AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday - 10/7/2025: 3 Things We Loved And 3 We Hated

There's just one "AEW Dynamite" left before WrestleDream on October 18. With Major League Baseball Playoffs underway, this week's show was forced to be a special "Title Tuesday" edition of the AEW flagship program, one that ran up against WWE NXT's showdown with TNA Wrestling. Despite the jam-packed night of wrestling, this will only deal with the goings-on of "Dynamite."

We will not be handling the "what" of the night, as the results page already took care of that. Instead, we'll be getting into the good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly, the fresh and the downright rotten. There were great moments, like the street fight between The Hurt Syndicate and Gates of Agony, but there were also lows, like the seeming lack of titles on "Title Tuesday."

Without further ado, let's get into what the Wrestling Inc. Staff loved and hated from the October 7, 2025, edition of "AEW Dynamite."

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Loved: A Street Fight to Close A Chapter

On Tuesday's episode of "AEW Dynamite: Title Tuesday," The Hurt Syndicate sought to settle their differences against Ricochet, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun (known collectively as The Demand) in a Street Fight, and it was everything you could hope for it to be. There was a liberal use of weapons (steel chairs, tables, trash cans, the whole nine), a good amount of fun spots, and a victory for the babyface-leaning Hurt Syndicate to, hopefully, close the books on what has been a very volatile chapter in both factions' histories. While match participants such as Ricochet are known for their aesthetically pleasing and artisanal wrestling styles, this match was not some superior show of in-ring prowess, and that is intentional. It wasn't a bad match, don't misunderstand, but there was nothing pretty Tuesday night. You won't find any poetic monologues about aerial arcs or in-ring chemistry here. Tuesday's contest was clunky. Tuesday's match was unpolished, raw, and bitter. Tuesday's Street Fight was gritty, and it worked.

For MVP to be wrestling at this age is impressive. I commend his commitment to the business and to the success of this 3-on-3 storyline. However, you can kind of tell he's 51 years old. Where most guys walk and run around the ring, MVP tends to waddle. While his aged waddles might be awkward to watch in other matches, say, All Out's relatively tame trios match, that same clunkiness worked surprisingly wonderfully in Tuesday's Street Fight. Like I said, there was nothing polished in Tuesday's Street Fight. There was no room for intellectual or overcomplicated in-ring dramatics. This was a Street Fight. This was unadulterated, unpolished violence. MVP's brutish style of wrestling matched the stipulation's freak.

Aside from MVP's performance, this was a fun, simple Street Fight. Everyone got their offense in, a multitude of tables were broken, and the home crowd in Jacksonville got their money's worth in pure violence as all six men threw caution to the wind. The match did go on for a bit too long, and it was anticlimactic to have Shelton Benjamin get the pin off of a Suplex (as incredibly as Ricochet sold it). However, the match was, by and large, just a fun bout, and that's all it really needed to be. If this is where The Hurt Syndicate and The Demand's vitriolic rivalry ends (and it should be, Tuesday's Street Fight felt like the natural conclusion to things), I wouldn't be mad.

I understand that this entire piece feels like a backhanded compliment, but I genuinely believe this match was as fun and fitting as it was because it was unpolished. If this had been a technical masterpiece, I don't think it would have been nearly as entertaining or narratively fitting as it was. In a company full of the best technical wrestlers in the world, there is a place for in-ring ugliness. There is merit to not having the most precise, polished match on the card. The Hurt Syndicate and The Demand proved that Tuesday.

Written by Angeline Phu

Hated: No Follow Up On A Huge Debut

For many people, the biggest talking point coming out of the sixth anniversary edition of "AEW Dynamite" was the surprise return of Andrade El Idolo. He was fresh off his exit from WWE, becoming the first man in history to jump ship to AEW twice, and made an immediate impact by attacking Kenny Omega right away. Everyone was talking about Andrade, he had seemingly kicked off one of the biggest feuds of his entire career, and with WrestleDream less than two weeks away, there was no way that AEW was going to have another two-and-a-half hour special and not have Andrade feature right?... Right?

Sadly, I'm wrong, and this isn't really going to be a gripe on the Andrade situation alone. Instead, this is going to be something of a small rant about how time and time again, AEW set things up for a big moment and miss that moment through the sheer lack of trying to capitalize on something.

You have Andrade, a man whose name was on the lips of everyone last week, attacking one of, if not the most accomplished, wrestlers in AEW, and someone who is more beloved by the fanbase than anyone else in Omega. The two men did have a match in 2021 for AAA that was very good and well worth a watch, but to have that match on AEW, and more specifically, an AEW pay-per-view, felt like something that should have been featured heavily on a show that was literally going head-to-head with "WWE NXT." You could have had Andrade let loose through Don Callis as a mouthpiece about his former employer, or even just showing up to attack Omega and make the match official, giving the company an extra week to let fans know why they should care about this bout more than anything else on the show.

