AEW Dynamite Preview for March 26, 2025

DYNASTY 2025 may be 11 days away, but it will be here faster than one of Speedball Mike Bailey's kicks and that means every moment counts! We already know AEW World Champion Jon Moxley will defend his title against Swerve Strickland, that AEW International Champion Kenny Omega will face both Speedball and Ricochet, and that AEW Women's World Champion “Timeless” Toni Storm will fight Megan Bayne, but what else will come together in the next several events before AEW's return to Philadelphia? Come with us to St. Paul, MN tonight for DYNAMITE live from the Roy Wilkins Auditorium to watch how it all unfolds! 

Kenny Omega will be in action against Ring of Honor standout Blake Christian as the former prepares for his International Championship fight while Women's World Champion Toni Storm unites with Thunder Rosa to face Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford in front of their title fight in Philly! There will also be plenty of Don Callis Family action as Kyle Fletcher faces Brody King, Konosuke Takeshita fights Mark Briscoe, and Mark Davis battles Powerhouse Hobbs! We will also hear from Rated FTR after Dax Harwood's actions last week, and MJF is supposedly going to have an answer for MVP regarding his Hurt Syndicate offer!

DYNAMITE starts at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT streaming on MAX, as well as on TBS, and can be seen around the world via AEW PLUS. Before showtime, visit the official AEW YouTube channel to catch highlights from previous editions of DYNAMITE and COLLISION, Hey!(EW) with Willie Mack, and so much more All Elite Wrestling content! After things wrap in St. Paul, we are headed off for COLLISION from Milwaukee's UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, followed by an April 2nd DYNAMITE/COLLISION in Peoria! 

TAG TEAM BATTLE...

AEW Women's World Champion “Timeless” Toni Storm & “La Mera Mera” Thunder Rosa

vs.

Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford

After several instances of suffering at the hands of Megan Bayne, AEW Women's World Champion “Timeless” Toni Storm laid out the challenge herself following Bayne's victory over Kris Statlander last week on DYNAMITE. For Bayne it's a shot at the championship Toni regained just 40 days ago at GRAND SLAM: AUSTRALIA. For Storm it's a chance for retribution after being laid low several times by the upstart contender who's been on a tear through the Women's Locker room since returning to the AEW stage at DYNAMITE: MAXIMUM CARNAGE for the GRAND SLAM: AUSTRALIA Casino Gauntlet Match. For both it's an opportunity to gain an advantage before their DYNASTY 2025 championship clash in Philadelphia on April 6th!

As for their partners in this tag team battle, Penelope Ford has been by Megan Bayne's side almost from the moment she returned to AEW. They were victorious together in tag team competition over Kris Statlander and Thunder Rosa three weeks ago in Sacramento, and Ford has been a constant at Bayne's side in her matches over the last several weeks as well. With Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm there is quite the interesting dynamic, after all it was just one year ago at DYNASTY 2024 that “Timeless” successfully defeated “La Mera Mera” in a Women's World Championship match, albeit via  less than honorable means. That being said, the two women do have some history working together back in 2022 after Rosa beat Storm in their first title fight at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2022. They even took on the nickname ThunderStorm for their duo, as short-lived as it was, and who knows what their pairing could've been had it not been for the injuries that cut Rosa's championship reign shortly, in turn leading to Toni's first title victory at ALL OUT 2022. It's quite fascinating how the careers of Rosa and Storm first became entwined three years ago and how those threads have pulled back together in the face of common enemies. 

Clearly “Timeless” Toni Storm is a whole different animal than the woman who Rosa united with in the fall of 2022, however she's not exactly the same as the champion Rosa fought a year ago in St. Louis. Storm went through hell and back over the last seven months with “The Woman from Hell” Mariah May, and that changed her, not to who she was before, but certainly something...more...than who she was before ALL IN: LONDON 2024. Is Toni in a position to take on a partner in AEW for the first time since June 26th of last year? Can Thunder Rosa and she be successful and send the champion to Philadelphia with the advantage, or will Bayne and Ford have the same success here they did last time they fought “La Mera Mera” and a tag team partner?

ONE-ON-ONE...

AEW International Champion Kenny Omega vs. Blake Christian

After last week's Three-Way final to the DYNASTY 2025 International Championship Eliminator Tournament, AEW International Champion Kenny Omega now knows he has to defend his newly won title against both Ricochet and Speedball Mike Bailey in a Three-Way of his own. It's not unfamiliar territory to “The Cleaner”, after all he bested both “The Bastard” PAC and Orange Cassidy in the same fashion when they challenged him for the AEW World Championship at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2021, but that doesn't mean it's going to be an easy go for Omega. With that in mind, Kenny Omega is stepping into the ring tonight on DYNAMITE to keep himself fresh for the fight and squaring off with a very hungry Blake Christian! 

