https://www.youtube.com/embed/7oINH-l2w50
ALL IN: LONDON draws ever closer and we’ve got several challenges laid out, and one AEW World Championship match made with Adam Cole challenging MJF! As we head towards that landmark event, All Elite Wrestling returns to the Columbus, OH for our debut at the Nationwide Arena, a venue that’s hosted it’s share of wrestling moments, and where AEW is set to create its own!
This Wednesday night we will see 2-Time AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida defend against Anna Jay on the same night The J.A.S. has a mandatory meeting that could very well determine the future of Chris Jericho’s unit. Plus FTW Champion Jack Perry defends against the legendary Rob Van Dam, The Hardys and Young Bucks fight for the first time since DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2022, and The Blackpool Combat Club takes on The Lucha Brothers in tag team action! And we anticipate AEW World Champion MJF and Adam Cole being there live in Columbus as their championship clash on August 27th approaches!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/bIX-eDQaIig
DYNAMITE begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT LIVE on TBS, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international fans, so drop by the official AEW YouTube channel to get caught up on highlights from last week’s episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, plus the newest edition of THE CONTROL CENTER, and more!
FTW CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…
Jack Perry(c) vs. Rob Van Dam
https://www.youtube.com/embed/bWIwO0Ai-YA
Well, it’s a safe bet this isn’t what Jack Perry was expecting to happen last week. He was not doubt expecting to wipe the floor with Jerry Lynn, a former World Champion multiple times over, but a man who hasn’t wrestled a match since 2013, had hip surgery in 2019, and neck surgery in 2015.
The former “Jungle Boy” could not have anticipated that his derision of the wrestling company Jerry Lynn called home for several years, and where he reigned as World Champion, would’ve led to the arrival of their longest reigning Television Champion, one of the men synonymous with the Philadelphia-based company, the incomparable Rob Van Dam!
With Pantera’s WALK playing him out to the ring, RVD declared his intent to fight Jack for the FTW Championship, and implied that if he won the belt, he just might have to retire it. Now this is a championship, given the nature of it pre-AEW, that RVD never had an opportunity to hold, in fact before Brian Cage less than a handful of wrestlers even had an opportunity to claim the belt, and only two, Taz and Sabu, actually did.
Well this Wednesday on DYNAMITE, when AEW returns to Columbus, OH for their debut at the Nationwide Arena, Rob Van Dam will have his opportunity to change all that, and at the site of some of the greatest bouts of his career no less! Can Jack Perry retain his newly won crown against one of the most innovative competitors of the last 30 years, a man who absolutely changed the game for all those who followed in his footsteps?
AEW WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…
Hikaru Shida(c) vs. Anna Jay
https://www.youtube.com/embed/7pI9g5LREgU?start=246
Last week Hikaru Shida was finally able to reclaim the prize she first lost to Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2020, and become a 2-Time AEW Women’s World Champion at Toni Storm’s expense. It proved quite a shock to Toni, as evidenced by this moment on COLLISION:
But Toni’s response to being dethroned cannot be Hikaru Shida’s concern because this Wednesday night she’s got to contend with her first challenger of this new reign, a familiar foe known as Anna Jay! See back during the dark days where fans were not part of the equation, Anna Jay made her AEW debut against Shida in Georgia at the Nightmare Factory. Seven months later, Anna would get the biggest opportunity of her AEW career to that point when she challenged Shida for AEW Women’s World Champion in Jacksonville at Daily’s Place. To date, that championship bout is the only televised Women’s World Title fight that Anna Jay has received, and the only one-on-one bout for that title during her AEW career. Her only other championship opportunity came in a Four Way during the HOUSE RULES: HUNTSVILLE event in June, and Anna Jay aims to make the most of finally getting this chance.
To be frank, this night will be an extremely stressful one for Anna Jay given the championship match is taking place on the same night that the future of The Jericho Appreciation Society may very well be determined, but if she wants to be a champion, the ability to focus in on the task at hand will be essential. Can Anna Jay dash Shida’s hopes and desires about being more than “the pandemic champion” ? Or will the 2-Time Champ make Anna an example to the rest of the division about how this title reign will look moving forward?
TAG TEAM CHALLENGE…
The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. The Hardys (Jeff & Matt)
It is no secret that The Hardys have meant a great deal to the lives and careers of The Young Bucks; be as inspiration to become wrestlers in the first place, as people to pattern their in-ring style after, as mentors, and as foes, the careers of the brothers Jackson are inexorably tied to that of the brothers Hardy. The fact that Matt Hardy even came to AEW in the first place was something wrapped up in helping The Elite in their wars against The Inner Circle, and without Matt here, who knows if Jeff would’ve ever become Elite himself.
Despite their multiple matches pre-AEW, including bouts over the ROH World Tag Team Titles, The Hardys and The Young Bucks have only collided in one tag team match here in All Elite Wrestling. On May 29, 2022 in Las Vegas, NV, The Hardys defeated The Young Bucks at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2022, and in the fifteen months since, have never locked horns in tag team competition again. Matt Hardy may have faced down Matt and Nick Jackson in other forms of competition, including challenging for the AEW World Trios Championship alongside The Firm, but the two pairs have not been in the same ring since.
That is not until this Wednesday night in Columbus, OH when The Hardys and The Young Bucks dance for the first time since DoN ’22! With the ALL IN: LONDON challenge issued by FTR looming overhead, how will this one play out for the former 2-Time AEW World Tag Champions?
