https://www.youtube.com/embed/FVdoH-SWzUc?si=SeoMoJ_l3HERzdR7

FULL GEAR 2023 saw two new champions crowned with Julia Hart claiming the TBS Championship from Kris Statlander, albeit by pinning Skye Blue, and Toni Storm kicking off her third reign as AEW Women’s World Champion at Hikaru Shida’s expense, as well as MJF, against all odds, officially completing one full year as AEW World Champion! Now with WORLDS END just over a month away on Long Island, all eyes turn towards AEW’s Thanksgiving Eve tradition and our return to Chicago for DYNAMITE!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/jZg8HMK656U?si=TE3bRGxjONR9btef

This year the focus falls on the kick-off of the Continental Classic, AEW’s first-ever Round Robin Tournament, with some seriously high stakes thanks to Eddie Kingston putting both the ROH World Championship and NJPW STRONG Openweight Title into the mix, and it all begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT live on TBS, as well as at AEWPlus.com for international fans. Be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel, as well as AEW’s assorted social media platforms, to get caught up on the action with highlights from FULL GEAR 2023, as well as recent episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, COLLISION, and this week’s CONTROL CENTER!

CONTINENTAL CLASSIC…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/bJEF8Wp4etk?si=81rLmqVhlVwZ7DUE

Earlier today, in the above embedded video, AEW/ROH President Tony Khan, along with Tony Schiavone and ROH World Champion/NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion, announced the field of 12 for the Continental Classic Tournament! There are two groups, Blue and Gold, with six competitors each, competing in a Round Robin Style Tournament that begins Wednesday night in Chicago, and will continue until the finals at WORLDS END on December 30th!

Already quite the intriguing situation with Bryan Danielson, Mark Briscoe, and Andrade El Idolo putting their names into the hat prior to the Selection Special, with a competitive fire burning strong in his heart, Eddie Kingston further amplified the prestige of the tournament by putting both the ROH World Champion and NJPW STRONG Championship at stake thus, along with the AEW Continental Championship, creating a new Triple Crown Championship awaiting the winner of this tournament.

Now as for the rules of this tournament, matches will be contested with a 20 minute time limit, there will be no seconds allowed at ringside, and outside interference will not be tolerated, which may throw a monkey wrench in how many of the competitors generally handle their business. In addition, the scoring system for the Continental Classic will be very straight forward and simple, with points being awarded as follows: 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw. Here is how the two groups break down:

Blue Group

Andrade El Idolo

“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson

Brody King

Claudio Castagnoli

Daniel Garcia

ROH World Champion/NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston

Gold Group

Jay Lethal

Jay White

Jon Moxley

Mark Briscoe

Rus

Swerve Strickland

The first matches of the tournament will go down at Wintrust Arena as part of AEW’s Thanksgiving Eve tradition, and continue Saturday night in Pittsburgh!

THE GOLD GROUP…

Swerve Strickland vs. Jay Lethal

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Continental Classic Tournament is going to be the opportunity to see several first-time matches, and three of them are going down this Wednesday night with the opening bouts of AEW’s first-ever Round -style Robin Tournament!

Coming off a brutal, bloody Texas Death Match victory over Hangman Page at FULL GEAR 2023, Swerve Strickland will be in action for his first bout of the Continental Classic this Wednesday night in Chicago. Though there is not way he’s feeling anywhere near 100%, Swerve will have to find a way to be at the top of his game because his opponent in this first night of action will be “The Franchise of ROH”, a former 2-Time ROH World Champion and the second-longest reigning ROH World TV Champion in history thanks to Samoa Joe’s recent run, Jay Lethal! Lethal is no doubt coming into this bout far healthier than Swerve, and that may make the crucial difference in this contest, but another game changer for both these individuals, given how each generally approaches their matches, is that ban on seconds and outside interference. How many times have fans seen Jeff Jarrett, Sonjay Dutt, Satnam Singh, and Karen Jarrett play a deciding factor in Jay Lethal’s matches? On how many instances have The Gates of Agony, Brian Cage, or Prince Nana been involved in swaying Swerve Strickland’s matches? With this tournament, none of that will fly, leaving these two stellar athletes to rely solely on their skill inside the squared circle? Which of these men will notch their first points in the Continental Classic?

LFI’s Rush vs. BULLET CLUB GOLD’s Jay White

Just like Swerve, both “El Toro Blanco” Rush and “Switchblade” Jay White went through their own bit of hell at FULL GEAR 2023. In the case of Rush, it was the Four Team Ladder match for the AEW World Tag Titles and the punishment that sort of bout entails while for Jay White it was his bid for the AEW World Championship against MJF, although he and BC GOLD did their best to make sure it wasn’t MJF defending The Triple B.

While neither man was victorious in their efforts to become a champion in All Elite Wrestling, a new road to that goal begins this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE with the opening bouts in the Continental Classic. Another first-time bout, this head-to-head fight between the leaders of LFI and BC GOLD may be the show stealer given the skills of each involved, but as with the Lethal/Swerve bout, this is another contest between two men who often rely on their respective units to help determine the outcomes of a bout.

But unlike most outings with these two, there will be no Jose the Assistant, Preston Vance, or Dralistico at Rush’s side to interfere, nor a Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn, or Colten Gunn in Jay White’s corner to stick their nose in the business at hand. This continental classic is about putting the focus on the wrestling, and the fight between the two individuals vying for points, not the assorted seconds, managers, and stablemates polluting the competition with shenanigans.

With those elements removed, this is a bout between two elite level competitors and it will be quite intriguing to see who nets the three points in their first Continental Classic clash!

The BCC’s Jon Moxley vs. Mark Briscoe

Now this is going to be a fight between two men who love to throwdown inside the squared circle, and unlike the other two first-time bouts, this first-timer does not involve a competitor reliant on interference, managers, or seconds. Both Jon Moxley and Mark Briscoe are men who want the victory on their own merit, they want the win on their own skills, and not because someone else lent a hand.

For Mark Briscoe, a 13-time ROH World Tag Team Champion with his late brother Jay, this tournament is an opportunity to not only firmly stake his status in the singles division but also to claim the first singles championship (or rather championships) of his entire career! He’s challenged for the ROH World Title and the ROH World Television Championship several times during his twenty-plus years in ROH, but never captured those, nor any other singles title, and if he comes out of this tournament on top, he could claim three in one shot! He just may have the most difficult first match of the tournament by fighting Jon Moxley!

A 3-Time AEW World Champion, a former International Champion, and former 2-Time IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion, just to name a few of his accolades, Moxley is certainly a favorite to win this tournament and add three more championship to his name with the Triple Crown of the ROH World, NJPW STRONG Openweight, and AEW Continental Championships. With three members in the field, The Blackpool Combat Club are absolutely odds-on favorites to bring a tournament victory to their camp, and Jon Moxley is the first of the three to shoot for the three points.

These are two of the most unpredictable men in all of professional wrestling, and it is going to be a wild night when the two of them meet inside the squared circle for the very first time!

TONI STORM’S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH…

Last Saturday night at FULL GEAR 2023, fans witnessed as Toni Storm dethroned Hikaru Shida to reclaim the AEW Women’s World Championship for the third time. It was a fitting end to Storm’s Hollywood Homecoming, at least for her, and she did share some words with the AEW cameras following the bout:

Unfortunately, for those who had hoped she’d join the FULL GEAR Media Scrum following the conclusion of the pay-per-view, that would not be the case as Toni had other commitments to attend, but she very kindly gave Tony Khan a letter explaining her absence, one which RJ City was kind enough to provide for everyone to read:

Storm’s lack of appearing during the Media Scrum simply meant her adoring public just had to wait until this Wednesday night in Chicago, during AEW’s DYNAMITE Thanksgiving Eve tradition, to hear her Championship Acceptance Speech! Who will she thank? Who will she be wearing? Will the band have to play her off stage if she goes on too long? Tune into TBS this Wednesday night to hear what will surely be the most unforgettable acceptance speech in championship history from “Timeless” Toni Storm!

RECHRISTENING?

After falling to Darby Allin, Sting, and Adam Copeland at FULL GEAR 2023, TNT Champion Christian Cage has stated that this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE, he is going to rechristen Nick Wayne and Luchasaurus.

So rechristen simply means “to rename” or “to change the name of”, which means Christian Cage has the intention of changing the names of his Patriarchy followers. What could he possibly hope to gain from this? And what names could he possibly choose for Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne?

On the heels of FULL GEAR 2023 AEW’s first-ever Round Robin Tournament, the Continental Classic, gets underway and will run from Wednesday night in Chicago through WORLDS END on December 30th. Tonight will see Mark Briscoe versus Jon Moxley, Swerve versus Lethal, and Rush/Switchblade kick off the tournament, with more to come this weekend in Pittsburgh, and it kicks off at 8pm ET/7pm CT live on TBS! International fans can catch the action at AEWPlus.com, and everyone needs to visit the official AEW YouTube channel, as well as AEW’s other social media platforms, to get caught up on the action with highlights from FULL GEAR 2023, as well as recent episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, COLLISION, and this week’s CONTROL CENTER!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_9VrmRqRfDM?si=1BlI598LbYO71Hq2

After a jam-packed week of action with three events, All Elite Wrestling returns to one of DYNAMITE’s first homes at the Liacouras Center on the Philadelphia campus of Temple University! With it comes the Dynamite Diamond Ring clash between AEW World & ROH World Tag Team Champion MJF and BULLET CLUB GOLD’s Juice Robinson ahead of Max’s scheduled clash with “Switchblade” Jay White at FULL GEAR 2023! In addition, Hikaru Shida will put her AEW Women’s World Championship on the line against Ruby Soho, Rob Van Dam and HOOK will clash with The Dark Order, and we will hear from Chris Jericho as he sits down with Renee Paquette!

But that’s not all: we will also see a huge dream team match-up as AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy brings Kazuchika Okada back to AEW for a tag team clash with Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli of The Blackpool Combat Club! In addition, AEW President Tony Khan has a gift for “The Icon” Sting after his stunning announcement last week, and The Elite will put their ROH World Six-Man Championship on the line against The Hardys and Brother Zay!

DYNAMITE is loaded for AEW’s return to Philadelphia, and the action gets underway beginning at 8pm ET/7pm CT live on TBS, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international fans! Before the night starts, visit the official AEW YouTube channel to watch highlights from last week’s DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, COLLISION and BATTLE OF THE BELTS, as well as the latest CONTROL CENTER, and so much more!

DYNAMITE DIAMOND RING MATCH…

AEW World & ROH World Tag Team Champion MJF vs. “Rock Hard” Juice Robinson

https://www.youtube.com/embed/h7YT96gSsEY?si=aEdUS4wRjsySHB6j&start=113

As of this moment, AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman is set to clash with BULLET CLUB GOLD’s “Switchblade” Jay White at FULL GEAR 2023 (https://www.allelitewrestling.com/aew-event/aew-full-gear-2023) on Saturday November 18th, and with that on the horizon, The Bang Bang Gang has done everything they can to make Max’s life hellish. They’ve attacked him, stolen his Triple B championship belt, mocked the Dynamite Diamond Ring MJF has managed to keep in his possession since 2019, and now after Juice Robinson won the Battle Royale last week, they aim to rob him of that accessory as well.

Sure Max, or at least someone wearing his signature devil mask, and a gang of other disguised individuals fired back at Jay White by assaulting him backstage, but circumstantial evidence aside, and taking the man’s word with a grain of salt, MJF claims the mask was stolen from his bags. Now historically speaking Maxwell Jacob Friedman has not been the most trustworthy individual, but his somewhat matured attitude towards everything lends him a credibility he didn’t have earlier this year.

But MJF is going to have to put all that aside, everything BC GOLD has put him through the last several weeks and the distractions of everything surrounding Adam Cole’s surgery, and focus on the task at hand with Juice Robinson. With Cole’s out, and MJF clearly not interested in the help offered by Max Caster, the AEW World Champion is quite alone in a situation where Juice and The Bang Bang Gang will absolutely use their numbers to further break MJF down before FULL GEAR 2023.

Will “Rock Hard” be the first person not named MJF to lay claim to the Dynamite Diamond Ring? Max won the Battle Royale, and the subsequent singles match, three years running while last year defended the AEW World Title, as well as possession of the ring, in a match versus Ricky Starks. So while history is on MJF’s side, the other side has four men on it who will conspire together to insure the current holder of the Dynamite Diamond Ring doesn’t spend another night with it on his finger…

A DREAM TEAM…

AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy & Kazuchika Okada

vs.

Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli)

Four months ago to the day, at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023, Bryan Danielson defeated “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada with a broken arm. It was the culmination of a hard-hitting twenty-eight minute fight, one fans had dreamed about seeing for years finally coming to fruition, that far exceeded expectations, and left people clamoring for more. Okada, for one, was certainly game for a rematch, quoted as saying “If there is a time to have a rematch, I’d like to win even if I have to break both of Danielson’s arms next time.”!

Well, as Orange Cassidy announced to the world after winning his BATTLE OF THE BELTS VIII International Championship defense against John Silver, “The Rainmaker” will have that chance this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE when he returns to AEW for this tag team dream match! The multi-time IWGP Champion will team with the 2-Time AEW International Champion to take on The Blackpool Combat Club of Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli!

This match marks the first time Okada has been in Philadelphia since ROH WRESTLING Episode #209, available on Honor Club now, was taped in August 2015! It’s been over eight years since “The Rainmaker” graced the City of Brotherly Love, and now he’s back for this huge tag team collision that’s as much about OC and Jon Moxley as it is Danielson/Okada. Moxley may not be cleared for combat quite yet, but clearly he and “Freshly Squeezed” are on a collision course revolving around that AEW International Championship. What Orange did when he purposefully shoulder bumped Moxley was way outside the norm for the 2-Time International Champion, as was the manner in which he lofted the belt overhead as Mox was pulled away by his BCC brethren, as if Orange was challenging the man who beat him for the belt back at GRAND SLAM 2023.

So while OC and Mox may not get their hands on one another quite yet, Cassidy is more than happy to fight the other members of The Blackpool Combat Club this week, and no matter who the victor is when the final bell rings, the AEW faithful are all winners! This is Danielson and Okada in the ring once more, this is Danielson and OC fighting for the first time, Claudio and Okada for the first time, and it goes down this Wednesday night on TBS! Dreams do come true…

AEW WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

Hikaru Shida(c) vs. Ruby Soho

It is clear as day that Ruby Soho is beyond frustrated with her championship situation, or rather lack thereof, in All Elite Wrestling: frustrated at GRAND SLAM 2021 by Dr. Britt Baker in their AEW Women’s World Championship fight, and beaten by Jade Cargill in the finals of the TBS Championship Tournament on January 5, 2022. Then it was the loss at REVOLUTION 2023 in a Three Way World Championship fight with Jamie Hayter and Saraya, the defeat at Kris Statlander’s hands in their TBS Championship bout at ALL OUT 2023, and the loss to Hikaru Shida in their #1 Contender’s match on the 9/29/23 edition of RAMPAGE, a victory that Shida parlayed into her third reign as champion at Saraya’s expense.

So with all that piled on her head, not to mention everything that’s gone down with “Timeless” Toni Storm, Ruby is hellbent on finally becoming a champion in All Elite Wrestling, to the point where she made this challenge to Hikaru Shida despite having ate that loss a month ago. Ruby wants what she feels she deserves, and given her temperament when she delivered those words on COLLISION, she may be willing to do anything to make it happen.

For Shida, this is a possibly a chance to move past The Outcasts, to add a championship win over Ruby Soho to that of her recent one over Saraya and her DYNAMITE #200 one over Toni Storm. It’s also the opportunity to celebrate this third championship reign the way Shida couldn’t with the second when Saraya stole it from her at ALL IN: LONDON, by pinning Storm, after just twenty-five days. Can Ruby bring Shida’s third championship reign to an even shorter conclusion than her second and finally achieve what she’s craved since her first day in AEW?

ROH WORLD SIX-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

The Elite (Hangman Adam Page, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson)

vs.

Brother Zay & The Hardys (Jeff & Matt)

The Elite of Adam Page and The Young Bucks captured the ROH World Six-Man Championship titles from The Mogul Embassy at RAMPAGE: GRAND SLAM 2023, beginning their second reign as champions some five and a half years after the conclusion of their first. While all three men have been distracted with other business in the months since that victory, none have forgotten about their responsibility as champions and how that entails actually defending the titles.

It is with that in mind that Hangman and the brothers Jackson laid out an Open Challenge for this Wednesday night in Philadelphia, leaving the door open for any three individuals to walk through and try to claim the titles for themselves. Well it looks like two men men named Hardy heard the call, and found their third in another named Brother Zay who’s grown quite close to Matt and Jeff over the last couple years. Now The Hardys and Zay have only gone the trios route on two instances, once to challenge Daddy Ass and The Acclaimed for the AEW World Trios Titles and another to face Garcia, Parker, and Menard, and have lost on both occasions, but that isn’t going to stop them from taking the gamble when there’s a championship at stake.

