Last week on DYNAMITE, the entire landscape of All Elite Wrestling changed. As if a new AEW World Champion and the surprising arrival of the legendary Sting was not enough, the freshly crowned Kenny Omega fled the scene with IMPACT Wrestling Executive Vice President Don Callis at his side, declaring that fans would have to tune in Tuesday night for answers!
On top of those shockers, with MJF a part of the ranks, it seems The Inner Circle is hellbent on tearing itself apart just as Max heads into the Dynamite Diamond Finals against Orange Cassidy. Plus Abadon is on the hunt for the Women’s World Title just as TH2 is after The Young Bucks belts, and Eddie Kingston was after Lance Archer as DYNAMITE left the air.
What could possibly unfold this week on DYNAMITE on the heels of all that chaos? Tune into TNT at 8pm EST/7pm CST, or to AEWPlus.com, to find out what comes next in this new chapter for All Elite Wrestling. To prep for all that action, make sure to catch a loaded edition of AEW DARK, only on our official YouTube channel (Watch Here), before heading over to TNT!
A CONTROVERSIAL NEW WORLD CHAMPION…
Kenny did it; after 277 days and nine successful title defenses, “The Cleaner” brought an end to the AEW World Title reign of Jon Moxley in devastating, yet controversial, fashion. Yes, the ending came after a near thirty minute war between champion and challenger. Yes, both men gave it absolutely everything they had in attempt to walk out of DYNAMITE last week as the World Champion. And yes, it was Omega who secured the pinfall victory after four consecutive V-Trigger knees and a One-Winged Angel, but it was what directly proceeded those that turned this from an epic title change into a controversy laden situation that has caused ripples beyond All Elite Wrestling.
Omega, having been dropped head-first on the concrete with a Paradigm Shift, was definitely banged up and required some attention from the doctor. IMPACT WRESTLING EVP Don Callis, seated at the commentary table just as he was at FULL GEAR 2020 during the Page/Omega bout, made his way to the side of the injured Omega and then, with microphone in hand, to ringside to plead with Senior Official Paul Turner on behalf of his friend.
As seen in the video above, Callis got knocked on his backside by Moxley for his efforts, which conveniently led to the microphone ending up in the hand of Omega, and Kenny in turn using it as a weapon to bloody Mox before delivering the quintet of moves that led the crowning of the 3rd ever AEW World Champion. And as if that wasn’t enough, in the aftermath of the pinfall, Omega and Callis high-tailed it out of Daily’s Place and into their ride, but not before declaring to the world that if they wanted any information, they would have to tune into IMPACT on AXS TV come Tuesday night.
Well you can see for yourself in the video embedded above just how all of that played out, how it’s all wrapped up in nearly 30 years of history between Omega and Callis, dating back to when Callis was training to be a wrestler under Kenny’s uncle. The pair even used that platform to engage in the ceremonial changing of the name plate on the title belt, but it was treated with something more like mockery for Moxley than any reverence for the former champion’s reign. But that disdain for Moxley is nothing new, and something Kenny has expressed many times over since their original meeting at ALL OUT 2019 had to be canceled due to injury.
And the use of the microphone to split Moxley’s head open, in total violation of their gentleman’s agreement mind you, was just further indication of how little the new AEW World Champion actually thinks of the former champ. Or, perhaps, it’s more of a tell to the concern Omega has when it comes to Jon Moxley. Perhaps it’s not disregard for the ability of the former champion, and rather fear for what Mox brings to the fight. Maybe Kenny, deep in his heart in those places he is too afraid to explore, knows that he is incapable of defeating Jon Moxley just on skill alone. Kenny fears that no matter how good he is, and he is one of the greatest wrestlers in the world, regardless of what he has accomplished over the years, or what will come in the future, he just cannot beat Mox on his own merit.
Perhaps that is why Kenny Omega, and by proxy Don Callis, exhibit such disdain for Jon Moxley, the same disdain they apparently have for, well, everyone and will no doubt bring with them to TNT on Wednesday night when they make whatever huge announcement they alluded to in their interview Tuesday night.
