10 Things We Learned Attending AEW Dynasty 2025 Live

5. Turning A Foregone Conclusion Into Must-See Action

Mark Briscoe Kyle Fletcher
AEW

The last time Mark Briscoe wrestled in the Liacouras Center on PPV, he won the Ring of Honor World Championship almost exactly one year ago.

Sunday night, Briscoe was the designated loser facing Kyle Fletcher in the first round of the Men’s Owen Hart Cup Tournament. The match faced the challenge of a completely predictable outcome and taking place right in the middle of the card. The opening moments were filled with polite applause, which can be the death knell for a “good” match.

But after a few minutes, Briscoe and Fletcher tore into each other and sucked the audience into the match. Damned if fans didn’t think a couple times that Briscoe might pull off the upset. What’s really uncanny was both men’s ability to translate their actions and magnify their emotions all the way to the top rows of the arena. Fletcher’s arrogance shined through, while Briscoe’s everyman quality and pain while being assaulted were felt high in the rafters.

Although the action itself was stellar and would have rated highly from a “star rating” aspect, that emotional connection from both wrestlers is what really made that offense more impactful and sucked in the fans. It was an incredible sight to witness the crowd buying in despite knowing exactly what was going to happen.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.