The Hardys do know a thing or two about beating The Young Bucks, while Matt, Hangman, and Brother Zay have some history of their own here in AEW; which trio will walk away dominant and which will be despondent?

TAG TEAM CHALLENGE…

The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs. FTW Champion HOOK & Rob Van Dam

The Dark Order are quite unhappy with the outcome of John Silver’s AEW International Championship fight with Orange Cassidy that took place at BATTLE OF THE BELTS VIII. Though Silver fought the good fight, “Freshly Squeezed” left with the championship still in his backpack, but for John and Alex Reynolds the deal isn’t over yet.

As they said, since they can’t get their hands on OC this Wednesday seeing as how he’s got that tag match already on his plate, they’ve elected to target a pair of his friends in Rob Van Dam and the FTW Champion HOOK. This being Philadelphia, the home of the promotion where RVD really made his name in professional wrestling, it’s akin to a homecoming for the multi-time World Champion, a return to a city he hasn’t competed in since December 2022, and only six times in the last decade at that. Together, though it’s only been that one match thus far, RVD and HOOK have gelled quite well as a tag team, but they will be put to the test by Alex Reynolds and John Silver on Wednesday night.

Those two Dark Order members are one of the most experienced pairs in All Elite Wrestling, having worked as a team since 2011, and captured multiple championships together before their entry into AEW. Though they’ve been frustrated as team, only challenging one time for the AEW World Tag Titles and once for the ROH tag belts, that doesn’t change the fact they are a dangerous duo with a chip on their shoulder and a reborn malice in their hearts.

Orange Cassidy may be the target of their animosity, but it’s Cassidy’s friends potentially taking stray bullets this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE. Obviously The Dark Order doesn’t care who feels their wrath, as long as it hurts Orange Cassidy in the process…

A GIFT FOR STING…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/BeVv8BbZIEk?si=c2n2DBRp2siILr9C

A week ago we heard “The Icon” Sting tell the world that REVOLUTION 2024, wherever that may take place and on whatever date it may take place, will be his last day competing as a professional wrestler. Though he has often used the line “The only for certain about Sting is that nothing is for certain”, “The Icon” made a point to say that this was for certain. Exactly what shape that final night will take remains to be seen, and luckily we all still have several months to show the man our appreciation for everything he’s meant to professional wrestling, and to so many lives around the world.

One man who intends to show his appreciation for Sting this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE is AEW’s CEO Tony Khan, and he apparently has a gift for “The Icon” he intends to present right here in Philadelphia. It’s a city Sting’s quite familiar with, a place where’s he’s won and lost championships, and a city whose wrestling history he’s been a part of since 1987; what will this next trip to Philly mean to “The Icon” as he heads towards the end of the road next year?

CHRIS JERICHO & RENEE PAQUETTE…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/tiONqBXsIq0?si=egBFwcBeOQRqlZpf&start=59

Powerhouse Hobbs decimated Chris Jericho like no man has done since the inception of All Elite Wrestling, and possibly like no man has ever done to Chris in the whole of his career. It was an explosion of so much pent-up within the former TNT Champion, years and years of emotion and rage, and though it was Don Callis who harnessed those emotions to unleash upon Chris Jericho, it was Powerhouse who did the damage.

Now, after the AEW faithful being subjected to Don Callis and his ilk last week, it is time for Chris Jericho to share his thoughts with the world, something he will do when he sits down with Renee Paquette this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE. How is Jericho feeling? What is running through his head after Callis’ latest affront and after hearing Powerhouse Hobbs’ words? The AEW faithful will find out Wednesday night on TBS!

SWERVE’S GOT WORDS…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/OoV7KNa-A7c?si=PZgIyda3-BvDh-Vr

This Wednesday night in Philly Swerve Strickland has some thoughts to share regarding “Hangman” Adam Page and his involvement in Strickland’s match with Bryan Danielson. In the mind of Swerve, if Page hadn’t inserted himself into the fracas it would’ve been Strickland challenging Christian Cage for the TNT Championship instead of “The American Dragon”, and Swerve would’ve won the title whereas Danielson lost.

The reality is that Hangman, despite having an upcoming match with Jay White on his plate, chose to put himself into that fight to stop Swerve Strickland from cheating the same way he did at WRESTLEDREAM to defeat Page. Hangman was only there to make sure it was fair, and that is what played a part in costing Swerve his TNT Championship opportunity.

So on DYNAMITE, in the City of Brotherly Love, Swerve Strickland aims to address the former AEW World Champion about this situation, and we shall see what that leads to, especially considering Hangman has a ROH World Six-Man Championship title defense already on his plate for the evening.

This Wednesday night, DYNAMITE comes back to Philadelphia’s Liacouras Center with a jam-packed night of action beginning at 8pm ET/7pm CT LIVE on TBS, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international fans! Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale winner Juice Robinson takes on AEW World Champion MJF with his prized Dynamite Diamond Ring at stake, Kazuchika Okada returns to AEW to team with Orange Cassidy for a tag team bout with The BCC, Hikaru Shida defends the AEW Women’s World Championship against Ruby Soho, and so much more set to go down! Be sure to drop by the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from last week’s episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, BATTLE OF THE BELTS, and COLLISION, as well as the newest edition of THE CONTROL CENTER to get prepared!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5VenDXf6FLM?si=GQP5Ohl30M3mM1CP

This Sunday night, live on pay-per-view (https://www.allelitewrestling.com/watchwrestledream), All Elite Wrestling presents WRESTLEDREAM (https://www.allelitewrestling.com/aew-event/aew-wrestledream) from the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA! Headlined by the Danielson/ZSJ “Submissions in Seattle” dream match over a year in the waiting, this event is as loaded as it gets, and with AEW PPV’s that is saying quite a lot!

Six championships will be on the line, including a match with both the ROH World and NJPW STRONG Openweight at stake, plus we will see the next contender to the AEW World Tag Team Titles crowned in an all-star Four Way Tag! In addition, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi will be joined by the unlikeliest of allies in Chris Jericho to take on The Don Callis Family, Hangman Page faces Swerve Strickland, and more!

The action begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT, with the ZERO HOUR getting underway at 7pm ET/6pm CT on the official AEW YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@AEW/videos). Before the ZERO HOUR gets underway, be sure to check out the highlights from all the week’s action to get ready for the first-ever WRESTLEDREAM event!

TNT CHAMPIONSHIP/2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH: Christian Cage(c) vs. Darby Allin

https://www.youtube.com/embed/mLn5lhSr5qk?si=NlPfWEfexYq2wKYm&start=124

This is as personal as a rivalry in the AEW career of Darby Allin has gotten, and it should come as little surprise that it’s due to Christian Cage picking, poking, and prodding at any vulnerability he sees. He’s not the first man to pick at the scab of Darby’s late-uncle, but he might be the one whose gotten the most reaction from Darby out of it. He’s likely not the first man in the life of Nick Wayne to prod at the memory of his late father Buddy Wayne, but Cage has managed dig in deeper than anyone else. And he’s certainly not the first individual to manipulate others to find a way to his goals, but Christian Cage has done it so masterfully with Luchasaurus that the former TNT Champion is still standing at the side of the man who took the title from him.

It’s clear that Christian Cage is a horrible human, at his core possibly the worst man to ever set foot in an AEW ring, and that’s saying something when Don Callis is also part of the scene. This is a man who has used the deaths of loved ones as a tool against his foes, who has dismissively addressed his own children on live television, and treated everyone around him like pawns on that proverbial chessboard. He’s scum, and this Sunday night in Seattle, in front of the people who have witnessed Darby’s rise to the top from the very beginning of his career, in front of those who watched his TNT Championship triumph over Samoa Joe back in January, Christian Cage is going to get his comeuppance two times over.

In a two out of three falls match, Christian Cage will defend the TNT Championship against Darby Allin and he may well have to do so all by himself depending the outcome of the Luchasaurus/Nick Wayne match during ZERO HOUR. His Right Hand of Destruction may not be available for the assist if Nick Wayne gets his way during their fight, because even though Darby challenged Cage to leave Luchasaurus behind, it’s highly unlikely Christian will stick to his word that he doesn’t need Luchasaurus to beat Darby. Also it won’t be enough for Cage to beat Darby once, if he beats him at all, he’s got to do it twice in a single match, and given Allin’s ability to take the pain and use it as fuel, that may be an impossible task for even the lowliest of men.

Will this be the night that Christian Cage finally beats Darby Allin after losing to him twice in recent months, or will it be a triumphant night for the 2-Time TNT Champion, one where he hoists the title up for the third time, and shuts up Christian Cage for the moment?

SUBMISSIONS IN SEATTLE…

“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. NJPW TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr.

Over a year ago at the inaugural FORBIDDEN DOOR pay-per-view, this fight was on the table, but an injury Bryan Danielson sustained during Anarchy in the Arena at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2022 forced a change to the line-up, and introduced Claudio Castagnoli into the AEW landscape.

Fast forward to September 9th’s episode of COLLISION, just a few days removed from defeating Ricky Starks in a No DQ Strap match at ALL OUT 2023, and Bryan Danielson issued the challenge to Zack Sabre Jr. to finally make their dream match a reality. It is not their first meeting, that took place in March 2008 in the United Kingdom where Bryan beat ZSJ in a 2 Out of 3 Falls match, nor is it their second as that took place in March 2009 in Germany and was won by Zack Sabre Jr., but both of those matches too place in the early years of the NJPW TV Champion’s career, before he evolved into the fight he is today.

As talented a wrestler as ZSJ was at that point, just 4 and 5 years into his career, the reality of being a wrestler is that he was still just only beginning to understand the intricacies of the game. Even Bryan’s experience, nearly double that of Zack when they first faced, was still just only beginning to elevate and even in 2009 many considered “The American Dragon” the best wrestler in the world. In the fourteen years since their clash each has grown exponentially as a competitor and as a man, and though Danielson has dealt with injuries that many considered the death knell of his in-ring career, he has rebounded back better than he ever was before, and considering the G.O.A.T moniker that was already being applied in 2015, that’s speaks volumes to just how vast a pro wrestler’s knowledge can get.

Much like Bryan, Zack Sabre Jr. has only gotten better with age, his already superb submission skills honed to a lethal edge, and with that so too has his ego grown. There is little doubt foisted about any who claim ZSJ to be the greatest technical wrestler alive, he’s shown the skills it time and again all around the world, be it as part of SUZUKI-GUN, or since he become the first, and thus far only, NJPW World TV Champion earlier this year at WRESTLE KINGDOM 17.

But there are those who also put that crown on Bryan Danielson’s head, and with “The American Dragon” telling the world that he’s in his last full-time year of competition, every wrestler worth their salt is going to want to test the man on his way out, and try to snatch the crown. What’s interesting here is that this is not a case of Zack wanting Bryan as that time draws near, but rather Bryan wanting the fight after being unable to bring the rubber match to fruition last year.

And that brings us to this “Submissions in Seattle” fight between two of best grapplers in the history of professional wrestling, not just best of today, but best of all-time, and that is an undisputed fact. After confronting each other in the aftermath of COLLISION’s All-Star 8-Man tag, what is this fight going to look like? Will ZSJ live up to his promise to end Bryan’s career in 2023? It may be a homecoming for Bryan, but is he coming home just to say goodbye?

AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood)(c) vs. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis)

One year ago, New Japan’s ROYAL QUEST II event at the Crystal Palace in London, FTR and Aussie Open went to battle with the IWGP Tag Titles hanging in the balance. For thirty-two minutes Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler, Kyle Fletcher, and Mark Davis battled their hearts out, leaving every bit of themselves in that ring, but when the final bell rang it was FTR, the defending champions, who walked away with the titles still in their possession. Three months later at WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 Kyle and Mark would have to watch Bishamon, the team that beat them in the 2022 World Tag League Finals, dethrone FTR, and though Aussie Open would in turn take the IWGP Tag Titles from Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI in April, as well as win the NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Titles, they would end up having to vacate bout due to Mark Davis’ injury.

Still, while Mark healed and Kyle flew solo for a bit, that loss to FTR clearly ate them up, and hearing Dax and Cash continue to proclaim themselves the greatest tag team in professional wrestling, even after losing all three of their titles between December 2022 and January 2023, didn’t help matters. The fact that FTR claimed the AEW World Tag Titles for a second time only exacerbated those feelings, and winning the ROH World Tag Titles at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023 upon Mark’s return to action didn’t prove a salve for Aussie Open either. Listening to FTR, watching them with the AEW World Tag Titles, and losing the ROH World Tag Titles to Adam Cole and MJF, well it all just threw gasoline on the fire. The match that finally blew it all up for Kyle and Mark was watching FTR engage in Open Challenges and facing teams that Aussie Open didn’t deem worthy of the opportunity they felt they’d earned many times over.

So it was set, just prior to The Workhorsemen of JD Drake and Anthony Henry getting their shot, that Aussie Open would face FTR at WRESTLEDREAM, and should Dax and Cash retain the titles in their fight with The Workhorsemen, they would be on the line in Seattle! Well here we are, the bell set to ring in just a short time, and after Saturday night’s clash on COLLISION, all four men are anxious to throw down without anyone else involved. No Blackpool Combat Club, no Starks and Big Bill, just two teams that each believe they are the greatest competing in professional wrestling today, and possibly even of all-time.

FTR wants a fight with the toughest version of Aussie Open, not the ones who may have taken an MJF and Adam Cole team lightly, but the ones who carried two sets of tag belts simultaneously last year, the ones who gave FTR the fight of their lives at ROYAL QUEST II. Conversely, Aussie Open want the belts and they want to desecrate the legacy of Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood. Kyle and Mark want to desecrate the work that earned FTR those seven stars, and expose them as subpar to Aussie Open. With The Young Bucks, with The Briscoes, as heated as the fights got, for FTR there was at least some level of respect shared between the four men, but here with Aussie Open, there is no respect for the champions, only disdain.

Can Aussie Open tarnish the names of FTR and take the AEW World Tag Team Championship from their hands, or will it be Dax and Cash who continue to show why they are the best tag team in wrestling today while simultaneously building their legacy towards being known as the best team to ever do it?

ROH WORLD/NJPW STRONG OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

Eddie Kingston(c) vs. ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata

Twice now Eddie Kingston and Katsuyori Shibata have shared the ring as partners, one victory and one defeat, but that defeat at ALL OUT 2023, where Eddie took his eye off the prize for a moment and fell victim to Claudio Castagnoli proved to be the final thing Kingston needed to have happen to push him over the hump. Seventeen days later, in front of his hometown fans and his family at DYNAMITE: GRAND SLAM 2023, Eddie did the one thing that has evaded him since September 2009, he beat Claudio Castagnoli, and not only did he beat the man, Eddie dethroned him as ROH World Champion.

Shockingly Claudio also shook Kingston’s hand after the match, a sign of respect for the fight they had, and hearkening back to a Respect Match they had in November of 2009, but little more than that. These are not to men who will ever be friends again, but at least they can respect the fight and acknowledge one another for their skills.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_Z_FPQEghtA?si=XIJNb2GRf_aMBG81&start=124

That acknowledgment of skill, the recognition of a fighter, that is the reason why Eddie Kingston made the challenge to Katsuyori Shibata, the Ring of Honor Pure Champion, to meet him at WRESTLEDREAM for a championship bout. While the Pure Title will not be at stake, after Eddie retained the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship on RAMPAGE, both that and the ROH World Championship will be on the line in Seattle! This will mark the first time Shibata has challenged for either of Kingston’s championships, as well as their first-ever meeting as foes, and Kingston could would’ve been hard-pressed to find a tougher first challenger to his ROH reign than “The Wrestler”.

A lethal striker, a submission specialist, and man who loves to dish out pain, Shibata is the kind of man to absorb every one of Kingston’s blows and channel them into himself like some kind of fuel. He will not go down easily, this is a man who survived near-death and fought to return to professional wrestling after all, and Eddie will have to throw every bomb he has at the man to put him down. Should Eddie Kingston emerge from this fight with his belts intact, he will have earned it the hard way, just as he has done throughout his entire life, and the same will be said for Shibata as Kingston will rain punishment down upon him as well.

This is going to be a hard-hitting war, of that there is no doubt, and when it ends, no matter who comes out on top, there will be a show of respect and sportsmanship because that is what Ring of Honor is about at its core, and that is what both Shibata and Kingston want from pro wrestling at theirs.

AEW WORLD TAG TITLE #1 CONTENDER MATCH…

The Gunns (Austin & Colten) vs. ROH World Six-Man Champions The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix) vs. FTW Champion HOOK & Orange Cassidy

https://www.youtube.com/embed/WlPnITnegr4?si=v8bK0JmYz7C5W4uX&start=124

Between the FTR/Aussie Open clash, and this Four Way fray right here, the immediate future of the AEW’s tag team division will be shaped. The former will determine which duo moves forward as champion while this bout will set another pair up as future challengers to the throne at any time of their choosing. Three of the teams, The Young Bucks, Lucha Brothers, and Gunns, are former champions, two times over in the case of the brothers Jackson, while the fourth team in this bout will mark this fight as their first outing together. HOOK and Orange Cassidy did the Mixed Trios thing at RAMPAGE: GRAND SLAM 2023, but this high stakes situation is their first actual tag team bout, putting the FTW Champion and the former International Champion in a serious underdog situation.