What this announcement will be is anyone’s guess, Omega and Callis do not exactly offer full transparency, but the champion kept making references to Lex Luger so there is a clue in there somewhere. Tune into to DYNAMITE tonight to see what AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Don Callis have up there sleeve next…
STING SPEAKS…
One week ago, for the first time since March 26th of 2001, the legendary Sting strode out onto a TNT broadcast to seemingly run off Team Taz’s assault on TNT Champion Darby Allin and Cody Rhodes. Witnessing Sting emerge, hearing the crowd eruption, it was quite possibly the most surprising debut in the history of DYNAMITE, certainly not one that any man, woman, or child saw coming, and most certainly not any of the men involved in the moment.
As the members of Team Taz fled, and as you can see for yourself in the video embedded above, Sting slowly walked to a ring occupied by several familiar faces. The history of Sting and Arn Anderson runs deep, filled with violent leanings and puddles of bad blood, and the bond between he and the Rhodes family is quite rich as well.
He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Dustin as an ally on numerous occasions over the years, the relationship between Dusty and Sting ran deep and saw them through countless battles, and while they may have never shared a ring, it is common knowledge that Sting was Cody’s favorite wrestler growing up. And, between the face paint and respective tendencies to isolate up in the rafters away from others, fans have made a fair share of comparisons between Darby Allin and Sting, particularly in the darker periods of the latter’s career.
But the question still remains, why now? Why was it this moment on DYNAMITE that Sting chose to make his presence known to the world? Is it about Darby, Cody, or unfinished business with Arn? Is it about Team Taz? Or is it something bigger than all of those men?
The world is clearly clamoring to know more about what Sting’s presence in All Elite Wrestling means, and this Wednesday night, Tony Schiavone is the perfect man for the job, as he will speak with Sting! Do not miss out on what this legend of our sport has to say about his arrival in AEW!
SIX MAN WAR…
“Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer, Penta El Zero Miedo, & Rey Fenix (w/ Jake Roberts)
vs.
“The Mad King” Eddie Kingston, The Blade, & The Butcher (w/ The Bunny)
This has been brewing since ALL OUT 2020 and the Casino Battle Royal that “The Murderhawk Monster” officially won to earn a future World Title match with Jon Moxley. Eddie Kingston, the final man officially eliminated by Archer, began running his mouth, protesting the outcome as illegitimate, and pointing out (accurately so) that he was never technically eliminated from the bout.
Fate would then allow Kingston to slide into a World Title match with Jon Moxley before Archer received his opportunity, lining it up for Lance to face the winner of that contest on the October 14th DYNAMITE ANNIVERSARY episode. Kingston would lose his impromptu World Title challenge, as would “The Murderhawk Monster” fall in his scheduled affair, but for the later it was by a much slimmer margin, and unquestionably the closest Moxley came to losing his championship prior to last week’s bout with Kenny Omega.
The night Archer lost his title bid would also mark the last time he competed in any kind of official capacity, rather he and Jake Roberts have elected to inflict pain to any poor soul they encounter, be it inside the ring or anywhere in the building. Archer has dared anyone in All Elite Wrestling to step into his face to show him who they are, and in the chaos that followed our main event last week, Eddie Kingston elected to answer the call.
As seen in the video clip embedded above, after DYNAMITE went off the air, it broke down between “The Mad King”, Jake Roberts, and Archer when Kingston elected to sucker punch the innovator of The DDT. It was a final culmination of all these months of restrained hostilities that have seen Kingston use Archer’s loss to Moxley as his moment to take advantage of the champion, months of using The Lucha Brothers to that same end and even pitting them at one another for his own personal amusement, and of Archer stepping up to actually help Death Triangle on 11/25 when Kingston, Butcher, and Blade assaulted the trio. The enemy of my enemy and all that…
Now the time has come for Eddie Kingston to answer for his sins of the past several months when he, The Blade, and The Butcher must contend with the unlikely trio of Archer, Penta El Zero Miedo, and Rey Fenix in a six man tag team battle! Given all the anger and aggression wrapped up between these six competitors, best of luck to the referee drawing this match in trying to maintain some semblance of order.
