AEW Dynamite live results: MJF vs. Dustin Rhodes, two title matches

MJF takes on Dustin Rhodes, plus two title matches are set for tonight’s AEW Dynamite.

MJF and Rhodes agreed to a match after Rhodes confronted MJF on last week’s episode as he cut a promo in the ring. Rhodes holds both ROH Tag Team and ROH Six-Man gold.

The AEW Tag Team titles are on the line as The Hurt Syndicate’s Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin defend against Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn.

The AEW Trios Championship will also be defended as The Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, PAC, and Wheeler Yuta) defend against The Undisputed Kingdom (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly).

Max Caster will hold a “Best Wrestler Alive” open challenge on the show. Kris Statlander will take on Penelope Ford in singles competition. Megan Bayne will also be in action on tonight’s episode.

Tonight’s Dynamite is also the final stop before Saturday’s Grand Slam Australia TV special.

**********

AEW Dynamite comes on the air with The Hurt Syndicate, The Gunns, MJF, Dustin Rhodes & Megan Bayne all preparing for their matches tonight as Excalibur welcomes us alongside Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness. They barely get off much of an intro before Max Caster hits the ring to a massive chorus of boos. Caster says he’s the Best Wrestler Alive and holds up his trademark saying such. He said he ran Anthony Bowens & Billy Gunn out of AEW, as he was always the mastermind of The Acclaimed. Caster asks who can survive the Best Wrestler Alive? He was furious when the music hit for the one who answered the challenge.

Hangman Adam Page defeated Max Caster

(If you like seeing Caster get his ass handed to him, then his Open Challenges are right up your alley, as Caster is now 0-2 trying to prove he’s the “Best Wrestler Alive”.)

Caster literally ran for his life into the crowd to hide, as the fans gave him away, pointing him out to Page, who was in pursuit to the ring. Caster attacked as the match officially began with a hurricanrana off the second rope. Opting to mock the crowd, Page rose up from behind Caster and clobbered him with a right hand and series of clotheslines. The crowd was amped up, as Page flattened Caster with a Buckshot lariat for the quick win. Page marched to the back, as Caster struggled to hold up his trademark plaque.

-Recap of Ricochet defeating Swerve Strickland last week was shown, as Ricochet was shown saying Strickland had all the threats and insults, but none of it matters when you can’t win, as Ricochet is moving on to bigger and better things. Strickland said they’re far from done, he’s all about an eye for an eye. Prince Nana said Strickland should be focused on Jon Moxley and the AEW World Title, but Strickland said the last time he took his eye off the ball, look what happened and Hangman Adam Page burned his house down. The video ended with Ricochet doing his cocky laugh, as he was shown wearing The Embassy robe he stole to close Dynamite last week.

Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, PAC & Wheeler Yuta) defeated Undisputed Kingdom (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly) to retain the AEW Trios Titles

(This was the first time since the November 9^th episode of Collision that the Trios titles have been defended. Death Riders took a lot of this match, with multiple long stretches of Strong & O’Reilly being isolated, but the crowd went nuts when Cole finally made the hot tag and the match hit another gear down the stretch. I’m hopeful this is the start of the Trios Titles being defended more frequently, as they’ve been absolute afterthoughts for months now. There’s plenty of teams to challenge for them and it looks like Garcia & 2.0 could be getting a shot soon.)

The Undisputed Kingdom attacked immediately, but things went just as quickly to commercial. When things returned, O’Reilly was being isolated, as he tried to fire up on Castagnoli, but Yuta got a cheap shot, as Death Riders triple teamed O’Reilly as Strong & Cole were held back by referee Rick Knox. Kitchen sink knee turned PAC inside out, which allowed for a Strong hot tag, as he ran wild with backbreakers aplenty.  Strong hit PAC with a gutbuster, Cole followed with the backstabber and PK by O’Reilly. Yuta shoved O’Reilly off the ropes, allowing Castagnoli to blindside Strong and find himself isolated this time. All three of the Death Riders took turns grounding Strong, as rapid-fire locomotion charges in the corner led to Yuta turning Strong inside out with a lariat as they go to picture in picture for the second commercial.

