**CONTAINS SPOILERS**
Tonight’s AEW COLLISION & Battle of the Belts VIII was broadcast live from the FedExForum in Memphis, TN!
Nigel McGuinness, Kevin Kelly and Tony Schiavone were the broadcast team for tonight’s event.
It’s Saturday night and you know what that means! Saturday night’s alright for fighting!
Dream Match!
Andrade El Idolo
vs.
Blackpool Combat Club’s “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson!
They chain wrestled to start the match, both men having a feeling out process. Bryan wrenched Andrade’s neck with a bow and arrow type submission. Andrade escaped and smiled at Danielson.
Andrade was looking for the figure four, but Danielson kicked him away. Danielson and Andrade traded chops. Bryan began switching it up with kicks to Andrade. And then a headbutt. Danielson jumped off the apron with a running knee strike to Andrade.
Andrade connected with a flying forearm. Andrade sent Danielson outside with a springboard dropkick. Andrade moonsaulted out of the ring and onto Danielson.
The fans chanted “This is awesome! This is awesome! This is awesome!”
Andrade smashed Danielson with a split legged moonsault for a near fall. Danielson headbutted Andrade and followed up with a dropkick from the top rope. Andrade came back with a dragon screw leg whip. Andrade had Bryan in the Tree of Woe and squashed him with a double stomp from the top.
Danielson countered Andrade’s moonsault by raising his knees. He stomped on Andrade’s head and then applied the LeBell Lock. Andrade escaped and trapped Danielson in the figure four. Danielson grabbed the ropes to force the ref break. Danielson and Andrade traded cradles and pin attempts, with Danielson ultimately getting the win!
“Both men wanted the best, and they got the best. But it was Bryan Danielson who got lucky tonight with a quick rollup of Andrade El Idolo,” said Nigel.
The arena lights went dark!
They turned back on, and Malakai Black was in the center of the ring! Black knocked out Danielson with a spin kick! The BCC ran to the ring, but the lights went out again. When the lights returned, Malakai Black had vanished.
Skye Blue vs. Hollyhood Haley!
Skye Blue shoved Haley. Blue knocked Hollyhood off her feet, mounted her, and grounded and pounded her. Skye connected with a thrust kick and followed up with a running powerbomb. Skye Blue rolled up Haley and pinned her.
Bullet Club Gold’s The Gunns—Austin & Colten Gunn (with “Switchblade” Jay White)
vs.
Outrunners!
Turbo used an arm drag on Colten. Colten fired back with a stiff strike and then he stomped Turbo in the corner of the ring.
Austin tagged in and rammed the Outrunners together. The Gunns finished things off with the 3:10 to Yuma and pinned Turbo.
“Mission statement from the Gunns tonight, they want gold,” said Kevin Kelly.
After the match, the lights in the arena went dark! A man in a Devil mask was watching on from somewhere in the arena.
“Man, Jay White looks spooked,” said Kevin Kelly.
The fans chanted “MJF! MJF! MJF!”
Memphis Street Fight!
ROH World & NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston
vs.
Jeff Jarrett (with Karen Jarrett, Sonjay Dutt, Satnam Singh, and Jay Lethal)!
If Jeff Jarrett wins, Jay Lethal get a Ring Of Honor World Championship Match.
Legendary Memphis announcer Dave Brown joined commentary for this match.
Jarrett swung a trash can lid at Kingston and Kingston blocked it. Kingston whacked Jeff with a kendo stick. Jarrett blasted Eddie with a cooler. Jeff rammed Eddie into the guardrail.
Kingston squeezed ketchup and mustard on Jarrett. Karen distracted Eddie and then Jay Lethal rocked Eddie with a cutter off the ramp and then through a table!
Back in the ring, Jeff cracked Eddie with a lead pipe on the leg. Jarrett went to work on Eddie’s leg and knee with a trash can! Jarrett bashed Eddie with a bar tabletop. Jarrett locked in the figure four in the center of the ring. Eddie flipped off Jeff!
Kingston reversed the figure four. Jay Lethal jumped off the top rope but Eddie rolled out of the way. Eddie chopped Lethal and Jarrett in the chest. Kingston fired off machine gun chops. Karen got in the ring and distracted Eddie, but Eddie cracked Jeff with a spinning back fist for a near fall.
Jeff Jarrett went for the Lethal Injection, but Eddie countered with a half and half. Kingston wiped out Satnam with a guitar shot. Jeff smashed Eddie with the Stroke for a near fall! Satnam choke slammed Eddie and then Jarrett hit another Stroke. Lethal connected with the Lethal Injection. Jarrett covered Eddie and pinned him.
“This is an absolute mugging,” said Nigel.
Action Andretti vs. “The Redeemer” Miro!
“Hot and flexible” CJ Perry came down to the ring before the match started, taking a ringside seat to scout things.
Miro battered Action in the corner. Andretti dropkicked Miro as Miro came rushing in. Miro clubbed Andretti with a lariat. Action came back with a jawbreaker to Miro.
Miro ate a kick from Andretti. Action rocked Miro with shots in the corner, but Miro shoved him away. Action flipped over the top rope with a tope con hiro and landed on Miro, right in front of CJ Perry on the floor.
Miro countered a cross body by planting Andretti. Miro went for the Game Over, but Action slipped out and then spiked Miro with a DDT! Action followed up with a shotgun dropkick! Action hit a springboard 450 but Miro kicked out immediately. Miro stunned Action with a thrust kick and then applied the Game Over. The ref stopped the match and awarded the victory to Miro.
Eddie Kingston was backstage getting stitched up.
Kingston: “Jay Lethal, do you know why I made you jump through hoops to earn this title shot? It’s because you call a man who’s not your blood ‘uncle.’ The Jay Lethal I knew used to love pro wrestling, until you started hanging out with Jeff Jarrett. You are not a pro wrestler anymore, Jay. You are Jeff Jarrett’s bitch. You’ve lost your way. Get your title shot. Go ahead, congrats, but you better find your way before you come at me again.”
FTR—Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler
vs.
Bad Thad Brown & Darian Bengston!
Bad Thad took advantage of Cash having his back turned but Cash came right back with a press slam.
The arena lights went out again! When the lights returned, Malakai Black was standing in the ring!
“It’s Malakai Black again!” said Tony Schiavone.
The lights went back out. This time when the lights came back on, the House of Black were standing there, and they ambushed FTR! Brody King cracked Cash with the cast on his wrist!
“The House of Black returning to Collision tonight with authority,” said Kevin Kelly.
Main Event Time!
AEW World Tag Team Championship Match!
Big Bill & “Absolute” Ricky Starks (c.)
vs.
Blackpool Combat Club’s Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta!
Jim Ross joined the broadcast team to provide his main event analysis.
Big Bill mauled Yuta with overhead chops. Wheeler fought back but after being distracted by Starks, Big Bill shoved Yuta off the apron. Starks whipped Yuta into the guardrail.
Big Bill planted Yuta with a Big Bossman slam! Bill hammered Yuta with an elbow drop. Claudio tagged in and cleaned house on Starks with European Uppercuts! Claudio clubbed Starks with lariats in the corner, shot after shot stinging Starks. Claudio dropkicked Starks after a single ax handle off the ropes.
Claudio had a full head of steam and ran around the ring and cracked Starks with a European Uppercut, and then dished out a massive uppercut to Big Bill! Claudio connected with a running lariat on Starks in the center of the ring.
Claudio put Starks in the Giant Swing! Yuta dropkicked the head of Starks. Big Bill ran in and tried to chokeslam Claudio and Yuta at the same time, but the BCC fought out of his grip. Yuta climbed to the top of Claudio’s back for the Fast Ball Special, but the House of Black ran to the ring and knocked Claudio down. Starks speared Yuta and pinned Yuta after the Rochambeau!
The House of Black circled the tag champs after the match. The House of Black triple teamed Wheeler Yuta. Danielson sprinted down but Starks and Brody stomped on him. FTR intervened, trying to even up the odds, but the House of Black had them outnumbered with the assistance of Big Bill and Ricky Starks.
Jon Moxley returned! He entered the fray, and he threw Buddy Matthews out of the ring! The FTR and the BCC teamed up, forcing the House of Black and Starks and Big Bill to retreat! Starks entered the ring again, thinking the House of Black were behind him, but they left him on his own. FTR hit Starks with the Big Rig!
“The House of Black have made their statement tonight!” said Nigel.
Battle Of The Belts VIII began…
AEW International Championship Match!
“Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy (c.)
vs.
Dark Order’s John Silver (with Alex Reynolds)!
As Orange Cassidy was making his entrance, Moxley was leaving the ring. They bumped into each other on the ramp and then had to be pulled apart. Moxley had to be held back.
John Silver cracked Cassidy with kicks on the ring apron. Orange climbed to the top turnbuckle. Silver grabbed him and planed him face first across the ring apron! Back in the ring, Orange tried for a backslide, but Silver escaped. Orange came back with the Stun Dog Millionaire and then the Beach Break for a near fall!
Alex Reynolds grabbed the title belt and cracked Cassidy in the head with it. Silver rolled up Orange for a near fall. Silver nailed Orange with an airplane spin type maneuver for a two-count. Orange pulped Silver with the Orange Punch and pinned Silver!
Lexy Nair interviewed Andrade El Idolo backstage!
Andrade was interrupted by CJ Parker. She said with a little guidance, he could become the biggest wrestling star in the world.
Tony Nese (with “Smart” Mark Sterling)
vs.
ROH World TV Champion Samoa Joe!
Samoa Joe jabbed at Nese. Tony Nese kicked Joe and back elbowed him. Nese went for a moonsault, but Joe stepped out of the way. Samoa Joe steamrolled right over Tony Nese! Samoa Joe finished off Tony Nese with the Muscle Buster and pinned him!
Samoa Joe: “MJF…tonight I bring you a gift, my friend. The gift of foresight and what you foresee is that I am coming for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship. Now Max, what you do with this gift is very, very important.
“You can give me what I want, or Max, I can put you in a position where you are forced to give me what I want. Because I am Samoa Joe, the one true king of television, and I will be the next AEW World Heavyweight Champion!”
TBS Championship Match!
Kris Statlander (c.) vs. Willow Nightingale!
Kris leapfrogged Willow and then knocked her down with a shoulder tackle. Outside the ring, Willow rammed Kris into the steel post. Willow followed up with a cannonball against the steel steps.
Willow cracked Kris with rapid fire headbutts. Willow hurled Kris across the ring. She caught Kris in the corner and clocked her with rapid fire lariats. Kris swept out Willow’s legs and connected with a somersault senton. Kris dazed Willow with a Saturday Night Fever Blue for a near fall.
Willow charged at Kris with a big pounce! Kris spiked Willow with a DDT for a near fall! Willow hoisted up Kris and planted her with an avalanche Death Valley Driver off the top for a two-count!
Willow choked Kris and crashed into Kris with a cannonball in the corner. Willow climbed to the top, but Kris got up and powerbombed Willow! Kris splashed Willow with a 450 and pinned Willow!
Kris offered her hand to Willow but Skye Blue ran down and told Willow to refuse. Willow thought about it and then accepted Kris’ hand. Willow walked away without Skye Blue.
Skye Blue looked disgusted as Willow walked away from her.
Lexy Nair interviewed AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy backstage!
“Jon Moxley, you got in my face. Your friends, Claudio, Bryan, they got in my face. I don’t care about Yuta. How about Bryan and Claudio meet me and Okada in Philadelphia this Wednesday on Dynamite. And then we can fight.”
Main Event Time!
AEW World Trios Championship Match!
The Acclaimed—Anthony Bowens and Max Caster, & Daddy Ass (c.)
vs.
Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, & Daniel Garcia!
Anna Jay jumped into the ring to stop Garcia from doing his dance. The ref ejected Anna Jay from the ring. Matt Menard seized the moment and blindsided Bowens.
Bowens fought back with strikes to Menard and Parker. Daddy Ass tagged in, and he and Bowens dropped a double elbow on Menard. Caster hit a double ax handle from the top rope on Menard. Garcia tagged in and put the boots to Caster.
Bowens was triple teamed in the corner. Daddy Ass tagged in and cleaned house on all three members of the competition. He scoop slammed Menard. Bowens smashed Menard with the Scissor Me Timbers.
Garcia went to do his dance, but Caster rolled him up from behind for a near fall. Garcia clotheslined Caster and then danced. Daddy Ass smashed Garcia with the Fame Asser. The Acclaimed planted Garcia and Bowens pinned him!
“He shouldn’t have danced,” said Tony Schiavone.
Catch AEW DYNAMITE on TBS next Wednesday live at 8/7ct from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA!
And remember…the home of professional wrestling is All Elite Wrestling!
Article source: allelitewrestling.com

