What a week we have had with AEW. We got to see the return of a crowd favourite, some beautiful matches and an explosion of Aussie talent across the cards. Let’s get right into it.

DYNAMITE

RESULTS

This week Dynamite is coming to you live from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City for the Winter is Coming edition. On commentary we are joined by Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuiness

DeathRiders (Pac & Mox) vs Jay White / Orange Cassidy – There was no way this match wasn’t going to be just a brawl. White gets the jump on Pac before the match even has a chance to get started. This was match was never about winners or losers. It was more about pushing the story where it needed to go. During the match we are shown Christian sitting up in a skybox watching all the action go down. As OC is set to take out the win for his team, Hangman enters the fray and causes a disqualification.

Winners – DeathRiders

C2 Gold League – Will Ospreay vs Claudio Castagnoli – Match of the night and it is only the second match on the show. Claudio and Ospreay have a great chemistry and could easily work a PPV match together where they get to showcase everything. Due to time restraints, we clearly didn’t get everything that these two men could give us. However, do yourself a favour and check this match out. After the match Claudio attempts to attack Ospreay, only for Darby to make the save and then staredown Ospreay as they will face off at the next Dynamite.

Winner – Will Ospreay

Dynamite Diamond Semi Final – Adam Cole vs Kyle O’Reilly – A good strong match between the former friends. O’Reilly can definitely go toe to toe with anyone in the ring and has the skills to be a great match no matter who he is in there with. Neither man was going to just lay down and let the other walk out with the win. MJF attempts to get involved in the outcome of the match, just to cop a boot to the skull from Cole.

Winner and facing MJF at Worlds End – Adam Cole

C2 Gold League – Brody King vs Ricochet – Ricochet is starting to show some cockiness and the crowd by the end of this match could see it. Brody is one of the best big men in the world and he is someone who could easily dominate as a champion somewhere down the line. We got a really good back and forth match which kept you guessing on who was going to walk out with the 3 points.

Winner – Ricochet

AEW Women’s World Championship – Mariah May vs Mina Shirakawa – The women are main eventing a Dynamite and it was a great match. Mina finally got to show why she was such hot property in Stardom. We got some really solid action from the ladies, and it was great to see. The match ran into overtime for the show and the finish actually came out of nowhere. It was a great showing for the AEW women’s division.

Winner – Mariah May

As Mariah is celebrating her victory, the old guitar slide hits and the crowd goes mental as Toni Storm makes her return to the company.

My opinion – A great episode of Dynamite this week. We saw further development of the story with Mox and the contenders, amazing matches as part of the C2 and of course the return of the rock icon, Toni Storm. I really enjoyed this week’s episode, and I am keen to find out what they have for Toni Storm moving forward.

RAMPAGE

RESULTS

Once again, we are the T-Mobile Center for this week’s edition of Rampage. Our commentary team consists of Excalibur, Matt Menard and Tony Schiavone.

Bryan Keith vs Matt Cardona – Cardonna is finally getting some time to show his skills in AEW, albeit at the expense of a program with Jericho. In saying that though, Cardona is able to get some momentum under his belt before he faces Jericho for the ROH World Championship at Final Battle. A decent match with Keith unfortunately being fed to Cardona here.

Winner – Matt Cardona

Toni Storm vs Harley Cameron – Toni is back into action and she is taking on fellow Gold Coast girl Harley. Storm is looking like she has only just signed with AEW and we aren’t really seeing any signs of the Timeless gimmick. Cameron is improving her in ring skills and still proves to be a valuable addition to the women’s division

Winner – Toni Storm

Shazza McKenzie vs Deonna Purrazzo – An absolute squash match here and by that, I mean the match was over and done within two minutes. Shazza did not really get a chance to shine at all.

Winner – Deonna Purrazzo

Don Callis Family (Takeshita & Archer) vs Mark Davis & Powerhouse Hobbs – In a battle of former vs current DCF members, this was good to see that they haven’t left the cards on the table and walked away from the potential that these guys have. It was a good match with the story still being sold of how Powerhouse and Davis were abandoned by Callis and they want their revenge. Archer really stepped it up a notch in this match too. Giving us more of a reason to enjoy his work.

Winners – Mark Davis & Powerhouse Hobbs

My opinion – A lot of people disagreed with Storm’s in ring return being on Rampage of all shows. My thoughts on the matter are that it was actually brilliant especially if we are going to be seeing this new character as a “new talent” to the company. Allow her to rack up some wins and momentum on her way back to the top of the women’s division. It was a fun episode of Rampage. I love that we got an Aussie invasion of sorts on the show.

COLLISION

RESULTS

Collision is coming to you from the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri! Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness are on commentary.

Wrestle Dynasty Women’s Cup Final – Jamie Hayter vs Willow Nightingale – This was a great way to open the show. I really would have loved it more if we could have got some more time between these two, however it did show that Willow is definitely the right choice to go on to Japan and represent AEW.

Winner – Willow Nightingale

C2 Blue League – Kazuchika Okada vs The Beast Mortos – It is hard to believe that Okada wouldn’t have just dominated in this match. But it was a fairly even paced match. This match was not one that I expected to go the way it did. Mortos got an absolutely strong showing here against Japan’s former number one guy. I was genuinely excited as this match kept going and thought that there could easily have been an upset here.

Winner – Kazuchika Okada

Toni Storm vs Shazza McKenzie – Once again another Aussie for Toni Storm to face. While Shazza doesn’t really get any chance to show what she can do, it is great to see Aussies getting the love. Toni is loving this rocker gimmick and it will be interesting how this plays out.

Winner – Toni Storm

AEW Tag Team Championship Contenders – Top Flight vs Lio Rush & Action Andretti – A fast and furious match between the former stablemates. All four of these guys have a reason to be a part of the company and they showed it. Rush and Andretti have a great connection as a team and really do work well together.

Winners and number one contenders – Lio Rush & Action Andretti

Kris Statlander vs Tootie Lynn – A short match here. A major delayed standing vertical suplex from Statlander was probably the highlight of the match.

Winner – Kris Statlander

Orange Cassidy / The Outrunners / Daniel Garcia & Komander vs Premier Athletes & MxM Collection – 5 on 5 can sometimes be very hard to follow. Especially trying to keep an eye on everyone in the match. MxM Collection have somehow gotten over with the Collision crowd even though they are meant to be heels. We got a great spot in the match where all the faces got to take turns on hitting Mansoor in the corner. A good quality match with fun elements all round.

Winners – Cassidy / Outrunners / Garcia & Komander

C2 Blue League – Mark Briscoe vs Kyle Fletcher – What a damn match. If I had to pick a match of the night, it is a hard choice between this and Okada / Mortos. The expectation here was that Fletcher was going to easily walk out of Collision undefeated in the C2. This match changed the game. Briscoe was not letting Kyle get away with an easy win. At one stage, Fletcher attempts his own version of the Froggy Bow to a massive chorus of boos, which he doesn’t land. Action in this match was not just contained to the ring, and it was absolutely perfect.

Winner – Mark Briscoe

My opinion – This was by far one of the best Collision episodes of 2024. Hell, maybe even since Collision debuted. The action in the C2 was absolutely on fire. The return of Storm to her rocker style gimmick is going to be a wild ride, and the return of Julia Hart made this an absolute pleasure to watch. Also, you can tell that with the return of Julia, the crowd has missed singing her theme.

AEW stepped it up this week, the return of Toni Storm got tongues wagging, the quality of matches we got to see from the Continental Classic just keeps getting better and better, the showcase of diversity and being able to make the shows feel important again is a great move on AEW’s part and I am here for it.