Last week was truly an awesome week for DYNAMITE! Not only did we get two tremendous title matches in the World Championship battle between Moxley and The Butcher, as well as FTR giving SCU their own Brush With Greatness, we also heard Cody accept the challenge of Mr. Brodie Lee to fight in a Dog Collar match! We also learned about an eight man tournament to earn a future shot at the AEW World Title that thus far will feature Jungle Boy, Rey Fenix, and Kenny Omega!
This week, fans not only get THREE title matches to enjoy, but we will also be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first AEW World Champion, The Self-Proclaimed DemoGod and Million Viewer Man, the head of The Inner Circle and future first ballot Hall of Famer, Chris Jericho!
All that and more is coming your way when DYNAMITE hits the airwaves LIVE on TNT at 8pm EST/7pm CST, or on AEWPlus.com for our International audience! And make sure you head over to our official YouTube page (Click Here) to catch the loaded episode of DARK with Eddie Kingston, Matt Sydal, Brandi Rhodes, and Big Swole in action, as well as The Lucha Brothers taking on Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss! Plus YouTube is the only place to catch the DYNAMITE Pre- and Post-Game shows!
***RANKINGS AS OF 9/30***
TNT CHAMPIONSHIP– DOG COLLAR MATCH
Mr. Brodie Lee (c) vs. (#4) “The American Nightmare” Cody
Mr. Brodie Lee prophesied a couple weeks ago, just as he made this challenge for the Dog Collar Match, that he would cut Cody down. After the shocking three minutes it took for The Exalted One of The Dark Order to claim the TNT Championship from “The American Nightmare” on August 22nd, it does not seem like the most impossible prediction. Yet, here we are, with the Dog Collar looming and one has to question why it was the champion who issued the challenge for this stipulation?
As Arn Anderson stated in the “Road To Jericho” video embedded above, this type of battle boasts some of the most violent matches in wrestling history, with the most famous taking place between Greg Valentine and Roddy Piper over thirty years ago. It is violence, it is blood, it is carnage, and with the collar wrapped around the neck of each man, it is nigh inescapable.
So does the reigning TNT Champion issue this challenge because he is afraid he cannot beat this nightmare in a traditional match? Does Lee wish to refine his challenger in order to allow Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Silver, or Reynolds unfettered access to assaulting the man at his whim? Did Brodie lay the collar and chain on the table knowing that Cody will never back down from any challenge laid at his feet?
It does not have to be one of those things, it could even be all of those and more, but that it was the champion who made the challenge for this violence-hungry stipulation is certainly an intriguing factor in the impending battle.
Both men have everything to lose and everything to gain from sliding the leather albatross around their respective necks. Brodie is risking his TNT Championship for the hope he gains a distinct domination over the former champion, while Cody is hoping to regain the aforementioned title while risking any future chance at becoming champion while Brodie has it in his monstrous grip. After all, should Cody fall twice to Mr. Lee with that title at stake, how can he possibly claim deserving of another opportunity? But for both competitors, the risk is clearly worth the reward, otherwise why issue, or accept, this barbaric stipulation.
Come the end of DYNAMITE, will it be Mr. Brodie Lee who stands as the retaining champion? Or will Cody lay claim to being, not only the first TNT Champion, but also the first ever two time champion in any division since AEW’s inception?
30 YEARS OF JERICHO…
The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho & Jake Hager) vs. The Chaos Effect (Luther & Serpentico)
On October 2nd of 1990, a young Chris Jericho wrestled his first match in Alberta, Canada to a draw against fellow rookie Lance Storm. Over the course of the next thirty years, the future Hall of Famer would traverse the globe to hone his craft, competing throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, Germany, and against a veritable who’s who of wrestling’s greatest.
The man once known as Lionheart made his way into countless promotions around the world, claiming champions in every conceivable division that existed. Be it in tag team wrestling, as a lightweight, as a heavyweight, even in the trenches of hardcore wrestling, Chris Jericho has captured over forty championship titles, culminating most recently in his 182 day reign as the first ever All Elite Wrestling World Champion. But even that historic feat has not quenched Le Champion’s thirst for titles as he recently declared his desire to become the AEW World Tag Team Champions alongside his Inner Circle compatriot Jake Hager. And perhaps that has been the defining trait of Jericho’s three decades fighting inside the squared circle: he is never satisfied, never complete.
