AEW Dynamite is headlined this week by Winnipeg’s Kenny Omega taking on Bolton, Ont.’s Josh Alexander. Plus, Swerve Strickland goes one on one with new AEW World Trios Champion Kevin Knight. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on TSN2, the TSN App, and TSN.ca.
Kenny Omega vs. “The Walking Weapon” Josh Alexander (w/ Don Callis)
When Bolton, Ont.’s Josh Alexander arrived in AEW last spring, he listed Winnipeg’s Kenny Omega as a dream opponent. The former TNA World Champion gets his chance to live out that dream on Wednesday night when he represents the Don Callis Family as he takes on Omega. Once a theoretical dream match for Alexander, this bout has become a grudge match in reality. Back on the Oct. 11 edition of Collision, Alexander went one on one with Omega’s close friend and Golden Lovers teammate, Kota Ibushi. At one point in the match, Alexander began to climb the turnbuckle with Ibushi on his shoulders, planning to inflict damage with a high-risk move. As Ibushi attempted to repel the attack, he fell directly to the floor and shattered his femur. The former IWGP World Champion is now expected to miss up to two years of action, something Alexander reminded Omega of last week on Dynamite. Omega again finds himself dealing with Callis and co. as he attempts to once again become AEW World Champion. Making his intentions known to current titleholder Maxwell Jacob Friedman over the past couple of weeks, Omega seeks his first world title since 2021, but before he can do that, he must take care of Alexander and extract himself from Don Callis’s web of perfidy. The history between Callis and Omega is lengthy and well-known and Callis would take as much joy in keeping Omega from the world title as he would in one of his own wrestlers winning it. As such, you can expect Callis to use everybody at his disposal to give Alexander an edge on Wednesday night. Can Alexander pick up the biggest win of his AEW career or will Omega once again get the better of Callis?
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Swerve Strickland (w/ Prince Nana) vs. AEW World Trios Champion “The Jet” Kevin Knight
This past Saturday night on Collision, Kevin Knight won his first title in AEW as he, Mike Bailey and “Hangman” Adam Page defeated The Opps (Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata and Will Hobbs) to claim the AEW World Trios Championships. After the match, former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland came out onto the ramp to applaud the trio. Earlier in the night, Strickland met with Knight backstage, just as he had on Dynamite, and complimented him as one of wrestling’s best young talents. But he also had a warning for him, telling him not to take eight or nine years to get to the top. As Collision went off the air, we learned that Knight would meet Strickland on Wednesday night’s Dynamite. The match will be the first-ever meeting between the two. Knight will head into the match with a great deal of confidence, buoyed by not only his recent title win, but by his performance in the Continental Classic where he defeated both Darby Allin and AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada. A win over Swerve would be yet another feather in his cap. While the match might be bigger for Knight, it’s by no means unimportant for Strickland. Since returning from from a four-month injury absence in December, Strickland has had his eye on once again becoming AEW World Champion. In order to keep up the chase, he needs wins and one over a rising star like Knight would be a key one as he looks to set up another date with MJF. Will Knight pick up another huge win or will Swerve send a reminder to Friedman that he’s still on his way?
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Street fight: Death Riders (AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley, Daniel Garcia and Wheeler YUTA) (w/ “The Problem” Marina Shafir) vs. The Don Callis Family (Rocky “Azucar” Romero, “The Alchemist” Hechicero and “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer) (w/ Don Callis)
This past Saturday night on Collision, Jon Moxley sat in on commentary with Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness, as he does on occasion, for Marina Shafir’s win over Zayda Steel. He was joined by Don Callis, who arrived for a trios match featuring his team of Kyle Fletcher, El Clon and Josh Alexander. The two traded (un)pleasantries before Moxley took his leave. As he got up from the table, he was jumped from behind by Lance Archer and Rocky Romero. The two began a two-on-one beat down before Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia and Wheeler YUTA made the save and a wild brawl ensued. Later in the show, Moxley issued an ominous warning to Callis: of all the bad people in pro wrestling, he could be the very worst when he needs to be. As loathsome as he is, Callis is no idiot. He knows to doubt Moxley at his own peril and on Wednesday night, Callis will send Romero, Archer and Hechicero out to take on Moxley, Garcia and YUTA in a street fight. Considering the extent that both of these trios will go to enact punishment on opponents, it’s hard to say just who the confines of a street fight will benefit more. Rest assured, all six men will be very comfortable with the prospects of one. This is the kind of match where violence will prevail over seeking a victory. The reward will be in the damage done to your opponent. This will not be pretty. Which of these two trios will survive on Wednesday night?
