AEW Dynasty 2025 Results, Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Dynasty 2025 at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.

The card was packed with title matches, personal feuds and the first few bouts in this year's Owen Hart Foundation Tournament.

Here's a look at the card from this year's PPV:

—Lio Rush, Action Andretti and Nick Wayne vs. Top Flight and AR Fox

—Max Caster open challenge

—Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe (Men's Owen Hart Cup quarterfinal)

—Will Ospreay vs. Kevin Knight (Men's Owen Hart Cup quarterfinal)

—Mercedes Mone vs. Julia Hart (Women's Owen Hart Cup quarterfinal)

—The Death Riders vs. Rated FTR (Trios Championships)

—The Hurt Syndicate vs. Big Bill and Bryan Keith (AEW Tag Team Championship)

—Kenny Omega vs. "Speedball" Mike Bailey vs. Ricochet (International Championship)

—Daniel Garcia vs. Adam Cole (TNT Championship)

—Chris Jericho vs. Bandido (ROH World Championship)

—Toni Storm vs. Megan Bayne (Women's World Championship)

—Jon Moxley vs. Swerve Strickland (Men's World Championship)

Let's take a look at everything that happened at this year's Dynasty.

The pre-show included a couple of matches. The first was a trios bout with Wayne, Rush and Andretti taking on AR Fox, Dante and Darius Martin. Kip Sabian and Mother Wayne were by Nick’s side. Leila Grey was at ringside for Top Flight and Fox. 

All six of these men are comfortable flying from the top rope, so it took them no time to turn this into a fast-paced and high-flying encounter. This wasn’t perfect and had a few areas that could have been improves, but it was a great choice to start the action because it got the crowd hyped. 

Mama Wayne pushed Fox off the ropes to give Nick the chance to hit his finisher for the win. Rush and Andretti seemed to have some issues with Nick after the match. 

Result: Wayne and CRU won

Grade: B+

Caster came out for his open challenge to an apathetic response from the crowd. He got some extra heat when he revealed he was wearing a Philadelphia jersey with Ben Simmons' number.

The lights went out for his surprise opponent, Anthony Bowens. Billy Gunn was with him as he came out with new entrance music and new gear to a huge pop.

The Pride of Pro Wrestling took it to his former tag team partner and hit a spinning haymaker to get the win in about a minute. This was the definition of a squash, but the crowd loved it.

Result: Bowens defeated Caster

Grade: Incomplete

Notable Moments and Observations

—Fox and Top Flight coordinated their gear to look more like a team. 

—Darius jumped too early when he was shoved into the ring steps, so he went over without making contact. 

—Fox was the highlight of the trios bout. He was flying all over the place.

—Caster trying to lead the crowd in a chant was pretty funny.

—Bowens connected pretty good with his finisher.

The main card opened with the first Owen Cup match of the night as Ospreay took on AEW's newest signing, Knight.

They started with a simple lockup into a wristlock. Knight countered and took Billy Goat down, which made him smile as he got back to his feet.

Ospreay began to build some momentum after hitting a boot that sent his opponent out of the ring. They kept the pace quick, so neither man maintained control for very long before the other countered with something.

Knight has been impressive in every outing since signing with AEW and this was no exception. Ospreay is the kind of talent who brings others up to his level, but Knight didn't need much help to get there. They had great chemistry right out of the gate.

This match accomplished two things: It proved Knight could keep up with the best AEW has to offer, and it allowed Ospreay to advance to the semifinal round of the Owen Hart Cup.

This was a breakout performance for 28-year-old, and he came close to winning several times, but a Hidden Blade put him down for the three-count.

Result: Ospreay defeated Knight

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

—Knight replaced Jay White, who was injured when he fought Knight. AEW needs to make this into a storyline of Cole thinking Knight did it on purpose so he can try to get revenge when he returns.

—The crowd erupted for Ospreay's music. He is one of the most over stars in all of AEW.

—Knight's sliding shoulder tackle was smooth.

—Ospreay didn't pop Knight up close enough to the ropes before hitting a running boot, but both men made it look like nothing went wrong.

—The way Knight sold Ospreay's slingshot kick was awesome.

—Knight countering the Styles Clash into a DDT on the ramp was an incredible spot.

The AEW Tag Team Championships were on the line when Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin faced The Redwood and The Bad Apple.

Keith opted to tag in Bill right away so the two powerhouses could square off to get things going. He managed to send Lashley out of the ring, so MVP regrouped with his team. This led to Benjamin and Lashley taking control with some double-team tactics.

