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AEW Dynamite Recap – 12/24/25

AEW bless us, everyone!
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AEW Dynamite Recap

Happy holidays, everyone! As I write this, Christmas is just hours away, and Tony Khan decided to gift AEW fans with back-to-back nights of epic wrestling before going forward into World’s End this Saturday! That’s right, we are truly blessed, and that’s why I’ll do my best to break it all down in this AEW Dynamite Recap!

And let me say that this holiday version of AEW Dynamite started off with an epic match via…

I’ve praised the Continental Classic a lot in my recaps, and for good reason, as this event allows matchups that “could’ve been good on their own” to have more drama, time, and impact by being in this tournament. This was another excellent example of this, as Takeshita vs. Cassidy delivered a true classic tonight, and I’d love for them to run it back in the future.

What really made it work for me, to be honest, is that Orange Cassidy did play his typical games, but he also had an aggressive side to him that we only got to see a few times in the past. It really spoke to how he viewed not only Takeshita, but also understood the position he was in within the tournament. He WANTED to win the match and the tournament, and it showed throughout the match.

I loved how Takeshita played it, too. Arguably, my favorite part of the match was the dropkick segment, where Konosuke kept taking the dropkicks until OC amped it up. There were even times when I wondered if Cassidy would take the win! That would’ve been a huge upset! He even pulled a Bandido move at the end with his Raging Fire counter!

…how did that go, I wondered…?

Smooth. Yep, Takeshita is still undefeated in the C2, and now, he’s the FIRST person in both leagues to clinch his spot for World’s End. That’s a big deal, especially with how “fan booking” (that I partake in, in this case) has the finals going. Yet, many things are yet to be decided.

Adding to the wonder and “surprise” of the holiday season was a message from someone we hadn’t seen in AEW for a bit…

…intrigue! Oh, and we would hear the “answer” to this request later in the night…

That match is going to be…FUN!!!!! …and violent. Someone will DIE…of FUN!!!!

But wait, there’s more! During another video package, we heard the Bang Bang Gang call out for a rematch against FTR at World’s End! And this time…it’ll be in a Chicago Street Fight!

Moving back to the Continental Classic, we had Roderick Strong versus Mascara Dorada. Here was a match that I honestly wasn’t sure where it would go. Would they have Roddy keep his losing streak going? Would Mascara Dorada add another couple of points to his resume and keep his Blue League hopes alive?

You could argue that it was going to be a…backbreaking…effort…on both sides…

As you would expect from a match like this, there was some high-flying moves mixed with some high-impact moves, and in the end, someone really did go flying to make their impact felt in the C2:

If I’m being honest, I felt this should’ve gone longer. Perhaps if we had the overrun, that could’ve happened (Dynamite and Collision were taped this past weekend, just so you know). As such, this was the shortest match in the entire C2! No match was under 10 minutes before this one. Perhaps they felt it was best for one reason or another; it’s hard to say. It wasn’t a bad match, but it paled in comparison to what came before…and what would follow…

Now, let’s take a step “behind the curtain,” because if you didn’t hear, a certain “controversy” was going on this past week via social media when Sports Illustrated gave a LOT of awards to All Elite Wrestling during their “end of the year awards” presentation. MANY “talking heads” and Fed trolls called out SI for this and said that “AEW shouldn’t have won all of these awards” for incredibly dumb and stupid reasons. So, how did AEW respond to these thoughts…? Simple, they did a nice, big video package straight-up bragging about how they “almost swept the entire thing:”

Yep! They did that! I’m so proud of them. They honestly deserved a full sweep, as some of the awards they didn’t win were both curious in choices (how was Bandido not the “Best Comeback of the Year?”) or were only due to how the voting system worked (see: Match of the Year.) Anyway, All Elite Wrestling EARNED those rewards through its WRESTLING and character work, and hopefully, this isn’t the last time they get such honors like this before the year ends.

Next, we had a confrontation with Kris Statlander and Jamie Hayter, and things got both personal…and physical…

I really hope these two tear down the house at World’s End. We both know they can do it! Give them 20+ minutes, TK!!!!

