AEW Dynasty was a tale of two stories.
One was Swerve Strickland, who over the last several months positioned himself as one of the top acts in AEW. He achieved that goal on Sunday, defeating Samoa Joe. It wasn’t the match of the night, but the two had a very good match ending when Swerve gave Joe a second stomp from the top rope, becoming the first-ever Black AEW World Champion. It capped off a show of the year contender, continuing the hot streak started by AEW Revolution just one month ago.
Strickland’s rise to the top isn’t surprising. He’s had that star aura for years, dating back to his rise in NXT as the clear standout in the Hit Row stable. For whatever reason, he was another example of WWE’s previous regime completely missing the boat. All he’s done since is thrive when given the opportunity, with the Hangman Page feud cementing his rise to the top and making it clear he was here to be a top-level player. He's now achieved that.
As for what is next, my thinking is Hangman. I'm surprised he didn't appear on the show. But Page making his return for one more match with Swerve, probably for next month, makes the most sense.
The second story of the night was Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay. These two had a lot to live up to given the hype, and by the end of the match, I felt they had surpassed their expectations.
These two put on an excellent match, absolutely a match-of-a-year contender in a year where that is a very high bar. I explained this on X, but there’s so much more than what they did beyond MOVEZ, which yes, there were plenty of. These two are so great at reading the room, knowing when to hit their stuff, and making every move matter. Doing this kind of match seems easy to do on paper but in actuality, it's a culmination of years of hard work, perfecting your timing and pouring it all into one match. It was beautiful to watch.
This is a match to show to those who always complain that AEW “never tells stories”, "has no psychology", or “is just about moves.” It won’t change their mind, as we live in an era of my way or the highway tribalism, but it’s proof that their accusations aren’t of merit.
Here is the rest of the card:
And that’s it for Dynasty! Next will be Double or Nothing, where we already have one match, Mercedes Mone challenging Willow Nightingale. See you in Vegas!
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