One thing working in their favor though is that just this past Wednesday night on DYNAMITE, Orange Cassidy knocked Matt Jackson out with the Orange Punch and secured the victory in a Four Way singles match that also included Penta El Zero Miedo and Austin Gunn. That victory may be a sign of things to come, or it could simply the most experienced singles competitors of that quartet getting one over the man with the least. Either way, the world will soon found out just who the next contenders for either Aussie Open or FTR will be!

SINGLES MATCH…

ROH World Six-Man Champion “Hangman” Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland (w/ Prince Nana)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/6cOQ4haG0Rs?si=K7kpkp7I57LdXoxg&start=124

“What’s a buckshot to a killshot?”

That was the question posited by Swerve Strickland when he and Hangman Page sat down to sign the contract for their fight this Sunday night, and by the end of their face-to-face Swerve had a piece of the answer in the form Hangman manically stabbing a pencil into his hand.

After an exchange of harsh words, after Swerve questioning Hangman in the weeks before the signing, after having the audacity to laugh in the face of the former AEW World Champion, Strickland awoke the ugliness inside Page. That ugliness in Hangman is what helped pushed him into the position he is in now, the position that Swerve Strickland covets, but before he woke up that ugliness perhaps Strickland should’ve looked at what else it did for Hangman. That ugliness pushed him to victory in Texas Death Matches with Adam Cole, Lance Archer, and Jon Moxley, the latter of which he actually made quit, something no man in All Elite Wrestling can say. It helped him survive in Blood & Guts, Anarchy in the Arena, and Stadium Stampede, and it helped him survive through some of the toughest times when Hangman Page was riding alone through the wilds of AEW.

Swerve, for as talented a performer as he is, has not ridden alone in All Elite Wrestling, not when he has had his greatest successes. His reign as champion came in the form of tag team gold, and with that came a partner in Keith Lee, a tremendous partner who helped Swerve reach new heights in AEW, but a partner that Swerve casually discarded when he found others with which surround himself. First born as The Mogul Affiliates, a merger with Prince Nana’s Embassy gave birth to The Mogul Embassy, and with that Swerve Strickland surrounded himself with, to be frank, a trio of killers in Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun, and Toa Liona.

They have insulted Swerve in many ways, a great example of that being how in their absence at Wembley it was Strickland shoved into that casket by Darby and Sting rather than Christian Cage, and done his dirty work too many times to count. Just look at the moment Swerve elected to engage in this fight with Hangman Page, it was Brian Cage who committed the physicality rather than Swerve, just as it was Cage who had to step into the ring with Hangman first. That gave “The Machine” his second loss to Hangman, and then it was Cage and The Gates of Agony who had to step up to The Elite with their ROH World Six-Man Championship on the line, and they who paid the price for this fight Swerve started when the lost said titles to The Young Bucks and Hangman.

But now Swerve has to fight for himself, and though it may be in his hometown thus creating a situation likely to make him the crowd’s chosen one that night, the crowd isn’t inside the ring throwing down with a former AEW World Tag Champion, a former AEW World Champion, and current ROH World Six-Man Champion. It is Swerve, ideally Swerve alone, who has to fight this fight, a fight he picked mind you, and who now has to elevate his game against one of the elite competitors in professional wrestling.

The world knows Swerve Strickland has the talent in the ring, and the world knows he can talk the game, but now he has to prove that the spot Hangman has earned through blood, sweat, tears, and beers, that spot is now Swerve’s House.

TRIOS GRUDGE MATCH…

Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, & Kota Ibushi vs. The Don Callis Family (“The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita, Sammy Guevara, & IWGP UK Champion Will Ospreay

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qdzMHOM-4p0?si=yjuSpmRKPfE5G_t4&start=124

Don Callis has done his best to decimate the lives of men he once considered family, all in the name of some imagined sleight created in his own mind, one in which Kenny Omega was an ungrateful wretch rather than an unbelievably loyal nephew and in which Don falsely believed Chris Jericho would refuse his help, thus painting that portrait that triggered their splintering, creating his own self-fulfilling prophecy.

Callis sees both men’s successes, and by proxy the success of AEW, as belonging to him rather than those two men or all the forces that have helped create All Elite Wrestling over the last four years. Don believes that without him Jericho never goes to New Japan, Kenny never goes to Japan, their WRESTLE KINGDOM 12 match in 2018 never happens, and thus AEW is never born. With all his heart and soul, Callis believes those to be facts, and on an even grander scale, he essentially wants credit for everything Kenny Omega has accomplished in his storied career.

So he has stabbed Omega in the head with a screwdriver, turned Takeshita to his side opposite The Elite, aligned himself with The BCC heading into Blood & Guts (bailing when it was no longer convenient of course), aligned with BULLET CLUB GOLD when it was beneficial, facilitated Will Ospreay coming to AEW for fights with Jericho and Omega, poisoned the well of the Jericho Appreciation Society which led to their fracturing, and finally turned Sammy Guevara against his best friend and mentor, though given their tense history it may not have taken much persuasion to pull Guevara away.

But for all his manipulation and plotting and scheming, it is highly unlikely that Don Callis ever saw Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega coming together over their mutual disdain for Don and all he’s done to their lives over the last several months. For years now Jericho and Omega have stayed as far away from each other as possible, and yet it was the only Triple Crown champion in AEW history who rushed to Jericho’s aid when “The Ocho” was at his lowest, totally alone.

To say it was shocking to both Callis and the AEW faithful would be a massive understatement, but it was likely just as shocking to Jericho to see the form his salvation took, and likely shocking to Kenny as well that he would even take up arms alongside Jericho. Only Don Callis could bring together two men with such a heated history and make them allies, but perhaps it was only Don Callis who could whisper the right words in the ears of Takeshita, Guevara, and Ospreay to get them on his side of this fight. It’s clear Don will stoop to any low in his mission to destroy Jericho and Omega, in a situation eerily similar to how he got BC GOLD to attack Kenny Omega in Jacksonville, Callis and Takeshita traveled to Tokyo in order to get at Ibushi while he was without any support.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/k5gO4Qt1BwE?si=DCgjpjTvJyQyZAqp

After Saturday night’s tag team bout it is clear that they can figure out a way to work together, as long as Nana isn’t around to distract, so this Sunday night the unlikely trio of Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Chris Jericho will have to do the same to try and end Don Callis’ family. Callis has done nothing but wreak havoc on the lives of Jericho, Omega, and now Ibushi, and used men like Takeshita, Guevara, and Ospreay as his chess pieces to do so. Whether or not this can ever end while Callis occupies the same space as those he once called family is a reasonable question, one that may be answered comes Sunday in Seattle live on pay-per-view.

TBS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

Kris Statlander(c) vs. The House of Black’s Julia Hart

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vNpp3SBiePs?si=brABVlg6KGqiyqox

28)Vertvixen

27)Willow Nightingale

26)Kiera Hogan

25)Skye Blue

24)Bambi Hall

23)No Holds Barred: Anna Jay AS

22)Kiera Hogan

21)Anna Jay AS

20)Kelsey Heather

19)Zoey Lynn

18)Devlyn Macabre

17)Leva Bates

16)Promise Braxton

15)Sahara Seven

14)Tiara James

13)Missa Kate

12)Alice Crowley

11)Arie Alexander

10)Vickie Dreamboat

9)Hayley Shadows

8)Free-Range Kara

7)LMK

6)Renee Michelle

5)Amber Nova

4)JC

3)Valentina Rossi

2)Jacey Love

1)Abby Jane

Starting with last night’s COLLISION and working backwards to DARK: ELEVATION #61 on 5/2/22, those are the women that have fallen before Julia Hart on this road to WRESTLEDREAM on Sunday night, but to truly see where this all began, one need only look a week prior to that first win, April 25th’s edition of ELEVATION, the night that Julia Hart lost to Kris Statlander in just over six minutes. A month after that loss to Statlander, Hart would align herself with The House of Black, and ever since then fans have witnessed a slow, systematic descent by Julia into a sadistic bent for punishment. Hart has come to relish the pain she inflicts on individuals, both the women in her division and the men with whom her House compatriots fight, and it has been particularly noticeable in the last several weeks as Hart’s desire to avenge her last loss became apparent.

Meanwhile, just a few months after that victory over Julia, Kris Statlander would find herself on the outside looking in, recovering from a devastating knee injury that kept her out of action for nearly a year from August 9, 2022 until her shocking reemergence at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2023 on May 28th of this year. That night in Vegas, not only did Stat return to AEW, but she returned to in-ring competition to dethrone Jade Cargill as TBS Champion, thereby bringing an end to Cargill’s dominating run as champion, and her record-setting unbeaten streak.

Since then Kris Statlander has been a true fighting champion, turning away 13 challenges to her reign, including a rematch with Jade and a bout with Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D, and has done nothing but prove herself as worthy of the crown. No challengers would ever be turned away by Statlander, and certainly not one being made by a woman with an undefeated streak as lengthy as that of Julia Hart’s. Julie has earned this opportunity, of that there is no doubt, but she elevated the stakes over the last several weeks with her attacks on the women Statlander calls friends, namely Willow, Skye, and Kiera.

The defending champion knows she’s not dealing with the same animal she did last time around, that The House of Black has turned Julie Hart into something, someone, far darker than ever before, and unleashed a ferocity in the woman that seems barely contained. Going into this fight Statlander has to remember to meet the woman Julia Hart is now, not the girl she was in 2022, but be aware that where Julia walks she never walks alone. Does The House always wins? Not if Kris Statlander can help it…

ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP HANDICAP MATCH…

AEW World Champion MJF(c) vs. The Righteous (Dutch & Vincent)

After winning their #1 Contender’s Match at RAMPAGE: GRAND SLAM 2023, The Righteous of Vincent and Dutch were all set to challenge MJF and Adam Cole for the ROH World Tag Team Championship titles, but fate had other plans in store. As we all found out this past Wednesday night on DYNAMITE, Adam Cole is injured and won’t be cleared to compete for some time, a situation that would generally dictate the champions vacate their titles, leaving the ROH Board of Directors to decide their future. AEW World Champion MJF had other ideas though and made a promise to Adam Cole that Max would make sure the belts were waiting for him when Adam returned to action, and that he would take on The Righteous in a Handicap Match this Sunday at WRESTLEDREAM! Call it crazy brave or just down right stupid, it goes to show just how much this partnership with Cole means to MJF, and just how much these titles may actually mean to Maxwell as well. He’s not just holding them for Adam Cole’s sake, perhaps he’s taking some pride in being a tag team champion and proving he can work with someone else to great success. Unfortunately he’s now headed down a path where he’s fighting alone, but fighting for two, and doing that against Vincent and Dutch may not be the smartest idea.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FxYW0EOkSFs?si=X8cRymYiUJXmEi43

It’s clear that The Righteous are ready for this fight, ready to dig into the mess that is the situation between MJF, Cole, Roderick, and The Kingdom, and ready to use that situation to engage in psychological warfare against the champion. In addition to their man advantage, that mental game just may be what The Righteous need to leave Seattle as the new ROH World Tag Team Champions, but should MJF find a way to escape this situation with titles in tow, is this his plan from now until the day Adam Cole is cleared? Taking on that role, along with his duties as AEW World Championship, that is a sure way to find himself with no titles to his name…

SINGLES MATCH…

Wheeler Yuta vs. “Absolute” Ricky Starks

Wheeler Yuta still has a problem with “Absolute” Ricky Starks, and this Sunday night at WRESTLEDREAM he aims to pick up right where “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson left off and kick Starks’s head right in. Whether or not picking a fight with Ricky after the hell he went through with Bryan is the smartest idea, well that remains to be seen after the final bell rings and we see whose hand is raised. Starks is not about to let this affront from Yuta go unpunished, and Yuta isn’t about to let Ricky skate with what he thought was disrespect to Bryan after their Texas Death Match. This fight between two young and hungry dogs is going to be something to see, and it will be interesting to see if that violence Bryan showed Starks in their two encounters brought that side of Ricky closer to the surface.

ZERO HOUR

-AEW World Trios Championship Match: The Acclaimed & Daddy Ass(c) vs. TMDK (Bad Dude Tito, Mikey Nichols, & Shane Haste)

-Luchasaurus vs. Nick Wayne

-Claudio Castagnoli vs. Josh Barnett

-Diamante, Lee Moriarty, Mercedes Martinez, & Shane Taylor vs. ROH Women’s World Champion Athena, Billie Starkz, Keith Lee, & Satoshi Kojima

With the ZERO HOUR getting underway at 7pm ET/6pm CT, and WRESTLEDREAM proper going live at 8pm ET/7pm CT, Sunday night is loaded with the greatest professional wrestling available anywhere on the planet! Do not miss out as All Elite Wrestling returns to pay-per-view, something no one does as consistently amazing as AEW, and especially this time around when it has been called the end of one era and the beginning of another!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/h1GEcDiWEB0?si=SLrcL2jiLwgOnT0g

**CONTAINS SPOILERS**

Tonight’s episode of AEW DYNAMITE was broadcast live from Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, OH!

Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and “The Human Suplex Machine” Taz were the broadcast team for tonight’s event.

It’s Wednesday night and you know what that means!

AEW International Championship Match!

Jon Moxley (c.) vs. Big Bill (with “Absolute” Ricky Starks)!

Moxley used some round kicks to try to topple Big Bill. Bill blasted the champ with a massive right hand. Big Bill followed up with overhand chops. Big Bill was taking the fight right to Moxley and manhandling him.

Moxley fired off two clotheslines, but Bill booted Mox in the head, knocking him out of the ring. Ricky Starks kicked Moxley outside the ring. Moxley reversed an Irish whip and sent Big Bill into the steel ring steps.

Big Bill sent Jon Moxley over the timekeeper’s table. Moxley was busted wide open! Back in the ring, Moxley regained momentum and dug his fingers into Big Bill’s flesh! Moxley superplexed Big Bill.

Big Bill hit the Bossman Slam on Jon Moxley for a near fall. Moxley and Big Bill traded shots in the center of the ring. Moxley countered a boot with a King Kong lariat for a two-count. Moxley punished Big Bill with the hammer and anvil elbow strikes. Moxley planted Big Bill with a cutter, but Big Bill rolled out of the ring. Moxley climbed to the top rope, but Ricky shoved Mox as the ref was checking on Big Bill.

Bryan Danielson sprinted to the ring and peppered Ricky Starks with right hands, evening up the odds! Starks whipped Danielson into the ring steps. Big Bill chokeslammed Big Bill for a near fall on Moxley.

“Mox is losing a lot of blood right now. It looks like a crime scene,” said Taz.

Big Bill tried to hoist up Moxley with a chokeslam, but Moxley countered with a submission hold and forced Big Bill to tap out!

After the match Ricky Starks and Big Bill tried to continue their attack. ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli ran down to help his BCC teammates. Starks was furious with these developments. Starks and Big Bill retreated.

It was announced that Moxley will put his title on the line next week on Dynamite against Rey Fenix!

Renee Paquette was backstage with Roderick Strong and the Kingdom!

Adam Cole interrupted the interview and said Strong wrestling Samoa Joe was a horrible idea.

Strong: “You’re only worried about Max. And you should be because after I beat Joe, I’m going to beat MJF next week. Because I am a wrestling legend!”

Tony Schiavone was in the ring so Don Callis and Konosuke Takeshita could reveal their next target!

Callis: “We just beat Kenny Omega twice in one week. Show some respect! We’ve been celebrating. I’ve learned a lot from Takeshita about Japanese culture. When you’re the top wrestler in a promotion, they call you the Ace. He’s better than Okada. Better than Inoki. When you beat Kenny Omega once, they call you the Ace. When you beat Omega twice in seven days, they call you the Alpha!

“Henceforth you will all refer to Takeshita as the Alpha. I never had the empathy thing. Because when you’re the Alpha, you don’t feel anything, you take. Kenny, beating you twice isn’t enough for us. We broke your body. Now we’re going to break your heart.

“I promise to reveal through our creation who the next target of the Alpha will be, and Kenny, this one is going to kill you. The next target is none other than the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kota Ibushi!

“And Kenny, I want you to know right now, we’re not just going to beat Ibushi, we’re going to butcher him. We’re going to burn him. And I’m going to love the fact that while we’re spilling his blood in the ring, you’re going to be at home helpless, watching like the pathetic cuck that you are.”

Alex Marvez was backstage with the BCC!

Danielson: “We love it when things escalate. So, here’s a challenge. This Saturday at Collision, Ricky Starks, Big Bill, you two against me and Claudio Castagnoli!”

Rey Fenix entered the fray and began to shout at Moxley, but Alex Abrahantes and the refs held him back. Meanwhile, Eddie Kingston laughed in Claudio’s face and said, “One more week!”