The Bad Apple was put through the wringer by The Gold Standard and The All Mighty, but Bill was able to play the difference-maker.

This was a decent tag match that made Big Bill and Keith look like a bigger threat as a duo than they have before. MJF appeared in the crowd and hit Bill with his diamond ring. Benjamin and Lashley didn't look too happy to see him, but then they set their focus on The Bad Apple.

The Hurt Syndicate scored the win with an easy German suplex and a Spear.

Result: The Hurt Syndicate defeated Keith and Bill

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

—For the first time since they paired up in WWE, Lashley and Benjamin feel like equals instead of a leader and a follower.

—Benjamin's step-up knee to Big Bill looked awesome.

—Taz pretending to get mad at MVP's comments about height was hilarious.

Hart was out first to take on Mone in the first round of the women's Owen Hart Cup. Hart looked unimpressed with The CEO as they got started.

This was a competitive match right away, but Hart hit more high-impact moves during the first half. The announcers kept referencing her cheerleading background to explain her athleticism.

Mone got her knees up to block a moonsault but couldn't get the win. Hart hit a few important counters that allowed her to keep the TBS champion on defense.

While most of this match looked good, there were enough awkward moments and near-misses to keep it from being as good as it could have been.

The crowd was heavily behind Hart, but Mone was able to pin her with a unique combination to advance in the tournament.

Result: Mone defeated Hart

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

—Mone's ring jacket was very ornate.

—The crowd went quiet when the match started after being pretty loud during their entrances.

—Mone got some heat from the fans when she slipped on the ropes trying to hit an arm drag.

—Hart and Mone messed up a sunset flip but recovered quickly.

The Trios Championships were up for grabs when Wheeler Yuta, Pac and Claudio Castagnoli defended the belts against Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler and Cope.

Harwood cornered Pac to begin the match, but he made a clean break. The crowd was chanting profanities at Yuta as the action got started.

Once the youngest Death Rider tagged in, Cope and FTR kept him cornered so they could dish out as much punishment as possible.

There was a weird moment when Harwood seemingly stole a tag from Cope, but he singlehandedly took on all three Death Riders until we ended up with all six men holding each other in submissions.

The first half of this bout felt a little uneven, but the second half picked up the pace and delivered some great action and storytelling.

Yuta got the win for his team with a Busaiku Knee to Harwood. The Death Riders made their way out while Rated FTR tried to recover.

After they posed together, Harwood hit Cope with a piledriver out of nowhere and then grabbed two chairs. He set up Cope for a Con-chair-to, but he wanted Wheeler to do it. He refused, but then helped Harwood hit their finisher.

They spiked Cope with a piledriver onto the chair and then finished him off with a Con-chair-to.

Result: Death Riders defeated Rated FTR

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

—It's been cool to see Cope using different styles of gear to differentiate himself from his WWE character.

—Nigel McGuinness continues to be petty about Bryan Danielson and it's never going to stop being funny.

—Wheeler has gotten very good at the suicide dive.

—The three-way submission spot was fun, but Harwood and Castagnoli trading shots right after was hilarious because it turned into a slap fight.

Bayne challenged Storm for the women's world title in the next match, but she had Penelope Ford by her side for support. Luthor accompanied Storm as he usually does.

Bayne used her significant size and power advantage to push the champion around for a while, but The Timeless One made a comeback and hit a huge crossbody for a two-count.

Ford tripped the champion and helped her friend regain the upper hand. The Megasus threw Storm around like she was nothing to show off her strength.

This match was designed to make Bayne look like a serious threat to everyone in the women's division, and Storm helped accomplish that goal by selling everything that happened to her like a pro.

Luther carried Ford away so she couldn't interfere anymore, but that didn't stop Bayne from continuing to dominate most of the action.

The challenger looked almost unstoppable near the end, but an inside cradle from the champion put her away. Having it be a pinning combination and not a finisher that got Storm the win helped protect Bayne a bit, so it was the right call.

Result: Storm defeated Bayne

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

—Bayne has some of the best entrance gear for big matches in all of pro wrestling.

—Storm had a brief Rocky montage before her entrance that was perfect for the Philly crowd. She even came out in a robe like a prizefighter.

—Bayne taking out Luther with a suicide dive was a fun moment.

Another Owen Hart Cup match took place at Dynasty when Fletcher and Briscoe met for their fourth encounter. Briscoe was 2-1 over Fletcher coming into this bout, so The Protostar was looking to get an early advantage.