THE DYNAMITE DIAMOND FINAL…
(#2) MJF (w/ Wardlow) vs. “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy (w/ Best Friends)
On November 27th of 2019, live from The Sears Centre in Chicago, Maxwell Jacob Friedman defeated “Hangman” Adam Page to claim the Dynamite Diamond Ring for the very first time. A prize valued at $45,000, the ring has served MJF very well on numerous occasions when not being held under the protection of Max’s hired hand “The War Dog” Wardlow. Whether serving as a decorative piece adorning his hand, or used as an instrument to influence the outcome of a match, one could argue that the Dynamite Diamond Ring has been as important to Max’s successes as Wardlow.
And that is at least part of the reason MJF was insistent on being including in the 2020 Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal last week, essentially fighting to retain possession of the ring, and why he will no doubt pull out all the stops to keep it when he squares off with Orange Cassidy on Wednesday night in their first ever singles match.
Now the two have been competitors in four different Battle Royals together under the AEW banner, five in all, but have never fought one-on-one anywhere in the wrestling world. That will change this week on DYNAMITE when one of the most beloved men on the roster squares off with the most reviled one.
There is absolutely no doubt where the fan’s loyalties lie in this one, just as there is no doubt Wardlow will be at the side of MJF while The Best Friends will be in OC’s corner to support him. For Max, this match is tantamount to a title defense, as he claims the ring is his now and will be forever. For Cassidy, and his prevailing attitude, it doesn’t feel like the price tag attached to the ring would be something of remote importance.
Rather it is a victory over MJF in a singles match, something only Jon Moxley has pulled off, that is most relevant to OC. And perhaps there’s some motivation in taking another shot at The Inner Circle here, after beating Chris Jericho twice it would be a wonderful feather in the cap to also knock off their newest acquisition. With the tensions riding so high within The Inner Circle, a loss here could also prove fatal to the group that so dominantly established itself on the very first edition of DYNAMITE last year.
And speaking of that group…
AN INNER CIRCLE ULTIMATUM…
The injection of MJF, and by proxy Wardlow, into The Inner Circle, despite the extremely vocal protestations of Sammy Guevara and Ortiz, has rapidly proven to be hazardous to the group’s health. Despite the bonding experience that was the Max-funded trip to Las Vegas, or perhaps even because of it, there still remains plenty of tensions from a few of the original members towards the two new guys.
While most of the tensions have been expressed in verbal form or via ribs to Sammy, Ortiz and Guevara did lose to Wardlow and Max in a tag team match during the DYNAMITE on the eve of FULL GEAR 2020, and then there was what happened last week as seen in the video above.
MJF certainly did his best to paint Sammy in a bad light right in front of Chris Jericho, and despite the outcome swinging in favor of “The DemoGod” thanks to a well-timed Judas Effect elbow, Guevara still lashed out at MJF in the aftermath which led to a shoving match between the OG Inner Circle crew and the two new members. It was only the erupting anger of the former AEW World Champion that brought a bit of a ceasefire to the hostilities, but that is only in the hopes of coming to some sort of resolution this week on DYNAMITE.
Will the members of The Inner Circle, new and old, be able to work as a unit moving forward or will Wednesday night December 9th, after 434 days, mark the end of this group that Chris Jericho brought together in Washington DC? We will find out together on DYNAMITE!
TAG TEAM CHALLENGE…
***IF TH2 WINS, THEY WILL RECEIVE A TITLE MATCH***
World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)
vs.
The Hybrid2 (Angelico & Jack Evans)
It is what Angelico and Jack Evans have been in hot pursuit of the last several weeks and now they are right on the precipice of earning a World Tag Team Title match. Since the two men declared their intent during an edition of Dr. Britt Baker’s WAITING ROOM on AEW DARK, TH2 first assaulted Top Flight following their breakout match with The Young Bucks, then would go on to defeat the Martin brothers in tag team action on 11/25.
