AEW Dynamite 7/30/2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "AEW Dynamite," the show that inexplicably puts world title matches in the middle of the broadcast so Mark Briscoe can main event! We're definitely talking about it here, just like we're talking about the world title match in general, the Young Bucks advancing in the tag title tournament, and pretty much everything else from this week's episode. Yes, this is one of the ones where the WINC staff had an opinion on basically everything, so buckle up!

Of course, you can always check out our "Dynamite" results page if you feel the need; it is admittedly more objective than this column. This column is a place for the WINC staff to express our opinions and provide our analysis of everything that went down — or to say it another way, these are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 7/30/25 episode of "AEW Dynamite."

Considering Will Ospreay is resting his injured spine and Swerve Strickland is doing little more than menacing Kazuchika Okada, there can be times when it feels like the marquee tag match between Ospreay, Strickland, and The Young Bucks never happened. Thank god for The Young Bucks, who have suffered a number of indignities since losing their EVP status.

This week, the former executives had to wrestle The Outrunners, and while they got the win and will advance to the semifinals of the AEW World Tag Team Championship Eliminator Cougar Mellencamp Tournament, it doesn't change the fact that this week they didn't get an entrance and their name on the lower-third chyron was "Talent Name." It is not a nuanced or even remotely original idea, but the entire production is pulling it off masterfully. The Young Bucks are being just embarrassed enough that it has been a highlight of my night on a couple of occasions now, but I also don't feel like they are being shoved down my throat. It feels like an evolution of the irreverent act the duo was before AEW, before BTE, before Bullet Club, when they were mainly wrestling to pop themselves and "the boys," and luckily in AEW, the entire audience is "the boys," even the girls.

I am worried that I am jinxing this delicate bit of fun. There is still time for this to curdle and spoil, but for right now, The Young Bucks are being used perfectly.

Written by Ross Berman

In certain wrestling matches or segments, you can point to one specific thing that was wrong about it that dragged things down and made it unenjoyable to watch. In the case of the AEW World Championship match between "Hangman" Adam Page and Jon Moxley, that sentiment goes completely out the window, as there were several things that made what could've been a potentially very good match almost unbearable to sit through.

To start with, there was absolutely no reason why this wasn't the main event of tonight's episode of "Dynamite". Yes, AEW seems to be giving Mark Briscoe a monster push at the moment, but to have his match against Ricochet main event over a match for the literal biggest prize within the company made absolutely no sense at all. I could also see AEW wanting to ensure that they wouldn't run out of time for this match since it was the headliner from the show, but that still doesn't feel like a good enough reason and there would've been more than enough time to have it go on as the main event.

Somehow, that proved to not even be the biggest issue of the match, as there was literally no point at all to give this match the stipulation of everyone else being barred from ringside. The name itself clearly implies that everyone is supposed to stay away from the ring in order to mitigate any interference, and yet, The Death Riders still did their usual thing with Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta distracting security so that Marina Shafir could slide the AEW World Championship belt to Moxley only for Darby Allin to fly off a balcony to take out Castagnoli and Yuta. The interference was completely unnecessary as it contributed nothing at all to the match, and was incredibly mind baffling to the point where it took away from the match because you were left to wonder what the point of any of this was for in the first place.

At the end of the day, it may be commonplace for a wrestler to receive a rematch for their title after they lose it, but the storyline between Page and Moxley should've ended after their Texas Death Match at AEW All In. There wasn't really anywhere up that AEW could've gone from there, and it's time to give Page a fresh opponent for his title whether that means zoning in on MJF with his title match contract, Mark, or a brand new talent entirely.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Hear me out on this one.

Nick Wayne shocked the world when he won the ROH Television Championship at just 19 years old, but, despite now having a singles title on his waist, Wayne was still under the patronizing rule of Christian Cage. Over time, Wayne began to fester in resentment against his oppressive patriarch, and it seemed that things came to a climax at All In, where Wayne, with the help of Kip Sabian and Mother Wayne, pulled the trigger on Cage, effectively ending their relationship with each other. While both Waynes and Sabian have had plenty to say on the matter following the All In turn, Cage has remained relatively tight-lipped on the matter — that is, until Wednesday's episode of "AEW Dynamite," where Cage came to blows with Nick and his new stable shortly after an in-ring interview segment.