When things returned, Strong finally hit a desperation lariat for the double down, as the crowd got really behind the Cole hot tag. A series of strikes dropped Yuta, as he decked PAC on the apron before dropping Yuta with the fireman’s carry neckbreaker on the knee. Castagnoli was sent flying outside, where he ate an O’Reilly dive from the apron, while PAC flew off the top and ate a Cole mid-air superkick. Triple shot on PAC got a close near fall, as Castagnoli flew in with a double stomp before hitting a double suplex on Cole & Strong himself. Fastball Special with Yuta, but O’Reilly got the knees up, inside cradle for the closest two of the match. Superkick from Cole, High/Low from Strong/O’Reilly, but PAC just made the save. Strong tried a dive on Castagnoli, but was caught and hit with a Giant Swing into the barricade. Castagnoli brought a chair in the ring, but wrestled with the ref with it before eating a superkick. As ref Knox placed the chair out of the way, his back was turned, allowing Yuta to hit a low blow on O’Reilly and cradle for the win.

Post-match, Castagnoli, PAC & Yuta all continued their beat down until Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker hit the ring for the save, causing Death Riders to bail through the crowd. Garcia helped Cole up as everyone gave a nod o

-Jon Moxley & Marina Shafir were walking backstage when Cope clocked Moxley in the back with a chair before he shoved Shafir into a side room. Her hand was still handcuffed to the briefcase, as Switchblade Jay White came in with bolt cutters, snapped off the case and they bailed with the briefcase containing the AEW World Title, as Moxley & Shafir recovered and chased after them.

-MJF is backstage with Renee Paquette and said Texas isn’t a real state and Dustin Rhodes isn’t a real man. MJF said if he were Rhodes, he’d get down on hands and knees to pray to the devil after what he does to him. Hangman Adam Page walks in and tells MJF to get out. MJF asks if Page has a crush on him, as this is 4 weeks in a row he’s interrupted him and asks if Jack Daniels came out with a cologne? Page asks if that was the best MJF has got and MJF said this isn’t who Page is, he’s seen him lose everything for what, an apology? What makes MJF sick is that the fans actually still believe in him. Tonight, MJF will beat Dustin Rhodes and move on to what Page has failed to do, become 2-time AEW World Champion. MJF called Page Seabiscuit and walks off, as Paquette tried for a word, but Page stopped her.

Samoa Joe, HOOK & Katsuyori Shibata defeated Aaron Solo, Jon Cruz & Rosario Grillo

(This was a slaughter, but I was bummed we didn’t get another gif-worthy shot of Cruz trying a dive and Joe side-stepping him like their match a little over a year ago.)

Joe, HOOK & Shibata waste no time and attack at the bell, as HOOK drops Solo with a leg captured suplex, Grillo ate machine gun chops from Shibata before Joe just tripped him with one foot and hit a senton. Cruz tried his darndest to fight Joe, who stood unphased and dropped Cruz with a Muscle Buster for the win.

Post-match, Joe took the mic and every week he’s asked what is this partnership about? It’s simple, they have a common answer, violence. What stands before you are three men, they always have a problem and will always beat your ass to solve it. Joe said they are The Ops, they will hunt you down in the streets, which leads him to The Patriarchy. This could’ve been real simple, all Christian Cage had to do was take his ass kicking like a man, but continues to hide like a chicken ass. Joe issues a challenge for a six-man tag next week on Dynamite.

-Renee Paquette is backstage with Chris Jericho & Bryan Keith, as she asks if it was any consolation that he got to keep his $200,000 on the bounty he put on Bandido last week and Keith failed to cash-in. Jericho said he would’ve paid double or triple to have that bounty answered, so he’s going to do it himself and wants Bandido in the ring, now. Jericho left, as Keith said for Paquette to never embarrass him in front of Jericho again.

