AEW Dynamite - 12/3/2025: 3 Things We Loved & 3 We Hated

AEW Dynamite - 12/3/2025: 3 Things We Loved & 3 We HatedStory byLuther flips off Marina Shafir - AEW/Lee SouthWrestling Inc. StaffThu, December 4, 2025 at 7:54 AM UTC·12 min read

Winter Is Coming is coming, the road to Worlds End is rolling by, and AEW is in the thick of the 2025 Continental Classic. Another "Dynamite" has come and gone, and it's time to break down the good and the bad from the December 3 edition of the AEW flagship show.

Like always, we will save "What Happened" for the results page, and instead get into our feelings and deliver some messy opinions on this week in "Dynamite." There was plenty to love, from the Women's Holiday Hardcore Tag Team Title Tournament Semifinal Match (say that five times fast), to the blistering promo battle between Eddie Kingston and AEW World Champion Samoa Joe ahead of their Winter Is Coming showdown. There was also plenty to hate, like Dark Order getting some of AEW's precious TV time or the National Title's muted beginnings.

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Without further ado, the best and the worst of the first "Dynamite" of December.

Read more: Tony Schiavone: Facts Only Hardcore Fans Know About The AEW Commentator

Loved: Talk That Talk Mad King

Eddie Kingston speaking - AEW

Ever since he returned to AEW at All Out, fans have been wondering when Eddie Kingston would finally show up. His body was there, his cool t-shirts made appearances, and his music kept playing at shows, but the Eddie Kingston that everyone knew before he got injured was nowhere to be found. The person who showed up instead was someone who was a little bit like Eddie Kingston, but just didn't have the same buzz about themselves, and while the lack of sharpness in the ring can be put down to not wrestling for a year-and-a-half, there was just something off about him.

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Then on the Thanksgiving edition of "AEW Collision," Kingston finally showed up as he caught a passionate promo to the live audience that had everyone going "EDDIE KINGSTON! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, PARTNER?" He was open, honest, and most importantly, determined. He knew that he had missed so much during his time away and needed to get right back into the mix, and what better way than to call out the AEW Men's World Champion, and a man he had a lot of history with already, Samoa Joe.

That brought us to the opening of the December 3 episode of "AEW Dynamite," where Joe and Eddie went face-to-face and word-for-word on the microphone. It baffles me that Kingston has been back in the company for nearly three month,s and it's only now that Tony Khan has realized that the best way to sell a fight or a match, or a show is to give Eddie Kingston a microphone and let him talk.

Joe is already a great promo, but he was in the ring with the most believable guy in the business. Eddie had no time for Joe's "you people are stupid" schtick that basically everyone does. He ran down Joe's current persona of wanting to dress the part rather than play the part. He has no respect for this version of Joe who has turned into someone that, many years ago, Joe would have hated, but most importantly, Eddie kept Joe strong while also posing a threat of his own. Eddie has known Joe for so long that he has seen what he can do and what he's capable of. Eddie knows that if the best possible version of Samoa Joe shows up next week, he might not win, but if the Joe we see now shows up, he's toast.

This feud has realistically lasted for less than a week, and I'm already pumped up for this match, and so should you. Eddie Kingston can talk someone into a burning building, and next week, he will try and burn Samoa Joe's title reign to the ground.

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Written by Sam Palmer

Hated: A Muted Start To An Inaugural Reign

Ricochet shouting - Etsuo Hara/Getty Images

Ricochet won the inaugural AEW National Championship at Full Gear, and while I know the point of the title is the champion can defend in other promotions, there's something a little minor league about his first defense being against Dalton Castle on an ROH PPV. I'm not sure what I expected, and maybe that's on me, but considering we're in the middle of a tournament that will revive the Continental Championship that was supposedly absorbed into the Unified Championship, I'm a little wary of AEW just having another title belt.

Ricochet has been doing phenomenal work on "Dynamite." He's elevated Gates of Agony, he's been a spectacular foil to The Hurt Syndicate, and it almost feels like he's being demoted to ROH for doing so well. Hell, it feels like Ricochet is now more likely to show up in the NWA than on AEW. It felt like winning the title meant that Ricochet was on the upswing, and now it feels like he's being cycled to the periphery.

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It won't be a "bad" match. Ricochet and Dalton Castle are consummate pros, but it just feels like a bigger deal could be made about this new title. Prove me wrong, AEW. Prove me wrong.

Written by Ross Berman

Loved: Hardcore Holiday Death Match Goodness

Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa tackle their opponents - AEW/Lee South

When you have four competitors like Toni Storm, Mina Shirakawa, Megan Bayne, and Marina Shafir who have excellent track records in wrestling the hardcore and death match style, you know that you're going to be in for a treat. They certainly gave us that in their AEW Women's World Tag Team Championship semifinals Hardcore Holiday Death Match.

There weren't necessarily tons of holiday-themed weapons in this match; there were certainly enough littered throughout it to get the theme across but not too much to the point where it became overwhelming. It was engaging to watch throughout, and included creative spots like the barbed wire wrapped candy cane.

