Swerve Strickland (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  14. Toni Storm vs Kris Statlander vs Willow Nightingale (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  15. "Hangman" Adam Page vs Christopher Daniels: Texas Death Match (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  16. Toni Storm vs Queen Aminata (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  17. Kazuchika Okada vs Brody King: Continental Championship (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  18. Orange Cassidy, Powerhouse Hobbs, Mark Briscoe, & Will Ospreay vs Bryan Keith, Mark Davis, Lance Archer, & Brian Cage (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  19. Private Party vs The Hurt Syndicate: Tag Team Titles (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  20. PAC vs Komander (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  21. Will Ospreay vs Buddy Matthews (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  22. Toni Storm vs Deonna Purrazzo (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  23. Women's Casino Gauntlet (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  24. Hounds of Hell vs Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  25. Bryan Keith vs Will Ospreay (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  26. Jon Moxley vs Powerhouse Hobbs: World Title (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  27. Swerve Strickland vs AR Fox (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  28. Daniel Garcia vs Adam Cole: TNT Title (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  29. FTR vs Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta: Mid-South Street Fight (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  30. Jamie Hayter vs Julia Hart (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  31. Cope vs PAC (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  32. Jamie Hayter vs Julia Hart (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  33. Will Ospreay vs Mark Davis (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  34. The Beast Mortos vs Mike Bailey (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  35. Toni Storm & Thunder Rosa vs Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  36. Kazuchika Okada & Ricochet vs Brody King & Swerve Strickland (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  37. Brody King vs Kyle Fletcher (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  38. Rated FTR vs The Learning Tree (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  39. Private Party vs Lio Rush & Action Andretti: Tag Team Titles (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  40. Daniel Garcia & FTR vs Undisputed Kingdom (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  41. Daniel Garcia vs Katsuyori Shibata: TNT Title (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  42. Daniel Garcia vs Kyle O'Reilly vs Lee Moriarty: TNT Title (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  43. Bandido & Powerhouse Hobbs vs Big Bill & Bryan Keith (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  44. Men's Casino Gauntlet Match (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  45. Cope vs Big Bill (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  46. Mariah May vs Harley Cameron (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  47. Will Ospreay & Kevin Knight vs Blake Christian & Lee Johnson (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  48. Samoa Joe & Hook vs Kip Sabian & Nick Wayne (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  49. Swerve Strickland vs Clark Connors (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  50. Kenny Omega vs Brian Cage (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  51. Hook vs Christian Cage (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  52. Julia Hart vs Queen Aminata (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  53. Daniel Garcia vs Lee Moriarty: TNT Title (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  54. Swerve Strickland & Willow Nightingale vs Jon Moxley & Marina Shafir (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  55. Brody King vs Lance Archer (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  56. Will Hobbs vs Mark Davis (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  57. The Outrunners vs Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  58. Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, & Roderick Strong vs Lee Moriarty & The Infantry (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  59. Julia Hart vs Harley Cameron (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  60. Rated FTR, The Outrunners, & Powerhouse Hobbs vs Death Riders & The Learning Tree (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  61. Cope vs Wheeler Yuta (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  62. Mark Davis vs Mark Briscoe (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  63. Hologram vs Dralistico (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  64. Mark Briscoe vs Konosuke Takeshita (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  65. Kenny Omega vs Blake Christian (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  66. The Hurt Syndicate vs The Outrunners: Tag Team Titles (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  67. Max Caster vs RUSH (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  68. Bobby Lashley vs Mark Briscoe (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  69. Private Party & Mark Briscoe vs Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley, & MVP (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  70. Serena Deeb vs Momo Watanabe (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  71. Orange Cassidy vs Hechicero (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  72. Thunder Rosa & Kris Statlander vs Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  73. Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii: Continental Championship (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  74. FTR vs Undisputed Kingdom (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  75. The Outrunners vs Premier Athletes (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  76. Adam Copeland vs Claudio Castagnoli (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  77. Ricochet vs Katsuyori Shibata (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  78. Toni Storm vs Penelope Ford (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  79. Jon Moxley vs Adam Copeland: World Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  80. Chris Jericho vs Dax Harwood (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  81. Thunder Rosa vs Megan Bayne (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  82. Wheeler Yuta vs Willie Mack (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  83. Top Flight & Hologram vs The Infantry & Lee Moriarty (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  84. Willow Nightingale vs Penelope Ford (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  85. The Acclaimed vs The Hurt Syndicate (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  86. Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs The Infantry (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  87. Komander vs Dante Martin vs Brian Cage vs The Beast Mortos (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  88. Murder Machines vs The Outrunners (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  89. The Outrunners vs Chris Jericho & Bryan Keith (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  90. Hologram & Powerhouse Hobbs vs Brian Cage & Dralistico (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  91. Taya Valkyrie vs Harley Cameron (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  92. Deonna Purrazzo vs Harley Cameron (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  93. Max Caster vs Konosuke Takeshita (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  94. Murder Machines vs Top Flight (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  95. Jeff Jarrett vs Aaron Solo (Collision: January 4, 2025)