Of course a mere victory wasn’t enough for Angelico and Evans as they continued to assault Top Flight after the fact, surely a message aimed at Matt and Nick Jackson, who would hit the ring to run off TH2 and prevent further injury.
Then, as witnessed in the tweet embedded above, the pair would use The Acclaimed’s verbal assault on The Young Bucks as a distraction to deliver a physical one to the World Tag Team Champions. As heard in Alex Marvez’s interview prior to arrival of Max Caster and Anthony Bowens, the champs agreed to meet Angelico and Jack this week on DYNAMITE with the added stipulation that if The Hybrid2 picked up the victory, the unranked pair would receive a future match for the AEW World Tag Team Titles.
Now Jack and Angelico, while unranked at the moment, have won their last four tag team bouts coming out of this week’s AEW DARK, including the aforementioned Top Flight match, and sit at 7-5 for their 2020 record. To be fair, their ability to compete as a duo this year was certainly impaired for several months by the pandemic, but six of those victories have all come since August when Jack and Angelico were able to resume regular tag team competition. They are very game opponents who, up until the last month, had struggled for consistency, but certainly have all the tools to knock down The Young Bucks in order to earn that future title match.
Only one other time, five-plus years ago and on the other side of the United States, these two teams danced over a different set of tag team titles. That July evening in Reseda California, it was Matt and Nick Jackson who had their hands raised after a fifteen minute fight, but there has been a great deal of experience, and a lot of mileage, added to all four men since that night. It may be the same four individuals, the same two teams, but they are not rolling into Jacksonville Florida with the same resumes.
Will history repeat itself or will we see new challengers cement themselves a World Tag Team Title opportunity?
A FAMILY FEUD…
“The Natural” Dustin Rhodes vs. The Dark Order’s Ten
The Nightmare Family and The Dark Order are quite familiar to one another over the course of 2020. Be it Cody Rhodes and his struggles against Mr. Brodie Lee over the TNT Title, Dustin Rhodes’ own fight with Lee for that championship, or the various tag team struggles between the families, the two families have grown quite accustomed to fighting each other.
This week on TNT, that perpetual struggle resumes when Dustin goes head-to-head with the man dubbed Ten since his induction into The Dark Order. It’s not their first collision in AEW, The Natural Nightmares actually bested Ten and Five on the September 4th AEW DARK in tag team competition right before Dustin’s major eight man team victory at ALL OUT 2020, but this is their first singles bout.
While Ten is heading into this fight victorious in his last two singles bouts, including on this week’s DARK presentation over Aaron Solow, this will be The Natural’s first singles match since his September 9th fight with Mr. Brodie for the TNT Title. And while for some that may play a factor, the huge experience differential between these two competitors likely plays a greater role in shaping this contest than the three month gap. Dustin has seen it all, done it all, faced them all, and accomplished it long before Ten even dreamed of entering The Monster Factory five years ago. Last night, during AEW DARK, Dustin had some words about this match…
Dustin will run Ten through the ringer on Wednesday night, and if this member of The Dark Order wants to have the same success as his Exalted One did three months ago, he is going to have to dig deep for something special. Or rely on the assistance of his fellows…
A RETURN TO ACTION…
(#1) FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood)
vs.
The Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr & Griff Garrison)
One team making their return to competition after suffering a heartbreaking defeat at FULL GEAR 2020, the other looking to make their impact on the division by topping the former champions. This is what we have on Wednesday night when Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood return to competition to take on the hungry young duo of Brian Pillman Jr and Griff Garrison.
Having adopted the name Varsity Blondes in recent weeks, Pillman and Garrison have been putting in the work at every possible opportunity, aiming to improve their tag team game, and racking up ten tag matches together during the months since their first night as a team on the August 4th AEW DARK episode. One very important note about that first match for Brian and Griff as a team, it was against none other than FTR a month prior to Cash and Dax capturing the World Tag Team Titles.