Next was MJF’s in-ring return…where he squashed a dude in like a minute flat. Anyway, that’s not what we need to talk about. What we NEED to talk about was the epic promo segment that followed, where, first, Hangman talked smack to MJF…

…Samoa Joe used his Opps Dojo crew to try and teach his own “lesson” to the other three…

…and then Swerve did his thing like only Swerve can…

Seriously, I loved this segment. Hangman and Swerve’s words to MJF were powerful and hit home in just the right ways. I’m now VERY curious how the World’s End Fatal 4-Way will go, now the least of which was because of the match that followed…

Yeah, for the first time ever, MJF wouldn’t be the winner of the Dynamite Diamond Ring, and thus, no matter who wins at World’s End, the #1 contender is already lined up.

Given the talent that was in this ring for this match, you knew we were going to get something special, and we did, including a true head-smacking performance from Bandido…

Yeah, both Bandido and Ricochet brought it for this match, and I’m glad, because this could’ve been the makeup for a world title match, or a huge PPV match, and they were playing it like it was one:

…yet…in the end, we knew that only one could win. So, who was it going to be…?

Yep! It was Bandido! So, this raises even MORE questions for World’s End. After all, Bandido is one of the most over faces in AEW right now, and so you’d think that he’d face a heel champ next month. MJF is the one many think will win, but Samoa Joe is a heel, too. Thus, the breakdown as to what happens next and what follows is going to be very enjoyable to watch.

Here was a women’s match I was truly curious about because of what would happen in the ring and what would happen outside it. Marina Shafir has been getting used in a lot of in-ring action over the last two months, and it seems to be building to something. What? It’s hard to say. However, her battle with Mina Shirakawa would be a true test, as Mina is no slouch, especially when she gets rolling with some of her strikes!

…but…well…Marina can hit hard, too…

Ouch. Mina would hit hard back, though, and I was really hoping for her to pull through, but it wasn’t to be… Marina would get the win, and then she’d continue to smother Mina until a “Timeless Lover” came to help out…

Could we get Marina beating Toni to continue the “spiral” of the Timeless Love Bombs? Will she go after Kris/Jamie for the women’s world title if she wins? Stay tuned, AEW faithful!

Oh, and as for The Elite…

…I REALLY hope this indicates we’re getting Kenny Omega vs. Josh Alexander at World’s End. That would add yet another banger matchup to things, and let Josh live out a dream! Grant this Christmas wish for Josh, Tony Khan!!!

Finally, we had this big match in the Gold League of the C2. And while I thought OC/Takeshita was my favorite of the night, they pulled out all the stops for this one, and I’m so glad they did.

It’s important to remember that Jack Perry was the “alternate” for this event due to Darby’s injury. I’m not sure exactly how the planning went after the injury, but it was clear Tony Khan said in some fashion, “Let’s make Jack Perry look as epic as possible to prove he belongs in this event,” and they’ve done exactly that.

The Okada match put him in the spotlight in a fun way and was backed up by the Speedball victory. Then, with this match, they cranked it up even further to show off just how skilled Jungle Jack was:

If anyone still doubted just how good Perry was in the ring, on his own or with Santasaurus, your doubts should be long gone by the time the match ended. It was so good!!!

Don’t get me wrong, Pac still did Pac-style things…

But things were going so back and forth, you couldn’t help but wonder, “Will they have Jack upset Pac…? Well…

Yes! Yes, they did!!! I couldn’t believe it myself, as I thought Pac would win! Instead, they created a true 6-way tie at the top of the Gold League, and now, THREE of the semifinal spots will be determined tomorrow on “Christmas Collision,” and to be honest, outside of Okada, I’m not really sure who will fill the final two spots!

Isn’t that exciting, though? This is what AEW does! Just when you think you know what they’ll pull out, they pivot to something even more fun and exciting.

So, because of holiday timing, my AEW Dynamite recap is done, and I’ll be back in about a day to break down what happened on Collision! Let me know your favorite match of the night and what you’re looking forward to tomorrow in the comments below!

 

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A self-proclaimed Nintendo fanboy, born, bred, and Mushroom fed! He’s owned every Nintendo handheld and every console since the SNES. He's got a degree in video game development, is a published comic book writer and an author of several novels!