WON

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We are on the road to DYNASTY live on PPV April 21st, hailing from the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, MO, and we already know Bryan Danielson will go to battle with Will Ospreay in a dream match for the ages! We also know that the AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament will culminate that night, and on COLLISION fans witnessed The Infantry score a huge upset over House of Black to move past the Wild Card round. This Wednesday night in Toronto, All Elite Wrestling returns to the Coca-Cola Coliseum and with that comes another red-hot edition of DYNAMITE! We’ve got Adam Copeland and Christian Cage in an “I Quit” match for the TNT Champion, the Continental Championship on the line with Kazuchika Okada challenging Eddie Kingston, HOOK and Chris Jericho going one-on-one, and AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm teaming with Mariah May to battle Thunder Rosa and Deonna Purrazzo!

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But wait, there’s more! Not only will the AEW faithful in Toronto get to experience AEW’s flagship, the whole world will also get to see RAMPAGE live, as it happens, immediately following DYNAMITE on TBS! That’s right, AEW is bringing three huge hours of action to TBS this Wednesday, and RAMPAGE will feature another Wild Card match in the Tag Title Tournament, as well as a Street Fight pitting Statlander and Willow against the TBS Champion and Skye Blue!

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The show starts at 8pm ET/7pm CT live on TBS, as well as at AEWPlus.com for international fans, so drop in on the official AEW YouTube channel, as well as AEW’s various social media platforms, for highlights from last week’s episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as the latest CONTROL CENTER! Then join us next Wednesday night for DYNAMITE’s debut in Quebec, City and the Centre Videotron! 

TNT Championship I Quit Match…

Christian Cage(c) vs. Adam Copeland

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Three minutes and thirty-two seconds; that is how long Adam Copeland could claim to be TNT Champion after beating Christian Cage at WORLDS END. Then Killswitch, having earned a guaranteed TNT Championship during the ZERO HOUR, struck down the new champion to try and capitalize on the situation. Sadly it was Christian who got to take advantage of it all, convincing Killswitch to bequeath his title shot to “The Patriarch”, and ending Copeland’s TNT Title reign just 212 seconds after it began. 

Copeland had every reason to demand a rematch, despite Cage’s insistence that he go to the back of the line, but instead Adam began his “Cope Open” to earn another shot, and took on every person who stepped up to the plate. Griff Garrison, Lee Moriarty, Dante Martin, and the legendary Minoru Suzuki all put Copeland to the test in their own fashion, but Adam beat each one, leading to a confrontation with another man in pursuit of Cage’s title, Daniel Garcia. Like true sportsmen, Copeland and Garcia agree to meet in singles combat with the next TNT Championship match going to the winner, but like a true scumbag, Christian Cage and his Patriachy stuck their nose into the fight, causing a No Contest result, and allowing Cage to put Copeland on the shelf with a Con-chair-to.

But they left Garcia intact, and though he didn’t claim the TNT Championship at REVOLUTION 2024, it’s really only because Nick Wayne and the Patriarchy were there to make sure Christian Cage survived Greensboro as champion. Take them out of the equation, and the AEW faithful would’ve been calling Daniel Garcia the new TNT Champion. It would’ve been quite fascinating to see how Copeland would’ve responded to someone else being the one to knock Christian off the TNT mountaintop, but that’s not how the hand played out, instead Cage has to actually deal with the repercussions of his assault on Adam Copeland with the future of the TNT Championship hanging in the balance!

Furthermore, the future of the championship won’t be decided in a regular match, not after everything that’s taken place between these two men since Copeland first arrived in AEW, the TNT Championship will be contested in an “I Quit” match this Wednesday night in Toronto! This is just the second such bout in the history of All Elite Wrestling, the first taking place at FULL GEAR 2020 between Eddie Kingston and then-AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, and coincidentally that too was a fight between friends-turned-enemies. That is about where the similarities end, neither Moxley nor Kingston threatened violence with a nail-embedded 2×4 for one, and though their bond had history, it isn’t thirty-plus years deep.

