NJPW X AEW Wrestle Dynasty Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of Wrestle Dynasty 2025. The PPV saw representation from AEW, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Stardom and CMLL.

The multi-promotion event emanated from the Tokyo Dome and featured the returns of Kenny Omega and Young Bucks to a Japanese ring for the first time in quite a while.

Here is a look at the card from the show:

• Persephone vs. Athena vs. Momo Watanabe vs. Willow Nightingale (International Women's Cup)
• Sons of Texas vs. House of Torture (ROH Tag Titles)
• 8-man Gauntlet match
• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata
• Mercedes Mone vs. Mina Shirakawa (RevPro British Women's Title and NJPW Strong Women's Title)
• David Finlay vs. Brody King
• Shota Umino vs. Claudio Castagnoli
• Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tomohiro Ishii (AEW International Title and NEVER Openweight Title)
• Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Young Bucks vs. United Empire (IWGP Tag Titles)
• Yota Tsuji vs. Jack Perry (IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship)
• Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd
• Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship)

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

The International Women's Cup finals was the first match on the pre-show. Each woman represented their home promotion in this Fatal 4-Way.

From the moment the bell rang, this was an energetic and competitive contest. All four women worked hard to put on a good show. Athena and Willow's established chemistry was on full display every time they made contact.

This was non-stop action and all four competitors came away from this looking like strong fighters, but only one was going to leave with the cup. When it was all said and done, Watanabe scored the win with some help from a baseball bat behind the ref's back.

Result: Momo Watanabe

Grade: B+

The ROH tag title bout was up next with Sammy Guevara and Dustin Rhodes taking on Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Sho.

The champs quickly found themselves being double-teamed by the heels from House of Torture. Whenever it looked like one of them would make a comeback, Sho or Kanemaru would cheat to regain the upper hand.

This was a decent tag match, but there were several moments when it felt like they could have taken a moment or two to sell more. Guevara scored the win with a beautiful senton from the top rope.

Result: Sons of Texas defeated House of Torture

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Momo threw Athena out of the ring and it turned into a suicide dive into Persephone. It was a cool spot. 
• Persephone's flexibility and strength made her a standout in this match. She is someone to keep an eye on. 
• Sammy and Dustin were dressed like Deadpool and Wolverine. 
• Dustin no-selling a spear and Sho just crashing to the mat was hilarious. 

The first match on the main card saw eight talented from CMLL and NJPW compete in a gauntlet match. Here is the order of entrants in this match:

1. Hechicero
2. Kosei Fujita
3. Soberano
4. Master Wato
5. Mascara Dorada
6. Taiji Ishimori
7. Titan
8. El Desperado

This worked more like the Casino gauntlet in AEW than a WWE-style gauntlet match. Instead of someone having to beat everyone in a row, this was one fall to a finish.

Every time a new wrestler got to the ring, they would work against the person who just showed up. This means everyone else was just sort of sitting around at ringside waiting for something to happen. It was especially noticeable when Hechicero was standing there watching the action.

That being said, the action we got in this match was incredible. These were eight of the best high-flyers in the world doing what they do best, so we got plenty of high spots and creative counters.

Ishimori won the match and hightailed it out of there because he knew some of the other competitors would come after him.

Result: Ishimori won the match

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Hechicero had Fujita suspended in a submission and Soberano hit Fujita with a senton from the top rope. 
• Wato had a massive welt on his chest. 
• Dorada's double-rope-flip arm drag was incredible. 
• All seven men waiting for Desperado to get to the ring was really funny. 

After saving Tanahashi from a post-match attack at Wrestle Kingdom, the two agreed to face each other in a special five-minute exhibition.

This was paced very differently from the usual matches we see, but it had to be due to the time restrictions.

They went back and forth trading moves for the first couple of minutes before beginning to vary up their offense.

The time limit eventually ran out, so we didn't get a winner. They shook hands and ended on a positive note, but it felt unnecessary to even have this on the main card in the first place.

Result: Time limit draw

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Shibata was not holding back with his chops. Tana's chest was beet red. 

Shirakawa took on Mone in a title for title bout that saw the NJPW Strong and RevPro women's titles defended at the same time.

Mercedes tried to big-time Mina a little bit after their first lockup, but the Stardom talent quickly showed her that she is just as fast and just as talented.

As expected, these two did not take this lightly. They were throwing stiff strikes and trying to suplex and slam each other as hard as possible.

There was no clear advantage for either competitor, so it never felt like either of them was dominating the match for too long.