Renee Paquette was backstage with FTW Champion HOOK!

Orange Cassidy interrupted!

Orange: “I was walking around and saw Hook all mad about something. What do you have to be mad about?”

Hook: “You were a great champion.”

Orange: “Thanks, you are too!”

They fist-bumped and Orange said he was still so tired.

Women’s World Title Eliminator Four Way Match!

Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose vs. Toni Storm!

The winner will face AEW Women’s Champion Saraya next week at Grand Slam.

Nyle Rose plowed into Baker and Shida with double clotheslines. Toni Storm shoved Shida into Britt Baker, with Baker tumbling out of the ring. Shida followed up with a crossbody onto the women on the arena floor!

Shida nailed Baker with a brain buster. Baker was looking for a thrust kick on Shida, but Shida turned around and Baker stopped herself. Nyla Rose chokeslammed Britt Baker. Shida cracked Nyla with the Katana Kick. As Shida was going for the cover, Britt Baker blasted Shida with a thrust kick. Toni Storm saw the opening, rolled up Britt Baker, and pinned her, stealing the victory!

Renee Paquette was backstage with AEW Women’s Champion Saraya and Ruby Soho!

Saraya: “Congrats, Toni, you did it and you did it without us. But Toni lost everything to me. She lost her top spot, and she lost her mind. She’s crazy. But she’s also going to lose the match against me at Grand Slam and then she’ll be left with nothing!”

Up Next: Le Sex Gods— “The Ocho” Chris Jericho and “The Spanish God” Sammy Guevara had their face to face!

Jericho and Guevara will be wrestling each other next week on Dynamite: Grand Slam.

Jericho: “Next week, right here on Dynamite at Grand Slam in New York City, it’s Le Sex Gods going one on one, Jericho versus Guevara, for the first time ever. Lots of history between us. We’ve been together since the first episode of Dynamite.”

Jericho introduced a highlight package showing all the pivotal moments from Le Sex Gods’ history over the past four years.

“That was beautiful,” said Taz.

Sammy: “Chris, I have a confession. I still don’t know the lyrics to ‘Judas.’”

Jericho: “I saw a kid on one of the NWA pay-per-view prelim matches and I was blown away and told Tony Khan, we need to sign this kid Sammy. I knew he had what it took to be a big star and I wanted him to be with me so I could help him out as much as I possibly could.

“Over the years I’ve watched Sammy grow from a boy to a man. I’ve seen him win titles, get married, and now your wife is ready to give birth to a baby girl. I’m really proud of all you’ve accomplished over the past four years.”

Sammy: “I know the typical wrestling thing is to talk trash, but I don’t want to do that. I want to come out here before one of the biggest matches of my career and say thank you. Thank you for changing my life and for changing the lives of so many people in the back. Without Chris Jericho there is no AEW.

“But truthfully Chris, I didn’t come to this company to just be your sidekick. I want to become world champion. I want them to look at me the way they look at Mox or the way they look at you. I don’t want to be in your shadow, so that’s why I need to beat you next week.”

Jericho: “You were never brought in to be Chris Jericho’s side kick. You were brought in to be a main event player and you are getting closer and closer every week. And that’s why I told you that you have to do it on your own. Next week you have that opportunity. You have to beat me to get to the next level. But if you’re going to beat Chris Jericho, you’re going to have to be the best Sammy Guevara ever if you’re going to have a chance to beat me. But I don’t think you’re ready to beat me yet.”

Sammy: “And there it is. It’s whatever Jericho wants. So next week I’m going to beat you as this man, not the 2018 me at the NWA pay-per-view, but this Sammy is going to beat you, we’re going to shake hands, and we’re going to win some tag team titles.”

Jericho: “Let me make something perfectly clear, Sammy. Next week I’m going to give you the match of your life. And I’m not going to go easy on you. I’m going to beat the living hell out of you. And I expect the exact same thing from you.”

Sammy: “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Excalibur: “I think we might have a battle for the ages next week.”

Taz: “Sammy is a pro, and he knows what’s at stake.”

Clips were shown from after Dynamite last week with Renee Paquette interviewing MJF!

MJF was told he wasn’t cleared to wrestle until Grand Slam.

MJF: “There are two talents I want to make it to the finals because I hate their guts: Roddy Strong, if you make it through this tournament, I will rip your head off. You’re a manipulative person. Samoa Joe, you think I’m afraid of you? Nah. You might not realize this, but this New York Pitbull has got a lot of bite. If you wrestle me, I’m going to choke you out!

“Hangman” Adam Page vs. “The Machine” Brian Cage (with Prince Nana)!

Cage clocked Page with an elbow strike. Page retaliated with two big boots to Brian Cage. Hangman hit a lariat off the turnbuckles to the Machine. Hangman went over the top rope, but Brian Cage intercepted him. Page reversed a powerbomb with a hurracanrana, sending Brian Cage into the steel ring post!

Brian Cage nearly decapitated Page with a lariat. Page sent Cage into the ropes after a hurracanrana. Page hit the area code shot on Cage.

Swerve Strickland’s music hit, and Swerve walked out onto the ramp!

Cage took advantage of the distraction and hurled Cage from the ring apron on the outside to the inside of the ring with a German Suplex! Brian Cage powerslammed Page and followed up with a moonsault, but Hangman dodged it.

Hangman rocked Brian Cage with a lariat, the momentum carrying both men over the top rope and onto the floor. Hangman jumped off the top rope and Cage caught him again. Adam Page countered with a crucifix bomb.

Hangman climbed to the top turnbuckle and hit Cage with a moonsault on the arena floor! Hangman followed up with a big crossbody press for a near fall on the Machine. Brian Cage dazed Page with a German Suplex.

The fans chanted “This is awesome! This is awesome!”

Hangman swept out Cage’s legs. Hangman attempted the Buckshot Lariat, but Cage countered, but Page fired back with a Deadeye in the center of the ring, scoring the pin!

“Hell of a match by these two men,” said Taz.

“If Swerve was mad before, he has to be pissed off now,” added Excalibur.

“Well, he poked the bear,” added Taz.

Hangman Page: “What passion, what drive, just oozing out of your body as you brood on top of the ramp as you watched me kick Cage’s ass. Last week you said you wanted my spot, but you sent Cage out. Last week I thought you had some balls but tonight I’m pretty sure you’re just keeping them stowed away in Prince Nana’s Burger King crown.”

Swerve: “What up, turd? Them sound like fighting words to me, Hangman. You think this’ll be solved tonight? We do this when I say, where I say. And it just so happens I chose the great state that birthed Swerve Strickland. October 1st, in the City of Seatle, WrestleDream. Me and you, Hangman. But I’m going to make sure you don’t get comfortable by the time you get there, isn’t that right Brian Cage?”

Brian Cage ambushed “Hangman” Adam Page from behind! The Young Bucks jumped into the ring and superkicked the Machine! The Bucks served up superkicks for Prince Nana as well!

Renee Paquette was backstage with Daniel Garcia!

Garcia: “I thought you came here to talk about me but you’re asking about Sammy or Jericho. Why don’t we talk about the career of Garcia”

Don Callis interrupted!

Callis: “The Don Callis family is going to create a Utopian Meritocracy—”

Garcia got in Callis’ face and did his dance, and then walked off!

Callis: “Wow, that’s money! Renee, that’s money!”

Don Callis chased after Daniel Garcia, grinning ear to ear.

Darby Allin & Nick Wayne

vs.

Matt Menard & Angelo Parker (with Jake Hager and Anna Jay)!

As the match started, Christian Cage and TNT Champion Luchasaurus walked onto the ramp and then joined the broadcast booth.

Christian Cage said Nick Wayne needed a better mentor than Darby Allin.

Nick Wayne clipped Matt Menard with an enziguri. Jake Hager grabbed Darby from outside the ring. Matt Menard powerbombed Nick Wayne.

Darby tagged in and nailed Menard and Parker with the Coffin Splash! He followed up with a dropkick in the corner on both men. Darby connected with a Code Red on Parker for a near fall.

“Darby has issues with the back from that Coffin Match, you can tell,” said Taz.

Nick grabbed a blind tag and walloped Parker with Wayne’s World. Matt Menard pulled Parker out of the pinning predicament. Darby flew off the apron with a senton on Menard. Darby hit the Coffin Drop on Parker and pinned him!

Christian Cage stood up, saying he was getting tired of these guys.

Christian Cage: “Very impressive victory. Nick Wayne, after I went home last week, I was scrolling through your mom’s Instagram account. Your mom doesn’t post enough bikini pics. But don’t worry. I sent her a special request on the side.

“There’s still a lot of talk about Darby and Sting’s win in London, and as the Franchise here, it’s embarrassing. Now I just want to remind everyone I did not take the loss for that match, and I didn’t have my regular partner with me. So, I propose next week, Darby Allin and Sting against me and Luchasaurus. If you’ve got the balls, I’ll see you in New York City!”

Main Event Time!

Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament Finals!

ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong (with The Kingdom)!

Samoa Joe applied a wrist lock and then headbutted Roddy’s hands, trying to neutralize Roddy’s infamous chops. Roderick Strong was wiped out with a shoulder tackle from Samoa Joe. Joe followed up with jabs in the corner, breaking down Strong in the corner.

Roddy rallied back with a quick kick to Samoa Joe’s face. Strong connected with a dropkick. Strong cranked on Joe’s neck. Samoa Joe nailed Roddy with the Manhattan Drop and followed up with a senton.

Samoa Joe powerslammed Roderick Strong for a near fall. Roddy escaped a powerbomb and staggered Joe with a shoulder tackle. Roddy blasted Joe with a knee strike underneath the jaw. Samoa Joe planted Strong with a uranage! Samoa Joe was looking for the Muscle Buster, but Mike Bennett jumped on the apron to distract Samoa Joe. Roderick Strong stunned Samoa Joe with the Sick Kick for a near fall.

“What a battle here,” said Taz.

Samoa Joe battered Roderick Strong out of the air and then applied the submission, forcing Roderick Strong to tap out!

Samoa Joe will be facing AEW World Champion MJF next week on Dynamite: Grand Slam!

Samoa Joe: “Oh Max! It seems my little prophecy has come true and next week, I go to your backyard and I’m coming for you. Because I’m going to beat you down and take everything you have kid. Everything.”

Adam Cole came down to the ring. Roderick fell to the mat, clutching his neck. The Kingdom told Adam Cole that this was his fault.

Excalibur questioned whether or not Roderick Strong was really injured or if this was a ruse.

The medical staff placed Roderick Strong on a backboard and stretchered him to the back. The Kingdom told Adam Cole not to follow them or Roderick to the back. Samoa Joe struck from behind, blindsiding Adam Cole and choking him out!

“I’m going to take everything from you, Max!” said Samoa Joe.

Catch AEW DYNAMITE: Grand Slam on TBS next Wednesday live at 8/7ct from Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, NY!

This Friday tune in to AEW RAMPAGE at 10pm ET on TNT!

Don’t miss AEW Collision on Saturday on TNT at 8/7c from the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, PA!

And remember…the home of professional wrestling is All Elite Wrestling!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/fscszAOFJTA?si=h50d3iZLmLEx0ezC

This Wednesday night All Elite Wrestling returns to Cincinnati’s Heritage Bank Center for a brand new DYNAMITE that will continue to give form to GRAND SLAM 2023 on September 20th! The Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament Finals are going down between Roderick Strong and Samoa Joe, Hangman Page will go one-on-one with “The Machine” Brian Cage for a third time in their careers, Le Sex Gods will be in the building to discuss their collision at Arthur Ashe, and Jon Moxley returns home to defend his AEW International Championship against Big Bill!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ik14rPT8UyU?si=uclp0ecp8Mj9bXb9&start=213

DYNAMITE get underway at 8pm ET/7pm CT LIVE on TBS, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international fans, so be sure to check in on the official AEW YouTube channel and watch the highlights from last week’s action during DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, plus the CONTROL CENTER, and more!

GRAND SLAM WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR TOURNAMENT FINALS…

ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong

https://www.youtube.com/embed/c7y4I2kFBgQ?si=a76WawKXYgI-8tND

This is where Samoa Joe and Roderick Strong have spent the last week fighting to get to: the precipice of an AEW World Championship match, a first for either man, taking place at GRAND SLAM 2023 on September 20th. There is just one last step to take on this road, a matter of either Roderick Strong defeating a man he’s only beaten once in their eight singles matches, or Samoa Joe once more beating a man he only lost to once back in January 2005.

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Both Joe and Roderick have plenty of motivation pushing them towards victory, Roderick’s well-documented issues with Adam Cole’s friendship with MJF and Joe’s issues with the disrespect thrown his way by the AEW World Champion, but for both men that’s putting the cart before the horse. There’s a fight taking place this Wednesday night in Cincinnati that takes precedent, and while 87.5% of their fights have gone Joe’s way, Strong may have deeper reasons to fight than he ever has before, even when it was the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament that was at stake.

This is about the AEW World Title, ultimately that is the most primary reason to fight, but it’s also about broken trust and shattered friendships, it’s about respect and disrespect, and it’s about Roddy shaking the monkey off his back to finally defeat Samoa Joe, but if that neck is actually as hurt as Strong, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett have claimed, than “Mr. ROH” is just one Choke or Muscle Buster away from ending up back on the shelf.

WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR FOUR WAY…

Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose vs. Toni Storm

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GmPFhAjzuC0?si=UJQqAG0hIx_YVU_F&start=213

Take four former AEW Women’s World Champions, all with plenty of history binding them to one another, and throw them in the ring together to see what happens. Add in the additional factor of a World Championship match being at stake, and this is an explosive formula worthy of DYNAMITE. Baker beat Shida for her first championship, Shida beat Nyla Rose for her first and Toni Storm for her second, Toni Storm won a Four Way that included Britt and Shida to claim her first shot, and then there is the whole issue of The Outcasts and what they’ve been aiming for with the AEW originals since they first united. Now Nyla Rose may have been left alone in that Outcasts mission, most likely out of fear, but reclaiming the Women’s World Championship is something that’s always been part of Nyla’s own personal mission.

Speaking of The Outcasts though, it is abundantly clear that Toni Storm is on the outs with Ruby Soho and AEW Women’s World Champion Saraya, especially since she insured Ruby couldn’t cheat to beat Kris Statlander at ALL OUT 2023. So add in that drama, on top of that mixed in with these four women, and this is quite the intriguing bout set for this Wednesday night.

Which of these four champions will get their chance to reclaim the gold they once lost, or in the case of Toni and Shida twice-lost? Will Britt get to face down Saraya in the same venue where the AEW Women’s World Champion made her AEW debut, the woman who beat her at FULL GEAR 2022? Will Toni Storm end up in a fight with the woman who pinned her at ALL IN: LONDON to claim the title? Or will we see first-time fights in Hikaru Shida or Nyla Rose?

AEW INTERNAIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

Jon Moxley(c) vs. Big Bill (w/ Ricky Starks)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/u7zjdmFNEt4?si=nx9JuJeHF_iVy7Z-&start=213

As he heads home to Cincinnati for his 3rd AEW International Championship defense in a week, Jon Moxley has to be feeling the effects of not only the two previous bouts, as well as the match at ALL OUT 2023 where he beat Orange Cassidy, but also the attack perpetrated by Big Bill on COLLISION while Ricky Starks choked the life out of Bryan Danielson with a BCC shirt just a few feet away.

This is the third year in a row that Cincinnati has welcomed AEW, the second at the Heritage Bank Center, and each year has presented Jon Moxley with a huge undertaking, but one in which he has proven victorious. The first year he fought Minoru Suzuki and walked away the winner after eight of the hardest-hitting minutes AEW has seen, while the second hosted an AEW World Championship defense as Hangman Page challenged Mox, with the challenger ultimately ending up on a stretcher after a vicious King Kong Lariat knocked Hangman out.

This year, with a new championship around his waist, Moxley comes home to face the indomitable threat of Big Bill, a man who laid out the International Champion with a single big boot last Saturday night. Now this isn’t their first engagement in singles competition, that took place in June 2019, but it is their first one-on-one encounter in All Elite Wrestling, having only met in a tag match during the HOUSE RULES: TROY event, some 75 miles north on I-75, back in March.

Moxley is hellbent on surpassing Orange Cassidy’s legacy as the best International Champion of all-time, which means defending the title more times than any champions in AEW history across all divisions, as well as holding it for more than 327 days (20 days shy of all three of Mox’s World Championship reigns combined). So that’s why Mox is on his third defense in a week, coming into it having won nine straight singles matches, and with an 11-3 record on the year in those ranks that includes a Steel Cage Match win over Kenny Omega.

As for Big Bill, most of his AEW competition has been in tag team and multi-man competition, but as a singles he’s run a 4-3 record on the year, including an International Championship loss to Orange Cassidy, and three wins in his last five bouts. Though he’s one of the most imposing figures on the AEW roster, Bill hasn’t tasted championship success yet in AEW, though he also united with Brian Cage to challenge FTR for the AEW World Tag Team Championship just over a month ago. Given his dominating presence, his strength and stature, it seems an inevitability that Big Bill will hold a title in All Elite Wrestling before too long.