That’s what makes this entire scenario so painful, yet so intriguing; the careers of Adam Copeland and Christian Cage have played out before the world for the last twenty-five years, their lives have unfolded before the eyes of wrestling fans, their triumphs and tragedies have been public consumption, and a vast majority of it took place with them supporting one another. Even at the times they were on opposing sides, it wasn’t as ugly as situations have gotten here in AEW, it never seemed past the point of no return as it does now.

With AEW’s return to Toronto, one of these two competitors will be forced to say “I Quit” in front of the entire world. One man will have to capitulate to the others onslaught and give up their TNT Championship dream, but more than that, give up on the hope of reconciling differences with one another. Either Christian Cage or Adam Copeland will leave the Coca-Cola Coliseum as TNT Champion, that is certain, but what is uncertain is what the future of the relationship between these two men could possibly look like after the hell that’s been traversed over the last several months.

Continental Championship Match…

Eddie Kingston(c) vs. Kazuchika Okada

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Five months ago, at NJPW’s RUMBLE ON 44th STREET event, Eddie Kingston and Kazuchika Okada stood inside the ring as allies, a tag team facing down the BULLET CLUB GOLD tandem of Jay White and Juice Robinson, though their ending came with “Switchblade” pinning “The Mad King”. Skip ahead to March 6, 2024 and Kingston confronting The Young Bucks in the middle of the ring as the two found a way to gloat about their loss to Sting and Darby Allin at REVOLUTION 2024 a few days prior. The two EVPs made a choice to assault the Continental Crown Champion, teaming up on Kingston after a low blow neutralized him for a moment, but it seemed that the arrival of Kazuchika Okada would bring an end to the attack.

Turned out it was all a ruse at Eddie’s expense, and Okada chose that moment to show the world that not only was he officially All Elite, but he was also now one of The Elite alongside Matthew and Nicholas Jackson! To say that choice by Okada was disappointing would be a gross understatement, but it certainly proved a successful alliance as this new unit managed to defeat Kingston, PAC, and Penta El Zero Miedo in Trios competition, with Okada pinning Eddie to secure the victory. Sure it took another low blow from Matthew to allow Okada to hit The Rainmaker lariat, but with the win secured, it set Okada up for an immediate shot at the AEW Continental Championship. 

That title fight goes down this Wednesday night in Toronto, and it actually marks the first defense of the Continental Championship separate from the rest of Continental Crown, meaning it will be fought under Continental Rules, meaning absolutely no interference will be tolerated. Coincidentally, Kingston is also set to defend the ROH World Championship at ROH’s SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2024 event on April 5th, a match separate from the rest of the Crown as well.

This bout is also Kazuchika Okada’s first singles match as an official member of the AEW roster, though not his first in All Elite Wrestling; in fact he’s 0-2 in one-on-one matches over his limited AEW experience, meaning he may see this as the match to make a statement to the rest of the AEW locker room, as well as an opportunity to claim his first AEW championship in rapid fashion. After overcoming Bryan Danielson at REVOLUTION 2024, after getting “The American Dragon” to actually shake his hand and acknowledge respect for “The Mad King”, it seemed Eddie had found a way to channel his inner fury into a positive, controlled fashion, but this situation with Okada and The Young Bucks seems to have shaken that resolve.

The Kingston who got in The EVPs faces was not restrained, the man who fought in that Trios match was not as focused as he was in Greensboro; could that be his undoing this Wednesday night when the Continental Championship is at stake? Will we see Okada add another championship to his resume? Will it be Kingston who adds another victory to this impressive run of nine consecutive singles matches, a run that includes Claudio Castagnoli, ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta, Bryan Keith, and two over Bryan Danielson?