After a great fight from both women, Mone pinned Shirakawa to win her third championship. She now holds the TBS, NJPW Strong Women's and RevPro British Women's Championships. This is a match you should go out of your way to see. They did some fantastic work here.

Result: Mone defeated Shirakawa

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Mone was wearing Sailor Moon tribute gear. 
• Mina's figure four around the ring post was applied quicker than most people can do it. 
• The way Shirakawa slammed Mone's knee into the mat several times looked brutal. 
• Shirakawa's top rope DDT was cool. 

The next match had no titles on the line and no real stakes. It was simply two mean men who wanted to beat each other up.

Finlay competed less than 24 hours before this in a tough match, so King was coming into this as the fresher competitor.

King used his size and power to be the dominant force in the ring, but Finlay never once showed fear or hesitation. He took the fight to the big man and occasionally had him reeling a bit.

Even though this was 90% King in control, they did this in a way that made Finlay look resilient. He never backed down and never stayed down.

After surviving what amounted to a mauling from a bear, Finlay managed to get the victory. This was a highly entertaining encounter and both men came away from this looking good.

Result: Finlay defeated King

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Finlay is a deceptively big guy. He didn't look as small next to King as most guys do. 
• The way they collided into the barricade at one point was wild. 
• King's punches look stiffer than most.

After challenging Jon Moxley, Umino was told the leader of the Death Riders had other obligations, so he sent Castagnoli in his place.

The Swiss Superman attacked Umino during his entrance to get an unfair advantage. The first few minutes of this bout was nothing but Castagnoli whooping Umino like he owed him money.

Once Umino was able to regain his composure, this turned into a more even exchange. He wanted to prove to his old mentor that he could take out his right-hand man, so he was using a lot of high-impact moves like a draping DDT on the floor.

In a somewhat surprising outcome, Umino survived the Riccola Bomb and defeated Claudio with Moxley's Death Rider DDT. This is clearly setting up Umino vs. Moxley down the line, and it did a good job laying the groundwork.

This could be Mox's Forbidden Door opponent if both men are healthy.

Result: Umino defeated Castagnoli

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Umino's bike kind of looks like the motorcycle from the old Captain America movies. 
• The NJPW barricades look so painful to crash into. 
• Umino's apron DDT was cool. Castagnoli sold it well. 

Takeshita won the NEVER Openweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom and less than 24 hours later, he found himself defending both of his titles against Ishii.

The Stone Pitbull is usually the most intimidating man in any ring, but Big Take did not show a single sign of being scared.

These are two guys who are known for being hard hitters, so they were throwing bombs left and right trying to take each other down while also incorporating some suplexes and throws.

They beat the life out of each other to make this one of the most competitive fights of the night. Takeshita has really come into his own over the past year and this match was a great illustration of his growth.

Takeshita picked up the win with a Michinoku driver after a hard-fought exchange.

Result: Takeshita defeated Ishii

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• The openweight title could use an updated design. 
• Takeshita is one of the few people who can believably push Ishii around. 
• The running elbow Takeshita hit looked like it caught Ishii harder than intended, but they didn't slow down. 
• Takeshita hitting a deadlift falcon arrow from the middle rope was an incredible display of power. 

Nick and Matt Jackson returned to the Tokyo Dome to compete for the vacant IWGP tag titles against United Empire and LIJ.

The Bucks sat back and watched as the other two teams started fighting, but once everyone noticed, they went after Nick and Matt on the apron.

With six men involved and very little attention being paid to tags and who was legal, this bout was non-stop mayhem at times.

Trying to recap all of the action would be pointless because there was so much going on in and out of the ring. Everyone was fighting everyone and it never felt like one team had the upper hand for too long.

While a lot of what we saw looked good, it sometimes felt like there was too much going on. We didn't always get to see what was going on at ringside because the camera was focused on the ring.

In another surprising outcome on this show, the Bucks ended up winning to become the new IWGP tag champs for the second time.

Result: Young Bucks won the titles

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Great O-Khan's entrance gear is always cool. 
• Naito had the same entrance gear from WK, which was a big mascot outfit. It was amazing. 
• The Bucks mixed their newer gear look with designs from some of their older gear. 
• Jeff Cobb is a beast and needs to be used more in AEW. He has so much upside. 

Jack Perry showed up in full Scapegoat gear to take on Tsuji in a singles match for the Global Heavyweight Championship.

Tsuji just won the belt at WK from Finlay, so he was yet another champion was in action twice in less than 24 hours.