**********

-Renee Paquette is backstage with Willow Nightingale, who was about to talk about her return to Japan next month, when she was attacked by Marina Shafir. Jon Moxley walks in and calls it pathetic for Cope to try and fight fire with fire, as he’s a dead man walking.

Chris Jericho & Bandido Duel

Both men came to the ring, as the lights dimmed and a spotlight hit the ring, as a bell sounded, each turned their backs to each other and took 10 paces. Right as Jericho was about to charge, Bryan Keith tripped Bandido, as he & Jericho put the boots to him. The Outrunners hit the ring and evened the score, brawling with Jericho & Keith around ringside, as Big Bill charged to the ring, holding up the bounty flyer. Bill was about to chokeslam Bandido when Powerhouse Hobbs marched to the ring and slugged it out with Bill. Bandido got off an enzugiri, as Bill stumbled into a Hobbs spinebuster with Bandido laying the flyer on the motionless Bill.

-Cope & Switchblade Jay White are backstage asking if Jon Moxley is missing his precious cargo? White said they have a canvas they must paint with the blood of the one true king. Cope said he’s carried a briefcase like this once or twice in his career, as all Moxley has to do in order to get this briefcase back is meet them in the ring at the end of the night.

**********

-Renee Paquette is backstage with Dustin Rhodes, who got the crowd going before saying the real Devil is here as MJF will find out why he’s the last of his kind, bitch.

MJF defeated ROH Tag Team & Six Man Tag Champion Dustin Rhodes

(This match was commercial free and an excellent one at that. There’s nothing like a reaction a Rhodes can get in Texas, as everything Dustin did here tonight was met with a huge ovation, they were behind him from the jump. Even if this wasn’t in Texas, Rhodes is so good at drawing emotion from the fans that he would’ve gotten the same reaction regardless of where this show was at. The post-match was a fantastic brawl to really kick this MJF & Page feud into gear and it’s a match I can’t believe we’ve only gotten once back in 2019 for the Dynamite Diamond Ring.)

Rhodes drew a line in the sand, as MJF charged, but Rhodes immediately hit a snap powerslam. MJF tried to take a powder, but Rhodes wasn’t having it and brought the fight back to the ring, only to hang up Rhodes on the top rope before targeting the arm. Rhodes tried a sunset flip, but MJF dropped a leg on the arm for a one count. MJF mocked the crowd & Rhodes before going up in the corner to mock the Goldust pose, but ate a powerbomb for his troubles. Manhattan Drop, running boot and 10 corner punches of his own by Rhodes, as the crowd counted along with every one of them. Rhodes hit the signature Bulldog, tried the Final Reckoning, but MJF spun out and hit a double stomp to the bad arm. MJF wanted the arm bar, but Rhodes cradled for a near fall. Both men up, as MJF nearly hit Cross Rhodes, but Rhodes spun out and connected on the move himself for two.

Rhodes fired up, as he again wanted the Final Reckoning, but both traded inside cradles. MJF floated over a back suplex, faked a knee injury, allowing him to hit a snap piledriver for a near fall. MJF tried placing a chair on the injured arm, but referee Bryce refused to allow it and took the weapon away, allowing Rhodes to crotch MJF in the ropes and hit a Shattered Dreams. Third time was a charm, as Rhodes finally hit the Final Reckoning for the closest two of the match. MJF was able to snap the bad arm to regain control, hit a Final Reckoning of his own for two before locking on the Salt of the Earth. Rhodes was about to get the ropes, so MJF repositioned and locked in a Crossface, causing Rhodes to pass out.

Post-match, MJF ran off referee Bryce before re-applying the Salt of the Earth. Hangman Adam Page’s music hit and he stormed to the ring, having another stare down with MJF, this time finally resulting in MJF shooting a double leg, but Page quickly turned the tables and unloaded punches in bunches. This was the weekly security hitting the ring with AEW agents, as Jerry Lynn & Chuck Taylor are the agents out there with Page & MJF breaking free multiple times, as they spilled to the floor. MJF tried leaving through the crowd, but Page was hot on his trail and they brawled up high into the stands where MJF tried dumping Page off a balcony. They were finally separated for good, as Page was ushered to the back, while MJF threw a beer on a fan.