Singles Match…

FTW Champion HOOK vs. Chris Jericho

FTW Champion HOOK and Chris Jericho recently found themselves with a common foe in The Mogul Embassy; in HOOK’s case it was Brian Cage in pursuit of the FTW Championship and for Jericho it was putting himself in the middle of that situation. When the original AEW World Champion elected to help HOOK when The Gates of Agony attacked him, Jericho became another target for Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona, and they didn’t wait long to let him know. It was only a few days between the attack on HOOK and the one on Jericho, and just as “Lionheart” helped “The Cold-Hearted, Handsome Devil”, so too did HOOK assist Chris. 

That led the two men to actually team up against The Gates of Agony; not only did they team up, the unlikely pair actually won the bout over Kaun & Toa, but that was not to be the end of their association, in fact Jericho himself made the challenge for this bout taking place on Wednesday night! Now one need only look at Jericho’s history in AEW for enough reason to question the man’s motivations for wanting this bout, but his desire to test HOOK does seem legitimate, not like a cover for ulterior motives. 

Interestingly it was just over 28 years ago that Jericho fought HOOK’s father Taz for the first time, actually scoring a DQ victory over “The Human Suplex Machine” that night in Philadelphia, so it is rather wild that Jericho is now fighting HOOK almost three decades later. It’s a testament not only to the longevity of Jericho’s career and how he’s operated at the highest levels, but also his willingness to mix it up with the younger generations when he could very well use his status to avoid ever having to lose face should he lose a bout like this.

It’s almost as if Jericho wants to make sure the landscape of wrestling is in good hands when the time comes for him to step away from in-ring competition, and perhaps that’s why the fights with Atlantis Jr, Titan, and now HOOK. It’s going to be interesting to see how this one plays out, will it be Jericho’s experience that lead to victory or will we see the youth of HOOK lead him to the biggest victory of his career? The FTW Champion tested Samoa Joe like few others in AEW have, can he do the same to Jericho?

Tag Team Grudge Match…

AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm & Mariah May vs. Deonna Purrazzo & Thunder Rosa

At one point during their REVOLUTION 2024 championship match, “The Virtuosa” Deonna Purrazzo had “Timeless” Toni Storm dead to rights, tapping out to her Venus de Milo submission hold, but the official was not in position to make the call thanks to Mariah May. Still, the world saw the AEW Women’s World Champ giving up even if the referee did not, and though it may not mean Purrazzo stands as the World Champion at this moment, it certainly gives her a viable claim to a rematch, and every justification to refer to herself as the “uncrowned champion” if she so chose. It’s quite clear Toni Storm wants to avoid a championship rematch with Deonna at this juncture, but unfortunately for Storm, she can’t dodge the tag team match scheduled for this Wednesday evening, a match she agreed to without even knowing who Deonna’s partner would be!

Turns out there’s another woman with some unfinished Toni Storm business, though it may be more accurate to say it’s unfinished World Title business, and that is “La Mera Mera” Thunder Rosa! Unfortunately for Rosa, due to injury she had to vacate the AEW Women’s World Championship in September 2022, a vacancy that was filled by Toni Storm at ALL OUT 2022 when she beat Dr. Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter, and Hikaru Shida in a Four Way bout. It was the first of Storm’s three championship reigns, and though it lasted just 76 days before Hayter dethroned her, it fueled the fire (and possibly the personality break) that has led “Timeless” to where she is today. In the time Rosa missed, the landscape of the AEW Women’s Division shifted quite a bit and now she finds herself fighting for a shot at the title she never lost, and perhaps this tag team contest is a way to that end game. A victory over Storm could put Rosa into contention, after all she’s won six straight matches since her return to action, four of those in singles competition, and if she could pin Toni in this fight, well it would have to put her name into the running for the next title fight. 

And that’s what makes this pairing of Thunder Rosa and Deonna Purrazzo quite interesting, they are two women with the goal of claiming the AEW Women’s World Championship from Toni Storm, but does that put them at cross-purposes as partners? Mariah May is obviously all in on supporting Toni and doing whatever she needs, can the same be said for “La Mera Mera” and “The Virtuosa”?