https://www.youtube.com/embed/agb0ZK1xtG4?si=dpib56vvebzJ5MYR

All Elite Wrestling has made it abundantly clear that Saturday night’s alright for fighting, and this Saturday on COLLISION will be no different! With AEW’s debut at Toledo’s Huntington Center, there are three championship fights on tap with the TBS, the TNT, and ROH World TV Championships at stake. The first contested between Kris Statlander and Skye Blue with the second between defending champion Christian Cage and challenger Bryan Danielson, the man who defeated Swerve Strickland on DYNAMITE: TITLE TUESDAY to earn the opportunity! As for the latter, as Samoa Joe nears a championship record currently held by Jay Lethal, he welcomes the challenge of Willie Mack! These two hard-hitting big men are looking forward to throwing down in Toledo, and we know Joe also has his eye on the prize currently around MJF’s waist: the AEW World Championship!

COLLISION is back at its normal start time of 8:00pm ET/7:00pm CT on TNT, so make 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 editions of CONTROL CENTER, and so much more!

TNT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

Christian Cage(c) vs. “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson

https://www.youtube.com/embed/J2A8-uKBmio?si=UBRAusKhonnFbIkV&start=513

When last we saw Christian Cage he was trapped in Bryan Danielson’s LaBell Lock, with best friend Adam Copeland looking on, as DYNAMITE:TITLE TUESDAY faded to black. The efforts of Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne to bring harm to Adam after he bested Cage’s “Right Hand of Destruction” were ultimately for naught as a scene also involving Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, The Gates of Agony, Swerve Strickland, and Hangman Page played out until it was just Bryan, Copeland, and Christian left inside the squared circle.

Though there is clearly a level of respect between The BCC and Adam Copeland, the primary reason for Danielson’s involvement in this entire scenario is the TNT Championship. Earlier in the night, in the opening match of DYNAMITE, Bryan Danielson survived the fight with Swerve Strickland, with a little help from Hangman to prevent Swerve’s cheating, to earn this shot at the TNT Championship. Danielson, coming off victories over Swerve, Zack Sabre Jr. Ricky Starks, and Kyle Fletcher, not to mention defeating Kazuchika Okada with a broken arm, is operating on a level unlike any he has before. Perhaps it’s the knowledge that this is his last full-time year in professional wrestling that is driving him to that next echelon, perhaps it’s because he chose to share that information with the world that is really causing him to push himself harder than ever before.

Whatever the case may be, Christian Cage has to be prepared to deal with a version of Danielson unlike any with which he is familiar, and these two are rather familiar with one another. Though it’s been since February 17, 2014 that they last went one-on-one, they shared the ring here in All Elite Wrestling as friends on October 2021, and before either called AEW home, they’d been on opposite sides of the ring as far back as May 12, 2006 at Ring of Honor’s HOW WE ROLL event.

But just as this Danielson is unlike any version of the man Christian Cage has faced, so too is this TNT Champion version of Christian a far worse, far more vile, far more despicable man than “The American Dragon” has dealt with previously. Cage’s list of crimes and insults has been well documented, the official AEW YouTube Page even has a playlist detailing his despicable act, and his (ab)use of Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne has only made it even clearer how low Christian Cage will stoop to claim he is the greatest wrestler in the world.

