AEW Dynamite - 9/24/2025: 3 Things We Loved & 3 We Hated

Another "AEW Dynamite" is in the books, and the road to WrestleDream has begun.

Wednesday's show was a historic affair, featuring the announcement of the AEW Women's World Tag Team Championship and also a fiery challenge for a WrestleDream match. Like any "Dynamite," there were plenty of highs and plenty of lows. We won't break down what happened, as the results page already took care of that; instead, we'll get into the wonderful and the terrible, the bleak and the hopeful, the good and the bad.

Some of the staff liked the fact that the women's division gets tag titles, and some are frustrated with the lack of details for the new belts. Either way, there's plenty to talk about, so let's not dilly-dally. Here's what the Wrestling Inc. Staff loved and hated from the September 24 edition of "Dynamite."

There was a whole lot to enjoy when it was time to Conglomerate during "AEW Dynamite" against the Don Callis Family, with Callis looking to present his latest masterpiece of painting brilliance – his words, not mine own, though they are pretty cool. Only, rather than it being his painting that was unveiled, Orange Cassidy made his grand meh return to the company to join Mark Briscoe and Hologram in facing DCF's Hechicero, Kazuchika Okada, and Konosuke Takeshita. The match itself was about as amazing as you could expect, with just a little more on top, as each and every competitor took turns in staking their claim in the bout and providing a seemingly never-ending flow of action.

Multi-man matches can follow one of two paths, the "NJPW Road To..." path, dull and torturous – some more than others – with more of a slow-burning exhibition feel. Or the PWG path, refusing to take itself too seriously and providing beat after beat of fun in both action and hilarity. OC running his lazy calf kick shtick on the pair of Okada and Takeshita, who were bristling at one another at the time, prompting the deadpan stares of the pair at what lay before them before trying to get into it, only to have been pulled into the game of OC and spurring on the next relay sprint.

It was a match that continued to build to the finish until it finally came, not reliant on false finishes or shenanigans to generate excitement or heat, and just allowing each of the men in the ring to show what they were about. And when all was said and done, Takeshita and Okada were factored out of the decision as their own story of internal competition continued. Hologram defeated Hechicero to get the win for his team, and then he was given his own direction moving forward.

Kyle Fletcher emerged, brushing off his defeat last weekend and getting straight back into things, making a challenge to defend his TNT Championship against Hologram in a bid to end his 34-0 streak. It's nice to see Hologram actually used in a way that's not just getting another win for the sake of it, and it is nice to see Fletcher continue to find his groove as the future World Champion he is. A fun match with tangible consequences, and an opportunity for the budding El Clon story to really kick off next week; what's not to love?

Written by Max Everett

Commentary all but admitted that this week's World Tag Team Title Match was happening because the AEW World Trios Champions were not at 100%, as Katsuyori Shibata is not cleared to compete, so Gates of Agony got a shot at the tag titles. It's hard to explain, but I'll do my best: This week's match made Gates of Agony and Ricochet look a little bit like bumbling fools, and not in a way that really adds anything to their current presentation.

It felt like the match between GOA and Brodido was put on before either team was ripe, and what could've been a sensational clash down the road was merely a solid affair that looked better on paper. I don't think this is a massively grievous sin or anything. It's just disappointing considering how well Ricochet, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun have been gelling. A team that's working is a delicate machine, like a Swiss watch, and while I don't think this will completely derail their momentum, it's an unnecessary stressor on the fledgling trio. Here's hoping Shibata heals up, so that Gates of Agony can swiftly dethrone The Opps. Gates get a title run, Opps get to reform with Hook, and everyone wins.

Written by Ross Berman

I think it's safe to say that a vast majority of AEW's fanbase expected Orange Cassidy to make his return on this "Dynamite" as the mystery tag team partner of Mark Briscoe and Hologram in their trios match against The Don Callis Family, but that doesn't mean it still wasn't very enjoyable.

With all of the recent (albeit convoluted) foreshadowing going on over the past week, I didn't know what to make of Cassidy's return with AEW, making it pretty obvious that it was him, whilst still acting like it was this major mystery. That being said, the company still managed to pull it off in a creative way. The Conglomeration's many references to Cassidy during their backstage interview with Renee Paquette, including Hologram and Briscoe putting on sunglasses and Kyle O'Reilly asking Paquette where her mind were fun to pick up on and a great way to set up Cassidy's return and getting fans excited for it. Don Callis' promo may have also seemed a little random at first, but it all made sense when Cassidy popped out of his painting to immediately kick off the trios match. Still, his sudden appearance caught me a little bit off guard, keeping me invested in it all. The action that followed further helped to contribute to that feeling of excitement, making everything feel that much more memorable with the fast-paced action throughout it.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Willow Nightingale is genuinely a woman whom you could build an entire division around. She is fantastic in the ring, has a great character, and is adored by virtually everyone who sees her wrestle. She literally has the ability to be the ace of any women's division on planet earth and the fact that she hasn't even come close to winning the AEW Women's World Championship at all is a crime against wrestling.

