Brody King looks to earn a title shot in an AEW World Championship Eliminator against MJF. Plus, Andrade El Idolo battles Kenny Omega and Mark Davis takes on Hangman Page. 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.
AEW World Championship Eliminator Match: Maxwell Jacob Friedman (c) vs. “Big, Bad” Brody King
It’s the biggest singles match of Brody King’s AEW career. The Los Angeles native is a former AEW World Tag Team Champion and a former AEW World Trios Champion, but he’s never held singles gold and on Wednesday night, he has the chance to set himself up to compete for the biggest prize of them all in the AEW World Championship. To do so, he must defeat the current champion, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, in an Eliminator Match. Should he win, the title match would come at Grand Slam Australia, set for Feb. 15 in Sydney. For MJF, King is only the first of several irritants and potential contenders who could sink his second championship reign. In addition to King, all of Samoa Joe, Kenny Omega, “Hangman” Adam Page, Swerve Strickland and Andrade El Idolo have made it publicly known that they’re coming after Friedman and his title. On top of dealing with a potential King title match, Friedman is guaranteed at least one more challenger with a No. 1 contender’s match also set for Sydney. But that’s a worry for another day because he must focus on King. Perhaps King wouldn’t be gunning so hard for MJF had the champions treated his partner, ROH World Champion Bandido, with respect. After defeating Bandido in a title match on the Jan. 14 edition of Dynamite, Friedman wasn’t content with only a victory. He then attempted to rip off Bandido’s mask, prompting King to arrive and make the save. So not only is King’s quest fueled by a desire for gold, he also wants to avenge his friend. King and MJF have never actually met in singles action before. Their lone match together came on the 300th edition of Dynamite last July when MJF emerged victorious in a four-way match against King, AR Fox and Anthony Bowens when he tapped Fox out with the Salt of the Earth. With so much on his plate, can MJF manage to keep focused on the task at hand or will King compound his misery by earning a title shot?
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AEW National Championship match: Ricochet (c) (w/ Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun) vs. “Jungle” Jack Perry
For the sixth time since becoming the inaugural AEW National Champion at Full Gear this past November, Ricochet will defend his title on Dynamite. His opponent is a man he knows very well - and one he’s defeated before - in Jack Perry. But things might be very different this time around. The enmity between Ricochet and Perry began back at the Worlds End pay-per-view in December. During the preshow, the team of Jurassic Express (Perry and Luchasaurus) and JetSpeed (Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight) defeated Josh Alexander and the Demand (Ricochet, Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun) when Perry pinned Ricochet. That win earned Perry a shot at Ricochet’s title on the Dec. 31 edition of Dynamite. Ricochet retained his title, but not without a great deal of help. Just as Perry was preparing to put Ricochet away, Kaun grabbed his leg and allowed Ricochet to hit a Spirit Gun and get the pin. What happened after the match was ever more significant. After spending much of the match brawling in the back, Liona and Kaun decimated Luchasaurus, focusing on his already injured shoulder. The two repeatedly bashed it over and over again with a chair to leave the big man laying. Because of the attack, Luchasaurus remains on the shelf. In the weeks since, the Demand have managed to jump Perry in the back on multiple occasions. The numbers game has left Perry prone to these kind of beatdowns from Ricochet and his monstrous back-up. Perry knows he can change all that on Wednesday night by taking away what Ricochet holds dear. Perry is a former singles champion in his own right. On top of being an AEW World Tag Team Champion, Perry had a 164-day run as TNT Champion in 2024. He knows what it’s like to wear gold and he wants that feeling back. Will Ricochet once again use the GOA to keep his title or can Perry find a way to wrest it from his waist?
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Kenny Omega vs. Andrade El Idolo (w/ Don Callis)
Back on the Oct. 1 Dynamite, marking the sixth anniversary of the show, Kenny Omega cut a heartfelt promo to the fans about what they and the company have meant to him. As he delivered his signature closing line, the lights went out. When they came back on, there in the ring behind Omega was a masked man in a suit. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t just any ordinary black mask he was wearing - it was the black skull mask of Los Ingobernables. The man unmasked to reveal himself as none other than the returning Andrade El Idolo. Andrade laid out Omega and embraced Don Callis, introducing himself as the newest member of the Family. Now months later, Omega finally has an opportunity for revenge, but that’s not all that’s on offer for the Winnipeg native on Wednesday night. The winner of the Dynamite match between Omega and Andrade will move on to a match at Grand Slam Australia to crown a No. 1 contender for the AEW World Championship. The victor of that match gets a title shot at the Mar. 15 Revolution PPV from Los Angeles. For Omega, a title shot is a long time in coming. Omega held the AEW World Championship for 346 days from the end of 2020 to the fall of 2021. Since then, he’s wrestled for the AEW World Championship just once, falling to then-champion MJF in 2023. MJF is, of course, also the current AEW World Champion and Omega would love nothing more than another crack at him. But Andrade wants that belt, too. Since returning to AEW, Andrade has been in unimpeachable form. He’s undefeated and picked up what was, perhaps, the biggest victory of his AEW career last week on Dynamite when he pinned former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland after a DM. Not only is Andrade red-hot, but he has the backing of Omega’s archnemesis Callis, who has made Omega’s life a living hell for much of the past three years. After a bout with diverticulitis that almost ended his career (and his life), Omega says he hasn’t felt this good in years and made it clear to Callis that none of his hired guns can hang with him and that includes Andrade. The two men have wrestled just one singles match in their respective careers and that wasn’t even in an AEW ring. At AAA’s TripleMania XXIX in August of 2021, Omega successfully defended the AAA Mega Title over Andrade. But much has changed in nearly five years and Andrade would love to prove that to Omega on Wednesday night. Can Omega continue his climb towards another AEW World Championship or will Andrade snuff out his dreams?
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AEW World Trios Champion “Hangman” Adam Page vs. Mark Davis (w/ Don Callis)
The final shot of last week’s Dynamite was that of AEW World Champion MJF speeding away in his car from a menacing-looking “Hangman” Adam Page. A motivated Page is one of the scarier individuals in AEW and with “The Cowboy” gunning once again for the AEW World Championship, MJF is right to look over his shoulder. But it’s not just Page who is coming for him. As mentioned above, Brody King takes his shot on Wednesday night. Andrade El Idolo and Kenny Omega both want that belt and they will face off on Dynamite to see who moves on to the No. 1 contender’s match in Sydney. Andrade and Omega’s potential opponent in that match will also be determined on Wednesday night when Page takes on Don Callis Family member Mark Davis, yet another addition to the growing list of people out for Maxwell Jacob Friedman. This is a new spot to find himself in for Davis. A tag team specialist for much of his career, the hulking Australian once held both the IWGP World Tag Team Championships and the ROH World Tag Team Championships alongside Kyle Fletcher as Aussie Open. He recently formed a new team with the latest addition to the Family in Jake Doyle. In fact, Davis and Doyle had an AEW World Tag Team Championship match on last week’s Dynamite against FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler), but disaster struck when Doyle tore his biceps from a DDT on the ring apron from Wheeler. With Doyle effectively neutralized, Davis managed to hold his own against both men until AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley appeared and clocked him with the title, allowing for FTR to hit a Shatter Machine on Davis to retain their belts. Getting payback from the Death Riders will have to wait for Davis, who now must ready for the biggest singles match of his career against Page. Davis and Page have never crossed paths before, but if you know anything about either man, you can expect to see two competitors beat the holy hell out of each other on Wednesday night. Can Davis make good on this massive opportunity or will Page take the next step towards another date with Friedman?