Given that Bryan is frequently labeled with that G.O.A.T tag, Cage might consider this a battle of the greatest to do it, but that would require the TNT Champion to actually recognize anyone else as being close to his level, and the AEW faithful know that Christian gives credit to no man or woman other than himself. So on Saturday night, when COLLISION comes to Toledo for the very first time, can Bryan Danielson defy the odds and Cage’s willingness to cut any corners and finally capture his first championship in All Elite Wrestling? He was unable to do so at REVOLUTION 2023 when faced with MJF, unable to do so when he twice challenged Adam Page, and unable to do it when he fought Jon Moxley in the 2022 Grand Slam Tournament of Champions. With this being his first chance at claiming the TNT Championship, will it be the American Dragon’s night, or will Christian Cage somehow find another way to escape seeming certain demise with the TNT Title still in his possession?

ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

Samoa Joe(c) vs. Willie Mack

Ten years ago; that was the one and only time Samoa Joe and Willie Mack ever shared a ring prior to this coming Saturday night, and on that November night in California’s City of Commerce, it was Samoa Joe who emerged triumphant. By that point Joe had already been a multi-time World Champion, had helped establish Ring of Honor as the most influential wrestling promotion of the 21st Century, had traversed the globe, and become one of the most feared competitors in pro wrestling. Willie Mack, six or seven years into his career at that point, was really building steam in places like PWG, APW, CWFH, and had begun to branch out beyond the West Coast in tournaments like CZW’s Best of the Best and AIW’s JT Lightning Invitational, but California would generally remain his home base.

Fast forward a decade later and the two men find themselves inside the same circles once again, competing for Ring of Honor and All Elite Wrestling, with Joe the dominant champion once again. With 549 days spent as ROH World TV Champion, Joe is just 19 days away from surpassing his former protege Jay Lethal as the longest reigning TV Champion of all-time, a feat that would give Samoa Joe that designation with two different Ring of Honor championships. While Lethal’s 36 successful defenses are likely a number that will remain forever out of reach, Joe has absolutely asserted himself with a dominance that no other Television Champion has before him.

Shane Taylor may be a close second in that regards, but the victory Samoa Joe has over him puts Joe on top of that comparison. So can Willie Mack be the one to step up to the throne and knock the King of Television off? Mack is a hard-hitting man just like the TV Champion, has no problem throwing down with fists and elbows, and it very well may be the biggest night of his wrestling career if Willie can actually be the one to end Joe’s reign. It is clear that, in addition to his duties as ROH World TV Champion, Joe still has designs on the AEW World Championship held by MJF, but before he concerns himself with Max, Joe best keep his eye on Willie Mack this Saturday night lest he find himself leaving Toledo short a championship title.

TBS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

Kris Statlander(c) vs. Skye Blue

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qo-MnTn5GuY?si=88vvGx-DFY-80p3O

After defeating Emi Sakura Friday night on RAMPAGE, Skye Blue will get what she’s been chasing, a championship opportunity, this time in the form of a TBS Championship challenge against friend Kris Statlander! Though Skye has been a bit…off…since her encounter with The House of Black’s Julia Hart got her misted, it did lead to that victory, and now she’ll face Statlander for the very first time!

Despite their friendship, these two have never shared a ring with one another as friend or foe prior to Saturday night. Whether or not that is beneficial to either woman’s goal of being champion remains to be seen; neither has first-hand knowledge of each other’s capabilities making it a bit harder to prepare counters and counters-to-counters, leaving tape study as the best way to prepare for this bout, also the fact each has had barely 24 hours to game plan leaves both on something close to equal footing.

Will Statlander continue to push towards her goal of surpassing Jade Cargill as the most dominant TBS Champion in AEW history? Or will Skye Blue claim her first AEW title and begin to build her legacy?

THE RATED R SUPERSTAR HAS ARRIVED!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/PvXJ_H5VnCA?si=07F5Pb3CI2_YCiwb

Tuesday night on DYNAMITE fans witnessed Adam Copeland make his AEW in-ring debut with a victory of “The Right Hand of Destruction” Luchasaurus. While that moment was triumphant, Nick Wayne and TBS Champion Christian Cage did their best to make the remainder of the night a terrible one for “The Rated R Superstar”. Luckily Copeland had some support in the form of The Blackpool Combat Club, and even though the situation ended in chaos also involving Adam Page and The Mogul Embassy, ultimately Christian Cage ended up in Bryan Danielson’s LaBell Lock while Adam stood on and witnessed it.

This Saturday on COLLISION Adam Copeland will be back in the house to address what went down on Tuesday, and perhaps lay out what his next steps will be! Copeland made it clear that he initially came to AEW to reunite with his best friend Christian, but with the events that have gone down since his debut at WRESTLEDREAM, is that still Copeland’s goal?

ALSO FEATURING:

-AEW World Tag Team Champions Big Bill & Ricky Starks in the house!

-AAA Cruiserweight & AAA World Tag Champion Komander vs. “The Machine” Brian Cage!

COLLISION debuts in Toledo, OH at the Huntington Center this Saturday night and brings three titles fights to the dance! The ROH World TV Title is at stake between Samoa Joe and Willie Mack while Christian Cage puts his TNT Championship on the line against “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson and TBS Champion Kris Statlander defends against Skye Blue! The bouts begin at a our regular time of 8:00pm ET/7:00pm CT on TNT, so make a point to visit the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from this week’s episodes of DYNAMITE and RAMPAGE, the latest editions of CONTROL CENTER, and much, much more!

**CONTAINS SPOILERS**

Tonight’s special episode of AEW DYNAMITE: Title Tuesday was broadcast live from the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, MO!

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

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

ROH World & NJPW Strong Openweight Title Match!

Eddie Kingston (c.) vs. Minoru Suzuki!

Suzuki invited Kingston to chop him. Kingston took the straps down and he and Suzuki exchanged chops to the chest, blistering one another! Suzuki blasted Kingston with a forearm, knocking him to the mat and stunning him.

“Kingston on roller skates,” said Excalibur.

Kingston fired himself up and plastered Suzuki with a stiff chop. He followed up with rapid, machine gun style chops to Suzuki’s chest. Kingston backed Suzuki into the corner with more chops.

Backstage, Jeff Jarrett, Karen Jarrett, Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, and Satnam Singh were watching on the monitor.

After a Northern Lights Bomb, Kingston grabbed the pin on Suzuki and retained the title!

AEW President & CEO Tony Khan made an appearance backstage and advised that Jon Moxley hasn’t been medically cleared for tonight’s match.

FTW Champion HOOK interrupted, along with Orange Cassidy, and HOOK insisted Orange Cassidy fill in for Mox. Tony Khan agreed and made the match official between Orange Cassidy and AEW International Champion Rey Fenix!

Buy-In concluded, and AEW Dynamite: Title Tuesday kicked off with…

TNT Champion Christian Cage appearing from inside the production truck!

Christian Cage: “This is without a doubt the biggest AEW Dynamite ever, Title Tuesday. And how fitting is it that the first thing you see is Christian Cage. And there are serious implications for my title tonight, with Swerve Strickland and Bryan Danielson squaring off to determine who will face me this Saturday on Collision!

“In the main event, my right hand of destruction is going to end the run of Adam Copeland before it even gets started. But before that match, I may have to walk out and elaborate on those three words I left you hanging with last week.

“And as the face of TNT, the face of Warner Brothers Discovery, I’ve procured the first 30 minutes of Dynamite commercial free. You’re welcome. Now start this show!”

#1 Contenders Match for the TNT Championship!

The Mogul Embassy’s Swerve Strickland (with Prince Nana)

vs.

“American Dragon” Bryan Danielson!

There was a stalemate early on. Danielson tried for a knee bar, but Swerve escaped. Swerve slapped Danielson in the face and Danielson fired back with a slap to Swerve. After each man reversed cradles from the other, it was clear they were evenly matched.

The fans began to chant “This is awesome! This is awesome!”

Danielson booted Swerve in the jaw. They traded strikes on the apron. Swerve nailed Danielson with a side slam on the corner of the ring! Danielson came up clutching his back.

Swerve powerslammed Danielson and then transitioned into a brainbuster for a near fall on the American Dragon. Swerve went for a 450 splash, but Danielson raised his knees. Danielson rocked Swerve with a jumping knee strike off the apron! Danielson dropkicked Swerve from the top turnbuckle.

Danielson clocked Swerve with repeated round kicks. Danielson charged off the ropes, but Swerve connected with a kick to the body. Swerve positioned Danielson on the corner of the ring, hanging him by the feet and legs. Swerve crashed down on Danielson with a double foot stomp!