Of course, not everyone can be a world champion at the same time, and the fact that Kris Statlander is finally getting her chance to showcase what she's made of at the top of the card is great. With that said, the fact that Willow is not only nowhere near the AEW Women's World Championship scene, despite having such a long and personal history with the champion, but is now getting involved with what FTR and Stokely are doing is a real shame.

Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler, and Stokely arrived on the September 24 episode of "AEW Dynamite" to explain why they put Beth Copeland in the hospital at AEW All Out following a Spike Piledriver. They were booed by the fans in attendance, which was expected and the fact that the rare 2300 Arena heat seems to have followed FTR and Stokely is great for them, but once they started describing what they did to Beth, Willow's music hit and everyone in the arena went "erm, what has Willow got to do with this?" Obviously, this could always be the start of a new story that leads to something down the line, but Willow coming out to basically lavish Beth with praise and let the world know how inspirational she is to other female wrestlers just seemed a bit odd.

There's nothing wrong with intergender wrestling, and the thought of Willow actually getting to mix it up with FTR does seem like an interesting path to go down, particularly if it results in Willow vs. Stokely, because who wouldn't want to see that match? However, bringing Willow out to tell FTR that their apology wasn't very good, knowing full well that neither Dax nor Cash could really do anything to her, was a bit pointless in the grand scheme of things. To make it even more puzzling, it was JetSpeed who came out to give Willow some back-up, which makes very little sense, as you would think that the members of The Conglomeration who weren't wrestling tonight could have made the save instead.

Overall, Willow Nightingale is a future AEW Women's World Champion who, for whatever reason, is being booked terribly. Yes, it's fun to see her get involved in the guys' business, but she could be the woman that everyone in AEW strives to be, and she simply can't do that if she's constantly involved in storylines involving people like FTR. Someone please tell Tony Khan to book Willow like the generational ace everyone knows she can be; it's really starting to become a problem.

Written by Sam Palmer

They certainly took their time doing it, but AEW announced at last they would be introducing the Women's World Tag Team Championship during tonight's show, and that in itself is a win.

Now, there is a degree of truth to the criticism that AEW has enough titles, let alone adding more to the mix, and things have been much better but the women's division has long been a note for improvement when it comes to equal presentation. But with such a deep roster of women's talent, giving them an entirely new division serves just as well as adding another lane for traffic congestion. Some of the best matches in women's AEW have come in tag team matches, and there have been a number of ongoing duos that could easily have been champions during their time – the Outcasts, ThunderStorm, TayJay, Willow Nightingale & Kris Statlander, just to name a few.

Now there can be a purpose and a proverbial North star for those sorts of tandems, anchoring everything that goes on in the world of women's team-ups to something tangible. Obviously, it will take some conscientious booking to see the potential in them realized, but the promise in itself should be celebrated. The title belts themselves look effectively like the men's tag titles, which may not be the most inspired or spectacular option, but is a neat enough move to create some form of parity.

They didn't really have a plan for how to institute the titles, as my esteemed colleague will expand on, but I cannot fathom a timeline where there isn't a fun path to crown the inaugural champions. So, for the time being and evaluating them for what they are, I, for one, am happy to finally have the Women's Tag titles. And thank the gods, Tony Khan actually had an important announcement of some importance this time around.

Written by Max Everett

I'll get this much out of the way first: I am very glad that the AEW women's division is finally getting tag team championships. It's been a long time coming and the tag division has only gotten stronger over the last few months, fueling rumors of the belts getting added to the company, as AEW President Tony Khan had already admitted he had the titles made. That being said, it's a good thing I don't read the comments, because I hated how they were announced tonight. Or, rather, I hated the lack of any further information we got about the AEW Women's World Tag Team Championships.

Khan announced from backstage that AEW would be introducing the titles, then threw to ringside to Renee Paquette to do the honors, revealing the titles to the crowd and those of us at home. However, that was all Khan said about them and how the inaugural champions would be crowned. In his big announcement, he said, "This year, coming very soon, for the first time ever, we will crown the inaugural AEW Women's World Tag Team Champions." And that was all. We didn't even get the confirmation that it will be a tournament, though, with as many teams as there are in the women's tag division, it would make sense.

Even just saying that would have given things the slightest bit of clarity and something else for fans to look forward to, because right now, it kind of feels like a "here, damn!" from Khan. It was also a bit weird to me that the announcement didn't involve any of the various tag teams in the division. It wasn't like it would spoil anything if they were all around Khan for the announcement, as I think all of us fans knew what was coming tonight. The way the announcement went right to a women's singles match felt a little weird to me, as excited as I was for the women to main event.

The belts themselves are also copies of the men's titles. Which is fine, and I truly don't exactly know why I expected anything different, but it was still a little disappointing. While I'm so glad that the titles exist, the lack of any real effort put into their announcement was a real bummer. While I'm sure there'll be a tournament for them and details will be announced soon, hopefully leading up to the champions being crowned at WrestleDream, with this much excitement behind the new gold, all the details should have been out there from the start tonight.

Written by Daisy Ruth