All of the AEW Women’s World Championship, World Tag Team Championships and TNT Championships are on the line on a jam-packed AEW Dynamite. 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.
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AEW Women’s World Championship match: Kris Statlander (c) (w/ Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron) vs. “The Toxic Spider” Thekla (w/ Julia Hart and Skye Blue)
For the fifth time since winning the AEW Women’s World Championship last September in Toronto, Long Island’s Kris Statlander puts her title on the line against Triangle of Madness’s Thekla. Having already turned away the challenges of Mina Shirakawa, Toni Storm, Mercedes Mone and Jamie Hayter, Statlander’s next defence might be her most difficult yet. The bad blood between Statlander and Thekla has been brewing since Statlander won her title. Thekla was actually one of the other competitors in the match, a four-way, that also included then-champion Storm and Hayter. Since then the two women have met on several occasions in multi-person bouts, including on the Jan. 14 edition of Dynamite. On that episode, the Triangle of Madness (Thekla, Julia Hart and Skye Blue) defeated the trio of Statlander, Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron when Thekla pinned the champion after a vicious spear. Thekla has been gunning for a title shot ever since and she gets her wish on Wednesday. Arriving in AEW last June, the Austrian has yet to taste gold with the promotion. In fact, the four-way match in Toronto has been her only title match to date. But Thekla is no stranger to championships. During her time in Stardom, Thekla held the SWA World Championship, the Goddess of Stardom Championships (alongside Momo Watanabe) and the Artist of Stardom Championships (with Giulia and Mai Sakurai). It seems like only a matter of time before Thekla is wearing a title in AEW, so Statlander will do everything in her power to make sure it’s not at her expense. Then there’s the matter of the rest of Triangle of Madness. Hart and Blue have no problem with bending the rules to ensure the success of one of their own. Statlander’s allies in Nightingale and Cameron might have to play a role on Wednesday night, as well. Can Statlander make it five successful title defences or will Thekla bring a championship back to the Triangle?
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AEW World Tag Team Championship match: FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) (c) (w/ Big Stoke) vs. Davis and Doyle (Mark Davis and Jake Doyle) (w/ Don Callis)
For the third time this month, FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) put their AEW World Tag Team Championships on the line, but Wednesday night’s match will be a real wild card. The challengers, the Don Callis Family’s Mark Davis and Jake Doyle, will be wrestling their first-ever standard match as a team. Davis and Doyle earned the opportunity to wrestle for the titles two weeks ago on Dynamite in their first match, winning a four-way that also included Jetspeed (Kevin Knight and Mike Bailey), the Young Bucks (Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson) and GOA (Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun). After the match, FTR got a firsthand look at their new challengers, brawling with Davis and Doyle until security intervened. While Davis and Doyle might be a new team, they’re far from inexperienced. In 2017, the 35-year-old Davis began to regularly team with Kyle Fletcher as Aussie Open. Together, the duo won the IWGP World Tag Team Championships, the New Japan Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships and the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championships. In fact, Aussie Open and FTR did battle on a number of occasions in the past, making Davis eminently familiar with his opposition. The hulking Doyle, who arrived in AEW earlier this month, also has his share of tag-team experience under his belt. While primarily a singles wrestler, the former TNA Wrestling star won the tag team championships alongside Bailey in the late, great Deadlock Pro-Wrestling. While FTR, who have been teaming together for going on 13 years, will have a decided advantage in the chemistry department, Davis and Doyle’s sheer size might cut down any advantage. But Harwood and Wheeler have wrestled big teams, small teams and everything in between in the past and have come out on top. One of the greatest teams in the history of pro wrestling, FTR might like to take the easy way out, but they really don’t need to. Their immense skill and talent is enough to skip out on cutting corners. Still, the nine-time world champions are as crafty as they come and are always looking for an edge to come out on top. Will FTR’s quality be too much or will the brawn of Davis and Doyle be enough to become tag champs?
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TNT Championship match: Mark Briscoe (c) (w/ “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong) vs. El Clon (w/ Don Callis and “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer)
Mark Briscoe has been dealing with the Don Callis Family for months now, but Wednesday night’s title defence will be extra personal for the TBS Champion. Briscoe puts his belt on the line against the mysterious El Clon. Clon is partially responsible for putting Briscoe’s Conglomeration stablemate Hologram out of action last fall. El Clon’s mission on Wednesday night is simple - bring the TNT Championship back to the Family. It was Family member Kyle Fletcher who Briscoe beat for the title back in November. Interestingly enough, Callis has been pushing Fletcher to attempt to regain his title, but “The Protostar” has seemed disinterested in the assignment as of yet. Fletcher is still angry with how the Continental Classic went down with the Sydney native feeling like Callis prioritized Kazuchika Okada over him. That’s not the only discord within the Family at present with Okada and Konosuke Takeshita already at odds for the past several months. But with Mark Davis and Jake Doyle going for the tag titles and Clon’s match with Briscoe, Callis will hope that newly won championships will help paper over any cracks in his faction and create some cohesion. Callis has already failed once in taking the title away from Briscoe when Hechicero fell short in his TNT Championship match on the Jan. 10 Collision. Wednesday night’s match will be Briscoe’s third defence, having also previously defeated Daniel Garcia of the Death Riders. Can El Clon bring some harmony back to the Family via a TNT Championship or will Briscoe keep on rolling?