Perry seemed to take advantage of that and was able to get the upper hand early. This was a surprisingly one-sided match for the first several minutes.

Once Tsuji started to gain some momentum, he and Perry began trading blows in the middle of the ring. A few moments later, he cut Perry in half with a nasty Spear to get the pin and the win. This was a solid match but will likely be overlooked on this show due to the bouts that came after.

Result: Tsuji defeated Perry

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Perry's mask looked a little different from the last time we saw it. He was also carrying a huge scythe to the ring. 
• Tsuji looked tired pretty early, but he may have just been selling. It's hard to tell sometimes if someone is really good at looking beat up. 
• The jumping DDT from Perry looked great. 

After getting into a fight backstage at NJPW Power Struggle in November, Kidd and Omega met in a singles match to finally settle their issues once and for all.

Omega is the more decorate of the two, but Kidd was the more aggressive competitor. It took a moment for Omega to rebound and turn this into a competitive fight, but once he did, he started to show that his experience trumped Kidd's violence.

They battled all around the ring and Omega ended up powerbombing Kidd through a table on the other side of the barricade. Officials tried to signal for help, but The Cleaner dragged a bloody Gabe back to the ring.

A few moments later, Omega hit a dive that took out several people at ringside in addition to his opponent. He called the ref over and was holding his hip but continued the match.

You would never know Omega just spent a year on the shelf by how he was performing in this match. He didn't lose a single step and came back looking to prove he was still the Best Bout Machine.

Once Omega's dive took out the ref, the rules were thrown out the window, so they used every weapon they could find to inflict damage.

They left everything in the ring and delivered a fantastic show for the fans in attendance and watching at home. They both survived several pinfall attempts before it finally ended with Omega hitting the One-Winged Angel.

Result: Omega defeated Kidd

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Omega debuted a new entrance by the composers of Final Fantasy. 
• The commentators were not holding back with their negative opinions of Kidd. Chris Charlton also called Tony Khan a money mark. 
• Omega used a lot more punches than he usually used in a given match. It was interesting to see him trying to brawl. 
• The five from the ring to the crowd area was wild. Omega flew through the air and landed about as well as you can in that situation. 
• Both men were busted open at different points. 
• The snapdragon suplex from the top rope was wild. 

The main event of Wrestle Dynasty featured ZSJ putting his IWGP world title on the line against Ricochet. This was Sabre's second match in less than a day but he looked as fresh as a daisy during his entrance.

Ricochet decided to attack him as he was getting into the ring to give himself an advantage. He even got a close two-count after a springboard 450 before Sabre even had a chance to take off his jacket.

As soon as he was back to his feet, Sabre made it an even fight as they began trading some of their best shots.

Ricochet pulled out every high-flying trick in his arsenal, and ZSJ tied him up into a pretzel at every opportunity. They complemented each other's style perfectly so both men looked like they might win at any point.

Kidd and Omega tore the house down and made it hard for anyone to follow them, but Ricochet and Sabre succeeded because they made this feel completely different. They weren't using weapons or busting each other open. They were using pure skill and athleticism to put on the kind of performance worthy of a main event.

ZSJ retained his title in a memorable performance to cap off a fun PPV. We saw a lot of good things on this show, but the last two matches easily stole the night.

Result: Sabre defeated Ricochet

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Tanahashi was shown crying happy tears after Omega's win. 
• Countering a moonsault with a cravate is something only ZSJ would think to do. 
• Ricochet doing back-to-back moonsaults is one of those things he makes look effortless but is incredibly difficult for most people. 
• Some of their face slaps were really hard. You could see and hear each impact. 

Wrestle Dynasty was a fun PPV with a lot of great action, but if you came into this show expecting the same presentation as AEW, you were probably disappointed.

Everything about this show was done in the NJPW style, so in many ways, it felt like a NJPW event with guest stars from other promotions instead of a multi-branded PPV.

That being said, it's not a bad thing that this looked like a NJPW show. The camera work was good, the sound was solid, and the stream didn't have any hiccups.

In the ring, a few matches stood out. Mone vs. Shirakawan, Sabre vs. Ricochet and Omega vs. Gabe provided us with three great matches that all felt completely different.

Sabre and Ricochet had an exchange of high-flying moves and submission, Omega and Kidd left each other in a bloody heap, and Mone and Shirakawa gave us a great match with a lot of variety.

If you want to fill your day with some entertaining pro wrestling, you can't go wrong with this show.

Grade: B+