An injury to Brian Cage led to a change in plans for AEW’s upcoming Dynasty pay-per-view.
In the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin are scheduled to defend their AEW Tag Team titles against Big Bill & Bryan Keith at the Sunday, April 6 PPV in Philadelphia. It was originally supposed to be Cage & Lance Archer challenging for the belts, but Cage is dealing with a knee injury.
“The tag title match was a change as Brian Cage suffered a knee injury on an independent show on 3/20 in Los Angeles against Chris Masters,” Meltzer wrote. “So the originally planned but not announced Hurt Syndicate vs. Murder Machines match had to be changed and they had to pivot to new challengers, going with Bill & Keith.”
The build to Lashley & Benjamin vs. Big Bill & Keith began with a confrontation on Dynamite this week. After a challenge was issued, The Hurt Syndicate told Big Bill & Keith that they’ll need to win a match before they’ll be granted a title shot.
"The Bad Apple" Bryan Keith and "The Redwood" Big Bill have business with The Hurt Syndicate!
Big Bill & Keith vs. Top Flight is taking place on AEW Collision this Saturday.
Lashley & Benjamin were crowned the new AEW Tag Team Champions when they defeated Private Party this January. Big Bill is a former tag champ, holding the titles with Ricky Starks from October 2023 to February 2024.
A match between Cage and Rich Swann was scheduled for Future Stars of Wrestling’s Chris Bey benefit show on March 23, but Ricochet ended up facing Swann instead.
With less than two weeks to go, next month’s AEW Dynasty card is starting to round into shape after two title challenges that were made Wednesday.
During Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, reigning Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho offered to put his title on the line against former champion and recent rival Bandido in a title vs. mask match. Bandido wasn’t on the show to accept.
Jericho, fuming after Bandido took his brother Gravity’s mask back last Sunday at Collision, made the challenge and questioned whether it was worth it for Bandido to see his mother cry like she did at Revolution and to suffer the humiliation of being unmasked.
The two squared off on the February 22nd Collision with Jericho successfully defending the title. Bandido has put Jericho in his crosshairs since returning last December after a long injury absence.
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AEW Trios Champions Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta & PAC of the Death Riders will defend their titles against Rated FTR of Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler and Cope.
Cope issued the challenge during a pre-taped sitdown interview with FTR and Tony Schiavone. Harwood addressed his actions from last week where he walked away from Cope and Wheeler, apologizing and seemingly getting on the same page again. Wheeler said he wanted the Trios titles and Cope then made the challenge.
The champions later accepted with PAC saying they challenged them to survive them at Dynasty. When Cope returned from injury in late-December, he targeted the Death Riders and recently went 0-2 in AEW World title challenges of faction leader Jon Moxley. Yuta will face Harwood this Saturday on Collision.
Here’s the updated lineup for Sunday, April 6th in Philadelphia, PA:
AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Megan Bayne
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley defends against Swerve Strickland
AEW International Champion Kenny Omega defends against Ricochet and Mike Bailey in a three-way
AEW Trios Champions Death Riders (Wheeler Yuta, PAC & Claudio Castagnoli) defend against Rated FTR (Cope, Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler)
ROH World Champion Chris Jericho defends against Bandido in a title vs. mask match*
It’s time for another Sunday edition of Wrestling Observer Live.
WWE is starting to heat up on the road to WrestleMania with the current European tour and the crowds could not be better. I talk about how this tour is an example of wrestling being at its hottest in many years.
Also, I discuss what happened on WWE SmackDown with the show essentially setting up three more WrestleMania matches, including a wild pull-apart brawl between Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and CM Punk where apparently you have to point at the WrestleMania sign in the middle of the brawl.
I also discuss Saturday’s Slam Dunk edition AEW Collision and also touch on some of the bigger stories coming out of Dynamite including the fact that the biggest star in AEW is Toni Storm and not Jon Moxley.
Plus, I provide a full rundown of the current cards for WrestleMania and AEW Dynasty, Homicide’s retirement, and more WWE wrestlers heading to Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport.