Cage's promo can be polarizing — you would think that after being told by Cope to "find himself," he'd stop making dead dad jokes — but I think that can be chalked up to rancid vibes that AEW programming has had recently (they need to get out of Chicago ballroom residency and fast; I think the venue has bad energy). Cage doesn't necessarily have to be a pure babyface for you to stay tuned to his blossoming feud with Nick, and, to be honest, I think it'd be a bit weird if Cage suddenly became an upstanding citizen just because someone born in 2005 turned on him. However, my attention isn't on Cage. My attention is on Nick Wayne.

We're seeing a boy become a man. Nick has spent a majority of his AEW career being a little twerp, to the point where I have christened him as "Icky Nicky." He was always just a kid, always scrambling to live up to Cage's image, but never quite sinking low enough to do so. There have been glimpses of something more here and there, but it felt like, even after his betrayal, Wayne wasn't a singles competitor. His pre-taped segments just lacked legitimacy; he did not feel like a threat. He was immature, sticking out his tongue and making kissy faces towards the crowd. Now, he has traded in his juvenile gestures for snarls and brutal Con-Chair-Tos. I'm not saying things have fully changed with one in-person segment, but the difference between tonight's in-person segment versus even his pretaped promos of weeks past is night and day. We are finally seeing Nick grow into the star he will be in the future, and even if you're not interested in the heel-versus-heel feud AEW is peddling between The Matriarchy and Cage, it's still cool to see Nick come into his own — not as Christian Cage's son, disowned or not, but as himself: Nick Wayne.

Of course, AEW could fumble this all tomorrow, and Nick can go back to his "Icky Nicky" ways. However, I'm cautiously optimistic about his development, and, perhaps against my better judgement, am excited to see what he does next.

Written by Angeline Phu

There are just a few differences between the contracts won from AEW's Casino Gauntlet matches and WWE's own Money in the Bank, like the toned-down presentation of said contract compared to the merch-friendly briefcase, and the fact that one has to execute their contract as opposed to cash it in – which just means they have to actually sign said contract before the match can start because... reasons. 

But one thing that has remained true to the gimmick on both sides of the promotional divide is this sacred artifact's ability to completely and utterly numb the brain of the person holding it – and more than likely the one booking it as well. The latest exhibit of that came during this week's "AEW Dynamite" as contract-holder Athena teamed with her minion Billie Starkz against AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm and Alex Windsor. 

The match itself was fun, and frankly the best action on an otherwise aggressively bland night of wrestling "where the best wrestle." But Athena pinned Storm, which in itself was fine. Starkz then took out Windsor on the outside, again completely fine. Athena, contract in hand, stood over the literally beaten champion – no one to save her, no one to prevent her from being beaten – and gloated about having the contract that could end her reign. And, get this, she walked off. Seriously, what? There is literally no explanation for her not cashing in the contract at this time, or even attempting to, like she had tried previously, except for the fourth-wall break that she hasn't been planned to yet. But that there is the problem; why put these women in that position to begin with?

The evidence shows that Tony Khan does not know what he is doing of a week, there is this constant trudge through mud to get anywhere near to narrative progression, and every single one of the characters across the program is in a never-ending cycle of derivative gimmicks plucked from wrestling of the past or the latest movie to hit MAX. Athena went out of her way to try and cash in – execute, whatever verbiage you want to call it, it is literally the same – the contract to set the stage for this match, taking a less-than-opportune time to do so, and then when it is the optimal moment and she has the champion exactly where she is needed, that element is just ignored entirely. 

Don't put them in the same vicinity and make it so alarmingly apparent that this show is following a script, Storm has the most abundantly clear plot armor because she is out of challengers and the only one left on her radar possesses a cash-in contract that she just cannot use; this is a manufactured problem, a result of making decisions without even thinking about the next one, and the product of a match-maker over-extending himself in a business he understands as a fan as opposed to a creative. The show is riddled with indecision and it's moments like these that stick out the worst, the moments where the company promised to be different and has fallen into the trap of doing what has already been done to death.