So despite his general demeanor nowadays, his overall attitude towards the men outside The Inner Circle, it is with respect for everything The DemoGod has achieved that AEW has chosen to celebrate the achievements of Chris Jericho this week on DYNAMITE. Ever evolving, forever adapting, Jericho has cultivated a wrestling resume that dwarfs the vast majority of the competitors who can claim a career entering it’s fourth decade, and it deserves recognition.
One such man whose wrestling tenure actually surpasses that of Jericho’s, albeit by just a few years, is Luther. Another product of the Canadian wrestling scene, the man once called Dr. Luther set foot in the ring in the waning years of the 1980’s, and himself competed in Manitoba, Alberta, all around the Canadian countryside, before traveling to Japan. But before he made that trip to the FMW rings, Luther would encounter Chris Jericho for the first time in April of 1992. They would find themselves opponents on numerous occasions, and remain friends for many years moving forward.
In Japan, Luther would go head-up against the likes of Mr. Gannosuke, Tarzan Goto, Gladiator Mike Awesome, and the legendary Atsushi Onita. He stepped inside rings wrapped not with ropes, but in barbed wire, and battle in Tag Team Street Fight tournaments in FMW. Over his thirty-plus years, Luther has stood alongside, and in opposition to, men like the Original Sheik, Sabu, Christopher Daniels, Steve Corino, Masato Tanaka, Ultimo Dragon, and even legendary boxing heavyweight champion Leon Spinks. Like Jericho, Luther has also claimed his share of championship titles, and certainly proven himself as a warrior everywhere, except on the internationally televised platforms that Jericho has enjoyed for the majority of his career.
Yet Luther, through his own dedication to professional wrestling and history around the world, was given an opportunity with All Elite Wrestling to prove what he still had in the tank, and earn himself a position on the roster. And that is exactly what the deathmatch legend has done over the last year, and is now passing along to the next generation through his Chaos Project partnership with Serpentico.
The roads of Jericho and Luther finally paralleled once more here in AEW, and after their ringside fight last week, are colliding inside the ring for the first time in decades this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE! Jericho and Hager versus Luther and Serpentico, live on TNT, nearly thirty years since the two Canadians first collided! Can Luther and his young partner play spoiler to Jericho’s celebratory night, or will the record book look much like it did decades ago with Jericho the victorious one?
AEW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH
***20 MINUTE TIME LIMIT***
FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood w/ Tully Blanchard) (c) vs. The Hybrid2 (Angelico & Jack Evans)
Last week the reigning World Tag Team Champions made their first defense of the AEW titles, under the new twenty-minute time limit rules set-up by Tully Blanchard, against the original champions Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky. The former champions gave the current ones a tremendous fight, but with an assist from their adviser, Cash and Dax retained their championship in just under sixteen minutes.
This week, FTR has signed on to give another team their own Brush With Greatness, and this time it comes in the form of Jack Evans and Angelico, collectively known as The Hybrid2. While the pair are certainly supremely talented, and offer up a challenge unlike any other FTR has faced since debuting in All Elite Wrestling, they are, as SCU was, a team from outside the top five.
It is almost as if Tully, Cash, and Dax are purposefully selecting teams not slotted in the rankings, and that could really be construed one of two ways. Either FTR is aiming to give teams an opportunity they may not otherwise receive, albeit under this new time limit restriction, or they are intentionally slapping the five in the face by picking those who have not made the cut just yet. Perhaps Wheeler, Harwood, and Blanchard have a concern about putting the titles on the line against the top contenders and thus arrogantly select teams who haven’t built up their contender’s resume?
Thinking that just because a duo like TH2 are outside the five means they are easier pickings is the kind of prideful mistake that leads to a fall, and a fall in this case means buh-bye World Tag Team Titles. The eyes of Best Friends, The Young Bucks, The Natural Nightmares, Butcher & Blade, and Proud-n-Powerful will certainly be on this contest…
FTW CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
“The Machine” Brian Cage w/ Taz (c) vs. Will Hobbs
For the first time on DYNAMITE, and just the second time since Taz resurrected the title in July, the FTW Championship will be defended by “The Machine” Brian Cage! Back on the July 14th edition of AEW DARK, it took Cage a little over two minutes to decimate Brian Pillman Jr. in his first defense of the FTW crown, but this upcoming challenge is undoubtedly a stiffer challenge. That is no offense to Pillman, he’s a tremendous talent with a huge upside, but the power of Brian Cage is something few can match, and combined with his equally freakish athleticism, well anyone in the ring with “The Machine” is already fighting from underneath.