AEW’s Women’s Word Champion has chosen her next challenger.
After Megan Bayne defeated Kris Statlander in the main event of Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, Women’s World Champion Toni Storm took to the microphone to challenge Bayne to a match at the Dynasty pay-per-view set for Sunday, April 6.
Bayne did not respond to the challenge as Dynamite went off the air, and the match has yet to be made official for Dynasty. Bayne is 5-0 in singles competition since returning to AEW action this January, including two singles wins over Statlander.
Storm became the first-ever four-time Women’s World title holder in AEW by defeating Mariah May for the gold at Grand Slam Australia in February, then retained over May at Revolution earlier this month in their Hollywood Ending falls count anywhere, no holds barred match.
The first matches for Dynasty were also confirmed during Wednesday’s Dynamite, with Ricochet and Mike Bailey winning a four-way with a double pin to set up an International title challenge against Kenny Omega, plus Jon Moxley retaining the World title over Cope to set up a title defense against Swerve Strickland.
The Dynasty card is taking shape. Provided the Storm vs Bayne match is made official, here is the current card:
AEW Dynasty, Sunday, April 6 on pay-per-view —
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley defends against Swerve Strickland
AEW International Champion Kenny Omega defends against Ricochet and Mike Bailey in a three-way
AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Megan Bayne
Swerve Strickland now knows his opponent for the AEW World title match at Dynasty.
Jon Moxley defeated Cope in a street fight on Wednesday’s Dynamite to retain the AEW World Championship, setting up a Moxley vs. Strickland battle for the belt at the Dynasty pay-per-view set for April 6.
Strickland defeated Ricochet in a number one contender’s match at Revolution earlier this month to earn the title shot. Moxley defeated Christian Cage and Cope in a three-way at the same event after Cage cashed in his guaranteed Word title shot to make the scheduled Mox vs. Cope match a triple threat.
Moxley’s win on Dynamite included the return of his entire Death Riders squad — Claudio Castagnoli, Marina Shafir, PAC, and Wheeler Yuta — after Cope had systematically eliminated all but Yuta in the build to Revolution. Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian of Cage’s Patriarchy group also ran in to interfere, potentially keeping a Cope vs. Cage feud on the horizon.
Willow Nightingale and FTR ran in on Cope’s behalf in Wednesday’s title match, with a Dax Harwood heel turn teased in the post-match after their efforts were unsuccessful.
Three matches are set for Dynasty following Wednesday’s episode. Mike Bailey and Ricochet won a four-way match with a double pin to earn a shot at Kenny Omega’s International title at the show, while Toni Storm challenged Megan Bayne to a match at the event in the show’s closing segment.
The AEW Dynasty card to this point:
AEW Dynasty, Sunday, April 6 on pay-per-view —
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley defends against Swerve Strickland
AEW International Champion Kenny Omega defends against Ricochet and Mike Bailey in a three-way
AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Megan Bayne
AEW International Champion Kenny Omega won’t just have one contender to defend against at next month’s AEW Dynasty pay-per-view, but two.
That’s because both Ricochet and new roster member “Speedball” Mike Bailey both qualified during Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite by virtue of a double pin on Mark Davis.
Bailey, Davis, Ricochet and Orange Cassidy were competing in a four-way that represented the finals of a eight-man eliminator tournament designed to give Omega his next challenger.
Bailey had Davis pinned with a backslide out of the corner when Ricochet jumped in to try and steal the pin but with his feet on the ropes. As both men argued their case following the referee counting three, the referee declared that it was a double pin and both men would move on to face Omega.
Omega won the title for the first time at this month’s Revolution by defeating rival Konosuke Takeshita.
Here’s the current card for the Sunday, April 6th event from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley defends against Swerve Strickland
AEW International Champion Kenny Omega defends against Ricochet and Mike Bailey in a three-way
AEW is bringing its Dynasty pay-per-view to Philadelphia this April.