TAG TEAM GRUDGE MATCH…
Blackpool Combat Club (ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli & Jon Moxley)
vs.
The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix)
https://www.youtube.com/embed/9GvAAQHxBKk
Last Friday night on RAMPAGE, The Blackpool Combat Club and The Best Friends returned to Jacksonville, specifically the Daily’s Place parking lot, for a fight stemming from their issues that have emerged since ROH’s DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023 PPV, especially after the Three Way bout between Moxley, Penta, and Trent. The challenge was issued by Chuck Taylor, and although he and Trent fought with everything they had in their body, and Orange Cassidy was on the scene in an attempt to balance out Wheeler Yuta’s involvement, it was still The BCC who secured victory.
Blood was shed, pain was inflicted, and the victor goes the spoils, in this case the right to face The Lucha Brothers this Wednesday night in tag team combat! Moxley and Claudio are 7-1 in tag team bouts together, that lone loss coming two weeks ago when Trent Beretta was pinned in the BCC/Luchas/Best Friends Three Way Tag. So it’s technically a loss, but the minutia means no one has actually beaten this BCC duo in their eight matches together. Now The Lucha Brothers do hold a victory over Claudio and Yuta in a bout over the ROH World Tag Team Championship, but with all respect to everything the 2-Time ROH Pure Champion brings to the table, he’s not Moxley.
So with Claudio and Moxley feeling it from Friday night’s Parking Lot Fight, while The Lucha Brothers were able to sit back and heal up from any nagging bumps and bruises, these four men head into combat this Wednesday night in Columbus! We know all four of these men are capable of getting extremely violent when the moment calls for it, will this be one of those moments? THE END OF THE JERICHO APPRECIATION SOCIETY?
https://www.youtube.com/embed/kbqrWlxLqYE
Don Callis proved what’s in his heart when he betrayed Kenny Omega despite a life-long relationship that painted the two men as being essentially family, so it should be little surprise that he’s been more than willing to drive a wedge into The Jericho Appreciation Society just to get Chris Jericho, another life-long friend, on his side. The fact that the original AEW World Champion has not only given consideration to Callis’ offers, but also took up arms against his own J.A.S allies in that tag match against Guevara and Garcia, has led all those who chose to throw their lot in with Chris to question just what Jericho is doing.
The fact Chris had a painting of he and Callis hanging in his locker room certainly didn’t help the situation, and after how Jericho elected to fight in that aforementioned tag team match, Daddy Magic took control of the situation:
Jericho is usually the one calling these sorts of meetings, be it in celebration of a victory (or celebrating himself) or in times of trouble within his units (several times over with The Inner Circle), but having been told by one of his own recruits to show up had to have stung his ego just a bit. Last time Jericho had a meeting with The Inner Circle, a month later he decimated what he created and formed The Jericho Appreciation Society. Will this meeting, one called by his crew rather than himself, be the death of The J.A.S or a night they all get back on the same page despite the machinations of Don Callis?
APPEARING LIVE…
https://www.youtube.com/embed/USUx4Z31WAc?start=246
We found out last Wednesday night that Adam Cole will get his rematch for the AEW World Championship at ALL IN: LONDON on August 27th, and it unlike their previous meeting, this was a match that Max offered of his own free will without any sort of coercion. He said Cole deserves this shot on the biggest stage possible, and repeatedly has called Adam his best friend, which is just the strangest thing to hear MJF say that about another individual and actually appear sincere. These two new-found friends actually used the word “love” to express how they felt about their friendship, which is shocking to hear given that MJF’s own mother hasn’t exactly used that word to express feelings about her son in the past. Suffice to say this isn’t an evolving situation that has sat well with many, but most particularly Roderick Strong.
As for The Kingdom’s involvement here, while Mike Bennett and Matt Taven have more than a little experience with Adam Cole in situations like this as the three of them, along with Maria and Matt Hardy, comprised the original Kingdom in Ring of Honor circa 2014. Theirs was a complicated relationship while it lasted, with questionable choices on all sides, that ultimately ended with Maria and Mike leaving ROH, Taven reforming The Kingdom with Vincent and TK O’Ryan, and Adam Cole joining BULLET CLUB. So perhaps they’re the best, or the worst, people for Roderick to commiserate with as this situation with Cole and MJF unfolds.
And this Wednesday night it will continue to do so when both the AEW World Champion and the 2022 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament winner will be appearing live in Columbus, OH! This isn’t MJF being contractually forced into the appearance either, but rather doing something of his own volition; perhaps a new leaf has been turned over, albeit slowly, as “our scumbag” begins to finds some joy in being embraced by the people.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/P3_aBKBHgKk
All Elite Wrestling debuts at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH this Wednesday night! DYNAMITE will host Anna Jay challenging the newly crowned 2-Time AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida for the title, while The J.A.S. may possible implode with their mandatory meeting. AEW World Champion MJF and Adam Cole will be appearing live, while RVD fights FTW Champion Jack Perry with his championship at stake. Plus, in two epic tag team bouts, The Hardys and Young Bucks meet for the first time since DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2022, while The BCC’s Castagnoli & Moxley fight The Lucha Brothers in tag team action!
DYNAMITE begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT LIVE on TBS, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international fans, so drop by the official AEW YouTube channel to get caught up on highlights from last week’s episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, plus the newest edition of THE CONTROL CENTER, and more!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/QIQbT19_ddoArticle source: allelitewrestling.com