Swerve went for another foot stomp inside the ring, but Danielson countered with a single leg crab. Danielson transitioned into a heel hook, but Swerve managed to grab the bottom rope. Danielson back suplexed Swerve from the top turnbuckle! Danielson was clutching his surgically repaired arm.

Danielson captured Swerve’s wrists and hammered the face of Swerve with kicks! Danielson applied the Le Bell Lock, but Swerve used his leg to get to the bottom rope and force the break. Danielson was setting up to charge at Swerve, running first into the turnbuckle to gather speed, but upon impact he collapsed, holding onto his midsection. Swerve capitalized with the House Call! Swerve jumped down with the Swerve Stomp on Danielson, but Danielson kicked out at two! Excalibur and Taz speculated that Danielson injured his liver.

Prince Nana distracted the ref while Swerve went to grab the crown that Nana left behind. “Hangman” Adam Page grabbed it out of Swerve’s hands! Danielson went for the running knee, but Swerve tried to counter with the JML Driver, but Danielson countered that with a cradle, but Swerve kicked out! Danielson went back to the wishing well again and smacked Swerve with the running knee strike and pinned Swerve!

This Saturday on Collision it’ll be Christian Cage defending the TNT Championship against Bryan Danielson! Swerve and Prince Nana sneered at “Hangman” Adam Page after the match.

A vignette aired for ROH Television Champion Samoa Joe!

“This Saturday at Collision I begin my road to AEW World Championship gold. I’ll show the world why I am violence manifest. Domination made flesh. Why I am the man who goes out there and takes what he wants from anybody he wants to. This Saturday at Collision I begin my ascension towards greatness.”

Powerhouse Hobbs (with Don Callis) vs. Chris Jericho!

Jericho and Hobbs slugged it out! Hobbs got the upper hand. Hobbs nailed Jericho with a spinebuster for a near fall. Hobbs grounded and pounded Jericho and then delivered a second spinebuster!

Hobbs hoisted up Jericho and drilled him with a third spinebuster. Hobbs headbutted Jericho right between the eyes. Hobbs hit another spinebuster on Jericho.

Don Callis yelled “Hurt him! Hurt him!”

Hobbs planted Jericho with another spinebuster. Jericho cradled his midsection. Jericho fought back with shoulder tackles. Jericho connected with a Code Breaker on Hobbs for a two-count. Hobbs fired back with another spinebuster.

Jericho chop blocked Hobbs. Jericho applied the Walls on Hobbs, sitting back deep. Hobbs escaped and slammed Jericho. Hobbs hammered Jericho with punches. Hobbs spiked Jericho with another slam. Hobbs put his knee on Jericho’s face and pinned him!

“I’ve never seen Jericho dominated quite like this,” said Excalibur.

“Powerhouse Hobbs just dismantled one of the greatest ever in Chris Jericho,” said Taz.

“What a victory,” replied Tony Schiavone.

“And what a recruit for the Don Callis Family,” added Excalibur.

After the match Hobbs picked up Jericho and planted him hard on the mat again!

Footage was shown from earlier in the day from Roderick Strong’s humble abode.

Roderick Strong was in his backyard with the Kingdom and Adam Cole.

Adam Cole said he’d been there nearly a week, needed to get his surgery done, but wanted to know what else Roddy wanted him to do.

Strong: “I need you to cut my grass.”

Cole mowed the lawn on one leg while the other leg was on his injury mobility scooter. They went back into the house and Cole said he thought it was weird that there was no service and no TV in the house. He wanted to see what his friend MJF was up to.

Strong: “TV is the devil. The absolute devil.”

Cole wanted to leave to get surgery but Strong said he needed just one more thing.

AEW International Championship Match!

Rey Fenix (c.) (with Alex Abrahantes) vs. “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy!

Orange charged at Rey Fenix and dished out forearms. Fenix fired back with lariats. Fenix was looking for a German Suplex, but his back gave out.

Rey Fenix cracked Orange with a thrust kick. Fenix hit a frog splash for a near fall, wrestling with purpose and trying to end the match quickly.

“When you’re hurting, you want to end it quickly,” said Taz.

Outside the ring, Orange Cassidy whipped Rey Fenix into the steel guardrail. Orange rammed Rey Fenix into the steel ring post. Orange swept out Rey Fenix’s leg. Orange climbed to the top turnbuckle, but Rey Fenix hit him with a flying uppercut. Rey Fenix was looking for a muscle buster, but his back gave out. Orange countered with a diving DDT and then another DDT for a two-count on Rey Fenix!

Orange tried for the Orange Punch, but Rey Fenix countered with a thrust kick. Rey Fenix tried to charge at Orange, but his back gave out again. Orange Cassidy blasted Rey Fenix with the Beach Break for a near fall. Orange pulped Rey Fenix with the Orange Punch and after tying him up in the mousetrap, Orange Cassidy pinned Rey Fenix!

And once again AEW International Champion…Orange Cassidy!

The Best Friends, Rocky Romero, and HOOK came out to congratulate Orange Cassidy.

Wardlow vs. Matt Sydal!

Wardlow ran at Sydal and rammed him into the turnbuckles. Wardlow powerbombed Sydal. He powerbombed Sydal again. And then again! Wardlow powerbombed Sydal again and the ref stopped the match, declaring Wardlow the winner!

Renee Paquette was backstage trying to get a medical update on Chris Jericho!

Daniel Garcia came to check on Jericho. Matt Menard grabbed Garcia by the shoulder and said, “What are you doing?”

Garcia said, “I’m being a human. I’m checking on somebody that we cared about.”

Menard: “I’ve had just about enough. We’re better than this. We’re better than this now.”

Menard walked away and then Garcia followed.

Bullet Club Gold’s “Switchblade” Jay White

vs.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion “Hangman” Adam Page!

Switchblade came out wearing the AEW World Championship Title. Bullet Club Gold rode out on big wheels.

“He stole that title from MJF,” said Taz.

Hangman flew over the top rope and landed on Jay White on the outside of the ring. Back in the ring, Jay White grabbed a chin lock on Page. They traded strikes. Jay White took down Adam Page with a dragon screw leg whip.

Hangman caught Switchblade and drilled him with a Death Valley Driver. Page sent White soaring with a fallaway slam and followed up with a standing moonsault for a near fall. Hangman powerbombed Jay White on the apron!

“That was a thud right there,” said Taz.

Jay White suplexed Adam Page into the turnbuckles. White drilled Page with a knee breaker right on the apron! Hangman came back with a blockbuster off the top rope, but Page was clutching his knee after the landing.

Jay White connected with an uranage for a near fall. Hangman dropped Jay White with a rolling elbow. Hangman was looking for the Buckshot Lariat, but Jay White countered with a dragon screw.

Hangman guillotined Jay White on the top rope. Hangman nailed Jay White with a moonsault on the arena floor. Back in the ring Jay White lured Hangman in and rocked him with a German Suplex. Jay White chop blocked Hangman. Page got to his feet and walloped Jay White with a lariat!

Hangman went for the Buckshot, but Jay White tried to counter with the Blade Runner, but Page countered with the Dead Eye! Bullet Club Gold panicked outside the ring. Page covered White but White kicked out at two!

Bullet Club Gold distracted the ref while Prince Nana crept up with his crown in his hand. Hangman saw Prince Nana and turned his attention toward him, but Jay White grabbed a handful of Page’s tights, rolled him up and pinned him!

After the match, an enraged Hangman limped up the ramp and tried to catch up with the retreating Prince Nana!

AEW World Champion MJF came out on the ramp!

MJF: “Cut my music! Look at me Jay White! You wanted the main event match, bright lights, Full Gear for the World Title, you got it, you’re welcome. Now give me back my belt! Be a man!”

Jay White: “We don’t want to hear anymore from MJF. No, no, we want to hear from J-A-Y. Your scumbag wants the Triple B, you want the Bang Bang belt? I was going to say yes until you were so rude, so the answer is no.”

MJF: “I’ll be the bigger man here. Jay, I know you because I was you. You are the guy who doesn’t give a damn about anybody else. You will use and abuse people. You and I both know you don’t care about any of those three in the Bullet Club Gold. You are using them, and I know because that is right out of the MJF playbook.