Written by Max Everett

I was not a big fan of MJF getting involved with the Hurt Syndicate from the beginning, so one of the only things I really did like about tonight's episode of "Dynamite" was the fact we got more confirmation about his status in the group. From what we learned tonight, MJF is basically out after questioning MVP, Shelton Benjamin, and Bobby Lashley as to why they aligned themselves with Adam Copeland last week. I was a big fan of the APA-esque storyline with Hurt Syndicate last Wednesday, so I'm really glad we're moving past the whole MJF in a stable where he doesn't belong thing.

It didn't seem like Lashley or MVP were at the show tonight, but Benjamin laying down the law to MJF was still effective. He told "The Most Hated Man in Wrestling" that they had always been on to him, due in part to the watch from Temu he gifted Benjamin initially, but they tolerated him because MVP was cool with MJF. Benjamin also attempted to explain MVP's absence, at least, and said that he was straight up disgusted by MJF's behavior last week. While it wasn't the most solid of explanations, it worked just fine tonight on a show that left me with much bigger questions.

Hopefully we can wrap this up and MVP officially kicks MJF out next week so we can move on with other stories. I hope AEW continues to book Hurt Syndicate like the APA and have them hurt people for others for money. Tonight, we saw MJF move on pretty easily when he confronted AEW World Champion "Hangman" Adam Page to attempt to get a title shot without cashing in his contract for a match. He also got his number one contender's match against Mark Briscoe set up with AEW President Tony Khan for next week all by himself. We can see he's just fine without the Hurt Syndicate, and as much as I disliked the inclusion of MJF in the faction, I hope we do wrap things up within the next week or two and don't just quietly the drop the angle. 

Just MVP simply telling MJF to get out and everyone moves on with their stories would be best when it comes to the booking. Don't have MJF interfere with the tag team championships, don't have Hurt Syndicate interfere with MJF's quest for the world title, and we can all pretend like this entire storyline was some kind of fever dream.

Written by Daisy Ruth

On a show with not one but two of the World Champions in action, one of them even defending their title against Jon Moxley, the main event was allotted to... *drum roll*... Mark Briscoe vs. Ricochet. No title on the line. No real stakes. No real story. Just a babyface and a heel doing the graps because that's what AEW is, I guess. Weirdly, it fit the tone of a show that had neither-face-nor-heel Christian Cage bringing up Nick Wayne's dead dad because that is just how to garner sympathy, Athena pinning the Women's World Champion but then completely declining to even tease a cash-in/execution, and "Hangman" Adam Page defeating Moxley in a match stipulated to have no interference that did in fact have interference. 

After all, this was the trilogy bout to the dream match no one actually had written down. Note: Briscoe and Ricochet are two of the best workers on the planet for what they do, this is no slight on them as the performers or the people they are, but a serious note of apathy towards a show that seems to continually trip itself over in trying to do anything remotely significant. But no one can honestly say with their hand on their heart and something they care about on the line, that they ever really needed one singles match between Briscoe and Ricochet, let alone three of them with the third main eventing over the World Champions – because surely, that would have been stupid, right?

Even still, that was our main event, and another 13 minutes of action that you had already seen in their first 14-minute bout in April – even less than their last match, a Stretcher Match at Double or Nothing. It has taken almost four months to tell this story, and I still do not know what the story actually is. But we went from a story that didn't really exist to a story that absolutely shouldn't exist after the bell had rung. That's right, the main event match was not enough and we had to get another "Talky-Talky." 

Briscoe then dropped a relatively decent line about not seeing his brother in Heaven because he's set to go to Hell with what he'll do to MJF (it sounded much better spoken, trust me). But then MJF played his music like he was about to come out, pulled a "Gotcha" and delivered his speech via satellite, only to then appear behind Briscoe and attack him. MJF then yelled at the camera about "Hangman" Page, because he also has a Money in the Bank contract he doesn't want to use yet, and he came down to the ramp to hit a Buckshot Lariat; Briscoe decided to pull him out of the way and go for the J-Driller, and of course MJF run away because otherwise something might have actually happened on the show. What else is left to say?

Written by Max Everett