Match of the Night: AEW Dynamite, March 25, 2026

The Love Bomb becomes a Death Machine

Tonight’s Dynamite was as explosive as ever, coming off the heels of the acclaimed AEW Revolution PPV. In it, we received an end to the latest Swerve Strickland feud as well as the next challenger for MJF’s World Heavyweight Championship as Kenny Omega defeated Swerve in a #1 Contender’s Match.

It doesn’t look like the feud will continue, as Swerve & Prince Nama skipped an opportunity to beat Kenny down after the match, and Kenny’s later segments were against MJF and Mike Bailey.

The match itself between Kenny and Swerve was great, but left a little to be desired. Kenny’s selling was nothing to write home about, and he kicked out of multiple big moves while ending Swerve after executing one of his. The ending felt a bit anticlimactic when Kenny kicked out of 3 moves that looked like they may have been the end, but only 1 of his downed Swerve for the count.

Another candidate for the match of the night was The Conglomeration vs The Dogs. Roderick Strong’s strong style-esque wrestling has always been one of the most hard hitting and versatile styles in the industry, allowing him to work with various styles and opponents. It came to fruition in this match, as Roddy took some ferocious hits from the Japan-seasoned team of Clark Connors and David Finlay while delivering some high level kicks and knees. And without question, Orange Cassidy was being Orange Cassidy. The match ended in a victory for The Conglomerate and placed second on my list.

The winner for my best match of the night was Mina Shirakawa versus Thekla for the AEW Women’s World Championship. I loved the versatility of Mina, who looks to be slotted into the top of the women’s division to fill the vacuum left by “Timeless” Toni Storm’s injury. She’s a great pick, as the crowd already loves her and she constantly makes others look good in matches. Mina’s selling ability is really underrated, she’ll give strong reactions while simultaneously delivering high octane offense that always keeps her in the match.

The action between both women was great, with a great balance of in-ring and outside brawling. Thekla’s theatrics and spider-like movements were fun as always, as she also utilized them to mock Mina’s signature gestures. But Mina also engaged in some theatrics — as she began to display confidence and hype herself up — yelling at the viewer through the camera that she fights for herself. In an effort to scale The Love Bomb up the ranks, AEW is changing her gimmick a bit.

She came off very serious and missing the goofy antics she usually sports, as commentators noted the fact she was missing her cheery smile. The small monologue and fierce expressions reinforced this, and this was part of what made me love this match so much. To be able to change your whole gimmick in just a week and wrestle like you never knew there was a difference makes Mina’s performance all the more impressive, in addition to how high quality the in-ring mayhem was.

In the end, Thekla retained via brass knuckles, protecting both her reign and Mina’s image in what was an awesome overall show. The Spider Queen looks to continue her reign on top of AEW.

Match rating: 4.25/5

Show rating: 4/5