Three Things We Hate and Three Things We Loved

Welcome to the show where Wrestling Inc.’s “Aew Dynamite” weekly reviews, as of this week’s episode, where both Owen Heart Cup tournament semi-finalists are set. Here at WINC we’re thinking about that last “dynamite” match and actually almost every major aspect of Wednesday’s show. There may be a few behind-the-scenes segments and more that we don’t cover here, but in reality we’re basically going to talk about everything that happened in some way.

That being said, if you’re interested in an objective view of evening events, feel free to check out our “Dynamite” results page. But there are three things we hated about the opinions and analysis of WINC staff, from Mercedes Mohn to Toni Storm’s stand-up to Samoa Joe’s Hardcore Challenge to John Moxley’s challenge, and three things we loved about the 4/30/25 episode of “AEW Dynamite.”

Jamie Hater is heading for the final of the AEW Women’s Owen Hart Cup. The Jamie Hater moment is upon us. Her moments are mostly here. Are you ready? I’m coming here. This is Jamie Hater’s mome-ah no, it’s gone, man. It just passes and we need to move to Toni Storm vs Mercedes Mohn.

On Wednesday’s “Dynamite,” Mercedes’ Moon summons AEW women’s world champion Toni Storm, who plans to defeat the haters in Texas in July and face the Storm. Hater managed to come out and attack Mercedes, reminding her to remind her with a double or a notative in her upcoming Cup final, but it certainly felt like AEW was already energizing the women’s match in the headlines of Globelife Field.

While Mone vs. Storm is a must-see match and will likely live up to high expectations, you still have to sprinkle Hayter with a fighting chance, and it feels like Aee gave up on that particular ghost on Wednesday. A double or note match feels weird, like a pit stop on the road to a true headline match. She feels like she’s been trying to find her place in the women’s division since losing the women’s world title. Wednesday was another nasty reminder that her location certainly wasn’t everything.

Written by Ross Berman

AEW has called for a handful of matches in past “All-Star 8-man tag team matches,” but the match between Elite, Ricochet, Kenny Omega, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Kevin Knight and Mark Brisco was the first one that everyone in the match felt worthy of combining that title.

Given the long and celebratory history of the younger Bucks, Okada and Omega sharing with each other, I predicted that this match would be at least solid as to whether they would work well with each other, at least as teammates and opponents. Briscoe, Bailey, Knight and Ricochet acted as the perfect compliment for the four men, leading to a 30-minute heightened, which they didn’t feel dragged over for a second, and a funny 30 minutes. The eight men can also throw some comedic spots into the match, such as Matthew Jackson is an Omega and everyone is trying to land each other’s moves, but accidentally using ropes to accidentally wear out of the way to Ricochet’s arms. It’s a refreshing and much-needed element that feels like it’s missing from AEW programming, and I set the tone for the rest of the show (mostly) to all editions of “Dynamite.”

Written by Olivia Quinlan

I don’t know if AEW is trying to tell me that MJF is not a smart guy. We all know that it’s not true, but he forgets the hurtful syndicate motto and their whole schtick when it comes to joining factions. He needs to hurt. people. As the song says. Like the crowd chant. He was reminded of this tonight by Bobby Lashley. Bobby Lashley voted for “thumb” again when MJF ended up joining the Heart Syndicate, even after MJF brought him a watch, a woman and everything else. For me, this storyline has been going on for too long.

I like both MJF and The Hurt Syndicate, especially Bobby Lashley, but this story just fell this week and I really need to conclude. Lashley ignored both MVP and Shelton Benjamin and would have beaten MJF hell tonight if his answer was still no. He should have just been done all over. Certainly, the MVP would have been frustrated for a minute, but things would have gone well within a week or two with the injured syndicate, as Lashley is his boy, not MJF. Without Benjamin and Lashley tag team competitors at the moment, they could have even made Lashley and MJF fight each other with double or notebooks. That probably isn’t the case, and the story ends anyway, but at least there’s a little more direction.

