Tag: aew world title

Bryan Danielson avoids retirement, wins AEW World title at All In

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Bryan Danielson refuses to go gently into that good night.

With his career on the line, Danielson defeated Swerve Strickland in the main event of All In to win the AEW World Championship. It’s the first championship that Danielson has held in his AEW career. Going back to when he was in WWE, this is Danielson’s first title reign since 2019.

It was a submission that got the victory for Danielson in this instant classic, marking the first time Strickland has ever tapped out in AEW. The match had a title vs. career stipulation where Danielson would have retired if he lost. He now enters the final few months of his full-time in-ring career as AEW World Champion.

Danielson celebrated in the ring with his family after the match. His Blackpool Combat Club stablemates Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta were also there for the celebration. During the match, Danielson’s wife Brie Garcia, their daughter Birdie, and son Buddy were all in the front row cheering him on. The match included a spot where Strickland beat down Danielson at ringside while mocking his family.

There was also a distraction by Hangman Page during the match. Helping to cost his arch nemesis Strickland the title, Page appeared at ringside and needed to be held back by security. The distraction led to Danielson hitting a Busaiku Knee strike for a near fall.

Both Danielson and Strickland had special entrances at All In. Tony Khan again licensed “The Final Countdown” by Europe — which was Danielson’s theme music in Ring of Honor — for this show. Rapper Bun B made an appearance as part of Strickland’s entrance.

Danielson joins Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, CM Punk, MJF, Samoa Joe, and Strickland on the list of wrestlers who have held the AEW World title. Strickland had been champion since April.

Swerve Strickland wins his first-ever World title at AEW Dynasty

Posted on by Josh Nason

For the first time ever, Swerve Strickland can call himself AEW World Champion after he defeated Samoa Joe in the main event of Sunday’s AEW Dynasty pay-per-view.

The end came when Strickland hit a second Swerve Stomp off the top rope for the pin, getting emotional before he took flight. 

As noted on commentary, Strickland becomes AEW’s first African-American World Champion, their 11th overall World champion, and eighth unique World Champion.

His run toward the title began after he failed to advance to the finals of the first-ever Continental Classic last December. After six straight wins, he went to a 30-minute draw with blood rival Hangman Page this past February. He found his way into a three-way with Page and Joe for the title at March’s Revolution only to have his title win opportunity robbed by Page who didn’t make an appearance at Dynasty to thwart his rival.

Strickland then defeated Konosuke Takeshita in late-March to earn the shot.

Joe’s 113-day run with the title ends with three successful title defenses dating back to last December’s Worlds End when he defeated MJF for the title.

Strickland, who came out in full Black Panther garb for his entrance, survived the physical Joe who hit a Muscle Buster on the outside of the ring and later inside the ring.

Strickland set up the ending by jumping over Joe while on the top rope, hitting a power bomb and then the second Stomp for the win.

AEW vacates both World & Trios titles, Tournament of Champions announced

Posted on by Josh Nason

Both the AEW World and Trios titles are now vacant with one of the new champions being determined on tonight’s Dynamite with the other to be decided in a new tournament.

AEW head Tony Khan made the announcement via a taped promo at the onset of Dynamite without mentioning either CM Punk, the Young Bucks or Kenny Omega by name or why the belts were being vacated, only saying he was “forced to vacate” the titles following All Out. 

The newly-created Trios titles, first won by Omega and the Bucks at All Out, will be up for grabs in the opening match of Dynamite as Death Triangle faces Best Friends & Orange Cassidy. Both were involved in the recent tournament.

For the World title, Khan announced the Grand Slam Tournament of Champions with a six-man field that begins tonight and will end at the Grand Slam edition of Dynamite in Queens, New York, on September 21st.

The tournament is made up of former champions in AEW and WWE while not mentioning the latter by name. The biggest example of this is Bryan Danielson who was referred to as a seven-time World Champion even though he has never held AEW gold.

In the first round, Hangman Page will take Danielson tonight in their third-ever meeting while Sammy Guevara faces Darby Allin in a battle of former TNT Champions on Friday’s Rampage.

Next week’s Dynamite in Albany, New York, will see the Danielson/Page winner take on former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho while the the Guevara/Allin winner faces former AEW World Champion Jon Moxley.

Punk had reclaimed the AEW World title Sunday by defeating Moxley, only to sustain a serious injury during the match itself that will require surgery. That, of course, was prior to the fight after the pay-per-view that came as a result of Punk’s post-event press conference comments toward Omega, the Bucks and others.

Omega, the Bucks and several other AEW officials were suspended while Punk’s employment status is still unknown as the company has yet to make an official statement on any of the suspensions. 

AEW to crown interim World Champion at Forbidden Door

Posted on by Josh Nason

Amidst a lot of confusion given how the message was delivered, AEW will crown a new interim World Champion at this month’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view.