“For the first time in my life I have earned the respect of these fans. Now Jay White there are two things in this life I care about: my brother, Adam Cole, who is out right now injured. And that’s my cross to bear. And there is that title you’re holding. You call it a belt. That’s not a belt. That is my livelihood. That is my legacy. Because when you win the AEW World Title, that makes you the best wrestler in the world.

“Jay, if you weren’t surrounded by those idiots, I would have already taken back what’s mine. Jay White, I know how talented you are. I am sure someday you will join the very exclusive club of being an AEW World Champion, however, that day is not today. Do you understand me? So, I’m going to ask you to do the hard thing for once in your life. Dig deep, be a man, show some dignity to this sport, to AEW and to these fans, and give me back what you have not yet earned.”

Jay White: “You’re just coming out here and asking me to give it back to you. How is that earning it? Thank you for coming out and asking me nicely instead of jumping me from behind in your cute little devil mask.

“But you’re just asking for this. You can’t just ask for this. You must earn it. You must earn it, officially. And you have a match coming up November 18th at Full Gear. You’ll get your chance, but you’ll fail. But if you can’t be patient, you could just come down and take it.

“But something tells me with us five here, and you don’t have no friends, but if you can find three friends who can tolerate you, you come up with your four against the Bang Bang Gang, and if you win, maybe you’ll get the Bang Bang Belt back.”

Juice Robinson: “And MJF, before you leave, I heard through the grapevine that next week there is a Dynamite Diamond Dozen Battle Royale for a chance to win that stupid ring that you care about so much! So, throw my name in because I’m going to win the battle royale and I’m going to win that ring and we’re going to take away everything you love. And I’ve got a roll of quarters here with your name on it. So, after we ruin your life, I’m going to—”

MJF: “Hey! You come at me with that roll of quarters and I’m going to end your life!”

AEW Women’s World Championship Match!

Saraya (c.) vs. Hikaru Shida!

Saraya shoved at Shida. Shida turned Saraya around and battered her with forearms. Shida scored with a running knee strike.

Shida rocked Saraya with a rising knee strike outside the ring. Someone dressed all in black tried to ambush Shida. They were holding a can of spray paint. It was Ruby Soho!

Shida turned the can around and sprayed Ruby Soho in the eyes! Soho ran up the ramp, but “Timeless” Toni Storm was there, clobbering her with the shoe! Toni Storm chased Ruby Soho over the guardrail and through the fans!

Shida drilled Saraya with a jumping knee strike. Shida hammered Saraya with punches. She followed up with a missile dropkick for a near fall on Saraya.

Saraya yanked Shida by the wrist, sending Shida tumbling onto the edge of the ring! Shida stunned Saraya with a stalling German Suplex on the ring apron. She followed up with a meteora off the apron onto Saraya. Shida rammed Saraya with a running knee for a near fall.

Shida clocked Saraya with a question mark kick. Shida climbed to the top turnbuckle and Saraya countered with a thrust kick. Saraya crushed Shida with the Knight Cap for a two-count! Saraya put a can of spray paint in her waistband and grabbed the kendo stick. Ref Paul Turner saw the kendo stick and pulled it away. As the ref turned his back to toss the kendo stick out of the ring, Saraya went to her backup plan and sprayed Shida in the eyes with the can of paint! Saraya drilled Shida with a second Knight Cap, but Shida kicked out at two!

“Hikaru Shida will not be denied!” said Excalibur.

Shida planted Saraya with the Falcon Arrow. She went to cover Saraya, but Saraya countered. Shida countered that, rolling up Saraya and pinning her!

And new AEW Women’s World Champion…Hikaru Shida!

Renee Paquette was backstage with AEW World Champion MJF!

MJF: “I’m just not in the mood to be interviewed. I just want to call my boy and get some advice. Please pick up Adam.”

Adam Cole answered. MJF said he’d been trying to get ahold of Adam Cole for days.

Adam Cole apologized and said he was still helping Roderick Strong because Strong was injured.

MJF: “Adam, I need your help. I’m getting attacked left and right by Bullet Club Gold. They stole the triple B. Samoa Joe apparently wants another title shot. And Juice Robinson has opened some old wounds, dude.”

Adam Cole: “Max, can you hear me? Roddy is in the middle of nowhere.”

The phone lost reception and the line went dead.

The Acclaimed walked up to MJF. Caster said he overhead the phone call. Caster said he figured the Acclaimed could team with MJF to take on the Bang Bang Gang. MJF walked away, upset.

Daddy Ass told Caster to hold on one second. “When did you think you could just offer up our services? And what is your infatuation with MJF?” asked Daddy Ass.

Caster: “We started wrestling together. I’ve known him for 10 years. And he’s my friend. I think he needs our help. Plus, I like when he plays hard to get.”

Main Event Time!

“Rated R Superstar” Adam Copeland

vs.

Luchasaurus (with TNT Champion Christian Cage)!

Before the match, Christian Cage said he is not Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne’s leader. He is their father. Christian Cage asked why Adam Copeland didn’t want to help him when he was getting held back a few years ago and Adam was being pushed to the moon. “You need me. I don’t need you! But I can’t say I blame you for being a fan, Adam. I have a lot of fans around the world. In fact, I know your wife Beth is a huge fan.”

Adam Copeland charged to the ring! Nick Wayne grabbed onto Copeland’s leg. Luchasaurus booted Copeland in the face. Luchasaurus followed up with the Extinction lariat before the bell rang!

Luchasaurus spiked Adam Copeland with a tombstone piledriver for a near fall. Christian Cage sat on the ramp, watching the match.

Luchasaurus whipped Adam Copeland into the turnbuckles. Luchasaurus body slammed Adam Copeland. Luchasaurus fired off a combination of strikes to Adam Copeland. Luchasaurus suplexed Adam Copeland.

Outside the ring, Nick Wayne shoved Adam Copeland into the ring post! Luchasaurus pulled the ring steps. He was going to plant Copeland on them. Copeland fired back with shots and then DDT’ed Luchasaurus onto the arena floor!

Copeland splashed Luchasaurus across the back! Cope connected with elbow strikes but Luchasaurus countered with a headbutt. Copeland blocked a chokeslam and rocked Luchasaurus with an Impaler DDT for a near fall!

Copeland and Luchasaurus jockeyed for position on the top turnbuckle. Cope superplexed Luchasaurus! Christian Cage walked closer to the ring and the ref was distracted. The ref turned around, ordering Christian Cage to back away. While this was happening, Nick Wayne propped up a chair between the turnbuckles. Copeland went for the spear, but Luchasaurus dodged him, sending Cope headfirst into the steel chair!

Luchasaurus choke slammed Copeland, but Copeland kicked out! Copeland avoided the Extinction from Luchasaurus. Copeland ran off the ring, jumped off the ring steps, and speared Luchasaurus on the arena floor!

Back in the ring, Cope was looking for another spear. Nick Wayne jumped onto the ring apron and distracted the ref while Christian Cage jumped on the other side of the ring. Christian Cage was going to hit Copeland with the TNT Championship, but Copeland yanked it out of Christian Cage’s hands and rammed it into Luchasaurus’ head! Copeland threw the title back to Christian Cage. Luchasaurus turned around and thought Christian Cage was the one who hit him with it! Luchasaurus turned around and Copeland speared him! Copeland covered Luchasaurus and pinned him for the victory!

After the match, Nick Wayne chop blocked Adam Copeland. Nick Wayne and Luchasaurus stomped Copeland. Danielson ran to the ring and clocked Christian. Danielson jumped into the ring and went after Nick Wayne. Luchasaurus drilled Danielson with a high boot. Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli sprinted to the ring to even up the odds. The Mogul Embassy came down and began to brawl with the Blackpool Combat Club! “Hangman” Adam Page joined the fray and he and Swerve exchanged strikes. Copeland speared Nick Wayne. Danielson applied the Le Bell Lock on Christian Cage and Cage tapped!

“Will this be the scene this Saturday on Collision at a special 7pm start time?! Christian Cage! Bryan Danielson! One on one for the TNT Championship!”

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

Catch AEW DYNAMITE on TBS next Wednesday live at 8/7ct from the Fort Bend Epicenter in Rosenberg, TX!