He nailed The Chicken with a suicide dive during his entrance, but Briscoe quickly recovered and took his young opponent down.

Once Fletcher took control again, he began to dismantle The Chicken with power moves. He hit a few powerbombs at ringside that did a lot of damage. It took both men hitting a clothesline at the same time for Briscoe to get a moment to recover.

Briscoe kicked out of some big spots to keep himself in the match, but Fletcher kicked out of some of his biggest moves, too. This was a hard-fought contest that saw both men put in some great work.

The Protostar hit his trademark turnbuckle brainbuster to get the win and even the score at 2-2 in their feud, but more importantly, he advanced in the Owen Hart Cup.

Result: Fletcher defeated Briscoe

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

—Fletcher was decked out in pink gear for this match.

—Briscoe using a fan's head to balance as he got onto the barricade was funny.

—Fletcher's apron powerbomb looked nasty.

—The way Fletcher dropped Briscoe on the top rope when he hit a suplex was brutal.

The Ring of Honor world title was on the line when Jericho took on Bandido, but that wasn't the only prize up for grabs. Bandido also put his mask on the line, so he had more to lose than most challengers.

Jericho hit a Codebreaker right out of the gate, but the challenger kicked out at the last possible moment. The Learning Tree stayed on him and taunted Bandido's family in the crowd while dishing out punishment.

The fans went quiet when Bandido looked like he had the match won but the ref declared it a two-count. The masked man held Jericho up for a vertical suplex until the crowd counted to 60.

They did a good job making this feel like a competitive fight despite Jericho being a few steps slower than Bandido at this stage of his career.

There was a few sloppy moments that led to mistakes and near-botches, but most of what we got int his match was good. Keith showed up and Gravity arrived to fight him off. The ref was distracted and Jericho was able to use his bat to hit Bandido for the pin.

Bandido's family told Aubrey Edwards about Jericho using the bat and that led to the ref calling for the match to be restarted. Bandido immediately hit Jericho with a boot to the face followed by his finisher for the pin and the win.

Result: Bandido defeated Jericho to win the ROH world title

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

—Bandido looks like he is in the best shape of his career.

—Jericho almost didn't catch Bandido when he hit a corkscrew crossbody from the top rope.

—Bandido holding Jericho up for what seemed like a couple of minutes was an impressive show of power.

—The powerbomb Jericho hit from the apron looked brutal for Bandido.

—Jericho hit a nice hurricanrana from the top rope.

There were no time limits and nobody else was allowed near the ring for the TNT title match between Cole and Garcia.

They started off simple, but this quickly turned into a striking match between two men who felt like they had something to prove.

Cole began selling an ankle injury and Garcia got right on him and started stomping his bad leg to make it worse. Red Death began building more momentum from that point as Cole struggled to recover.

The challenger was able to start making a comeback and almost won with a crucifix pin, but Garcia grabbed him in an ankle lock a moment later to put more pressure on his injured leg.

These two have worked well together in every match and they continued that trend on Sunday. Both men came into this knowing they had some big competition on the card, so they worked a more cerebral match instead of just focusing on high spots.

Garcia attempted a piledriver from the middle rope, but Cole made a desperate counter that set him up for the Panama Sunrise. He hit two in a row followed by a running knee for the pin to become the new TNT champion.

Cole offered a handshake and Garcia took it and raised his hand with a look of defeat on his face.

Result: Cole defeated Garcia to win the TNT Championship

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

—The video package for this match was one of the best of the night.

—It was almost weird to see Garcia in white gear and red boots.

—Cole did a good job making it look like he hurt his ankle. The way he landed and reacted immediately almost looked real.

—The move neckbreaker Cole hit on the steel steps was wild.

Bailey and Ricochet challenged Omega for the International Championship in the only Triple Threat bout on the card.

Ricochet rolled out of the ring to force Omega and Bailey to fight first. He tried to sneak in when they locked up, but Bailey nearly took his head off with a kick.

The first few minutes was a series of spots that only involved two of the three competitors at a time, so they were taking turns and finding ways to replace one person with another.

Omega and Bailey never formed a partnership, but they did seem to avoid hitting each other so they could strike Ricochet whenever they had the chance.

Ricochet took control and got on commentary for a moment to brag, but Bailey kicked him in the face to put a stop to his mid-match promo. The crowd responded with a huge pop.