Though Blake only recently returned to AEW competition during the REVOLUTION 2025: ZERO HOUR after a near-two year absence, he's been extremely active in Ring of Honor as of late. He's won eight of his last nine matches, including a tremendous performance at FINAL BATTLE 2024 during the Six-Way Elimination World TV Title Match where he eliminated Mark Davis with a low blow and pushed Komander to his limits for nearly 10  minutes before eventually succumbing to the high-flying luchador. He's also been in some extremely high pressure situations during his ROH tenure, battling Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH World Title, Zack Sabre Jr. for the NJPW World TV Title, and challenging Brian Cage and Gates of Agony for the World Six-Man Titles, as well as both Kyle Fletcher and Samoa Joe for the ROH World Television Title. A championship victory has eluded the man thus far, but Blake is fighting hard to get another title opportunity, and though his growing ROH winning streak makes for a great resume there, adding a win over AEW International Champion Kenny Omega could put him in prime position to face whoever leaves DYNASTY 2025 with that title around their waist. 

Blake's got everything to gain, Omega has everything to lose, but that's the kind of pressure situation where “The Best Bout Machine” excels so Christian better bring his A+ game with him tonight when he fights on DYNAMITE for the first time since 5/23/23! No doubt Ricochet and Speedball will have close eyes on this one...

HEAD-TO-HEAD...

Mark Briscoe vs. “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita

Last weekend during COLLISION: SLAM DUNK SATURDAY, it was the trio of Mark Briscoe, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Rocky Romero who attempted to take The Don Callis Family's Brian Cage, Lance Archer, and Konosuke Takeshita to task for their numerous crimes against members of the AEW locker room. Unfortunately for them, the bout went in favor of The DCF when Romero was overcome by the onslaught of all three men. Mark Briscoe tried to make the save, but “The Machine” Brian Cage cut him off at the pass just as Takeshita set Rocky up for Raging Fire. 

However, just because Mark and his allies took the loss on Saturday doesn't mean any of them are done  fighting against The Don Callis Family. In fact it's the exact opposite given two of the singles matches going down tonight on DYNAMITE, the first of them being Mark Briscoe fighting “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita in their very first one-on-one clash! These two warriors have battled in numerous multi-man tags over the last year, as well as in the Six-Man TNT Title Ladder Match at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 and the Four-Way Continental Championship bout at ALL OUT 2024, but this will mark their first time battling head-to-head and will no doubt be a slugfest given the hard-hitting nature of each man's wrestling style. 

Can the former ROH World Champion take down the former AEW International Champion after the loss his unit endured last Saturday, or will The DCF dominate the night once again?

GRUDGE MATCH...

Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Don Callis Family's Mark Davis

The Don Callis Family has made plenty of enemies during its existence here in All Elite Wrestling, some as a result of their actions, some due to their own inaction, and the latter certainly applies when it comes to Powerhouse Hobbs. Don Callis' tendency to abandon someone once he deems them of no use has been well-documented. He even did it to people that he considered family such as Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega, though in the case of Jericho each man's cockroach-esque ability to survive has brought them together once again. In fact, it was the threat of Hobbs (among others) that reunited Callis and Jericho when Bryan Keith saddled up alongside The DCF in Sacramento a few weeks ago in a losing battle against Hobbs, Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy, and Will Ospreay.

In the weeks that followed that eight-man tag, Hobbs united with Hologram to defeat DCF's Brian Cage and LFI's Dralistico in Fresno, and then this past weekend on COLLISION: SLAM DUNK SATURDAY it was Hobbs alongside Mark Briscoe and Rocky Romero who fell to DCF's Cage, Takeshita, and Lance Archer. It's been a continuous battle for the former TNT Champion, and tonight it continues in one-on-one competition when Hobbs collides with former ROH World Tag Champion Mark Davis for the very first time!

Hobbs put his trust in Mark Davis as an ally against The DCF late last year in several multi-man matches, but Davis showed his true colors in February when he took on Will Ospreay ahead of REVOLUTION 2025. Tonight it's a chance for Powerhouse to send a message to the rest of Callis' lackeys and show Davis the consequences of his betrayal!

SINGLES MATCH...

“The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher vs. Hounds of Hell's Brody King

Then there is “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher and his continued evolution within the landscape of All Elite Wrestling. It's impossible to deny that membership in the Don Callis Family has been a boon to his career; though he came up short in the tournament Semifinals at WORLDS END 2024, Kyle was the dominant performer during the League Play portion of the 2024 Continental Classic. His 12 points in the Blue League were the most of any entrant on either side side of the bracket, and his 4-1 record was the best in either league as well. He beat Shelton Benjamin, Kazuchika Okada, TNT Champion Daniel Garcia, and The Beast Mortos on his way to the Semifinals, and seemed a surefire lock for the finals until Will Ospreay found a way in as Gold League runner-up and bested Fletcher. After that, it was all about Ospreay and Fletcher until they finally battered each other bloody inside the Steel Cage at REVOLUTION 2025 prior to “The Aerial Assassin” finding a way to overcome “The Protostar”. 