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Samoa Joe (w/ HOOK) vs. AEW World Trios Champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey
Samoa Joe has not been in the best of moods lately. Well, Joe is never in a good mood, but right now has been particularly bad. At Worlds End at the end of December, Joe lost the AEW World Championship to MJF in a four-way match that also included hated rival “Hangman” Adam Page and Swerve Strickland. To make matters worse, Joe and the rest of The Opps lost the AEW World Trios Championships on Saturday night’s Collision to the team of Page and Jetspeed (Kevin Knight and Mike Bailey). From a double champion to not a titleholder at all, Joe will have the opportunity to take out his frustrations on one of the men now wearing his former belt in Bailey. A native of Laval, Que., Bailey has a great deal of respect for Joe despite the current circumstances. A well-travelled competitor, Bailey has always wanted the opportunity to test himself against Joe in a singles match and he finally gets that shot on Dynamite. You can be sure that he won’t let it come and go without seizing the moment. While Bailey’s focus in recent months has been the tag division, his singles bona fides are well-known and were put on display during the Continental Classic. He is also a three-time X-Division Champion in TNA and he was the winner of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s prestigious Battle of Los Angeles tournament in 2023, defeating all of Jordynne Grace, Bryan Keith and Konosuke Takeshita in the same night. If Joe heads into Wednesday night blinded by anger, he could be in for quite the rude awakening. Will Joe avenge Saturday night’s loss or will Bailey manage to compound his misery?
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AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) (w/ Stokely Hathaway) vs. YDNP (Alec Price and Jordan Oliver)
This past Saturday night, a rarity happened in Lewiston, MA - the AEW World Championship was defended outside of AEW. AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman went to Limitless Wrestling to take on Alec Price. The 27-year-old Boston native has worked in Ring of Honor in the past, but is best known for his work in Game Changer Wrestling where he is currently one half of the GCW World Tag Team Champions alongside Jordan Oliver. Friedman retained his title after a hard-fought 23-minute match, but what came next was very unexpected. Not only was MJF effusive in praise for Price, he had something for him: MJF said he had spoken to AEW president Tony Khan and he had officially extended AEW contracts to both Price and Oliver. While both enthusiastically accepted, the duo known as YDNP gets thrown into the deep end in their first match on Dynamite when they take on one of the greatest tag teams in pro wrestling history in the AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler). Harwood and Wheeler started their record-tying third title reign back at Full Gear in November from Brodido (Bandido and Brody King) and find themselves as marked men. On last Wednesday’s Dynamite, the Don Callis Family duo of Davis and Doyle (Mark Davis and Jake Doyle) won a four-way match to become the No. 1 contenders to FTR’s titles. That title match is set to go down on next week’s Dynamite. Harwood and Wheeler didn’t wait to get a look at their new challengers, brawling with Davis and Doyle after their match until security intervened. On Wednesday night, FTR’s goal will be twofold - not only will they want to baptize YDNP by fire, they will want to show Davis and Doyle just what they’re in for next week. Can YDNP hold their own against the champs or will FTR send a brutal message to the Don Callis Family?
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The Timeless Love Bombs (“Timeless Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa) (w/ Luther) vs. ”Megasus" Megan Bayne and “The Superbad Girl” Penelope Ford
Last spring at Dynasty, Toni Storm handed Megan Bayne her first loss in AEW, retaining the AEW Women’s World Championship. In the months since then, the two women have very much remained in the other’s orbit. Storm and Bayne have battled on a number of occasions with their respective partner(s) getting involved in the proceedings. With Penelope Ford missing nearly three months of action with a torn UCL, Bayne struck up a partnership with the Death Riders’ Marina Shafir and the duo entered the tournament to crown the inaugural AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championships where they were eliminated by the team of Storm and Mina Shirakawa in the semi-finals. This past Saturday night on Collision, Ford made her return to action as she and Bayne quickly disposed of Danielle Kamela and Viva Van, getting the victory with a Doomsday Device. Following the match, Storm and Shirakawa arrived on the scene to let them know they hadn’t been forgotten about and challenged the duo to a match on Dynamite. The question still unanswered is will Shafir get involved? The Death Riders are also in action on Wednesday, so she will obviously be focused on their match with the Don Callis Family, but will she be able to find the time to aid Bayne and Ford in their match? Storm and Shirakawa should probably count on it and steel themselves for that outcome. Which of these two teams will leave Wednesday night with a win?
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We will hear from Triangle of Madness (“The Toxic Spider” Thekla, Julia Hart and Skye Blue)
On last week’s Dynamite, the trio of Thekla, Julia Hart and Skye Blue picked up a huge win over the women with all of the gold in AEW in AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander and the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions Babes of Wrath (TBS Champion Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron). Thekla pinned Statlander to earn the victory, signaling that she was out for her title. On Collision this past Saturday, Statlander welcomed the challenge and asked what Thekla planned to do next. Thekla, Hart and Blue will give that answer on Dynamite. Is an AEW Women’s World Championship match in the offing?
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AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman appears
On last week’s Dynamite, MJF barely survived the title challenge of ROH World Champion Bandido. In what appeared to be a rare moment of humility, Friedman complimented Bandido after the match and endorsed him as a future AEW World Champion. But just as those words came out of his mouth, he jumped a prone Bandido and attempted to take his mask. His attempt was thwarted by the arrival of Brody King, who also wants his shot at MJF’s gold. The list of challengers for Friedman keeps growing, so just what does he plan to do about it?