MJF came back to the ring, took the mic and said for the fans cheering let them fight, he’s ready to go, but their boy sucks, as Page is afraid of him, he’s a gutless coward. MJF said Page is a loser like all the fans. Page ran out from the back and the brawl was on again. Security separated them, as this was a great brawl.

-Video package on the matches on tap for Grand Slam Australia this Saturday was shown.

**********

-Footage of Hangman Adam Page laying out the security guards in the ring who held him back during commercial was shown. We’re told by Excalibur that Tony Khan made it official, next week, MJF & Page will be Face-to Face.

Megan Bayne defeated Maya World

(Bayne looks awfully impressive, as she has the look and demeanor of a heater, only we don’t know whose body she’s guarding at the moment, signs certainly point to potentially Penelope Ford.)

Footage of Bayne & Penelope Ford beating down Thunder Rosa on Collision was shown after Rosa’s victory over Ford. Being a local, World got a nice reaction from the crowd, but Bayne steamrolled her with a shoulder tackle and overhead belly to belly. Bayne no sold strikes from World and hit another overhead suplex before connecting on a leaping lariat. Bayne delivered a F-5 for the quick win.

Bayne was making her way to the back after her victory when Kris Statlander’s music hit for her upcoming match and the two had a stare down on the stage.

Kris Statlander defeated Penelope Ford

Mind games from Ford early, as she got a hammerlock and licked the side of Statlander’s face. That didn’t end well for Ford, as Statlander responded with a sliding lariat before delivering corner forearms. Statlander missed a charge, Ford tried to lick her again, but Statlander grabbed at the mouth and slammed her down when Ford tried a Matrix. Ford floated over in the corner, but Statlander rolled through into a snap dropkick for two. Vertical suplex connects, as Statlander strikes a pose for the crowd until Ford hit a cazadora sending Statlander throat first into the ropes, controlling the action during commercial.

Statlander turned the tables with a superplex during break, as short arm lariats and a snap powerslam got a near fall. Both ladies trade charging corner boots, as Ford wanted a hanging neckbreaker in the corner, but didn’t get much of it and was super awkward looking. Ford wanted her moonsault, but Statlander cut her off, wanted a deadlift German, but Ford landed on her feet, hit the Matrix Stunner. Ford tried a springboard, but leapt into Statlander’s clutches for a German suplex for two. Statlander wanted a fireman’s carry, but Ford turned it into a Poison-rana. Ford missed the corner handspring, as Statlander hit a big-time lariat and Wednesday Night Fever for the win.

Post-match, Megan Bayne walked out from the back, as Statlander was distracted, allowing Ford to dropkick her through the ropes to the feet of Bayne, who hit a F-5 on the floor, standing over the fallen Statlander.

-A music video from Harley Cameron and puppet Mercedes Mone is shown. Cameron machine gun raps to Mone’s theme while also singing with puppet Mercedes until Cameron says to cut it. We then cut to a serious promo from Cameron sitting down, who said you always have to start somewhere, as there was a time she didn’t know how to wrestle, sing, play guitar, ventriloquism, learn Chinese, but thanks Mone for doubting her, it’s only made her stronger. Cameron thanks Mone for elevating the women’s division, but she’s going to win the TBS Title in her hometown at Grand Slam, as she doesn’t want to ride the Mone Train, she wants to drive it.

This was go out of your way stuff to check out and the best Cameron vignette/segment/anything yet. I can’t say enough good things about her and I’m happy she’s getting not only pushed, but over with the crowd.

The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin w/MVP) defeated The Gunns (Austin & Colten) to retain the AEW Tag Team Titles

(For being off for a little over four months, I thought the Gunns looked fantastic here, as Lashley & Benjamin gave them a lot more offense than they did Private Party a few weeks back. Once they started making their comeback, the crowd did chant for The Gunns, but We Hurt People chants were pretty darn loud here once again. I assume those chants will continue whenever the Hurt Syndicate faces their next challengers, who appear to be the Murder Machines, a big hoss battle if there ever was one.)