That same 2024 C2 that was such a breakout tournament for Ospreay also included Brody King, albeit on the Gold League side of the bracket. Though Brody did not have the same resounding success as Fletcher, he did score two huge wins during his run. The first came against Darby Allin while the second came opposite Komander, and though it doesn't match Fletcher's four victories, at least Brody got his on the up-and-up without low blows or rope leverage. In fact, whether or not either man realizes it, Brody King is the reason Ospreay made it into the Semifinal round where he beat Fletcher. Had Brody defeated Ospreay in their Christmas Day battle, “The Aerial Assassin” would've been knocked out of competition and Claudio Castagnoli would've earned the Gold League Runner-Up tag instead by virtue of his head-to-head victory over Brody earlier in the tourney. So in some ways, Fletcher has Brody to blame for how his 2025 Continental Classic run ended, and perhaps Fletcher pinning Brody's shoulders to the mat to win their 2/5/25 DYNAMITE tag match could be considered a little payback for that, but this first-ever singles meeting between the two is really where it's at!

They've previously clashed three times and each one in tag matches, one in ROH, one for PWG, and that aforementioned February tag on DYNAMITE, and Brody holds the 2-1 edge in that team series. This singles landscape is a whole new ballgame when it comes to these two however, and each is fighting to rise up the ranks and be a championship contender. Brody came so close in his REVOLUTION 2025 fight with AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada while Fletcher, a former ROH World TV Champion, has yet to challenge for an AEW singles championship. For Brody it's building his singles resume since, as a result of the injury Buddy sustained during his GRAND SLAM: AUSTRALIA fight with Okada, Brody stands alone. For Fletcher it's rebounding after that devastating loss to Ospreay at REVOLUTION 2025. Which man will rise to the occasion tonight on DYNAMITE?

MJF & MVP...

Two weeks ago MVP extended a Hurt Syndicate offer to Maxwell Jacob Friedman after heaping a tremendous amount of praise upon the man for his rise in the professional wrestling world since they first met seven years ago down in Florida. As can be heard in the video above, MJF didn't exactly warm up to the idea of MVP's offer when that business card was first offered to him, but after MVP emphasized the word “was” in “was World Champion...”, the mood certainly changed.

Last week MJF took a moment to address the World Championship title picture, and all the men looking to claim it as their own, as well as promise to give MVP an answer to his offer this week on DYNAMITE. The AEW faithful know MJF's history when it comes to partnerships and alliances, how he used up every individual that he allied, but was dumbstruck when he got burned by karma coming around in the form of Adam Cole giving him a taste of his own medicine.

The difference between everyone else MJF used up to get to where he is today and Hurt Syndicate is quite simple; it's right in their name as a matter of fact. They hurt people, and there is zero chance Maxwell Jacob Friedman could get away with that same behavior when it comes to MVP, Shelton Benjamin, and Bobby Lashley. Max better tread carefully tonight when he addresses this offer...

RATED FTR SITS-DOWN

It was an understandably frustrating moment for all parties involved; Cope had just lost his AEW World Championship Street Fight with Jon Moxley largely as a result of the combined involvement of The Death Riders and The Patriarchy. Before Marina Shafir, Kip Sabian, and Nick Wayne stuck their noses into the proceedings it felt like “The Rated R Superstar” had the championship in the palm of his hand.

So to be left with nothing in his hands after that war, well it was heartbreaking for Cope that's for sure. However there was another individual in the mix who clearly took the circumstances to heart, that being FTR's Dax Harwood. Suffice to say it was quite surprising to see Dax refuse to help Cope to his feet when “The Rated R Superstar” extended his hand for assistance, but even more so to see Dax shove his tag partner aside when Cash questioned his partner's actions.

Tonight on DYNAMITE Tony Schiavone attempts to find out just what's going on with Rated FTR and why Dax Harwood did what he did last week on DYNAMITE!

DYNAMITE explodes onto your television screens at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on TBS, as well as streaming on MAX, not to forget that it's available around the world via AEW PLUS! It's a jam-packed night of action in St. Paul, MN live from the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, including AEW International Champion Kenny Omega in action against Blake Christian, AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa joining forces against Penelope Ford and Megan Bayne, and plenty of Don Callis Family fighting! We've got Mark Briscoe versus “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita, Powerhouse Hobbs taking on Mark Davis, and “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher facing Brody King. Plus, Rated FTR sits down with Tony Schiavone and MJF addresses MVP and his Hurt Syndicate offer! 

Before the show gets started, stop by AEW's official YouTube channel to watch highlights from previous editions of DYNAMITE and COLLISION, Hey!(EW) with Willie Mack, and all the other Elite content from AEW! Then it's off to Milwaukee and the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena for COLLISION, then DYNAMITE/COLLISION in Peoria on April 2nd, followed by DYNASTY 2025 live in pay-per-view from Philadelphia!