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Will that success come to Big Bill this Wednesday night in Cincinnati, or will Jon Moxley go three in a row in his hometown, as well as three in a row with International Championship defenses? Will Ricky Starks be the kind of presence in Big Bill’s matches the way Bill is in his? And if so, will there be any BCC at ringside to balance the scales? Tune into DYNAMITE this Wednesday night to see if we have a new AEW International Champion by night’s end!

HANGMAN/CAGE III…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y7oidTdrSBE?si=ZY7WHjd7nUdAGpZo&start=213

As mentioned above, the last time All Elite Wrestling was in Cincinnati Hangman Page did not leave the arena on his own two feet, instead finding himself carted out on a stretcher and hoisted into an ambulance after a Jon Moxley lariat knocked him unconscious. Though Hangman would recover shortly thereafter, the fact that his last time in town ended the way it did had to be scratching at his brain as this event drew closer.

Well now the former AEW World Champion has an opportunity to redeem himself before the Cincy crowd when he enters into battle with ROH World Six-Man Champion Brian Cage for their third singles fight! Back in the spring of 2021, before AEW returned to a touring schedule, “The Machine” shocked everyone, including Hangman, when he beat Page on the April 28th edition of DYNAMITE. The loss came at a time when many fans felt Hangman was on the path to dethroning AEW World Champion Kenny Omega months before he actually did so at FULL GEAR 2021.

Hangman would rebound from that loss a month later at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2021, beating Brian Cage in a twelve minute slobber knocker, and evening the score. Though the two would meet one last time in a tag match on the subsequent DYNAMITE, a match won by Hangman and Dark Order’s Ten it should be noted, they never had that rubber match to truly decide who was the better man.

Not until now at least; though Hangman was out there to address his victory in the Over Budget Charity Battle Royal, his presence in the ring last week turned into a confrontation with Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana, and ultimately an assault perpetrated by “The Machine”. So with that in mind, as well as the history between Page and his assailant, the rubber match between Page and Cage has been set for this Wednesday night in Cincinnati! Will this be a repeat of Hangman’s last trip to town, or can the former World Champion shake that monkey off his back and score a second victory over “The Machine”? The presence of The Mogul Embassy is all but certain, the only question is just how much of an impact they will have on this contest!

CALLIS’ REVELATION…

So what’s next for Don Callis and Konosuke Takeshita, the man that Callis has proclaimed as the “New God of Professional Wrestling”? Don has already stated, despite steering Takeshita towards two pinfall victories over Omega, and assisting in Will Ospreay’s victory over him at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023, that he’s not done utterly dissecting the life of Omega and anyone who supports him.

So what does that mean, and how does it pertain to this revelation Callis has promised for this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE? Who is their next target in this mission to bleed Kenny Omega dry?

One of The Elite seems the obvious choice, the most accessible targets possible, and it wouldn’t be improbable for Don Callis to throw his lot in with someone like Prince Nana to have his Mogul Embassy do the dirty work on Hangman. After all, he did it with BULLET CLUB GOLD and Kenny, but that’s just a bit of speculation about where Callis will attack next. Thankfully the guessing game doesn’t need last long and Don Callis will tell us himself in Cincinnati…

LE SEX GODS…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FJZaOaVEdRs?si=7LPRDwi__4EkMiLv

It is official that Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara, men who’ve been bonded since the very first episode of DYNAMITE back in 2019, who’ve fought together as members of The Inner Circle and The Jericho Appreciation Society, and who’ve been in Stadium Stampedes and Blood & Guts together, that they will go one-on-one at GRAND SLAM 2023 for the very first time.

Now they fought one another in a Four Way for the ROH World Championship at FULL GEAR 2022, and they’ve been on opposite sides of a few tag matches over the years, but they’ve never just straight up fought each other in a singles match. September 20th will change all that, but before we get to Arthur Ashe, these two men will both be on-hand in Cincinnati to address what is about to happen. Though this was presented as a way for the two men to get past their problems, and move onto being tag team championship challengers, there’s more than a little bit of ego at play, so it should be quite interesting to see what thoughts Jericho and Guevara have to share!

Come Wednesday night All Elite Wrestling brings to you the absolute best professional wrestling on the planet, this time emanating from the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, OH and it will shape the face of both the GRAND SLAM 2023 World Title match as well as the Women’s World Championship bout! Plus, Hangman Page and “The Machine” collide for a third time, Le Sex Gods will be in the house with words before their singles bout, plus hometown hero Jon Moxley returns to defend his AEW International Championship against Big Bill!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/roS8VfK6l6c?si=Jv9NLJqhKga8lFpo&start=213

DYNAMITE begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT LIVE on TBS, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international fans, so be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel and catch up on highlights from last week’s episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well the newest edition of THE CONTROL CENTER, and so much more!

Tonight’s AEW COLLISION was broadcast live from the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, OH!

Nigel McGuinness and Kevin Kelly were the broadcast team for tonight’s event.

It’s Saturday night and you know what that means! Saturday night’s alright for fighting!

This Saturday night, AEW returns to Cleveland, OH for a night of COLLISION at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse! With two Grand Slam World Championship Eliminator Tournament Semi-Finals on tap, as well as a TBS Open Challenge, an International Champion defense pitting Jon Moxley against Action Andretti, BC GOLD, and more, this is quite the loaded edition of Saturday night’s premier wrestling program!

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This past Wednesday on DYNAMITE the stage for GRAND SLAM 2023 began to take shape as the Grand Slam World Championship Eliminator Tournament began! The winner of said tournament will advance to Arthur Ashe on September 20th to challenge MJF for the AEW World Championship, and on Wednesday night both Darby Allin and Roderick Strong took one step closer to the prize. In addition, we learned there will be a Women’s Four Way Eliminator Match to determine Saraya’s challengers that night involving former champions Toni Storm, Dr. Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida, and Nyla Rose.

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This Friday night on RAMPAGE we will find out the other two men advancing to the Semi-Finals in the tournament as Samoa Joe takes on a familiar foe in Jeff Hardy, and Jay Lethal meets Penta El Zero Miedo! Plus, The Young Bucks will be in tag team action after two disappointing nights between ALL IN: LONDON and ALL OUT 2023, and a Women’s Trios battle goes down involving six of the best AEW has to offer! The matches begins at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences, so visit the official AEW YouTube channel ahead of time for highlights from this week’s DYNAMITE, as well as previous episodes of RAMPAGE and COLLISION, plus THE CONTROL CENTER, and much, much more!

GRAND SLAM WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR TOURNAMENT QUARTER-FINAL…

ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Hardy

https://www.youtube.com/embed/VLCw_QJD6sw?si=qhgtoPUN8rrANvQV&start=167

From Universal Studios in Orlando to Abu Dhabi and Allentown, PA to Manchester, UK, Samoa Joe and Jeff Hardy have locked horns some 70+ times over the course of the last 18 years, even in Indianapolis, albeit a different venue that where RAMPAGE emanates from this Friday night. Thirty-two of those bouts have been one-on-one fights, and the balance of the victories tips heavily in favor of Hardy, though their last singles encounter that took place in March 2019 did swing Joe’s way.

This Friday night, as part of the Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament, this storied rivalry will add a new chapter to its story, the first said chapter taking place in All Elite Wrestling, and at stake is the AEW World Championship bout awaiting the winner of the whole field. We’ve already seen Roderick Strong and Darby Allin advance to the Semi-Finals taking place this Saturday on COLLISION in Cleveland, now it’s a question of who will be the other two men to advance. One of those bouts will take place between Joe and Hardy, and the question is whether or not the ROH World Television Champion can buck his history with Jeff and actually defeat the man, or if Jeff Hardy will continue to dominate this rivalry in yet another promotion.

GRAND SLAM WORLD TITLE ELIMINATOR TOURNAMENT QUARTER-FINAL…

Jay Lethal vs. Penta El Zero Miedo

The other Quarter-Final match in this tournament runs quite contrary to that of Joe/Hardy; rather than a continuation of a rivalry that has crossed promotions for more than a decade, it is instead a first time singles match! While Jay Lethal and Penta El Zero Miedo have met previously in Battle Royales here in AEW, as well as in a non-AEW Three Way that included Matt Taven and took place one day shy of a year ago, they’ve never met in singles competition prior to this Friday night!

It’s a huge opportunity for both individuals, especially for Lethal given that he’s never challenged for the AEW World Championship, but to the victor of this comes the right to fight either Jay Lethal or Samoa Joe. Given the history between Joe and Lethal, one can imagine Lethal rooting for Hardy to win that bout, but he best stay focused on his own fight rather than worry about the outcome of the other.

Which of these warriors will move one step closer to that Grand Slam spotlight?

TRIOS MATCH…

Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D, Hikaru Shida, & Skye Blue

vs.

Anna Jay, Taya Valkyrie, & The Bunny

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZQG1phgDsU4?si=EXxYO3SLverq-_eY&start=209

Though they’ve managed to persevere through it, Dr. Britt Baker and Hikaru Shida have a history that primarily has them on opposite sides of a fight. Yet ever since the emergence of The Outcasts as a threat to the rest of the Women’s Division, these two AEW stalwarts have found common ground, even if if has occasionally resulted in some crucial miscommunications. Still, they persevere, and this Friday night on RAMPAGE they will do so once again, welcoming Skye Blue to the party for the first time, to form a trio for battle against another first-time unit of Anna Jay, Taya Valkyrie, and The Bunny!

With Britt and Shida both set for the Four Way Eliminator on Wednesday night’s DYNAMITE, and plenty of past issues swirling about between the women involved here, this one has the potential to be a powder keg between two brand-new trios!

TAG TEAM ACTION…

The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. Angelo Parker & Matt Menard

The Young Bucks have had a rather frustrating couple weeks: they lost to FTR at ALL IN: LONDON in front of the biggest crowd in AEW’s history, not only giving Cash and Dax the advantage in their trilogy of bouts, but failing to capture the AEW World Tag Team Championship for a third time. Then, a week later at ALL OUT 2023, they and FTR, working as a quartet, fell to BULLET CLUB GOLD; not the best week in Young Buck history, but a new one has dawned, meaning a new chance to make up for those losses and get back on track.

That begins with a fight against former J.A.S. members Angelo Parker and Matt Menard, two men the brothers Jackson haven’t clashed with in over ten years, and who are also looking to get their ship upright after the upheaval of the Jericho Appreciation Society. So will it be the former 2-Time AEW World Tag Champs who get back on track, or Parker and Menard who score a RAMPAGE victory? Tune in Friday night to see which team rises up!

On RAMPAGE this Friday night, we will see who else advances to the Semi-Finals in the Grand Slam World Title Eliminator tournament when Samoa Joe fights Jeff Hardy, and Jay Lethal battles Penta El Zero Miedo! Plus, The Young Bucks take on Matt Menard and Angelo Parker, while Dr. Britt Baker, Shida, and Skye Blue take on Taya Valkyrie, Anna Jay, and The Bunny in Trios action! The night begins at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences, so visit the official AEW YouTube channel ahead of time for highlights from this week’s DYNAMITE, as well as previous episodes of RAMPAGE and COLLISION, plus THE CONTROL CENTER, and much, much more!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/dM7cb4L6CCs?si=6LkKFF2RVB5Cx7Jh

Just seven days after the biggest night in All Elite Wrestling history, we are right back at it with our second pay-per-view offering in a week! ALL OUT has been at the heart of AEW since 2019 when Chris Jericho defeated Hangman Page to become the first AEW World Champion, and it has provided a lion’s share of memorable matches and moments every year since! The Chicagoland area has been home to this event every year save one, and 2023 will be no different, but for the very first time, ALL OUT will emanate from the United Center!

If you can’t be there in-person, click here for details on all the ways you can watch the pay-per-view event live no matter where you are in the world! Also be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from this week’s episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as the latest edition of CONTROL CENTER, highlights from ALL IN: LONDON, and more to get you up to speed for ALL OUT 2023!

AEW International Championship Match…

Orange Cassidy(c) vs. Jon Moxley

This past Wednesday night on DYNAMITE, after Orange Cassidy bested Penta El Zero Miedo in his 31st International Championship defense, he was confronted by the next man scheduled to challenge for the title regardless of who won Wednesday night’s fight, former 3-Time AEW World Champion Jon Moxley.

Three years ago this would’ve seemed a largely lopsided fight, but in the time since Orange Cassidy fought his first AEW singles match at REVOLUTION 2020, coincidentally at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago as well as the same night Moxley won his first AEW World Championship, he has proven to be in a class all his own. There was never any question that Jon Moxley was at the top of the heap in All Elite Wrestling, he pretty much heralded that himself with how he arrived on the scene at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2019, but Orange Cassidy has been questioned, doubted, bullied, and tested at every step of his AEW career.

It didn’t matter how he performed in that first fight with PAC, that he beat Chris Jericho in two straight matches, that he beat Adam Cole in a Lights Out Match, or that he took Will Ospreay to his limits at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2022, he was still doubted. But since the October 12, 2022 edition of DYNAMITE where he defeated “The Bastard” to claim the AEW International Championship, Orange Cassidy has done nothing but proven himself as one of the elite competitors in pro wrestling. His first two title defenses took place in Three Way bouts, he took on “The Wrestler” Katsuyori Shibata in his next, and from that point on, it has been a matter of fighting everyone who stepped up to the plate. Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta, Big Bill, Jeff Jarrett, and Jay Lethal; they all fell before “Freshly Squeezed” and at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2023 he really showed the world where he stood as champion when he took on 20 challengers simultaneously in the Blackjack Battle Royale. As a result of that many simultaneous challengers in Vegas, as Cassidy heads into this fight with Moxley, he has defended the AEW International Championship 31 times against 41 different men, and been champion for 326 days. He’s defended his title more times than any champion in AEW’s entire history across all divisions, and sits behind Jade Cargill’s 508-day TBS Title reign, Hikaru Shida 372-day AEW Woman’s World Championship reign, and Kenny Omega’s 346-day AEW World Championship run in terms of duration as champ.

And if that’s wasn’t enough to make the entire wrestling world stand-up and recognize the greatness of “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy, perhaps it should be noted that at 121 overall victories, he’s got more wins than any man in All Elite Wrestling, topping Jon Moxley’s 118 overall wins, though Mox does surpass OC as a singles competitor, holding 75 victories to Cassidy’s 68.

As if that wasn’t enough, Cassidy also has the longest active singles win streak in AEW with thirty-one consecutive victories, eclipsing Moxley’s run of 25 from 11/13/19-12/2/20 and HOOK’s from 12/10/21-7/19/23. All that put together, it could be argued that Orange Cassidy is the absolute best in All Elite Wrestling, that he is the measuring stick for the company, and that he is the one everyone else should be looking to as their litmus test.

Jon Moxley clearly is not a man who sees that to be the case, and after their engagement the last several weeks, including Stadium Stampede at ALL IN: LONDON, he aims to put OC to the test this Sunday at ALL OUT 2023! Mox aims to put Cassidy through the wringer in the process of proving that it is he and The Blackpool Combat Club who run AEW, and given the AEW career path that has brought both men here, this may be one of the most important pay-per-view matches in AEW’s history. It is also a night Jon Moxley could make history as the first AEW World Champion to capture another AEW singles championship!

OC has already made history during his International Championship reign, it started with being the man to level the belt up from the All-Atlantic to the International Championship, and has continued with each title defense he survives. But eventually the rigorous schedule Orange has kept will catch up to him, but will that point come this Sunday at the United Center? If there is anyone likely to push OC past that point, it is Jon Moxley, and if the defending champion can’t find an even deeper level to his reservoir of strength, he’s in for a rough night and most likely the end of his historic championship reign.

TNT Championship Match…

Luchasaurus(c) vs. Darby Allin

https://www.youtube.com/embed/nvFMQMMVsCs?si=gHpA5xJTY6YrFudb

As much as Christian Cage may claim otherwise, as much as he would rather have the fans believe an alternative truth, the reality is that Luchasaurus is the TNT Champion, not Christian Cage. Cage may carry the belt around, may consistently refer to the belt as “his” TNT Title, but it was Luchasaurus who won the belt from Wardlow, it’s been the former AEW World Tag Champion who’s defended it since that victory over “The War Dog”, and it will be Luchasaurus who faces former 2-Time TNT Champion Darby Allin this Sunday night at ALL OUT 2023!

But what condition is the challenger in? Like so many others at ALL IN: LONDON, Darby went through tremendous physical punishment, but the x-factor of the coffin elevated his to a whole other level. He was slammed on the metal lid, went for a Coffin Drop on Swerve while Strickland was draped across the top only for Allin to find no one home when he crashed down, he was battered and bruised, but ultimately victorious, though it also came at the expense of young Nick Wayne. Wayne, seeking to balance the scales of the bout, ended up being taken away by The Right Hand of Destruction, but that wasn’t the end of the story.