Enter Will Hobbs, the man with a spinebuster that makes Ron Simmons take notice, and someone who has battled his way up the ranks of All Elite Wrestling over the last three months. As a matter of fact, it was the July 7th episode of AEW DARK where Hobbs had his first in-ring action for AEW, getting stopped in just thirteen seconds by Orange Cassidy. That disappointing first impression did not deter Hobbs, in fact he kept grinding it out on DARK in tag team bouts, in singles contests, against anyone he got matched up with, and made sure to learn from each battle he took on.
Then, live on pay-per-view with ALL OUT 2020, Hobbs got his biggest opportunity as part of the Casino Battle Royale. With a future World Title match up for grabs, Hobbs shocked everyone (except perhaps himself) when he dumped The Blade just under the five minute mark, and hung in for nineteen and a half minutes before Lance Archer eliminated Hobbs and Brian Cage simultaneously before eventually winning the whole thing.
Since that performance, Hobbs has not only knocked out three straight wins on DARK as of October 5th, he has also stepped up to the plate alongside AEW World Champion Jon Moxley in opposition, initially just to Team Taz, but now also to Eddie Kingston and his family after that assault two weeks ago. With forces apparently marshalling against the AEW World Champion, Hobbs (along with Darby Allin) has risen up to stand alongside Mox against these drastically unequal numbers.
This week, three months to the day since his first AEW match aired on DARK, that allegiance will be put to the test when Will Hobbs faces his most powerful foe thus far in FTW Champion Brian Cage. With the title on the line, it is certainly going to be a test of wills when two hosses like these collide on TNT!
IN THE HUNT…
(#2) Big Swole vs. Serena Deeb
On the September 2nd edition of DYNAMITE, a tough as nails Serena Deeb made her AEW debut in a one-on-one battle with NWA Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa. Although the title was not on the line, and Deeb was competing in her first match after three years spent preparing the future of pro wrestling for their journeys, there was no sign of ring rust as the pair battle it out for ten minutes.
Although Serena did not lock up a victory that night in Jacksonville, she did impress AEW enough to earn a second opportunity. In that AEW DARK bout versus KiLynn King, Deeb not only picked up the victory, as announced on September 21st, she also earned herself an AEW contract!
For Deeb, that hunt to become a contender begins this week on DYNAMITE when she goes head-to-head with one of the top contender’s in the Women’s division, sitting in the number two spot as of the 9/30 rankings, Big Swole! On DARK this Tuesday, Swole steps back into the AEW ring for the first time since the Tooth and Nail victory over Dr. Britt Baker, and Wednesday she’s back on DYNAMITE to give Deeb a fight. Coming off that ALL OUT 2020 victory, and with her spot in the Women’s Rankings, Swole is hot to get her very first AEW Women’s World Title opportunity and take that championship from Hikaru Shida.
Two women, coming into this bout from two very different positions in AEW, but both looking to become not only the next contender for the title, but also the next World Champion!
Wednesday night is going to be one exhilarating evening with the TNT, FTW, and World Tag Team Titles all on the line! We’ve got AEW’s First Ever Dog Collar Match between Cody and Mr. Brodie Lee, the first FTW Title match on DYNAMITE, a celebration of 30 years of Chris Jericho, and a whole lot more for your viewing pleasure! And with next week, October 14th, marking a DYNAMITE ANNIVERSARY that pits Moxley against Lance Archer for his AEW World Title, you know we are going to hear more before we get MurderHawk versus Mox!
It’s coming your way LIVE on Wednesday night, 8pm EST/7pm CST, on TNT or on AEWPlus.com for our International audiences! Who will survive the Dog Collar Match? Will we see one, two, perhaps even three new champions crowned? Will Kingston and his family continue their apparent crusade against Moxley? Who will be the other five competitors in the World Title Contender’s Tournament? Tune in to see it all unfold as we head towards the DYNAMITE ANNIVERSARY next week, and FULL GEAR 2020 live on pay-per-view November 7th!
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