All three men worked their butts off to make this a fun showcase of their respective styles. The crowd was behind Omega and Speedball while booing Ricochet at every turn. Even after more than four hours of wrestling, the crowd was energetic and lively.

This was an outstanding way to give Bailey his first big PPV performance. He held his own against two of the most respected high-flyers in the game, so he probably earned a lot of new fans in this bout.

They packed a lot of incredible action into this match, but only one man was going to leave with the title around his waist. After an incredible match that pushed all three men to their limits, Omega hit Ricochet with a One-Winged Angel for the win.

This was incredible from start to finish and it would be hard for anyone to follow them in the main event. As Omega was celebrating, Kazuchika Okada came to the ring. It looks like AEW is going to build to a title vs. title fight.

Result: Omega defeated Bailey and Ricochet

Grade: A

Notable Moments and Observations

—Justin Roberts said "Show some love for Ricochet" for his entrance. It was kind of funny given his current gimmick.

—Bailey's entrance gear was funny. He looked touched by the Speedball chants as the match began.

—Bailey and Omega taking a moment to slap Ricochet's bald head a few times was great. The crowd loved it.

—The double pin spots were very creative.

—Bailey's moonsault knee drop to both men was an awesome spot, but the one he went for on the apron and missed looked really painful.

—It was a little weird how Omega was just watching Ricochet almost win while standing at ringside near the end.

—Bailey successfully using a crane kick against Ricochet was the best thing we saw all night. They did that spot perfectly and made it hilarious.

Moxley put the AEW world title on the line against Strickland in the main event, but the champ didn't come alone. He had Marina Shafir by his side holding the briefcase containing what we assume is the title belt.

This match got started at 11:50 p.m. EST, so the show was definitely running longer than expected by this point. They started with some grappling on the mat instead of the slugfest the announcers were expecting.

It finally turned into a fight when Swerve started hitting forearms in the corner. They began to turn up the intensity a bit, but this wasn't a Hardcore match, so they had to work within the confines of the rules, but that didn't mean this match was bloodless.

Despite following one of the best matches of 2025 so far, Mox and Swerve were able to make their fight feel unique so it didn't fall short of what came before it.

These two put each other through hell, and it looked like Shafir was going to ruin it until Prince Nana got in her way. She took him out with the briefcase before Moxley accidentally hit her with a cutter.

Moxley set up a ladder and they ended up fighting on top of it until Swerve put Mox through the Spanish announce table with a double stomp. The ref got taken out with a chair a few minutes later, which led to "Hangman" Adam Page coming to the ring.

He set up for the Buckshot Lariat as both men got up, but the other Death Riders stopped him before he could choose who to hit. Hangman took out all three and then hit Deadeye on Mox. The Opps ran down to fight off The Death Riders.

Strickland set Moxley up for the Swerve Stomp and hit it flush, but the lights went out before he could make the cover. The lights came on and The Young Bucks hit Swerve with the BTE Trigger. The ref crawled into the ring and made the count to declare Moxley the winner.

Most of the match was good, but the Bucks getting involved in the finish felt like too big of a swing. It makes no sense without explanation and left a sour taste in the mouth.

Result: Moxley defeated Strickland

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

—Strickland's gear was a reference to the comic book character Static.

—Shafir's briefcase has extra straps on it to keep it closed.

—Shafir just stepping on Swerve's face as she walked by was coldblooded.

—Prince Nana did a good job looking scared of Shafir.

—The blade spot was a little too obvious.

AEW Dynasty was a fantastic PPV for in-ring action, which has become something AEW is known for these days. 

While some matches were better than others, nothing on this card could be called bad. Even the squash involving Caster and Bowens on the pre-show had value. 

A trend on this show was newcomers to AEW looking strong. Bayne and Knight turned in great performances against Storm and Ospreay, respectively, but there was one bout that stood out above everything else.

The Triple Threat for the international title with Omega, Bailey and Ricochet was a thing of beauty. They managed to pack just about everything you could think of into their fight, but the most impressive thing is that all three men came away looking strong despite only one being able to win. 

FTR turning heel against Cope was predictable but felt necessary to revive their characters a bit in 2025.

Bandido winning the ROH title was a feel-good moment, and Cole winning the TNT belt felt like the right call, but all eyes were on the main event. A lot of fans were hoping Swerve would finally put an end to Mox’s reign of terror and bring the belt back to TV, but The Young Bucks spoiled that for them.

We will see how this gets explained in the coming days, but it's safe to say the ending to the PPV is going to be a controversial topic among fans.

Grade: B+