This week on COLLISION we heard Nick Wayne speak on Darby Allin’s actions pertaining to AR Fox, leading Darby out to the ring to publicly discuss the issue, but even that was interrupted by Christian Cage, who proceeded to say horrid things about Wayne’s mother, and of course promised destruction would rain down upon Allin’s head in his TNT Championship fight with Luchasaurus. Of course it wouldn’t have been Cage if he didn’t, yet again, imply he was the actual TNT Champion, but of course it won’t be he who steps into the ring to face Darby Allin, it will be the former AEW World Tag Team Champion.

Can Darby overcome the size of Luchasaurus, the numbers game that will be played by Christian Cage, and the injuries he sustained at ALL IN: LONDON’s Casket Match? If so, he will become the second man after Sammy Guevara to achieve 3-Time TNT Champion status, but if he cannot, and Cage has his way, will there be anything left of Darby to dust off and try again?

Singles Match…

“The Redeemer” Miro vs. Powerhouse Hobbs

https://www.youtube.com/embed/U-V_gYV6_7o?si=crR3wyOrsc4bjNUE

Forty-two days, in the span of 42 days between 3/8/23 and 4/19/23 Powerhouse Hobbs managed to defeat Wardlow to claim the TNT Championship, defend it five times, and then lose it right back to Wardlow. It was not the way Hobbs anticipating his championship reign going when he won the belt, and after it ended, he spent some time on the House Rules loop getting back on track, leading to a five match win streak, including a smashing victory over Powerhouse Hobbs in the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Quarter-Finals.

Unfortunately he ran into a familiar foe named Ricky Starks in the Semi-Finals, and “Absolute” would best his former Team Taz partner en route to winning the entire tournament shortly thereafter. Again, not the way Hobbs wanted his COLLISION career to go, but he rebounded and has since won six consecutive bouts, including an eight-second victory last night in Chicago.

As impressive as that streak may be, as rapidly as Hobbs has dispatched those foes, perhaps the most impressive thing Hobbs has done is have the gumption to call out “The Redeemer” Miro for a fight! A former TNT Champion himself, Miro is one of the most intimidating men in all of professional wrestling, and to call him out for a fight is to court pain and punishment. Thus he is also the supreme test for a men looking to redeem himself for the key losses he’s experienced in 2023.

Will Hobbs live to regret his choice to goad Miro into battle? Will he be humbled before “The Redeemer”, or will Hobbs instead find that redemption he’s looking for?

TBS Championship Match…

Kris Statlander(c) vs. Ruby Soho

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZQG1phgDsU4?si=4NUVHthSKNL6fd7L&start=180

The challenge was made by Ruby Soho, a woman that Kris Statlander has yet to defeat, and it appears a challenge born out of this Outcasts frustration at having never won a championship during the last 13 years. Just in All Elite Wrestling, after making her debut at ALL OUT 2021 by winning the Women’s Casino Battle Royale, she was frustrated in her first World Championship match at GRAND SLAM 2021 against Dr. Britt Baker, and sadly that would not be the last time Ruby’s dreams were dashed. A month later, in the inaugural TBS Championship Tournament, Soho would make it past Penelope Ford, Kris Statlander, and Nyla Rose but end up stifled in the finals by Jade Cargill, having to watch her claim status as the first TBS Champion. Even the AAA Mixed Tag Title alluded her and Ortiz at ALL OUT 2022 when they faced Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo on the ZERO HOUR, and finally at REVOLUTION 2023, in a Three Way where she and Saraya challenged AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter, Ruby was again turned away. The frustration is understandable, she is unquestionably one of the best wrestlers competing today, but has repeatedly failed to achieve the trophies that cement that fact in the history books.

That being said, it’s not as if Kris Statlander has had the easiest road to the status she now holds. Injuries have slowed her professional growth on multiple occasions since she first came to All Elite Wrestling, even her first AEW championship bout at REVOLUTION 2020 was tainted as Stat fought Nyla Rose with a debilitating flu that had kept her on bed rest for several days leading up to that night in Chicago. Even in the COUNTDOWN TO ALL OUT Statlander shared about her feelings as champion, a rather open look at the thoughts spinning around in her head despite defending her title eight times in the last 100 days on DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, COLLISION, and on the HOUSE RULES tour. She has been a fighting champion from the moment she beat Jade Cargill at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2023, and yet doubt still creeps.

It’s not an easy road for champion or challenger, both are driven to be the best, both have had their frustrations and setbacks, but only one has taken those challenges and used them to make herself a better version of who she was. Statlander has gotten tougher, she’s gotten stronger, and it’s led her to the status as TBS Champion whereas Ruby Soho has thrown her lot in with The Outcasts which in turn led her to watching both Saraya and Toni Storm become champions, although Toni’s current situation makes one question whether or not becoming a champion was worth the ramifications of losing it.

This Sunday, when Kris Statlander and Ruby Soho meet in their third singles match, it’s clear there is a bit more than the TBS Championship on the line for each woman. Pride, ego, legacy; they are all wrapped up in this fight between two of today’s best, but only one can walk away as champion while they other will have to find a way to handle with the disappointment and frustration…

Grudge Match…

“The Cleaner” Kenny Omega vs. Konosuke Takeshita

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GUeppqfOU4A?si=bAJ3mScOKwz94jgp

Kenny Omega has been betrayed by Don Callis on so many levels since that Cage Match against Jon Moxley back in May, and yet this Sunday night at ALL OUT 2023 he will still come to fight in the face of that sting. Whether it was Callis throwing his support behind Will Ospreay at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023, ripping Takeshita away from his growing alliance with The Elite, or signing up with BULLET CLUB GOLD, the man who was once akin to Omega’s uncle has done anything he can to wreck the former AEW World Champion’s life.

This all stems from some sense of ownership Callis has over Kenny’s career, some belief he is entitled to the credit though it is Omega who did the heavy-lifting of actually getting in the ring for the fight. Uncle Don may have shown a young Kenny the ropes, but it was Omega who did the work and earned monikers like “Best Bout Machine” and “The God of Pro Wrestling”. It was Kenny in the ring with Okada for their four matches that, over the course of three-plus hours, firmly established both men as the best in the world. It was Kenny in the ring with Chris Jericho at WRESTLE KINGDOM 12 and DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2019 not Don Callis, and point of fact, the only actual accomplishment in Kenny’s career that Callis could take some credit for would be Omega defeating Jon Moxley to become the AEW World Champion. It’s undeniable that “The Invisible Hand” played a part in assisting Kenny’s championship challenge, but it’s certainly possible that it was Don whispering in Kenny’s ear that he needed his Uncle’s help to achieve that success.

That loyalty is simultaneously both Kenny’s biggest positive and negative, especially since his return to action in August 2022 after taking 10 months to recover from a litany of injuries collected over his wrestling career. Despite Callis’ entire oeuvre being a stark contrast to where The Elite stood as people in the fall of 2022, Omega kept Don by his side and Callis clearly bristled at the fact Kenny was not on the same page as he when it came to how to conduct business. Omega’s loyalty was that strong, his love for everything Uncle Don had been to him and his family was that strong, and yet Callis clearly grew unhappy with the fact he was no longer the primary voice in Kenny’s ear as he’d been during Omega’s championship reign.

All that anger and disappointment led Callis to betraying Kenny inside that Steel Cage, allowing Jon Moxley to get some revenge for Omega’s equally shady victories several years prior, and has taken us all down this path to ALL OUT 2023. It led Callis to put Takeshita inside the Blood & Guts Cage, and to pull him away from the fight when things weren’t looking promising for The Blackpool Combat Club, it led to the BC GOLD attack on Kenny when he sat down to talk to Jim Ross in Jacksonville, and now has Takeshita fighting Omega on Sunday night.

The relationship between Omega and Takeshita dates back to the earliest years of the latter’s career, so far back that Kenny was the opponent for the fifth match on record in Takeshita’s career, the first of their thirteen encounters in DDT Pro Wrestling between 9/30/12 and 10/26/14, all which posted them as opponents. It wasn’t until Takeshita first came to AEW in April 2021 that the two men fought as partners, and when he became a regular part of the roster one year later, it looked as if Takeshita would ride alongside The Elite as he pursued the growth of his own career.

Then Don Callis got in his ear, promising the sky, and turned Konosuke against those who’d supported him, leading to Takeshita’s impact on Omega’s face during Anarchy in the Arena at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2023, and now here we are, four months later, with the two men colliding in their first AEW singles match, and their first head-to-head in a decade. It should be noted, though they were over a decade ago during Takeshita’s early days as a wrestler, Omega is 2-0 in their singles matches, but obviously Takeshita has grown exponentially since that time.

So should Takeshita fail in this singles match, will this be the end of Don Callis’ pursuit of Omega’s end? If Kenny walks away with the victory, will Uncle Don give up this mission to end his nephew, or is Kenny stuck in this infinite loop of Don Callis throwing everything at Omega just hoping he breaks until the weight of it all? And what is the future if Takeshita pins Omega as he did at ALL IN: LONDON? That is the kind of victory that potentially bolsters Takeshita up into championship contention, but what would it mean for Kenny Omega’s immediate future? The ramifications for this one will be felt for some time by all parties involved, but just looking at it as a fight, this one could possibly steal the show at ALL OUT 2023!

ROH World Tag Team Championship Match…

AEW World Champion MJF & Adam Cole(c)
vs.

Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/aZg5OWcGD8g?si=rVeItcGbSfyT3iHd

After defeating Aussie Open at ALL IN: LONDON to become the new Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions, Adam Cole and AEW World Champion MJF were informed they’d have to defend their championship against the winner of a Tag Team Battle Royale at ALL OUT 2023. So, in typical MJF fashion, he took the week off to recover from his UK journey while Adam Cole came to work only to be confronted by Roderick Strong, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett, including Roddy throwing his name in the hat for the Grand Slam Tournament of Champions and telling Cole he would do what Adam couldn’t: beat MJF.

While that is indeed a concern for Cole, the more immediate matter is the match this Sunday with the winners of the aforementioned Battle Royale: The Dark Order of Alex Reynolds and John Silver! Though they have been part of AEW since the earliest days of DYNAMITE, the pair have only challenged one time for the AEW World Tag Team titles, during the reign of Jurassic Express, and they were unsuccessful in that endeavor. Since coming into the ROH fold back in April, the duo has been embroiled in their own violent affair with The Righteous, one that culminated with victory in the first-ever Trios Fight Without Honor at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023. But none of that matters to MJF who, having some experience with both Alex Reynolds and John Silver early in his career, doesn’t have a bit of respect for either man.

Well Dark Order is quite the motivated, driven duo, one whose bond runs far deep than just the last couple months of this year, and they aim to break this championship drought on Sunday night!

Adam Cole and Maxwell Jacob Friedman have proven themselves to be a strong tag team duo, with a genuine bond that defies all logic and reason, but they are facing a team who’ve been together for over a decade, and who have a whole lot to prove to themselves and the world. Adam Cole and MJF are in for a fight, and they will have to pull out every Double Clothesline, Kangaroo Kick, and any other offense to keep these ROH World Tag Team Titles around their waists.

ROH World Television Championship Match…

Samoa Joe(c) vs. Shane Taylor

The history of Samoa Joe in Ring of Honor has been well-documented; for 645 days he reigned as ROH World Champion, elevating the title from a regional one to World Championship status, and engaging in legendary fights that proved influential to the modern wrestling scene. Even after that reign ended at FINAL BATTLE 2004, Joe remained integral to the workings of ROH, claiming the ROH Pure Championship from Jay Lethal at MANHATTAN MAYHEM, and keeping that for 112 days until he was dethroned by Nigel McGuinness. Even then, his influence on both ROH and pro wrestling at large was felt as he engaged in one of the hardest-hitting, most memorable bouts in modern wrestling history when he fought the legendary Kenta Kobashi at JOE VS. KOBASHI, and even after Joe first parted ways with ROH in March 2007, his presence loomed large over every individual who held the ROH World Championship in his wake. All World Champions were compared to Joe and his legacy, and every big man who ever entered into ROH competition was sized up against Samoa Joe’s shadow as well.

That was the world into which Shane Taylor entered when he first joined Ring of Honor in November 2014 at GLORY BY HONOR XIII, and though he reigned as a dominating ROH World TV Champion for 218 days, and a ROH World Six Man Champion for 295 days, the comparisons to Samoa Joe never ceased, but Taylor never had a chance to tackle those comparisons head-on until now.

When Samoa Joe re-entered the ROH landscape at SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2022, the fanbase was excited at the prospects of all that could be, speculating on if Joe would pursue the ROH World Championship he lost, or who he may want to lock horns with inside the squared circle. It turned out his first mission was to claim a championship that he had no opportunity to hold during his original ROH tenure simply because it did not exist until 2010, the ROH World Television Championship.

Shortly after his arrival, Joe dethroned Minoru Suzuki to claim the title, and 508 days later, he is still standing tall as the champion with 13 successful defenses to his reign! This makes Joe the second longest reigning TV champion of all time, behind Jay Lethal, and put him just above Shane Taylor on the list of successful defenses, a list Jay Lethal is also at the top of, having retained the belt on 36 occasions during his 567 days.

So it shall be this Sunday night in Chicago that two of Ring of Honor’s most dominant forces, two of the most imposing competitors in professional wrestling today, will engage in combat for the very first time, a right Taylor earned with victories over Serpentico, Christopher Daniels, and Gravity in an Eliminator Tournament. This is a fight about the championship, about legacy, and about who will be the dominant force moving forward, and for Shane Taylor, with a visit to his hometown of Cleveland looming next Saturday, it’s absolutely about being able to go home a champion!

NO DISQUALIFICATION STRAP MATCH…

“Absolute” Ricky Starks vs. “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FTOIjz-OYYY?si=yPI4zS_v0eAnHUku

Well Ricky Starks certainly did not anticipate getting the match he’s got to face on Sunday night at ALL OUT 2023, he was looking to fight a 70 year old “Dragon” in a Strap Match, but instead he got a date with a different Dragon, an “American Dragon”. This came as a shock to the AEW faithful in Chicago, as well as those watching at home, as no one was aware Danielson was cleared for competition following his injury in the Kazuchika Okada match at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023.

To his credit, Starks recognized the mistake he had made, and essentially told the world “if this is the bed I made, than I’m going to make myself comfortable”. After all, it’s a huge opportunity for the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament winner, the chance to spoil Danielson’s return to action almost two years to the date since his AEW debut at ALL OUT 2021, and continue to rise up towards the championship status he craves.

Will Sunday night be Ricky Starks night, or will it be the night “The American Dragon” roars?

Tag Team Battle…

NJPW STRONG Open Weight Champion Eddie Kingston & ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata

vs.

Blackpool Combat Club (ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta)

The bad blood between Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli has kept these two men bonded across many, many years, and even years wrestling in drastically different spheres did nothing to lessen the feelings of disdain. It’s spread from AEW to Ring of Honor and back again, putting Kingston inside Blood & Guts alongside The Golden Elite, putting him on the same side of Stadium Stampede as The Best Friends and Penta El Zero Miedo, and even putting him at odds with a man who was like a brother: Jon Moxley.

It’s been story of Eddie and his strange bedfellows, doing whatever he needs to do in order to get to Claudio, uniting with whoever has motivates that align with his, and hoping it leads to ending Castagnoli. This Sunday night in Chicago that means uniting with ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata to face the ROH World Champion and the man Shibata dethroned to claim that Ring of Honor title, the only 2-Time Pure Champion in ROH history, Wheeler Yuta!

The sad reality is that the animosity between Claudio and Kingston will probably never be satiated as long as both men are breathing. It’s shattered promotional boundaries, it’s bled across years and years, and sustained itself even when both men were on opposite sides of the wrestling world. Given that these men were once friends, roommates even, it’s a shame it’s gotten to this point, but that familiarity has bred contempt like none other. Is this a case of mutually assured destruction? Can either survive their own hate?

Eight-Man Fight…

AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) and The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)

vs.

BULLET CLUB GOLD (Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn, Jay White, & Juice Robinson)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/9hub3SmDfiM?si=JR1UIjkmXMLUTJT1&start=180

It may come as a shock in 2023, but in 2020 The Young Bucks and FTR actually united on two occasions ahead of their first clash at FULL GEAR 2020. Neither ended up as positive moments for the four men, they lost both the eight and ten man tags in which they participated, and as history as shown, they’ve since fought it out in three landmark bouts. The first won by The Young Bucks at FULL GEAR 2020, the second by FTR on the April 6, 2022 edition of DYNAMITE, and the third also by FTR at ALL IN: LONDON just a week ago. Though the brothers Jackson walked away from the match without shaking the hands of Dax and Cash, a common foe had brought them together once again this Sunday night at ALL O UT 2023.