The CEO Comes to Ontario…

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Last week on DYNAMITE: BIG BUSINESS, Mercedes Moné made a huge impact with her arrival in All Elite Wrestling! It wasn’t just the words she spoke at the top of the program, but also her actions at the end of the night when Moné lent a helping hand to Willow Nightingale as TBS Champion Julia Hart and Skye Blue assaulted her. She dropped Skye Blue, planted Julia Hart, and actually shared a moment of respect with Willow Nightingale despite the fact Willow beat her to become the first NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion last year.

Now we will hear from “The CEO of AEW” this Wednesday night live on DYNAMITE, and you know the ears and ears of Julia Hart and Skye Blue, as well as the rest of the AEW Women’s locker room, are going to be fixed on what Mercedes Moné has to say!

But that’s not all…

That’s right; immediately following the conclusion of DYNAMITE, we will roll right into RAMPAGE on TBS, for three straight hours of the greatest professional wrestling on the planet! The second Wild Card Match in the AEW World Tag Title Tournament is set to go down pitting The Don Callis Family against Orange Cassidy and Trent Beretta, and it’s Street Fight time when Willow and Kris Statlander meet the TBS Champion and Skye Blue! Those two tremendous bouts, and a whole lot more, are coming to the AEW faithful immediately after the conclusion of DYNAMITE, making for one huge night of professional wrestling in Toronto!

AEW World Tag Team Title Tournament Wild Card Match…

The Don Callis Family (ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher & Powerhouse Hobbs)

vs.

Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta

***WINNER FACES TAVEN/BENNETT IN QUARTER-FINALS***

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Last Saturday night on COLLISION, fans witnessed a tremendous upset when The Infantry defeated House of Black in the first Wild Card match, albeit with a little help from a revenge-seeking Mark Briscoe, meaning Capt. Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo move on to face FTR in the Quarter-Finals.

This Wednesday night during RAMPAGE the second Wild Card contest will take place when The Don Callis Family, represented by Powerhouse Hobbs and ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher, take on former 2-Time AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy and Trent Beretta! As odd as it may be, especially with the OC/Trent pairing, neither of these teams are particularly experienced as a duo. The Callis crew have only teamed up once other time at RAMPAGE: WINTER IS COMING 2023, while the Cassidy/Beretta team only have 3 AEW matches and 1 ROH match under their belts this year, though to be fair OC and Trent have a wealth of experience working together in multi-man matches over the history of AEW.

The winner of this contest moves on to face ROH World Tag Team Champions Matt Taven and Mike Bennett in the Quarter-Final round, and it’s quite difficult to pick a winner in this tag team affair. The power and precision of The Don Callis Family team versus the top tier all-around game of the OC/Trent pair; it’s quite the pick’em for the Wild Card round!

Street Fight…

TBS Champion Julia Hart & Skye Blue vs. Kris Statlander & Willow Nightingale

As mentioned already, Willow Nightingale was the victim of an assault by TBS Champion Julia Hart and Skye Blue following her victory over Riho last Wednesday night. It was only the efforts of Mercedes Moné that saved the former NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion from serious injury, but it certainly left a question of where Kris Statlander was to help out her friend.

We would find out after the fact that the former TBS Champion was assaulted backstage, preventing her from assisting Nightingale, but on this Wednesday’s special edition of RAMPAGE it’s time for Julia Hart and Skye Blue to pay the piper in the form of a Street Fight! Willow and Statlander have already proven successful in that field, defeating Diamante and Mercedes Martinez last December under that stipulation, and now they’re prepared to bring the fight to the TBS Champion and her ally! This has been raging in one form or another since Julia Hart claimed the TBS Championship for herself at FULL GEAR 2023, will this be the night the scores are finally settled? 

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AEW’s three hour block of the best wrestling on the planet begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT live on TBS, in addition to AEWPlus.com for international fans, so visit the official AEW YouTube channel before showtime, as well as AEW’s various social media platforms, to catch highlights from previous editions of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, plus the latest CONTROL CENTER with Tony Schiavone! Then join AEW next Wednesday night for our debut in Quebec, City at the Centre Videotron for an all-new live DYNAMITE! 

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