None of that happened. In fact, there was no mention of Andrade on this show at all, and this was a night where The Don Callis Family were involved in two separate matches and two backstage segments. This has been a problem in AEW for a long time, and while some fans will see it as "planting a seed" or "setting something up for it to be paid off later" as a way to say that the company does long-term storytelling better than the competition, there is a big difference between that and simply not bothering to further the story at all. It's such a simple concept, and AEW gets in its own way so many times over it.

I'm not saying that I wanted "Title Tuesday" to be 150 minutes of Andrade and Omega, but when you literally have a pay-per-view in 11 days and still haven't made something like that match official, it's just bad business. That match will put butts in the seats, but those seats are still empty right now because AEW decided to tell half a story and not bother to even attempt to think of the second half.

Written by Sam Palmer

Loved: Double Jeopardy Match stipulation makes things interesting

I really enjoyed the concept of the double jeopardy match tonight, and I think it's something that Tony Khan should keep around in AEW moving forward when there's a situation that warrants it. Tonight, it was Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita to pick up the victory over Brodido to become number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championships. But if Brody King or Bandido were to pin either of their opponents, the man who got the pin would get a shot at Okada's Unified Championship.

While I will say the outcome was a little bit predictable, the match was excellent, and there were a few points where I really did think Bandido might be getting the win. In the end, it was Okada to turn Bandido inside out with a Rainmaker for the victory, and the Don Callis Family stablemates will move on to challenge for the tag titles at WrestleDream.

With all the drama between Okada and Takeshita, I think it's a perfect natural progression for them to team up to at least challenge for the tag team gold. While I'm usually against the whole concept of a "can they co-exist?!" tag team, it works here with the tension between them to further their story. It hopefully won't come at the expense of Brodido's tag team reign, however, as we saw tonight, Takeshita accidentally took out Okada with a knee when the champion was on the ring apron. That's probably what it will come down to at WrestleDream, and Brodido will retain their championships while Okada and Takeshita will be one step closer to their singles match for the Unified Championship.

I really loved the entire concept of a double jeopardy match, and while this could have been a tag team title defense for Brodido on a show branded "Title Tuesday," it still worked for me, because there was plenty at stake for both teams here. I loved it even more with the Okada and Takeshita win, because their story, albeit a slow burn, is currently one of the most interesting to me on "Dynamite."

Written by Daisy Ruth

Hated: Missing: The AEW Women's World Championship

We should take the 500k promised to the victor of The Young Bucks versus Jungle Express, and put it towards a reward for whoever can find where world titleholder Kris Statlander was on Tuesday.

On Tuesday's special, title-based episode of AEW's flagship show, "AEW Dynamite: Title Tuesday," we saw appearances from a multitude of champions. AEW Men's World Champion "Hangman" Adam Page opened the show with a promo exchange against WrestleDream contender Samoa Joe, Mark Briscoe scored himself an AEW TNT Championship opportunity, and Mercedes Mone defended her AEW TBS Championship against a debuting Lacey Laine. However, even with Tuesday's title theme — whether AEW delivered on that thread is up to you — one title was glaringly omitted from Tuesday's card. Where is Statlander, Toni Storm, and the AEW Women's World Championship?

I can already hear you hurrying to your keyboards to inform me of Statlander and Storm's scheduled six-woman tag match on Saturday's episode of "AEW Collision," but ask yourself why the AEW Women's World Championship — the top prize for any women in AEW's stacked roster — is being relegated to "Dynamite's" socially awkward stepsister. Obviously, this isn't the first time the AEW Women's World Championship has been banished to the "Collision" Shadow Realm, but that still doesn't absolve AEW. The AEW Women's world title — something that is, conceptually, on equal footing with the Men's World Championship — should be featured just as much on AEW's flagship show, full stop. The rationale behind putting such a coveted title on the "leftovers" weekend show is beyond me.

The rationale behind sending brand new champion Statlander to the leftovers show when she is in such an important, formative part of her reign is, similarly, beyond me. This is the time to push Statlander. Wasn't she main eventing "Dynamite" like, last week? I don't get the reasoning behind putting her over "Timeless" Toni Storm — undoubtedly one of AEW's top stars, male or female — just to not feature her on the title-themed "Title Tuesday" card. You're telling me you can't even put her in a backstage segment? You couldn't even have the woman in the building? Was Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii so urgent that you needed to boot any presence of the women's world title off of the show? Granted, the Moxley/Ishii shout is nothing but collateral damage in this tirade, but you understand what I'm saying. It is AEW's responsibility to make sure that their champions get adequate time on their shows. You could argue that AEW didn't make adequate time for any of their world titleholders on "Title Tuesday," as my colleague contests, but that just further proves my point. AEW is the sole entity responsible for giving these titleholders the exposure they need to get over. This criticism is just pointed towards the women's world title, which is, seemingly, an afterthought.

Is this the end of the world for Statlander and the title? No. It's just a really weird move to not feature the alleged top woman in the division on AEW's top show.