The fact that Lashley told MJF while he was in the turnbuckle he needed to prove himself by hurting people was like a “Duh” moment. It seems a bit ridiculous now that MJF had never thought of it. I don’t know who will hurt in the next few weeks, but I’m hoping he’ll take someone to the next three weeks before a double or Nothing. Previously, this was all perfect for being boring, but MJF has been attacking and hurting them for a few weeks.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Jon Moxley’s reign as AEW champion has one constant sloop line, idiocyte. Everyone who came for Coop, Swave, Orange Cassidy and John Moxley did so in things that can only be explained in a truly ridiculous way. Serious and idealistic, they come after themselves or in general some redemption. They all failed. Usually, we assume that John Moxley will fight a fair fight with his thugs, or at least enough. Maybe Samoa Joe will be John Moxley’s fall, but he appears to be paying attention to the title match in at least two weeks.

Joe is not going to give an inch to the regular death rider shenanigans that ask, ask, and receive steel cage matches instead of traditional matches. Deathriders need to work to interfere. Otherwise Moxley will be trapped. Joe has a way of talking about things that make sense. I felt nothing forced, nothing felt empty. He felt like a man who was paying close attention to knowing from the start that he hadn’t seen a fair fight in Chicago, Illinois. There is no playing field level like steel cages.

There is very little fair battle in our world. Usually, dice is loaded, decks are often stacked, and tables are constantly tilted. Samoa Joe, the best thing you can do is drag the battle into more hostile territory.

Written by Ross Berman

As the famous hatred of AEW characters and patriarchy in Christian Cage, I actually really enjoy what the group is doing these days. After the creative disaster, which was always a world title deal, Christian took a break and instead lit the spotlight on Nick Wayne. Now he’s back, and instead of playing the abuser as he did with Lucasaurus (especially after he wins the title belt), Christian will instead perform the supporting father figure along with Wayne. Obviously, Christian does a mother’s head spin as he tries so hard to backstab Wayne with the backstab, but he likes to get there in a way that really focuses on Wayne rather than Christian himself.

That being said, I have a hard time overcoming the fact that this clearly compelling storyline is locked into the ROH World Television Championship. First, because whenever one of the champions spends more time on TNT/TBS than HonorClub, he sucks ROH talent. Secondly, even the ROH titles are because television titles are weak sources. This is a Belt Samoa Joe literally abandoned when he wanted to pursue something that is actually important, and getting a Jayre Saru on TV doesn’t help. Third, AEW has three men’s singles mid-card title belts, which can be used to enhance both Wayne and the storyline, but all three are currently around the waist of a former world champion that you don’t actually need. It’s a clear example of the problem that can arise from too many titles (and perhaps there are too many top-notch talents that many people want to carry around with shiny things and gold).

Written by Miles Schneiderman

This week we’ll see the second semi-final between “Hangman” Adam Page and “Protostal” Kyle Fletcher within the Owen Hart Foundation Cup, and we hope to determine who will enter the final in a double or Nothing against Will Osprey.

There was a good reason to move either way. Page has returned to prove he will become the world champion and Fletcher of AEW to prove he is better than Osprey and will reach Upper Echelon before he can. However, there was a concrete hostility between Fletcher and Page, and those pairs were visibly itchy, starting the match and holding that strength throughout the contest. Fletcher took a terrible bump on the guardrail and cut her hips and injured her. This is an unintended moment when his back is constantly targeted and Fletcher first split into matches. The match was a semi-final where it was fought like the final, but it’s a good sign given what’s on the horizon along with the results.

That’s the other aspect. What will come this week? The final is set between Osprey and Page. This is the first dream match between two AEW top guys, with the goal of challenging the world title in Texas against John Moxley or Samoa Joe (probably the former). Both have very reliable reasons to win tournaments, one is a former world champion who is still seeking red, and one is a marquee who signs for proof. What we can ask from the main TV event is that it will be a great match and lays the foundation for the future. This week’s main event did a little more.

Written by Max Everett