So not only this is a huge opportunity with it being The Varsity Blondes first tag team match on DYNAMITE, it is also a chance to show just how far they have come as a duo since that first meeting with FTR. It is certainly a boost to the pair that they head into Wednesday night with a victory over Colt Cabana and Alex Reynolds on AEW DARK on Tuesday night, and with victories in three of their last four DARK matches. Following Dustin Rhodes’ comments, Griff and Brian had some words after their latest AEW DARK victory that you can watch here (Click Here).
But they are running headfirst into a wall with Cash and Dax, and as evidenced by the tweet embedded above, the former World Tag Team champions aren’t coming into this one looking to capture the plaudits of the pundits, they are looking to fight, to win, and to reclaim the titles they lost to The Young Bucks.
LEAVING HER MARK…
Number five ranked Abadon made an unforgettable return to the DYNAMITE stage on November 25th following the AEW Women’s World Title match between Hikaru Shida and The Dark Order’s Anna Jay. Shida, having successfully defended her championship for the fifth time, stood in celebration atop the entrance area when the music struck…
“The Living Dead Girl” certainly left an impression on the World Champion in that moment, and showed the world a side of Hikaru Shida heretofore unseen, even in midst of battles with Nyla Rose, we saw her fear.
It’s not exactly a surprise, the appearance of Abadon can be shocking, to say the least, and the sight of her licking the championship belt, leaving behind a red streak of…something…is quite unsettling. From Abadon’s very first appearance in the AEW ring, nine months ago against Shida on AEW DARK to be precise, she has proven to be a presence that throws opponents off before the bell even rings. It’s a big part of why she has only suffered that one loss to Hikaru Shida in March, and would probably have racked up even more wins if not more the complications created by the COVID pandemic.
This Wednesday night on DYNAMITE, Abadon aims to make up for lost time against whoever is placed across the ring from her, and continue her crawl towards the AEW Women’s World Championship. She’s already proven she is in Hikaru Shida’s head (Click Here), now it is just a matter of stacking up the bodies until a title opportunity comes Abadon’s way.
SCHIAVONE AND SHAQ…
Several weeks ago, Jade Cargill surprised the world by stepping into the face of Cody on DYNAMITE after he lost the TNT Title to Darby Allin, and interrupting what “The American Nightmare” had to say about his future plans in AEW. It was an unforgettable way to make a first impression, but Jade was not done yet. Before she left the scene, or rather was forced out of it by Brandi Rhodes, Cargill threw a rather unexpected name at Cody, that of legendary NBA star Shaquille O’Neal!
Shaq, a four-time NBA champion, three-time NBA Finals MVP, 2000 league MVP, fifteen-time All-Star, and 1993 Rookie of The Year (just to list a few of his accomplishments) has long been a professional wrestling fan, and has even taken dips in the pool over the years, including a little interaction with Chris Jericho that did not go the former AEW World Champion’s way.
In an interview back in August to highlight Shaq’s extension with TNT’s “INSIDE THE NBA” program, the former center even stated he’d love to fight Cody in the future, and ever since then, the idea of Shaq in an AEW ring has been debated by fans and wrestling pundits. O’Neal was even a guest of AEW’s at FULL GEAR 2020 a month ago, taking in the tremendous pay-per-view event first-hand and really enjoying what he witnessed going down.
Now, as announced late Monday, Shaquille will be on DYNAMITE this Wednesday night, adding to the already busy schedule of our own Tony Schiavone this week, and he will be addressing AEW. Will we see the basketball legend follow-up on his August challenge to “The American Nightmare”? Tune in Wednesday night to find out!
This edition of DYNAMITE will certainly be wild; between the fallout of Kenny Omega’s World Title victory, the arrival of Sting and what ever his mission may be, the multiple issues surrounding The Inner Circle, FTR’s return to action, TH2 looking for their shot, Abadon, Shida, The Dark Order, The Nightmare Family, and a slew of other situations, this Wednesday night is a must-see!
DYNAMITE kicks off at 8pm EST/7pm CST on TNT, or on AEWPlus.com for our International audience, and be sure to catch a loaded AEW DARK on our official YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFN4JkGP_bVhAdBsoV9xftA/videos) before tuning in for a jam-packed DYNAMITE!
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