It was announced via the Philadelphia Inquirer today that AEW Dynasty 2025 will take place from The Liacouras Center on Sunday, April 6. The venue is located on the campus of Temple University and has been hosting AEW events since 2019, but this will be the first time AEW has ever held a PPV in Philly.
“Philadelphia has been a great home for AEW and really all of pro wrestling for many years,” Tony Khan told The Inquirer. “The energy is tremendous and we’ve always wanted to have a pay-per-view event there. AEW Dynasty is going to be a great pay-per-view in a great city at an arena where we have a great history of putting on awesome events. It’s the perfect place to make a pay-per-view debut.”
Tickets for the show are going on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, February 3.
Dynasty debuted as an AEW PPV event last year in St. Louis. It was headlined by Swerve Strickland winning the AEW World Championship from Samoa Joe — with the card also featuring a classic match between Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay.
“The goal is to live up to the original,” Khan said about Dynasty 2025. “Last year’s Dynasty was a huge hit and a great event. It was tremendous and we built huge expectations for the card and I think we can live up to it and have Dynasty become a great tradition as an awesome pay-per-view for AEW.”
The next PPV on AEW’s calendar is Revolution 2025, which is happening the month before Dynasty. Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles is hosting Revolution on Sunday, March 9.
After he suffered a legitimate concussion at AEW Dynasty, Dax Harwood said that he is “feeling much better today.”
In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that Harwood was concussed during last Sunday’s ladder match that saw FTR take on the Young Bucks for the vacant AEW Tag Team titles.
No other details on the severity of the injury, nor at what point was it sustained, was reported. Harwood was bloodied up during the match as seen above.
The 39-year-old posted on X late-Friday afternoon, giving an update on his status and that will see fans soon.
Harwood and Wheeler were attempting to kick off their third AEW Tag Team title reign and first since October 2023. The loss to the Bucks now evens their record at 2-2 in the informal series that dates back to 2020.
At the end of the match, Harwood was shoved off a ladder into the ropes by the returning Jack Perry who has joined the Bucks’ new version of The Elite along with Kazuchika Okada.
John LaRocca and I are back with another episode of The Fight Game Podcast.
We kicked things off with our non-WWE segment where we actually talked a little bit about WWE since we weren’t going to talk about it for the rest of the show.
We then got to the rest of our topics which included:
Attorneys for Vince McMahon on 4/21 filed a response to the Janel Grant lawsuit and Grant’s side also responded to the claims.
The key aspect of the filing was that the claims of sexual abuse and coercion “are pure fiction,” disputing many of her claims in the lawsuit about her life and the relationship.
The key point they are arguing legally is that the NDA signed between McMahon and Grant would not have allowed such a lawsuit to be filed, and she violated the agreement. They did introduce evidence that had a provision that any dispute would have to be settled by arbitration.
The NDA agreement, which called for McMahon to pay Grant $3 million, contained a clause that stated, “By signing this agreement, Grant acknowledges that she will have waived any right she may have had to pursue or bring a lawsuit or make any legal claims against McMahon and/or WWE, and any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, and representatives.”
McMahon’s attorneys, James A. Budinetz of Hartford, CT, and Jessica T. Rosenberg and Jonathan L. Shapiro of Kasowitz Benson Torres, LLP, filed the argument that the case, based on that wording, says the case has to be decided in arbitration.
Essentially the key argument would look to be whether McMahon’s failure to make the $500,000 payments to Grant on February 1, 2023 and February 1, 2024, renders the NDA agreement clauses unenforceable. The agreement would have also called for $500,000 payments on February 1, 2025, and February 1, 2026.
This would explain why Grant’s attorney, Ann Callis, was attempting to get a ruling that the entire NDA would be thrown out.
