AEW Dynasty review: Swerve's house

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:

• Kazuchika Okada defeated PAC to retain the Continental title in a great opener. This was a full-fledged NJPW main event-level Okada match, and PAC more than held his ground. If more matches like this come from Okada's run with this title, he needs to hold it for a long time.
• House of Black bested Mark Briscoe, Adam Copeland, and Eddie Kingston when Malakai Black pinned Copeland. The finish makes sense since it is likely Copeland and Black will have a singles match for the TNT title down the line. The match was your standard good match on an AEW card, nonstop action with good crowd heat.
• The FTW Championship match wasn’t good. I’m not into this Hook/Jericho feud at all, and this result here just tells me that they will have another match, probably at Double or Nothing. Compared to all the other hardcore matches we’ve seen on AEW TV as of late, this felt like a WWE-style PG hardcore match with WWE-style drama, which is good if you're into this feud I guess. I'm not. The crowd hated Jericho, it felt like go-home heat. This didn't work and didn't make me invested in their feud.
• Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa had a good match, I think stronger than I thought it would be going in. I don't know where you go with Storm and this character. It seems like the eventual match is her and Mariah May, but when will they pull the trigger?
• The ladder match followed Ospreay/Danielson, and while they could never come close to what had just taken place, they still had a very good ladder match with some crazy spots. Sure enough, Jack Perry returned from his suspension and helped the Young Bucks become the first-ever three-time AEW Tag Team Champions. The pop Perry got was huge, much like his NJPW appearance earlier this month. What happened at All In may have been a positive to his career in the long run.
• Willow Nightingale and Julia Hart didn’t last long, but I was happy that Willow finally got a big title win in AEW. She has something special and connects well with the crowd, but sadly I think this is all for Mone to get the win next month, probably after a Statlander heel turn.
• Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly had a really good, hard-hitting match. Strong winning clean was a surprise. It feels like the turn and match feels rushed and I was hoping to see more from these two. Adam Cole revealed he can walk following the match. I wonder if the storyline advances further after this.

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!