BULLET CLUB GOLD has been a thorn in the side of FTR since the inception of COLLISION, and have also inserted themselves in Elite business time and again, including Kenny uniting with Ibushi and Hangman Page in a losing effort to Jay White, Juice Robinson, and Takeshita at ALL IN: LONDON. Now all the worlds collide as FTR and The Young Bucks try to put aside their differences to fight BC GOLD live on pay-per-view! Is it possible? Or will BC GOLD celebrate in the Windy City tonight!

ALL OUT 2023: ZERO HOUR…

-AEW World Trios Championship Match: The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens, Daddy Ass, & Max Caster)(c) vs. Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett, & Satnam Singh

https://www.youtube.com/embed/dGq4ROIquRk?si=Upw7ARLadTEDjKMw&start=180

-ROH Women’s World Champion Athena, Diamante, & Mercedes Martinez vs. Hikaru Shida, Skye Blue, and Willow Nightingale

-Over Budget Charity Battle Royale: Winner gives $50K to the charity of their choice

ALL OUT 2023 emanates from the United Center in Chicago, IL this Sunday night, and live on pay-per-view beginning at 8pm ET/7pm CT! Make a point to check out the official AEW YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFN4JkGP_bVhAdBsoV9xftA/videos) to get up to date with highlights from the lastest episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as the CONTROL CENTER, highlights from ALL IN: LONDON, and more to get you ready for ALL OUT 2023!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/MXMI9rkCRUo?si=lBlbpBl5TbAS2h9C

This Sunday, All Elite Wrestling comes to London for the most important event in AEW history since the first DOUBLE OR NOTHING in 2019, and the largest event in All Elite history! In front over 80,000 people at Wembley Stadium, and before a worldwide pay-per-view audience, AEW presents ALL IN: LONDON on Bleacher Report, traditional cable & satellite providers in the United States and Canada, FITE INTERNATIONAL, PPV.COM, and more!

With seven championship matches between the PPV proper and the ZERO HOUR, as well as the return of Stadium Stampede, AEW’s first Tag Team Coffin Match, a Generational Dream Bout, and so much more! The pay-per-view action begins at 6pm BST/1pm EST, with the ZERO HOUR kicking off at 12pm ET/9am PT, featuring an ROH World Tag Team Championship match pitting Aussie Open against Adam Cole & MJF, as well as a FTW Championship Match between Jack Perry and HOOK!

AEW World Championship Match

MJF (c) vs. Adam Cole

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ukWjq30GTfo?si=Ise4k3lqyTQPnIEl

It all began on June 7th in Colorado Springs when Adam Cole and MJF were face-to-face on DYNAMITE, and by the end of the conversation Cole embarrassed the AEW World Champion into a match. It may not have been a championship bout, but on June 14th in Washington, DC, when AEW returned to where DYNAMITE first began in 2019, Cole and MJF met in an Eliminator fight, meaning if Cole beat the champion, he would earn a future title match.

Unfortunately for Cole, despite giving Max a taste of his own medicine by using the AEW World Championship belt as a weapon, and MJF him with both The Boom and The Panama Sunrise, the time limit expired and Cole was left empty handed. He hadn’t earned a future title match, and there was certainly no way MJF was going to gift him one just because they had a good fight. That was certainly not something in Max’s nature, not at that point two months ago, but then something happened, something called the Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament. With a future AEW World Tag Team Championship opportunity awaiting the victors, random names were drawn to create tag teams who would then populate the brackets for an eight-team tournament.

Cole and MJF would be the first team put together for the tournament, and while it seemed inevitable they would implode under the weight of their recent history, the exact opposite actually happened. Not only did they did defeat Matt Menard & The Butcher and Big Bill & Brian Cage en route to the finals, they actually managed to win the whole tournament by beating Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara! On top of that, much to the chagrin of Cole’s long-time friend Roderick Strong, Adam and Maxwell actually developed the most unlikely friendship. The two men could not be more different from each other, and yet through their tournament time, their loss to FTR in the AEW World Tag Team Championship bout, and their unique bonding activities away from the ring, these two competitors have actually found mutual respect and even a brotherly love. The most shocking thing to come out of all of this isn’t MJF and Cole becoming friends, it’s that Maxwell Jacob Friedman has actually come to embrace the fans cheering his name and proudly calling themselves his devil worshipers, he’s even been seen slapping hands and hugging children. Given the road MJF has traveled his entire AEW career, if not his entire professional wrestling life, this is the most shocking part of the path to ALL IN: LONDON. Oh, and the fact that MJF actually stuck to the promise he laid out to Cole prior to that FTR bout, that MJF would give Adam Cole an AEW World Championship fight regardless of the championship bout outcome.

Clearly they did not walk away from the bout as new AEW World Tag Team Champions, but in a move that was a true shock, as well as an indicator that perhaps MJF was genuine in his friendship with Cole, the title fight was set for ALL IN: LONDON! What has been most intriguing since that bout was set was seeing if the friendship would implode under the shadow of the AEW World Championship fight, but instead it has seemed to grow stronger, although both Cole and MJF have had their moments when they’ve nearly snuck one on the other man, but has had the side effect of apparently decimating the friendship between Roderick Strong and Adam Cole in the process, driving Strong towards The Kingdom, who experienced their own issues with Cole many years ago in Ring of Honor.

It’s wild to think that mere hours after Adam Cole and the AEW World Champion unite on the ZERO HOUR in an attempt to dethrone Aussie Open as ROH World Tag Team Champions that they will then face one another for the most coveted prize in professional wrestling today.

It will be quite fascinating to see how the outcome of that ZERO HOUR bout factors into the main event of ALL IN: LONDON. Will Adam Cole and MJF enter as the new ROH World Tag Team Champions, or will they enter into the biggest match of their careers as beaten men? Will it be a tag team bout that breaks the bond they’ve built over the last couple months, or one that strengthens the ties enough to survive however the World Championship fight plays out? And just who will walk into Chicago, mere days after this, as the reigning champion looking towards whatever ALL OUT 2023 may have in store for him?

AEW World Tag Team Championship Match

FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (c) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/PwU1GB0MqC8?si=pXN3u2a5rtgRNpkO

The date was November 7th and the event FULL GEAR 2020; it was huge night for several reasons, one being that it was the most people watching AEW in-person since the Pandemic changed our world, but also that it was the night one of pro wrestling’s dream matches finally became reality. After years of debate over who was the better team, The Young Bucks and FTR finally clashed, and with the AEW World Tag Team Championship titles at stake. That night it would be The Young Bucks who walked away victorious, capturing the AEW Tag Titles for the very first time, and at least on that night, staking their claim as the top team in professional wrestling today.

It would be quite some time before we saw Cash, Dax, Matt, and Nick collide in a tag team bout, seventeen months to be precise, and on that night in Boston, with both the ROH World Tag Titles and the AAA Tag Titles at stake, it would be FTR who left Agganis Arena with the win, and both sets of championship titles.

So when FTR finally reclaimed the AEW World Tag Team Championship, defeating The Gunns in April of this year, the speculation began about when fans might get to see a rubber match between these two duos. That speculation came to an end on August 5th when, after defeating Big Bill & Brian Cage in a championship bout, FTR challenged The Young Bucks to a fight at Wembley Stadium! The biggest tag team championship bout for the biggest event in All Elite Wrestling history; it made perfect sense, and The Young Bucks would agree just a few nights later!

So on this grand stage, in front of more than 80,000 of the AEW faithful, and with countless more watching around the world, will we see the heart and soul of All Elite Wrestling become 3-Time AEW World Tag Team Champions or will it Billion Star FTR who lays claim to the best tag team moniker while also retaining their championship titles?

AEW Women’s World Championship Four Way Match

Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Saraya vs. Toni Storm vs. Dr. Britt Baker DMD

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_GHd4I6U5z8?si=K91BGPTxBarYdgNv

What a tangled web this AEW Women’s World Championship bout has become after last Friday night’s tag team bout on RAMPAGE. Defending Champion Shida and Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D teamed up to take on The Outcasts Saraya and Toni Storm in a preview of the Four Way taking place on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.

While there was certainly hope with all four women that this would be an opportunity to get a last minute advantage, and though that is what happened for The Outcasts, it also created a whole mess of tension between all four competitors. The history between Shida and Baker, the one where the latter ended the former’s historic first title reign, seemed to have been set aside as they united against the threat of The Outcasts, but when a blinded Shida decked her own partner, inadvertently setting Britt up to be beaten by Saraya, it was not the best way to put the former foes on the same page against The Outcasts during Sunday’s event. Prior to that moment, it seemed possible that Shida and the Good Doctor could at least unite to insure neither Outcast left Wembley with the Women’s World Championship, but after that blow on Friday, compiled with their history over AEW’s existence, it seems highly unlikely they will find common ground.

That being said, it seemed like a given that The Outcasts would have common ground in the mission to dethrone Shida, and while that may be the case, the way Saraya and Toni Storm left things on Friday night, it seems there could be something rotten in the locker room of The Outcasts. Toni aims to be the first 3-Time champion, while Saraya hopes to not only win her first championship in AEW, but also her first championship in nine years, and those two goals are clearly in conflict. So the question on Sunday will be, if it comes down to either Saraya or Toni Storm getting the victory and the title, will the other allow that to happen? And if there is some dissension in the ranks of The Outcasts, will that provide the opening either Hikaru Shida or Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D need to have their hand raised in victory before 80,000 strong?

Stadium Stampede Match

Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta), Eddie Kingston, AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy & Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Blackpool Combat Club (ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta), Santana & Ortiz

https://www.youtube.com/embed/UgcrZHMw350?si=_MuHEeKDZtu1qVun

It’s been a couple years since Stadium Stampede has reared its head in All Elite Wrestling, since DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2021 to be precise, but this Sunday at Wembley Stadium, before the largest crowd in AEW history, one of the most unpredictable matches in company history makes its return! But it’s not just the match making its return, it’s also several of the competitors returning to action after time away, and some of the strangest bedfellows imaginable!

First off, who would’ve ever thought Eddie Kingston would be standing side-by-side with Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy? On top of that, who would’ve thought that, given how toxic their AEW relationship was in past, that the Lucha Brothers would once again stand beside Eddie Kingston, or that Penta and Fenix would unite with The Best Friends given their own violent history as foes?

And could anyone possibly have predicated that two of Eddie Kingston’s oldest friends, two men who spent a great deal of time trying to end Jon Moxley’s career early in AEW’s history, would side up with The Blackpool Combat Club against Eddie in this Stadium Stampede? But then again, the last time we saw Ortiz in All Elite Wrestling, he and Kingston had a massive falling out as a result of House of Black machinations, and they were throwing down with one another. That may have been six months ago, but it was a wound never healed, much less addressed, and it appears this is just one chicken that’s come home to roost for Kingston. The other comes in the form of Santana, a man who has been on the shelf since June 2022’s Blood & Guts match in Detroit recovering from injury, a match he was in at the request of Kingston, and a man who it seems Kingston forgot about in the aftermath of that war.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/f0wHdnABVpw?si=9uD7gN_wHnobLX4w&start=182

It’s clear that Kingston’s hatred for Claudio Castagnoli is what’s driving this for him, but for the rest of his group, it’s about what The Blackpool Combat Club has done to them over the last several weeks. The Best Friends and Orange Cassidy have been repeatedly assaulted, look at the Parking Lot Fight from RAMPAGE for a microcosm of what this dynamic has looked like The BCC lost Blood & Guts to The Golden Elite six weeks ago. It feels as if that loss, and how it came to pass, has spiraled Mox, Claudio, and Yuta into a flurry of violence, and The Luchas and Best Friends have been the targets for assorted reasons. The connection to “The Bastard” PAC put a crosshairs on Penta and Fenix, leading to Rey being eliminated from even competing in this match this past Wednesday on DYNAMITE, while Yuta’s connection to The Best Friends, as well as events from ROH’s DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023 PPV event, led them into this fracas.

And now it will all explode in utterly unpredictable fashion this Sunday at ALL IN: LONDON! How much frustration must Santana have pent-up after over a year away from the fight? How much does Ortiz want to punch Kingston in the mouth for how they left things? For that matter, how much violence do all these men want to inflict upon one another for everything that’s happened over the last several weeks, as well as for everything that’s tied these men together in various fashion both here in All Elite Wrestling, and in their lives before entering into AEW? This will be officially sanctioned chaos, and it is coming to Wembley Stadium this Sunday!

AEW World Trios Championship Match

The House Of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black) (w/Julia Hart) (c) vs. The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) & Billy Gunn

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ju4LUUn-0nY?si=4M3b4Eb4SQTZDIu-

The House of Black couldn’t leave well-enough alone; the AEW World Trios Champions had twice-defeated The Acclaimed in championship fights, and even driven Billy Gunn into retirement, thinking he didn’t have it as a competitor any more, and was better off hanging up his boots in front of the entire world as he sat in the middle of the ring.

But that wasn’t enough for Malakai Black, Brody King, Buddy Matthews, and Julia Hart; perhaps it was the insistence from Max and Anthony that they still believed, with Billy, they were the best trio in All Elite Wrestling. Perhaps they needed to send a message to The Acclaimed of what would happen if they ever came near The House again, and perhaps the disposal of Billy’s boots into the trash bin was part of the message of what would happen should they come knocking on The House’s door once again.

Instead, what The House got was a very angry Max Caster and Anthony Bowens who didn’t care about the numbers, and still wanted a fight with the World Trios Champions knowing they would be, no pun intended, outgunned. So when The Acclaimed’s music hit, as Brody King was preparing to level Anthony Bowens with the same chain used to bloody Max Caster, it was a shock to the former AEW World Tag Team Champions that their friend and mentor was on the spot to not just disperse The House of Black, but to also make a challenge for this match set to take place at Wembley Stadium!

So with The Acclaimed reunited at full strength, this past Saturday on COLLISION the trio decided to share one last verse with their foes before heading into battle at ALL IN: LONDON:

Will The House of Black make a clean sweep of The Acclaimed in this, their third championship fight, and once again prove that it is they who are the most dominant trio in All Elite Wrestling? Or will The Acclaimed take the lessons learned from their previous outings, add that to the renewed confidence demonstrated by Billy Gunn, and turn it into championship success?

“Real” AEW World Championship Match

CM Punk (c) vs. Samoa Joe

ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe was a happy man on Saturday night, if only for a brief moment, because he knew that come Sunday at ALL IN: LONDON he would be getting the fight he’d been wanting ever since CM Punk defeated him during the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. At first Joe was indignant that Punk didn’t even bother responding to the challenge, which led to Joe removing Punk from the equation when he and FTR challenge The House of Black for the AEW World Trios Championship.

Punk’s response came in the form of a little deception, entering the ring to fight Joe under the guise of Golden Vampire, and laying the ROH World TV Champion low with a GTS before accepting the challenge for this fight at Wembley Stadium. Samoa Joe and CM Punk fighting in England feels appropriate for a number of reasons, one being that their last singles match prior to AEW took place 100 miles away in Conventry back in March 2005, and another being that over 80,000 fans will experience the next chapter in this landmark feud for modern wrestling history. The Trilogy, as it is known to Ring of Honor fans, defined independent wrestling for the 2000’s and beyond, shaped an entire generation of wrestlers who came along afterwards, and helped to save Ring of Honor during one of its most tumultuous times.

As if the heated rivalry between these two warriors wasn’t enough, add in the factor of Punk’s Championship belt, and this is escalated to a whole new level. Whereas the match during The Owen still carried some of the respect built between the two over the years prior, what has led Punk and Joe to this next chapter in their story has been utterly devoid of it. And that calm, peaceful Samoa Joe that sat down on Saturday to do commentary during the main event, that all went out the window when CM Punk chose to apply Joe’s signature choke to Brian Cage in order to win the match. Suffice to say that was the trigger moment that led to the utter chaos that capped off COLLISION, but will it be what ends the night on Sunday for Punk? Will he fall victim to Joe’s choke as he did so many years ago at ROH’s ALL STAR EXTRAGANZA II event, or it will the ROH World TV Champion be put to sleep like he was just a week ago?

Dream Match…

Chris Jericho vs. IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay

https://www.youtube.com/embed/J1BvtyO3adc?si=7cSwRhw5m2Ln2QVM

This heated up rather quickly; something that began as Don Callis playing his games with people’s lives rapidly turned into a situation in which his games are an afterthought to the hostilities between Chris Jericho and Will Ospreay that exploded during their contract signing this past Wednesday on DYNAMITE.

As Ospreay laid out everything he was fighting for this Sunday at Wembley Stadium, Chris Jericho took credit for the mere fact that the IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion was in that position in the first place. “The Ocho” brought up a five year old phone call as being the reason Ospreay transformed into the wrestler he is today rather than ending up in a wheelchair, and though “The Aerial Assassin” may not have known that was a possibility, Jericho also said he and Will would’ve collided two years ago if not for the pandemic disrupting the plan.