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Swerve Strickland (w/ Prince Nana) vs. Andrade El Idolo (w/ Don Callis)
Since returning to AEW earlier this month, Andrade El Idolo picked up where he left off with wins over Angelico and CMLL’s Magnus. But on Wednesday night, he will jump into the deep end only days after declaring his designs on Maxwell Jacob Friedman’s AEW World Championship. On Dynamite, Andrade goes one-on-one with another man who is gunning for MJF in former world champion Swerve Strickland. With no offence meant to Angelico or Magnus, Strickland represents a massive step up in competition for Andrade. And with another shot at MJF’s title on his mind, a victory over Andrade would be a huge statement of intent for Strickland. Rest assured, MJF will be watching this match intently. With so many different competitors publicly announcing that they’re coming for MJF, the champ has begun scouting the opposition. The camera caught Friedman watching Kenny Omega defeat Josh Alexander and Swerve’s victory over Kevin Knight last week. Wednesday’s bout will be an interesting one with neither man really able to afford a loss at this juncture. Both Andrade and Strickland are in the process of building momentum and a defeat here will completely derail that. Will this result in a conservative approach from both men? Potentially, but both men don’t tend to pull any punches under any circumstances. Still, now would be the time for caution. Which of these two men will emerge from this key battle with his arm raised?
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AEW Continental Championship Eliminator Match: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Ace Austin
Jon Moxley might be incapable of slowing down. Since defeating Kyle Fletcher and Kazuchika Okada to win the Continental Classic and the AEW Continental Championship in the same night, Moxley has been as active as ever, despite the grueling nature of the tournament. In consecutive weeks, Moxley defeated the Don Callis Family’s Josh Alexander and Shelton Benjamin of the Hurt Business in Championship Eliminator Matches before teaming with Death Riders stablemates Daniel Garcia and Wheeler YUTA for a win in a brutal street fight last week against the Family’s Lance Archer, Hechicero and Rocky Romero. On Dynamite, Moxley will keep his foot on the gas pedal when he takes on Bullet Club Gold’s Ace Austin in another Eliminator Match. With the Bang Bang Gang currently riddled with injuries and all of Jay White, Juice Robinson and Colten Gunn on the shelf, Austin will carry the mantle for the group on Wednesday night. A three-time TNA X-Division Champion and three-time TNA World Tag Team Champion alongside Chris Bey, Austin is still looking for his first championship in AEW. He’s come close to one, though, taking Kyle Fletcher to the limit for the TNT Championship and making Ricochet sweat in a match for the AEW National Championship. Moxley is undoubtedly aware of the kind of challenge that Austin can pose. As is customary with Eliminator Matches, Austin will earn a future title shot against Moxley with a victory on Wednesday night. Will Moxley keep rolling or can Austin muscle his way into Continental Championship contention?
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Kenny Omega vs. Rocky “Azucar” Romero (w/ Don Callis)
After defeating the Don Callis Family’s Josh Alexander on last week’s Dynamite, Kenny Omega was in a jubilant mood. He had already told Maxwell Jacob Friedman that he was coming for his AEW World Championship, a title that Omega hasn’t held in five years, but he also had a message for Callis. Callis, his former manager and close family friend, has been making Omega’s life hell for years now and Omega has had enough. He laid things out bare for his fellow Winnipeg native - there is nobody in the Don Callis Family who can hang with him. Hearing this, Rocky Romero took umbrage and will now meet Omega in a singles encounter on Wednesday night. Omega and Romero go way back. The two men met for the first time back in 2010 in Ring of Honor. When both men made their respective way to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, they became frequent opponents with Omega in Bullet Club and Romero a member of CHAOS. In the 2014 Best of the Super Juniors, which was ultimately won by Ricochet, Romero beat Omega in B Block action. A year later, the team of Roppongi Vice (Romero and Trent Beretta) defeated Omega and Chase Owens in the first round. The two men would go on to do battle 15 times in New Japan, mostly in multi-man matches. Wednesday night’s match will be their first singles meeting since that BOSJ tournament match and their first match of any kind in nearly eight years. Romero will have a tall task on his hands. Omega says he hasn’t felt this healthy in years and is clearly motivated by the opportunity to once again become world champion. But Romero has beaten Omega before and believes he can do it again. Can Romero strike back for the Don Callis Family or has Omega once again found another level?
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AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman will appear
You can say a lot of things about MJF, but you can’t accuse him of making himself scarce. Since becoming AEW World Champion for a second time, Friedman has been a marked man. Most recently, former AEW World Tag Team Champion Brody King called his shot on last week’s Dynamite. That’s on top of former champions Kenny Omega, Swerve Strickland, Hangman Page and Samoa Joe all declaring their intentions, as has Andrade El Idolo. With challenges coming from all sides, what’s on the mind of MJF?