Written by Angeline Phu

Loved: Someone Is Legitimately Going To Die At AEW WrestleDream

Originally, I was going to give a shout-out to PAC and Orange Cassidy's main event on the "Title Tuesday" edition of "AEW Dynamite," mainly for the fact that PAC wearing a singlet is just as newsworthy as anything else that happened tonight. However, for as fun as that match was, it was the aftermath of it that stayed with me and did its job in building up what might be the most violent match in AEW history: the "I Quit" match between Jon Moxley and Darby Allin.

For months, Darby has promised to take everything away from Moxley, and it's very clear that he wasn't talking about the AEW World Championship because if he was, he would have left Moxley and the Death Riders alone months ago. Instead, I think I've landed on the line of thinking that Darby is on about when he says he wants to take everything away from Moxley, and what he means is that he actually wants to kill Jon Moxley live on pay-per-view.

Their Coffin Match at All Out already reached nightmarish levels of brutality, but the way they have been building to the match at WrestleDream has me thinking that they are going to pull out things that no two men have ever attempted in a wrestling match before. Darby has brought out his trusty flamethrower, but tonight he sprayed PAC with something so strong that Taz almost coughed up a lung on commentary, and brought a taser and a Molotov Cocktail with him to Daily's Place. The only reason he didn't get to throw the cocktail was because he was speared by security, but you can sense the anticipation.

Darby has crossed paths with everyone except Moxley at this point. He fought Claudio Castagnoli in the 2300 Arena, attached Gabe Kidd to the back of a truck, and drove him back to New Japan Pro Wrestling. PAC has been sprayed to the point that he has asthma. He beat Wheeler Yuta last week on "Dynamite," and even Marina Shafir got a pair of feet full of thumbtacks when Darby's been around. Now he's threatening to burn down all of Daily's Place just to get to Jon Moxley. How can that not get someone excited for a match of this magnitude?

I understand that Tony Khan is a stickler for the old rule that the World Champion should close the show, and outside of Lights Out matches or shows where the World Champion hasn't defended the title, the AEW World Championship has been the main event. However, this build and this story have gotten to the point where you honestly make the argument that Darby and Moxley should headline the WrestleDream pay-per-view. AEW has had ultraviolent matches on pay-per-view that haven't been main events before, but this is being built as the deathmatch to end all deathmatches. How could you possibly follow that, and more importantly, why would you want to follow it? Week by week, this story gets more and more exciting.

Written by Sam Palmer

Hated: Extreme lack of titles on AEW Title Tuesday

For tonight's special edition of "AEW Dynamite" to be called "Title Tuesday" rather than some sort of variation of "Homecoming" (though "WWE NXT" did just use that name for their return to Full Sail University the other week), there was a serious lack of title defenses on tonight's show. While, of course, we're headed into WrestleDream next week, that's never really stopped AEW before. There were two championship matches tonight, and neither one of those ended in a title change, which, to be fair, I know that's more common than not whenever AEW runs "Title Tuesday."

While we did get a nice surprise in Lacey Lane's "Dynamite" debut in her bout against TBS Champion Mercedes Mone, we all know Mone is so close to breaking Jade Cargill's record as the longest reigning TBS Champion, so that match result, no matter who it was going to be, was already predictable. Same for Fletcher, as it was kind of obvious that AEW was still attempting to course-correct after the unfortunate injury to Hologram.

I think Katsuyori Shibata is still on the shelf, so that's likely why The Opps didn't defend the Trios Championships, but I guess that would have been another obvious retention with Samoa Joe going into his AEW World Championship match against "Hangman" Adam Page at WrestleDream. You wouldn't want them to lose for Joe to look weak. While I liked the double jeopardy match a lot, that could have easily been a Brodido AEW World Tag Team Championship defense. Heck, even if he wasn't putting the title on the line ahead of WrestleDream, Page could have at least wrestled to give this show a bigger feel. Same for AEW Women's World Champion Kris Statlander. If you wanted to get ROH some more shine, AEW also could have had an Athena defense of her ROH Women's World Championship. More Athena on AEW television is never a bad thing. There was also, once again, not a single mention or anything set up for the Women's Tag Team Championships. Point being, there was a lot more AEW could have done tonight to make "Title Tuesday" feel like a much bigger show.

While it's exciting that PAC and Orange Cassidy are both back in the mix in AEW, the fact that they were the main event tonight over the TNT Championship match or even the double jeopardy match seemed a bit out of place. If you're going to do an extended "Dynamite," it would have been smart to put one of the title matches as the main event. I know I was checked out of the show by the time Cassidy and PAC got to the ring.

There were plenty of matches set up for WrestleDream tonight, which made things worthwhile, however. It wasn't a bad episode of "Dynamite" by any means, but it didn't need any title-related branding, and it really didn't need the extra half-hour runtime.

Written by Daisy Ruth

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