***Special start time at 7/6c! Don’t miss AEW Collision on Saturday on TNT from the Huntington Center in Toledo, OH!

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

Josh Alexander & Will Ospreay Collide for the First Time Ever at Bound for Glory Fallout News / October 4, 2023 / by IMPACT Wrestling Staff Get tickets Just one day after IMPACT Wrestling’s biggest

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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

Sanaa Hamri Interview by Big Gold Belt MediaDirectors Sanaa Hamri-Synopsis:In the Amazon Original series The Wheel of Time, Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski, Gran Turismo) learns he is The Dragon Reborn—a dangerous figure from history destined to…

Lisa Demaine Interview By Big Gold Belt MediaLisa Demaine – BioSUPERVISING PRODUCER & EPISODE 205 AND 209 DIRECTORLisa is an American filmmaker, best known for her work in television directing multiple episodes of Lucifer, Chicago PD,…

“AEW: WrestleDream” PPV Available in Select Out-Of-Home Establishments this Sunday, October 1

Sept. 26, 2023 – AEW and Joe Hand Promotions will bring AEW’s highly-anticipated “AEW: WrestleDream” pay-per-view event to select out-of-home establishments across North American this Sunday, October 1 starting at 7 p.m. ET. The inaugural “AEW: WrestleDream” event will honor New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s (NJPW) founder, Antonio Inoki, on the one-year anniversary of his passing. To locate a participating establishment, fans in North America can check the Joe Hand Promotions website HERE. The card for “AEW: WrestleDream” includes the following exciting match-ups:

  • AEW World Tag Team Title Match: FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (c) vs. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis)
  • AEW TNT Championship (Two Out of Three Falls): Christian Cage (c) vs. Darby Allin
  • AEW TBS Championship: Kris Statlander (c) vs. Julia Hart
  • ROH World Tag Team Championship: Better Than You Bay Bay (Adam Cole & MJF) (c) vs. The
    Righteous (Vincent and Dutch)
  • ROH World Championship and NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata
  • Dream Match: Bryan Danielson vs Zach Sabre Jr.
  • Swerve Strickland vs Hangman Adam Page
  • Chris Jericho and The Golden Elite (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) vs. Don Callis Family (Konosuke Takeshita, Sammy Guevara, and Will Ospreay)
  • The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. The Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn)
    vs. Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo) vs. Orange Cassidy and HOOK

*Card subject to change
“Through our collaboration with AEW to deliver these historic events for fans to enjoy in social settings,
we are committed to keeping the wrestling community connected throughout the year. We aim to foster
a collective love for the sport, forging enduring memories that will last a lifetime,” said Joe Hand, Jr.,
President of Joe Hand Promotions. AEW consistently orchestrates thrilling gatherings that unite fans in communal atmospheres. Enthusiasts
can anticipate witnessing this event at handpicked Dave & Buster’s and Tom’s Watch Bar venues. “AEW:
WrestleDream” will also illuminate screens in numerous esteemed movie theaters across the United
States.

ABOUT AEW
Founded by CEO, GM and Head of Creative Tony Khan in 2019, AEW is offering an alternative to mainstream wrestling, with a roster of world-class talent that is injecting new spirit, freshness and energy into the industry. “AEW: Dynamite” airs every Wednesday from 8-10 p.m. ET on TBS and attracts the youngest wrestling audience on television. The fight-forward “AEW: Rampage” airs every Friday from 10-11 p.m. ET on TNT, and the new “AEW: Collision” airs every Saturday from 8-10 p.m. ET on TNT. AEW’s multi-platform content also includes “Being the Elite,” a weekly behind-the-scenes YouTube series, and “AEW Unrestricted,” a weekly podcast series. For more info, check out Twitter.com/AEW; Instagram.com/AEW; YouTube.com/AEW; Facebook.com/AEW
ABOUT JOE HAND PROMOTIONS

Joe Hand Promotions brings fan communities from mainstream sports and entertainment into the top corporate and independently owned bars and restaurants, theaters, casinos, and other commercial establishments to provide the best viewing experience outside of the arena.
As the commercial content partner for some of the nation’s top live-sports media properties, Joe Hand Promotions is the leader in the out-of-home live sports and entertainment media distribution industry. For over 50 years, Joe Hand Promotions has seamlessly connected commercial establishments with live sports and entertainment, which has successfully driven traffic and increased revenues, time and time again. The Joe Hand Promotions team is more than the distributor, but also the advisor in this fast-growing industry.

It’s Mid-South Mayhem! See These Incredible Matchups & More This Friday & Saturday in Memphis News / September 18, 2023 / by IMPACT Wrestling Staff Friday tickets Saturday tickets This Friday and Saturday, September 22nd

Continue reading →

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Krcoz00WgVI?si=_ELsftS9TtAwOwwS

The night is upon us; for the third consecutive year, All Elite Wrestling descends upon the historic Arthur Ashe Stadium for GRAND SLAM, and with it comes two hours of the greatest professional wrestling in the world live on DYNAMITE this Wednesday! After winning the Grand Slam Eliminator Tournament, ROH World TV Champ Samoa Joe will challenge MJF for the AEW World Championship while Toni Storm takes on her former Outcasts’ ally Saraya with the AEW Women’s World Championship on the line!

Plus, the long-standing grudge between Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston comes to the forefront when both men put their respective championships on the line in a title versus title fight, and two long-time friends collide for the first-time when Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara lock horns! And in his fourth championship fight in seventeen days, Jon Moxley will meet Rey Fenix in an International Championship fight!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/WrX8VoFCEkg?si=gByaLBlLVmx4LymP

DYNAMITE gets 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!

AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

MJF(c) vs. ROH World TV Champion Samoa Joe

https://www.youtube.com/embed/b06LD-IYgSQ?si=w8psb5FxoBfqPvKS&start=237

In the span of five days from 9/8 to 9/13, the ROH World Television Champion conquered three of the toughest competitors in All Elite Wrestling on path through the Grand Slam World Championship Eliminator Tournament. It began with Jeff Hardy on the 9/8 edition of RAMPAGE, continued with Penta El Zero Miedo the following night on COLLISION, and culminated in a 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament rematch with Roderick Strong. Nearly thirty-five minutes of battle was what it took to get Samoa Joe to the precipice of the AEW World Championship, now he just has to complete the mission by taking Maxwell Jacob Friedman down this Wednesday night at DYNAMITE: GRAND SLAM 2023.

For Joe, this is an issue that became more than just the desire to be AEW World Champion after MJF chose to attack Joe at ALL OUT 2023 following the ROH World TV Champion giving him a little shove as they crossed paths between matches. Given that MJF was coming out of a ROH World Tag Team Championship defense with a hurt neck, perhaps attacking the guy whose primary moves consist of either choking a man out or dropping them on their head with a Muscle Buster may not have been the brightest idea, but for Max it was about the insult of that moment, as well as an insult buried in their history.

As MJF tells it, and as video shows it, one day many years ago, long before Maxwell Jacob Freidman was a name on anyone’s lips, Samoa Joe showed him the kind of disregard that can often befall a rookie when engaging with their seniors. For Joe it was a moment he likely forgot about until MJF began to make his name thus leading the internet to incessantly share the clip, especially once Joe and Max came to share the same space here in AEW. But for MJF, much like his interactions with William Regal many years ago, it was not something that ever left his head space, and in truth something that helped to motivate Max to the heights he’s reached today. It’s pretty clear by now that MJF has had a career fueled by a mix of anger, self-loathing, a need for retribution, and false bravado.

In fact, it would be reasonable to say that it’s only through this friendship with Adam Cole that MJF has found a semblance of motivation based on more than just those things, based on discovering actual self-worth, and an appreciation for those who have supported him despite his massive shortcomings as a decent human being. So the fact that Joe chose to attack Adam Cole as his last statement to MJF prior to this fight, well that is something sure to push Maxwell back into his darkest places, deep into the devil inside, and to add those actions to the ones Samoa Joe committed in 2016 to further motivate his desire to smash the Samoan monster.