Lashley & Colten start things off, as Colten used his speed briefly, only to be mowed down with a shoulder tackle. Dueling chants from the crowd, as Austin tagged in and used his speed as well, but tried a float over out of the corner, caught and launched over the top to the outside by Lashley. Benjamin sent Austin crashing into the side of the ring before tossing him into the front row. Benjamin made the tag and Austin was controlled during commercial.

When things returned, Benjamin made a blind tag, Austin low bridged Lashley to the outside and dropped Benjamin with a Cutter. Austin leapt to tag his brother, but Colten was pulled off the apron by Lashley and rammed into the barricade. Back in the ring, Austin managed to use his speed to dodge a corner attack and finally made the diving hot tag to Colten who ran wild with a series of dropkicks. O’Connor Roll from Colten, but Benjamin escaped into the Ankle Lock, which Austin flew in to break up. An assisted Blockbuster led to Benjamin being dropped with a Fame Asser for two. Lashley came back in and cut off 3:10 to Yuma, as Benjamin hit a massive superkick on Colten before sending Austin flying with a series of German suplexes. Lashley followed with a massive spinebuster, as Austin ate a corner pump knee from Benjamin, while Lashley finished it off with a Spear for the win.

Post-match, Brian Cage & Lance Archer slowly applaud the tag champs from the stage and have a stare down as MVP had to hold back Lashley.

Mariah May is backstage and said Toni Storm should’ve died back in August, but beating her in Australia isn’t the worst thing she could do. She could have Storm beat her and leave for months to make everyone realize the women’s division is nothing without Mariah. May guesses she really does love Storm, as this will be a mercy killing.

**********

Cope & Switchblade Jay White came to the ring with Cope holding up the briefcase they swiped earlier in the evening. Crowd chanted for them to open it, as it’s been months since the AEW World Title has actually been seen on TV (I believe since Wrestle Dream). Cope said he has a better idea and brings out Spike, the nail covered board, as Cope said she’s pretty hungry and said if Jon Moxley doesn’t come out, he’s going to smash it.

Moxley walks out from the crowd and said Cope thinks he doesn’t care about the AEW Title, he or the people don’t know jack about it. Moxley has left pieces of his soul in that ring for the AEW Title and what it represents, as he’s the protector and its shepherd. At Revolution, he’s going to break Adam Copeland’s neck and agrees to Cope’s challenge for a title match at the PPV. Cope said that’s what he wanted, but he’s still going to show how much he cares and starts smashing the briefcase with Spike. Wheeler Yuta hit the ring, but ate a Blade Runner. Claudio Castagnoli hit the ring and brawled with White to the floor, as PAC tried sneaking in, but ran distraction long enough for Marina Shafir to slid in and grabbed the briefcase.

Moxley attacked Cope from behind and the boots put to him with PAC, but Cope hit a Spear on PAC and brawled with Moxley briefly until Castagnoli came back in, tried a charging uppercut but was planted with a Blade Runner. Moxley took Spike and White dared him to hit him with hit, but distracted long enough for Cope to hit Moxley with a Spear. White & Cope went up the stage, as White took the mic and said Grand Slam Australia they put the Death Riders into the ground. Moxley and crew stare down Cope & White to end the show.

AEW Grand Slam Australia 2/15/25

• Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Cope & Switchblade Jay White in a Brisbane Brawl
• Kenny Omega & Will Ospreay vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher
• Mariah May vs. Timeless Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s Title
• Mercedes Mone vs. Harley Cameron for the TBS Title
• Kazuchika Okada vs. Buddy Matthews for the Continental Title

AEW Dynamite 2/19/25

• MJF & Hangman Adam Page Face-to-Face
• The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Nick Wayne & Kip Sabian) vs. The Ops (Samoa Joe, HOOK & Katsuyori Shibata)