So although Don Callis may have orchestrated the moment in which Ospreay leveled Jericho from behind, this has become about something bigger than Callis stabbing Jericho in the back despite the original AEW World Champion being willing to join the family. This is a generational dream match, two of the greatest competing today, coming from drastically different places in their careers, but both wanting to be known as the absolute best wrestler walking the planet today, and there is no bigger stage to to fight it out than in front of 80,000+ fans inside the biggest venue England has to offer! Ospreay is heading into this after a tremendous showing during NJPW’s G1 Climax Tournament, and after defeating Shingo Takagi at RevPro just 24 hours before ALL IN: LONDON is set to begin. Conversely Jericho heads into this having watched his Appreciation Society, save Sammy Guevara, dissolved right in front of him all because he couldn’t make the choice between Don Callis and The J.A.S. It was only after he’d lost everything that Jericho gave Callis a “yes”, and the fact that Callis anticipated a “no” is what set this ball rolling.

Jericho has made it clear this is the most important match of his life, perhaps more so because of all he’s lost in the last several weeks, and this is the most important event on which he’s ever fought. For Ospreay the same is true, he wants to add Jericho’s name to the list that includes Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega, David Finlay, and Shingo Takagi as some of the men he’s beaten in the last two months. For Will it’s about supporting a family, it’s about doing it in his home country on the biggest stage AEW has ever had, and doing it at the expense of a certified legend who still competes at the highest levels.

Of course Don Callis lurks at the shadows around this match, of course he wants to make sure Jericho doesn’t not walk out of Wembley with a win, the words “your head on a platter” were what he spoke regarding what he offered Ospreay to come fight Jericho, and while he did his best to screw Kenny Omega at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023, will Callis be there to try to do it to Jericho this Sunday in London?

Trios Match…

BULLET CLUB GOLD (Jay White & Juice Robinson) & Konosuke Takeshita (w/Don Callis) vs. The Golden Elite (Adam Page, Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi)

It seems Don Callis will sign up with anyone he can to make Kenny Omega’s life a living hell. First he threw in his lot with The Blackpool Combat Club ahead of Blood & Guts, only to pull Konosuke Takeshita from the fray when things started to get hairy for The BCC after “The Bastard” PAC bailed on them. Callis, and Takeshita for that matter, are lucky The BCC have been occupied with other matters and vengeance hasn’t swung their way for that abandonment.

Now it seems Callis has thrown his favor the way of BULLET CLUB GOLD as they assaulted Kenny Omega while he was in the midst of an interview with Jim Ross. It’s clear this is where they all felt safe accosting Omega, during a situation where there was not a soul available to help him, and yet they still did so with a distinct numbers advantage that “The Cleaner” could not possible have overcome.

And perhaps BC GOLD thought they’d face little repercussion as The Young Bucks would be wrapped up in their own dealings with FTR, Cash and Dax being other people with some BC GOLD bad blood, but thankfully the former AEW World Champion has friends beyond the brothers Jackson.

So it will be this Sunday night that, for the very first time, The Golden Lovers and Hangman Page compete in Trios action to take on another nascent trio in Jay White, Juice Robinson, and Konosuke Takeshita! It’s clear Don Callis is on a revenge trip when it comes to Kenny, will aim any gun he can at the man he once considered family, and will fire any bullets he finds at the former AEW World Champion. This week it’s BULLET CLUB GOLD, but should Kenny, Hangman, and Kota Ibushi turn away this attack, what will Callis throw at Omega next? What will Kenny have to do in order to shut Don Callis down for good?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/I5YtAHLH0Ws?si=azkVR2RNhjxtsL0d&start=182

BULLET CLUB GOLD is supremely confident riding into London, just listen to how they address the situation in the video embedded above, and are utterly convinced their Bang Bang Gang are the dominant force in All Elite Wrestling, but if they can shut down Omega, Ibushi, and Hangman at Wembley, they may be right!

Tag Team Coffin Match…

Christian Cage & Swerve Strickland vs. Darby Allin & Sting

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xy2vJhgvw5U?si=uiEB_06Ysrb-36sx

Originally the challenge to this Tag Team Coffin Match was made to AR Fox and Swerve Strickland, but as was seen this past Wednesday night on DYNAMITE, following their tag team loss to Darby Allin and Nick Wayne, Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana fired Fox from The Mogul Embassy, leaving Brian Cage to deliver the killing blow.

This brought out Darby, Nick, and Sting back to run off The Mogul Embassy, despite Fox’s betrayal of the men, which in turn brought Christian Cage and TNT Champion Luchasaurus out as well. The arrival of Cage and the actual TNT Champion led to the announcement that it would be Christian Cage, rather than AR Fox, who would travel to Wembley Stadium for the Tag Team Coffin Match!

It looks like all of Darby Allin’s enemies are lining up against him for this fight as his issues with Christian and Luchasaurus, set to take center stage at ALL OUT 2023 where Darby will fight Luchasaurus for the TNT Championship, merge with those involving Swerve Strickland, and explode in AEW’s first ever Tag Team Coffin Match! Given that it’s Luchasaurus who will actually do the heavy lifting in Chicago, and not Christian Cage, there’s a great deal of concern about what condition Darby will be in for September 3rd at The United Center, but ultimately he and Sting have to focus on one fight at a time, and it’s a fight that’s been part of Darby’s AEW career for quite some time now. For a detailed look at how we got here, check out this history package, but suffice to say that Darby and Swerve have history that predates All Elite Wrestling, and it’s only gotten uglier in the time that both men have been part of the company.

With 80,000-plus cheering them on, Darby Allin and Sting come to Wembley this Saturday not to praise Christian and Swerve, but to lock them inside a coffin and take the first step towards clearing the table. Part one happens in Wembley when the coffin lid is closed on Christian and Swerve, part two takes place in Chicago when Darby Allin becomes a 3-Time TNT Champion; at least that’s their hope.

ZERO HOUR…

ROH World Tag Team Championship Match…

Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) (c) vs. Adam Cole & MJF

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nbee1jno31E?si=mSkeBRWK-5XJpoH6

Suffice to say that the main event of ALL IN: LONDON is going to be greatly affected by the events of the ZERO HOUR beginning at 12pm ET/9am PT on AEW’s official YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@AEW/featured). Adam Cole, having never won the ROH World Tag Team Championship, and MJF, having never competed in anything involving Ring of Honor, will challenge the defending ROH World Tag Team Champs Aussie Open ahead of their fight over the AEW World Championship later in the night!

Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis, after capturing the titles at ROH’s DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023 pay-per-view event, have successfully defended the championship on four occasions, including this past Wednesday on DYNAMITE against The Hardys. They are on quite the roll since their July title victory, but face incredibly tough competition in MJF and Cole who, although relatively new to tag team competition, were victorious in the Blind Eliminator Tag Tournament, and gave FTR a tremendous fight in the AEW World Tag Team Championship loss a few weeks back. Amazingly enough, even with their AEW World Title fight on the horizon, Cole and Friedman have managed to keep their new-found friendship intact. Both men seem intent on maintaining the friendship, despite the protestations of Cole’s long-time friend Roderick Strong, the seeming impossibility that MJF can be trusted at all, and the championship fight coming just a few hours after this tag team title bout.

Can Aussie Open use the circumstances of the evening to their advantage and retain the ROH World Tag Team Titles? Or will the bromance of Cole and MJF lead to success as a team just before the biggest fight of both men’s careers? And if the match plays out in the favor of Aussie Open, how will that affect the AEW World Championship Match, as well as the relationship between championship and challenger? In the history of the ZERO HOUR/BUY-IN, this is the most important match that’s ever taken place, but will it be Aussie Open or MJF/Cole who history remembers as the victor?

FTW Title Match…

Jack Perry (c) vs. Hook

https://www.youtube.com/embed/uD_CVFcegqk?si=EliWlL7kfaAlKRad

Jack Perry may have entered into the Gas South Arena on Saturday night with the intention of smashing the FTW Championship to bits, but “The Cold-Hearted Handsome Devil” HOOK had other plans for his former friend, and they didn’t include seeing the championship his father created left in the history books with Perry’s face plastered as its final champion.

The chaos that was the final COLLISION before ALL IN: LONDON would culminate in a crazy brawl involving fighters all slated to compete at Wembley Stadium, but it was Jack Perry who snuck in the back door, having nothing to do with the 10-Man Tag main event, and attacked his challenger. It started when Jack betrayed HOOK at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023, was followed by Perry running from the then-FTW Champion for weeks, before finally having to answer for his betrayal inside the squared circle. Surprisingly Jack handed HOOK his first loss that night in Boston, and even bested Rob Van Dam several weeks ago in Columbus, but HOOK wasn’t going to standby for long given Perry’s threats of what he would do after beating RVD.

Jack Perry can’t run from this one, not even when he’s in London some 5,500 miles away from his Los Angeles home, even there HOOK will be waiting, and retribution will be waiting with him!

This Sunday the biggest event in AEW history goes down at Wembley Stadium when All Elite Wrestling presents ALL IN: LONDON in front of more than 80,000 fans in London, and before a worldwide audience on Bleacher Report, traditional cable & satellite providers in the United States and Canada, FITE INTERNATIONAL, PPV.COM, and more!

From Adam Cole challenging MJF for the AEW World Championship to the return of Stadium Stampede, from AEW’s first Tag Team Coffin Match to a loaded AEW Woman’s World Championship Four Way, and from a Dream Bout pitting Chris Jericho against Will Osprey to FTR/Young Bucks Round Three, and so much more, this is a loaded event from top-to-bottom! The pay-per-view action starts at 6pm BST/1pm EST, with the ZERO HOUR getting underway at 12pm ET/9am PT, and includes the ROH World Tag Team Championship match between Aussie Open and Adam Cole/MJF, plus a FTW Championship Grudge Match between Jack Perry and HOOK!

Whether you’re there in-person or watching on PPV, you are all a part of history that would not have been possible without the support of the AEW faithful around the world!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/lfcRKqTXnxY

Last week on COLLISION, fans witnessed CM Punk retain his “Real” World Championship over Ricky Starks, in part thanks to Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat having a keen eye for Starks’ cheating, and stepping in when referee Stephon Smith was knocked out of commission. Still, it didn’t save Steamboat from getting attacked by Ricky after the match, of course after Punk had already left the ring, necessitating Punk to come in with chair in hand to chase the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament winner away.

In addition, FTR retained their AEW World Tag Team Championship over Big Bill and Brian Cage in a hard-fought battle while Kris Statlander bested Mercedes Martinez in their TBS Championship clash only to fall victim to an assault from both Martinez and Diamante! The House of Black retained their World Trios Champions titles, Samoa Joe challenged CM Punk to meet him at ALL IN: LONDON, and Jay White was back in action as well!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/KxvTVdEMUkg

This week all of those champions will be in action once again, six of them in the same match, as The House of Black defends their AEW World Trios Championship against the team collectively known as CMFTR! On top of that, TBS Champion Kris Statlander will team up with Willow Nightingale to face Mercedes and Diamante in tag team action, and speaking of tag teams, The Acclaimed will be back in the mix this Saturday night when COLLISION comes to Greensboro, NC and the historic Greensboro Coliseum! The show begins at 8:00pm ET/7:00pm CT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for AEW’s international fans, so make it a point to visit the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from this week’s episodes of DYNAMITE and RAMPAGE, as well as the latest edition of CONTROL CENTER, and so much more!

AEW WORLD TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

The House of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews, & Malakai Black)

vs.

CMFTR (AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR & CM Punk)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/XLDUcfofd7w

It was far from an off-week for all the men involved in this bout as all six defended their titles on COLLISION. The House of Black, unarguably, had the easiest night of them all, and that’s meant as no slight to Action Andretti, Lee Johnson, or Darius Martin, it’s just that they were a trio fighting in their first outing together, and while they pushed The House for nine minutes, ultimately they were left decimated by Brody, Buddy, and Malakai. Now the CMFTR side of this coin, they put in 35 minutes of ring time between their two respective matches:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/MGOExmlWdlk

Now Dax and Cash may have been facing a team rather inexperienced in working together, but who have been quite the destructive force in their limited outings as a pair. Big Bill and Brian Cage ran the table on the Eliminator Battle Royale to earn this shot, and that was after several impressive outings in the Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament that earned MJF and Adam Cole their title opportunity. So while they may have successfully defended their AEW World Tag Team Championship against Big Bill and Brian Cage, Dax and Cash took quite a beating from the monsters in the process, and that was after facing MJF and Cole the week prior, going nearly an hour with Juice and Jay White two weeks before that, and nearly thirty minutes with that BULLET CLUB GOLD duo the week before that. Suffice it to say FTR has been putting in the work since the debut of COLLISION, as well as making their presence known on DYNAMITE several times, and thus they are feeling it coming into this Trios bout.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/L675xZinpt0

And the same could be said for their partner, the self-proclaimed “Real” World Champion, CM Punk. Coming off a tremendous victory over Ricky Starks in which he put in 22 minutes of ring time, Punk has to walk around knowing what happened to Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat in the aftermath of the match, a match he was responsible for bringing Steamboat into in the first place. On top of that, though he may have been off the week prior, two weeks earlier he and Darby Allin were topped by Ricky Starks and Christian Cage, the week before that he lost in the finals of The Owen Hart Foundation Tournament to Ricky Starks, and the week before that he took an absolute beating from Samoa Joe en route to squeaking out a win over the ROH World TV Champion. So yeah, Punk is feeling it too coming into this Trios Championship contest.

Perhaps that is where CMFTR is most dangerous, when they are worn out, tired, and exhausted from their fights, perhaps that is where they are most likely to risk it all to end this House of Black reign, but that is what they will have to do in order to have hope in winning. Brody King, Buddy Matthews, and Malakai Black have far more experience working as a trio, and their seven championship defenses are testament to that resume. In fact, in all of AEW, The Elite and Death Triangle are the only active threesomes with more matches under their proverbial belt, and no active trio has more victories, though The House and Elite are tied with 17 wins each. So it is going to take every ounce of fight CMFTR has left in their body after these last two grueling months if they hope to dethrone The House of Black and head into Wembley Stadium holding the AEW World Trios Championship Titles.

Of course, both Punk and FTR have other ALL IN: LONDON issues to worry about, FTR with an officially scheduled World Tag Team Championship match against The Young Bucks and CM Punk with a challenge laid out by ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe, so they’ve already got plenty to worry about without even adding these championship titles to their plate! Should they win, would these six men pull double duty at Wembley as MJF and Adam Cole appear set to do? And even if they do not win, the question remains who will step up to fight The House of Black should they too make the excursion on August 27th?

TAG TEAM CONTEST…

TBS Champion Kris Statlander & Willow Nightingale

vs.

Diamante & Mercedes Martinez

https://www.youtube.com/embed/jSJiEZoQ2dU

Perhaps Diamante took to heart the words Athena shared with her after their ROH World Championship fight, telling her fallen foe that she has what it takes, but she’s missing something, and needed to step it up to reach championship level. It certainly seems likely given that, just two days later, Diamante joined Mercedes Martinez in assaulting TBS Champion Kris Statlander following her title victory over “The OG Badass”.

Prior to that moment, there was little common ground between the women other than both had multiple losses to Kris Statlander on their resume, and that both had fallen to Athena when the ROH Women’s World Championship was at stake. Well after the events that took place following Mercedes loss to Stat, these two women can add another commonality, an enemy named Willow Nightingale!

Now both are familiar with the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament winner; her and Diamante have split a pair of singles matches in AEW while Mercedes bested Willow for the Interim ROH Women’s World Championship at SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2022. But now “The Babe with the Power”, after her epic collision with Athena at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023, is primed to prove that she’s a dominating force in AEW, and siding up with Kris Statlander in this confrontation is quite the way to do just that.

Two top shelf athletes from Long Island facing two of the baddest women in pro wrestling today; it goes down this Saturday night on COLLISION and will no play a part in the future of the TBS Championship!

THE ACCLAIMED ARE BACK!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/bIX-eDQaIig

With Daddy Ass leaving his boots in the ring and apparently retiring from in-ring competition, The Acclaimed of Anthony Bowens and Max Caster will be stepping back into tag team action this Saturday night on COLLISION! As former AEW World Tag Team Champions, they know what it takes to get back to the top of the division, and although they’ve not been in a traditional tag team bout since the March 25th edition of RAMPAGE, they still have the most victories of any team in All Elite history with 54, and with 66 tag matches they’ve fought in more tag team bouts than any team in AEW history.

Will this Saturday mark the start of another climb towards the World Tag Team Championship for The Acclaimed? Or will their time spent in trios competition leave them a little out of practice from working the game from this angle.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/LB_HamFqslI

AEW swings into Greensboro, NC and the historic Greensboro Coliseum for an all-new COLLISION featuring one massive AEW World Trios Championship bout pitting The House of Black against CMFTR, a tag team grudge match with TBS Champion Kris Statlander being joined by Willow Nightingale to face Mercedes Martinez and Diamante, and the return of The Acclaimed to tag team action! The night kicks off at 8:00pm ET/7:00pm CT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for AEW’s international fans, so be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from last week’s COLLISION, this week’s episodes of DYNAMITE and RAMPAGE, as well as the latest edition of CONTROL CENTER, and so much more!

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