There’s just one problem: MJF’s neck, and that it represents a huge target for a man as merciless as the ROH World Television Champion. He will look to suplex Max on that weakened neck until MJF looks like a bobblehead, Joe will look to wrap his arms around that stem and squeeze it until no breath remains in the lungs of Maxwell Jacob Friedman, and he will aim to hoist Max from the top rope, his neck flush against Joe’s shoulder, and to drop the AEW World Champion down with a Muscle Buster to end the misery. Be it the Choke, the Muscle Buster, his signature Island Driver, a massive lariat, or even his underrated Brainbuster, Samoa Joe has a million ways to grind that injured neck of MJF’s to dust.

MJF is going to have to dip into every dirty trick he has in his book to survive this fight with the AEW World Championship still in his possession. Max’s devil will have to come out in all its wretched glory, and even then, it may not be enough to stop Samoa Joe from claiming his first AEW championship title. Just as was the case when he claimed the Ring of Honor Title on March 2003, it would be appropriate if Joe’s first AEW championship was the AEW World Championship, and at this point, in his condition, there may not be anything Max can do to stop Joe’s ascension.

TITLE VS. TITLE…

ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli vs.

NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston

https://www.youtube.com/embed/jzamizcxVu8?si=Q0f1r7in6hNcn3Da

This is a journey that has encompassed the last two decades in the lives of Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston, a journey that started during the dawning days of their wrestling careers, and with their first time sharing the ring somewhere in Indiana back in October 2004. They trained together, lived together, fought together, and most importantly, fought each other both inside the ring and out. From their first singles match back in January 2006, through eleven bouts across five different wrestling promotions, up to March 13, 2011, the scales tipped heavily in favor of Claudio with nine wins to Kingston’s two.

One of those bouts was a Respect Match where, upon losing, Eddie was supposed to tell Claudio he respected him, but instead Kingston told the man he did not respect him, and then leveled him with a spinning backfist. As Claudio lay there unconscious, Kingston’s last words to him as he left the ring were “I know you”, and later that night Double C proved Eddie right when he betrayed the entire promotion they were working for at the time, but this is why several weeks ago, Claudio claimed Kingston still owed him a handshake.

There certainly wasn’t going to be respect shown after what ended up being their last one-on-one bout for twelve years, not after the match ended with Claudio beating Eddie thanks to a chain-assisted European Uppercut, and then proceeding to whip him with a belt. Sadly for Kingston, there was a chance to rectify the situation as Claudio departed for “the land of make-believe” as Eddie called it, and did so in a fashion that only served to further infuriate “The Mad King”.

Thus when Claudio came to All Elite Wrestling to join The Blackpool Combat Club, making him an immediate ally of Kingston’s in the second Blood & Guts Cage Match, it infuriated Eddie and it was only due to his relationship with Jon Moxley that Eddie played nice throughout the bout. Still, the hate burned strong, the kind of hate that not time nor distance can quell, the kind of hate that follows both men wherever they go, even to ROH’s SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2023 event where Kingston failed once more to defeat Claudio when the ROH World Championship was at stake.

It was a fight Kingston took injured, an injury that kept him on the shelf for three months, but the hate brought him back for FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023 and even united him with The Elite, men he despises but strange bedfellows and all that, to defeat The Blackpool Combat Club. Just like that, the war with Claudio picked up right where it left off, just as it had after a dozen years apart, and now it has brought them to this point, on Eddie Kingston’s home turf, in front of his family and loved ones, where he will put his NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship on the line against the ROH World Championship of Claudio Castagnoli. Two titles are on the line, but after two decades, this is a fight that means so much more than words can encapsulate, they can only hope to convey a fragment of what it all means.

Will this be the end? Can there ever be an end with hate that runs this deep, with disrespect this ingrained in their dynamic, and bonds shattered so completely? Are Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli destined for mutually assured destruction, or will Arthur Ashe Stadium finally be the place where their demons are exorcised?

AEW WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

Saraya(c) vs. Toni Storm

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0uZ6toXepEE?si=Yhm1xBttW-UtMkRW

Speaking of demons, just what has possessed Toni Storm in the weeks since she lost the AEW Women’s World Championship to Hikaru Shida, and had her psyche further fractured by the actions of her fellow Outcasts? Since their formation, it’s always been a lingering question of what may happen should multiple members of The Outcasts find themselves in contention for the AEW Women’s World Champions, and while Saraya, Ruby Soho, and Toni Storm all insisted that things would be fine between them, the reality reared its ugly head as ALL IN: LONDON drew closer.

Then that night, when both Saraya and Toni Storm were in the title match aiming to end Shida’s second reign as champion, it became clear as crystal just what mattered most, and that was getting the championship title around the waist of Saraya. It didn’t matter that Toni striking Saraya’s mother was completely accidental, a fight still broke out between the two Outcasts, and it didn’t matter that Ruby had done nothing in that moment but try to quell the situation, she still got laid out by Toni for her efforts, and it all ultimately led to Saraya pinning Toni to claim the AEW Women’s World Championship.

And then the wheels fell off, though The Outcasts seemed to keep it together for a few days prior to ALL OUT 2023, but that was clearly not the case as Toni Storm cost Ruby Soho the TBS Championship, or rather it be said, prevented Soho from cheating to defeat Kris Statlander, and instead made sure the playing field was a bit more level. That choice made it clear that Toni Storm was an Outcast no more, and her winning the Four Way Eliminator Match to earn this championship fight absolutely solidifies Toni’s excommunication from the group.

But what has Toni become in the last several weeks? She’s clearly not in the same head space she was prior DYNAMITE #200 when she lost the belt to Shida, but just what is this space Toni occupies now? Is this all a mind game? Is it something Saraya and Ruby Soho can even prepare for heading into GRAND SLAM 2023 for the champ’s first title defense? One has to figure that no one knows Saraya like Ruby and Toni, but do Ruby and Saraya know this Toni Storm? After working so hard to come back from a career-ending injury, and having the fans embrace her a year ago at GRAND SLAM 2022 only to turn their backs on what she brought to the table, walking out of Arthur Ashe still champion is essential to Saraya. Can Toni Storm crush that dream and become the first 3-Time AEW Women’s World Champion? Or will Saraya find a way to not only top her old friend, but also rub it in the face of all those who turned away from her since last year?

AEW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…

Jon Moxley(c) vs. Rey Fenix

This Wednesday night, in a first-ever match-up, Jon Moxley will defend his AEW International Champion against one-half of the Lucha Brothers, a former AEW & ROH World Tag Team Champion, the incomparable Rey Fenix! As much as this is about the title, it’s also about revenge for Rey Fenix for what went down on the 8/9/23 edition of DYNAMITE between The Blackpool Combat Club and The Lucha Brothers, what was done to his brother in that match, and the injury that kept Fenix from competing in Stadium Stampede at ALL IN: LONDON.

Fenix has never held a singles championship in AEW, though he’s challenged Kenny Omega for the World Title, Hobbs for the TNT Title, Orange Cassidy for the All-Atlantic prior to its leveling up, even taking part in the Blackjack Battle Royale for the International Title at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2023, but has yet to achieve that singles success to rival his tag team accolades.

So right here, this fight with Jon Moxley, it’s a chance to kill those two proverbial birds, Fenix can get his revenge for that Mox and The BCC did to him and his brother and claim his first AEW singles championship at the same time! Though Fenix prefers his competition honorable, he’s shown in the past a willingness to get down and dirty, even spilling blood in a fight with his own brother several years ago, so Moxley best be prepared for a man as willing to go there as he.

It is clear the defending International Champion intends to keep the same pace as the man he dethroned, likely aiming to surpass the lofty standard set by Orange Cassidy during his reign, but just like it did with “Freshly Squeezed”, eventually it will catch up to Moxley, the question is whether it will be sooner or later, and just who the man will be to lay him low? Will it be Rey Fenix this Wednesday night at GRAND SLAM 2023? Tune into TNT starting at 8pm ET/7pm CT to find out!

ONE-ON-ONE…

Chris Jericho vs. Sammy Guevara

https://www.youtube.com/embed/lvPQY-8xU7s?si=3WLD6dZfifFB7uu-

With a history dating back to the very first episode of DYNAMITE, looping from The Inner Circle to The Jericho Appreciation Society, Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara have been through a great deal together, most of it standing side-by-side. They went through the introduction of concepts like Stadium Stampede and Blood & Guts together, competed for the AEW World Trios Championship and were early challengers to the AEW World Tag Team Championship together, and even fought each other over the ROH World Championship at FULL GEAR 2022.