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All four women still saved the best part of the match until the very end, however, when Santa Claus came to the ring with a present in hand. While the present itself may not have amounted to much of anything, the real gift happened when the revelation came that Santa Claus was actually Luther. It was the perfect way to bring him back into the fold, as it was both unexpected and incredibly fun, whilst not taking anything away from what any of the women were doing in the ring. All in all, it managed to still hold its own on an edition of "Dynamite" that had plenty of good matches and was my personal favourite match on the show.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Hated: The Dark Order vs. The Opps

Dark Order get choked by The Opps - AEW/Lee South

To try and add an extra layer to the current feud between Hangman Page and The Opps, AEW rolled back the years on "AEW Dynamite" by having Hook, Katsuyori Shibata, and Powerhouse Hobbs go after a group of men who were once partly responsible for Hangman winning the AEW Men's World Championship, The Dark Order. It has been a long, LONG time since The Dark Order were featured on "Dynamite," and while they might have popped up on episodes of "AEW Collision," "AEW Rampage" or even things like Zero Hour pre-shows and the Battle of the Belts specials, The Dark Order wanted to make a statement on tonight's show...they did not.

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I get what AEW was going for. The Dark Order were once close friends with Hangman, and The Opps wanted to get under his skin by taking out his former pals, but the problem with that is Hangman has not been associated, or even seen with anyone from The Dark Order in over two years. It's very clear that Hangman doesn't really give Evil Uno, John Silver, or Alex Reynolds a second thought nowadays, so why should we? They're not going to beat The Opps so soon after turning heel so why would we as an audience care what happens?

The solution would have been a handy yet vicious squash match. Sure, The Dark Order are AEW originals and deserve to be treated with a certain level of delicacy because they have been in the company since the start, but you can do that in dark matches and on Ring of Honor (which they have been doing). Here was a chance to brutally attack them to prompt a Hangman interruption to truly sell that even though they haven't been close in a long time, Hangman still cares about them. Instead, The Dark Order and The Opps had a normal match, a competitive match at times, which should not be the case in the year of our lord 2025, and then when it was all done, Hangman cared more about beating up security than he did checking on his old friends.

I have absolutely no beef with The Dark Order, but given the level of star that Hangman has become since they were last seen with each other, they shouldn't be anywhere near him right now. Fortunately, Hangman will be teaming with Swerve Strickland next week (he didn't announce tha,t but it's very obvious who his partner will be), which is infinitely more interesting than trying to remind people of a friendship that was relevant at the start of the decade. This was a match to pad time, and no one gained anything from it.

Written by Sam Palmer

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Loved: Claudio Castagnoli beat Jon Moxley

Jon Moxley flips off Claudio Castagnoli, mid-spin - AEW/Lee South

The main event of this week's "AEW Dynamite" saw perhaps the most intriguing bouts of the 2025 Continental Classic as the Death Riders' Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli clashed in the Blue League. Both had got the win and their first three points during the first round of matches, but there is a growing interest in the standing of Moxley as the leader of the group, given his defeats in recent months in contrast to Castagnoli's growing reliability at the core of the group.

Moxley really needed the win coming into this bout, while Castagnoli was out to demonstrate a point after bringing CMLL World Heavyweight gold back to the group. And the action very much sold that story, with Castagnoli getting the better of Moxley from the off and taking him into the corner. Marina Shafir had entered alongside Moxley and, per the rules of the tournament, could not continue to be at ringside. And such she had a brief exchange with the referee as she refused to go, eventually relenting with Moxley under threat of disqualification.

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It added to the gradual sense that Moxley is losing control of things, and it heightened the atmosphere with the exchange coming as Castagnoli sprawled over and frustrated Moxley in the corner. Going the opposite direction of effectively every other match he is a part of, Moxley worked as the underdog in this battle. His rallies were few and far between. He was forced to endure all manner of offense with the action taken to the outside, into the crowd, and back into the ring, all with Castagnoli controlling the tempo. He was busted open - keep in mind this is Jon Moxley, so of course he was - and bled profusely for much of the match. While there are some who bemoan the use of blood, I felt like it added to this particular bout and worked well, especially leading into the finish.

Moxley had created just a bit of space for himself with a DDT in the middle of the ring, with both he and Castagnoli heading to opposite corners to recuperate; it was announced that five minutes remained of the match, both men shot up and ran at one another, only Castagnoli was much faster on the draw. He clattered into him with a flying European Uppercut, dropping the bloody Moxley to the mat for the final three-count in a flash-finish. Statement made, Castagnoli heads to the top of the Blue League with six points, ahead of Moxley with the win. It's another loss for Moxley and the wider Death Riders to chew, with increasing pressure on Moxley to live by the standard he had set for his teammates.

Written by Max Everett

Hated: Winter Came, Winter Went

Game of Thrones characters at an event - Marc Bruxelle/Getty Images

"Game Of Thrones" is over. "House of The Dragon" might still be a thing, but the fact that I don't know suggests that the cultural cache of "Winter Is Coming" is dwindling. Much like "Fyter Fest," the parody of the meme disaster festival known as Fyre Festival, AEW is desperately grasping for the ghost of relevance. This is not a company that's going to have Glep from "Smiling Friends" run across the screen. There's something about watching everyone talk about "Winter Is Coming" that makes AEW feel stuck in the 2010s.

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I get it, trademarks are filed, and AEW wants to get as much bang for their buck off the retainer fees that went into filing said trademarks, but the references are not as fresh as they once were. It can start to stink, like milk left out on the counter. I'm not saying that AEW needs to put the World Trios Championship on the three lovable meatheads from "Haha, You Clowns," but they could at least be ROH Trios Champions.

I'm kidding.

But still, AEW could do with sticking its head out of the wrestling waters and taking a look around, seeing what is actually going on in the world. They had The Young Bucks entering to a riff on "Succession," so I know that the company is capable of taking on some fresher references. Which is what makes the "Game of Thrones" of it all so frustrating.

Written by Ross Berman

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