AEW Dynamite Winners, Grades and Reaction From June 17

AEW is gearing up for the Forbidden Door PPV on June 28, so this week's show featured a few segments designed to hype some of those matches.

One bout in particular that got a lot of attention is the Steel Cage match that will see MJF and Mark Briscoe each bring a different team with them to do battle.

Not only did they reveal their teams this week, but we saw them engage in a 12-man tag match to give us a preview of what we can expect at the PPV.

The Owen Hart tournament also continued with Hazuki taking on Mercedes Mone for the women's bracket, and Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay met face to face before they fight in the men's finals of the tournament.

Let's take a look at what happened on this week's Dynamite.

Kenny Omega vs. Tony Nese

The first match of the night saw Kenny Omega take on Tony Nese in an unannounced contest.

While these are two great athletes who easily could have stolen the show with enough time, this ended up being a glorified squash.

Omega getting the win made sense, and the post-match segment with TMDK to hype his match against Zack Sabre Jr. at Forbidden Door was good, but the match itself was a bit of a letdown when you consider who was involved.

There's not much more to say about this one because there wasn't much happening. It was what it was.

Result: Omega defeated Nese

Grade: Incomplete

Notable Moments and Observations

• Sterling took a nice bump off the apron with the V-Trigger.
• ZSJ not getting to speak or throw a single punch was a weird way to use him, but the segment still worked.

The Death Riders vs. Brodido

Bandido and Brody King took on Jon Moxley and Daniel Garcia in the second match, and this one was a doozy.

Not only did they get a lot of time, but we got a somewhat surprising outcome with Brodido getting a clean win over The Death Riders.

Marina Shafir played her part to perfection as the muscle at ringside, and seeing her get physical with Bandido was entertaining, but not as entertaining as her barking contest with King.

This was a strong match that made all four guys and Shafir look great. Brodido hasn't done much since dropping the AEW tag titles, but seeing them get a win over the top stable in AEW gives hope that their run as a duo might not be over yet.

Result: Brodido defeated The Death Riders

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Bandido's moonsault from the top rope to the floor was perfect. There was not a single thing you could have done to improve it.
• Garcia getting mad about Brodido dancing and then doing his dance was funny. It was nice to be reminded that he can be fun to watch.
• Shafir and King barking at each other was hilarious.

Hazuki vs. Mercedes Mone

Mercedes Mone and Hazuki competed in the semifinals of the Owen Hart Tournament this week, with the winner facing the winner of Maya World vs. Athena on this upcoming Collision.

This was just as good as their previous encounters, which were both fantastic matches, and a big reason why it was so good is that they were able to take their time.

Much like Brodido vs. Death Riders, this bout lasted long enough to need two commercial breaks, which is not very common in AEW these days.

Both women did an outstanding job making the near-falls feel like they might actually be the end of the match, but in the end, it was a submission that scored the CEO the win.

This is one you should go out of your way to check out if you didn't watch the show live. You will not be disappointed.

Result: Mone defeated Hazuki

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Hazuki missed the rope when she tried to hit a springboard arm drag, but she and Mone recovered quickly and kept going like nothing happened.
• Mone is great at adding little story beats between moves. Her facial expressions always help her tell a story.
• The DDT to Mercedes on the apron looked good.

Team MJF vs. Team Briscoe

MJF's team for Forbidden Door was revealed to be Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight, Kazuchika Okada, Jake Doyle and Andrade El Idolo during the first segment on the show.

Right before the main event, Mark Briscoe revealed his team included Kyle O'Reilly, Roddy Strong, Orange Cassidy, Konosuke Takeshita and Darby Allin. Before they all meet in a cage at the PPV, they had a 12-man tag match to close this week's show.

If you have been watching AEW for a while, you already know this match was pure mayhem because that is how every bout with this many people is, which is not a bad thing.

The main event gave us some entertaining moments and addressed several ongoing and potential feuds, especially MJF and Andrade.

In the end, the AEW world champion got the win for his team by making Strong tap out to The Salt of the Earth. This was a lot of fun, but it definitely wasn't the best thing on the show.

Result: Team MJF defeated Team Briscoe

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• This was kind of a surprising way to bring Allin back into the fold. The look of anger on MJF's face was hilarious.
• Takeshita's promo was short and sweet. He said "Kyle, I want you. Okada, I hate you."
• The way Allin flew off the stage to hit the ring post was nuts.
• They did a good job playing up the tension between MJF and El Idolo

The Final Word

This week's show was a little different form the usual episode of Dynamite because it only featured four total matches, which is how many we used to get every week during a one-hour episode of Rampage back in the day.

However, being light on matches did not mean light on action. Brodido vs. Death Riders, Mercedes vs. Hazuki and the main event all received a significant amount of time, which allowed each bout to make an impact.

Brodido defeated the Death Riders paved the way for Bandido to challenge Moxley for the continental title at Forbidden Door, Mercedes won to advance to the finals of the Owen, Omega picked up a squash win over Nese, and MJF's team bested Briscoe's thanks to a little help from Don Callis.

This might not go down as the most memorable episode of Dynamite, but it was a fun episode from start to finish, and the fact that every non-wrestling segment either continued or started a new feud made the time feel well spent.

Grade: B+