Figure Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Lance Storm is back with tons to talk about including Lance’s thoughts on the Vince McMahon filing, what he watched and enjoyed from AEW Dynasty, thoughts on the TNA PPV this weekend with some new faces, and more. We will get the audio up for video subscribers soon, sorry for the mix-up! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including best wishes to Eric Young, tons of thoughts on the AEW Dynasty show, Ospreay vs. Danielson, Chris Jericho, Swerve as new champion, plus the RAW women’s battle royal for the title, two shocking WWE cuts, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
One was Swerve Strickland, who over the last several months positioned himself as one of the top acts in AEW. He achieved that goal on Sunday, defeating Samoa Joe. It wasn’t the match of the night, but the two had a very good match ending when Swerve gave Joe a second stomp from the top rope, becoming the first-ever Black AEW World Champion. It capped off a show of the year contender, continuing the hot streak started by AEW Revolution just one month ago.
Strickland’s rise to the top isn’t surprising. He’s had that star aura for years, dating back to his rise in NXT as the clear standout in the Hit Row stable. For whatever reason, he was another example of WWE’s previous regime completely missing the boat. All he’s done since is thrive when given the opportunity, with the Hangman Page feud cementing his rise to the top and making it clear he was here to be a top-level player. He’s now achieved that.
As for what is next, my thinking is Hangman. I’m surprised he didn’t appear on the show. But Page making his return for one more match with Swerve, probably for next month, makes the most sense.
The second story of the night was Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay. These two had a lot to live up to given the hype, and by the end of the match, I felt they had surpassed their expectations.
These two put on an excellent match, absolutely a match-of-a-year contender in a year where that is a very high bar. I explained this on X, but there’s so much more than what they did beyond MOVEZ, which yes, there were plenty of. These two are so great at reading the room, knowing when to hit their stuff, and making every move matter. Doing this kind of match seems easy to do on paper but in actuality, it’s a culmination of years of hard work, perfecting your timing and pouring it all into one match. It was beautiful to watch.
This is a match to show to those who always complain that AEW “never tells stories”, “has no psychology”, or “is just about moves.” It won’t change their mind, as we live in an era of my way or the highway tribalism, but it’s proof that their accusations aren’t of merit.
Here is the rest of the card:
Kazuchika Okada defeated PAC to retain the Continental title in a great opener. This was a full-fledged NJPW main event-level Okada match, and PAC more than held his ground. If more matches like this come from Okada’s run with this title, he needs to hold it for a long time.
House of Black bested Mark Briscoe, Adam Copeland, and Eddie Kingston when Malakai Black pinned Copeland. The finish makes sense since it is likely Copeland and Black will have a singles match for the TNT title down the line. The match was your standard good match on an AEW card, nonstop action with good crowd heat.
The FTW Championship match wasn’t good. I’m not into this Hook/Jericho feud at all, and this result here just tells me that they will have another match, probably at Double or Nothing. Compared to all the other hardcore matches we’ve seen on AEW TV as of late, this felt like a WWE-style PG hardcore match with WWE-style drama, which is good if you’re into this feud I guess. I’m not. The crowd hated Jericho, it felt like go-home heat. This didn’t work and didn’t make me invested in their feud.
Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa had a good match, I think stronger than I thought it would be going in. I don’t know where you go with Storm and this character. It seems like the eventual match is her and Mariah May, but when will they pull the trigger?
The ladder match followed Ospreay/Danielson, and while they could never come close to what had just taken place, they still had a very good ladder match with some crazy spots. Sure enough, Jack Perry returned from his suspension and helped the Young Bucks become the first-ever three-time AEW Tag Team Champions. The pop Perry got was huge, much like his NJPW appearance earlier this month. What happened at All In may have been a positive to his career in the long run.
Willow Nightingale and Julia Hart didn’t last long, but I was happy that Willow finally got a big title win in AEW. She has something special and connects well with the crowd, but sadly I think this is all for Mone to get the win next month, probably after a Statlander heel turn.
Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly had a really good, hard-hitting match. Strong winning clean was a surprise. It feels like the turn and match feels rushed and I was hoping to see more from these two. Adam Cole revealed he can walk following the match. I wonder if the storyline advances further after this.
And that’s it for Dynasty! Next will be Double or Nothing, where we already have one match, Mercedes Mone challenging Willow Nightingale. See you in Vegas!