Though Sammy walked away from Jericho and The Inner Circle when it was needed for his own well-being, he came back to the fold when The Jericho Appreciation Society was born, and even spoke of his allegiance to “The DemoGod” when all the others in The J.A.S. abandoned the man for how they felt he took them for granted.

But even with the closest of friends, between the dearest of partners, there comes a time when not all is right, and when even brothers come to blows. That is what is about to happen this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE when, for the first time, Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara collide in singles competition! Though they’ve expressed their desire to unite and pursue tag team success, their egos, and pershaps even some ill will for recent events, has made it difficult for the two men to stay on the same page, even in victory. Perhaps Jericho feels that Sammy is more underling than equal, perhaps Guevara feels the student has surpassed the teacher, whatever the case may be, these two brothers came to the conclusion that the only way past their issues is to confront them with violence done unto each other.

So like a pair of Cain’s without an Abel in sight, Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara will lock horns inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, and we shall see if either survives to pursue their supposed tag team aspirations!

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!

**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.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZkXTWZXA0ng?si=Sn_Ehlvyt2IB-kar

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!

Sharon Gilham & Davina Lamont Interview by Big Gold Belt MediaSharon Gilham (Costume Designer) + Davina Lamont (Makeup and Hair designer)-Synopsis:In the Amazon Original series The Wheel of Time, Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski, Gran Turismo) learns…

Holger Reibiger & Marigo Kehoe Interview by Big Gold Belt MediaMarigo Kehoe (Executive Producer) + Holger Reibiger (Producer-Synopsis:In the Amazon Original series The Wheel of Time, Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski, Gran Turismo) learns he is The…

Sanaa Hamri & Thomas Napper Interview by Big Gold Belt MediaDirectors Sanaa Hamri + Thomas Napper-Synopsis:In the Amazon Original series The Wheel of Time, Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski, Gran Turismo) learns he is The Dragon Reborn—a…

Ondrej Nevaskil & Ondrej Nierostek Interview by Big Gold Belt MediaOndrej Nevaskil (Production Designer) + Ondrej Nierostek (SFX Coordinator-Synopsis:In the Amazon Original series The Wheel of Time, Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski, Gran Turismo) learns he is…

Jan Petrina Interview by Big Gold Belt MediaJan Petrina (Stunt Coordinator)-Synopsis:In the Amazon Original series The Wheel of Time, Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski, Gran Turismo) learns he is The Dragon Reborn—a dangerous figure from history destined…

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!

**CONTAINS SPOILERS**

Tonight’s episode of AEW RAMPAGE was broadcast from Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, IN!

Your broadcast team was Excalibur, “The Ocho” Chris Jericho, and Tony Schiavone!

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

Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament Quarter-Final Match!

Jay Lethal vs. Penta El Zero Miedo!

Lethal and Penta began shoving one another. Penta escaped a wristlock. Penta El Zero Miedo connected with a thrust kick. They traded chops. Penta hit a double foot stomp on Jay Lethal.

Jeff Jarrett swiped at Penta’s foot from the outside, but Penta outsmarted him. Penta jumped over the top rope, but Satnam Singh caught him and smashed him into the ring post as the ref was distracted by Jeff Jarrett. Karen Jarrett tied the back of Penta’s mask onto the ropes. The ref saw it and ejected Lethal’s entire squad from ringside. Lethal stomped on Penta while the ref tried untying him.

Penta El Zero Miedo dropped Lethal with two sling blades. Penta crushed Lethal with a tope con hiro! Penta squashed Lethal with another foot stomp for a near fall. Lethal fired back with a Lethal Combination for a two-count.

Jay Lethal pulled Penta’s mask off! Penta immediately covered his face. Lethal tried to grab the guitar that Jeff Jarrett left behind, but Alex Abrahantes pulled it away from Lethal. Penta rocked Lethal with a backstabber and then spiked Lethal with the Fear Factor for the pin fall victory!

Sammy Guevara came out with a microphone with words for Chris Jericho!

Sammy: “You’re pissing me off and I want to punch you in the face.”

Jericho: “It’s funny you say that. I want to punch you in the face, too.”

Sammy: “I want to punch you right now.”

Jericho: “Let’s be honest here. We’re obviously getting on each other’s nerves and that’s okay because we’re brothers. We’re on our way to becoming AEW World Tag Team Champions but we still can’t seem to get over this little bit of animosity. We need to get this out of our system. Do you agree?”

Sammy: “I agree.”

Jericho: “So why don’t we have a match against each other. That way we can get all this crap out of our system.”

Sammy: “Now the question is where do you want to do that?”

Jericho: “How about one of the biggest shows in AEW history? New York City. Grand Slam.”

Sammy: “Hell yeah, let’s do it.”

Trios Match!

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

vs.

Anna Jay, Taya Valkyrie, & The Bunny (with Penelope Ford)!

Skye rolled up Bunny for a near fall early on. Taya tagged in and blasted Skye with a forearm and then a chop. Sky hit Taya with a thrust kick and tagged in Shida.

Shida cleaned house and peppered Anna Jay with elbow strikes. Bunny tagged in but Skye Blue ran in to make the save. Taya speared Skye. Britt grabbed a tag and dropped the Bunny with a thrust kick. Baker suplexed Anna Jay. Shida and Britt inadvertently collided. Baker applied the Lock Jaw and forced the Bunny to tap out!

Baker tried to explain herself to Shida after the match, but Shida walked off.

The Young Bucks—Matt & Nick Jackson

vs.

Angelo Parker & Matt Menard (with Jake Hager)!

Nick and Matt used tandem offense on Parker and then on Menard, coming out of the gates hot. Matt hit a neck breaker on Parker and then Nick took down Daddy Magic.

Parker thumbed Matt Jackson in the eyes. Matt rocked Parker with a series of Northern Lights suplexes.

“Great strength,” said Tony Schiavone.

Matt Menard tagged in and suplexed Matt Jackson. The fans were taunting Jake Hager, chanting “Where’s your hat? Where’s your hat?”

Parker and Menard double teamed Matt Jackson. Parker got a near fall on Matt Jackson after a snap suplex. Nick Jackson tagged in and wiped out both opponents with a double crossbody press. The Bucks dished out a superkick party! They cracked Matt with the BTE Trigger and Nick grabbed the pin!

“A return to form for the Young Bucks, potentially building up some momentum in the tag team division,” said Excalibur.

Main Event Time!

Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament Quarter-Final Match!

ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Hardy!

Hardy hit Samoa Joe with a basement dropkick. He followed up with a diving lariat to take Joe down. Samoa Joe gouged Jeff’s eyes and then connected with jabs.

Jeff Hardy stunned Samoa Joe with a jawbreaker. Jeff attempted a running cross body, but Samoa Joe side stepped it. Samoa Joe sent Jeff Hardy crashing to the floor with a sliding dropkick.

Samoa Joe softened up Jeff Hardy in the corner with body shots. Jeff jumped off the top rope with Whisper in the Wind, throwing his entire body at Samoa Joe.

“A desperation move but it worked,” said Tony Schiavone.

Jeff Hardy hit a Manhattan Drop on Samoa Joe. Jeff dropped an elbow for a near fall on Samoa Joe. Jeff Hardy went for the Twist of Fate, but Samoa Joe had it anticipated. Samoa Joe locked Jeff Hardy in the submission Clutch and put Jeff to sleep!

“Samoa Joe is one step closer to MJF,” said Excalibur.

Catch AEW DYNAMITE on TBS next Wednesday live at 8/7ct from Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, OH!

Don’t miss AEW Collision live on Saturday on TNT at 8/7c from the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, OH featuring:

-We’ll hear from AEW Women’s World Champion Saraya & Ruby Soho!

Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament Semifinal Match: Roderick Strong vs. Darby Allin!

-We’ll hear from AEW World Trios Champions the Acclaimed & Daddy Ass!

-Bullet Club Gold will be in action!

-We’ll hear from “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson!

-AEW International Championship Open Challenge Match: Jon Moxley (c.) vs. Action Andretti!

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