AEW President Tony Khan has booked 12 total matches (of course) across the pre-show and main card of Dynasty. Two of these matches stand out to me for featuring the in-ring returns of pro wrestling legends who are 50+ years old. After more than one full year out of the ring, 55-year-old Chris Jericho is back tonight in a singles match against super worker Ricochet. After Jericho’s last run in AEW was marred by go away heat, a terrible gimmick, and constant chants of “Please retire,” he has been very careful about putting himself in the best position to be cheered as a babyface since returning on Dynamite less than two weeks ago. Not only have all of his appearances come in Canada so far, but Chris is up against one of the most hated heels on the roster. Jericho also brought back his very popular List of Jericho gimmick to set up this match. On top of that, it looks like Jericho is in great shape. That’s all well and good, but how well can Chris go in the ring and keep up with Ricochet after being out of the ring for so long? If Jericho wants to sustain goodwill with the AEW audience, he probably needs to be able to still deliver at a high level in the ring, which can be very hard to do at his age.

The other returning legends at Dynasty are 52-year-old Adam Copeland and 52-year old Christian Cage. They looked very good in the ring the last time they wrestled in September when they beat FTR. Cope and Cage are challenging for the AEW world tag team titles against FTR tonight. Not only do the babyfaces want to take away the thing that matters most to Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, but they also keep talking about ending their careers at Dynasty. Copeland may have to bring back Spike late in the match to live up to that threat of violence and suffering. Copeland has said over and over again that he only has a small window left in pro wrestling. With that in mind, the plan here may very well be for E+C to get one final run as tag team champions, setting them up for a big 2026 being paired up against other top teams like the Young Bucks.