Following current champion CM Punk’s promo Friday on Rampage where he said he was injured and required surgery, it was unclear whether he was relinquishing the title or not. He alluded to the fact Tony Khan said he shouldn’t while Chris Jericho said minutes later on commentary going into the commercial break that he was doing just that. Jericho then said it again during the next segment.

However, AEW lead announcer Excalibur attempted to clarify things in the break afterward, albeit while a TNT title match was happening in the ring:

  • Punk is not relinquishing the title.
  • There will be a battle royal to kick off Wednesday’s Dynamite. The number of men in the match wasn’t announced.
  • The winner of that battle royal will face Jon Moxley in Wednesday’s main event. 
  • The winner of that match will move onto to the interim World title match at the Forbidden Door PPV.
  • At some point in the future, Punk will face the interim champion in a unification match.

However, it wasn’t clarified who that winner would be facing at the June 26th event. Given that Hiroshi Tanahashi was supposed to challenge Punk for the title, it’s assumed the winner will face him.

During the explanation, Excalibur said Moxley was the no. 1 contender even though the June 1st rankings have him at no. 3 while Wardlow is at no. 1.

Punk had just won the title on Sunday at Double or Nothing. It’s unknown when or how he got the undisclosed injury, but it’s believed to have been this past Wednesday, either on the dive he took into the stands or in his trios match that opened the show.

AEW World title rematch set for January 5 Dynamite

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The rematch between Bryan Danielson and AEW World Champion Hangman Page will take place on the January 5th debut edition of Dynamite on TBS.

On tonight’s Dynamite, Tony Schiavone interviewed Page who said that after going to a 60-minute draw against Danielson at last week’s Winter is Coming, he has never felt less like a champion. Danielson then came out and called Page entitled. He confirmed the January 5th date and mentioned that he was injured going into the match thanks to Jon Silver on the previous week’s Dynamite.

He also said that he wanted judges for the match in two weeks to vote on the outcome in case they go to another draw. Page agreed to the new stipulation and told Danielson to pay the judges well in advance as they won’t earn they money because he will win the match in under sixty minutes.

In the closing moments of their first encounter, Page nailed the buckshot lariat but couldn’t get over for the pin quick enough. 

The January 5th show from Newark, New Jersey, will also feature the finals of the TBS title tournament.

AEW World title match announced for All Out

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The AEW World Championship match for All Out has been confirmed.

Christian Cage will challenge for the title on September 5 after it was confirmed on tonight’s episode of Dynamite. Christian is currently number one in the AEW World title rankings and was mentioned as a potential contender for Omega’s title on last week’s Dynamite, when he defeated The Blade in a singles match.

This will not be Cage and Omega’s first encounter. After it was confirmed that Cage will receive his AEW World title shot at All Out, he confronted Omega after he won a six-man match with The Young Bucks, defeating Dante Martin and The Sydal Brothers. Cage told Omega that while they will wrestle at All Out, he talked to Impact Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore and Tony Khan, and it was agreed that Omega would defend the Impact World title against Cage in the opening match of this Friday’s debut edition of Rampage.

All Out, along with that week’s Dynamite and Rampage, will be held at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

AEW World title match to take place in two weeks on Dynamite

Posted on by Bryan Rose

An AEW World title match has been announced, and will take place in two weeks on Dynamite.

Jungle Boy will be the next to challenge for the AEW World title, facing champion Kenny Omega. He won the Casino Battle Royal that took place on tonight’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view event, last eliminating Christian Cage. It was said that the winner of the Casino Battle Royal would challenge for the AEW World title.

Omega defended the AEW World title at Double or Nothing against Orange Cassidy and PAC in a triple threat match. Omega won the match after countering a Orange Punch pin attempt with a crucifix of his own, retaining the champiosnhip.

In tonight’s Battle Royal, Lio Rush made an appearance as the Joker wildcard. He was eliminated by Matt Hardy and Private Party. It was Hardy who was eliminated by Christian that set him and Jungle Boy as the final two participants. After Jungle Boy won, the rest of Jurassic Express came out to celebrate. Christian then hugged Jungle Boy and left.

Exploding barbed wire deathmatch to headline AEW Revolution

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley will participate in a exploding barbed wire deathmatch for the AEW World title at AEW Revolution. 

At the end of tonight’s Dynamite, Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers attacked Moxley after he, Fenix, and Lance Archer defeated Eddie Kingston, The Butcher, and The Blade. Omega said that he would grant Moxley a rematch, but it would be contested in an exploding barbed wire heath match. Moxley responded by headbutting Omega, who then retaliated by laying out Moxley with two v-triggers.

Moxley and Omega have had two prior singles matches against one another. The first one dates back to AEW Full Gear back in November 2019, when Moxley defeated Omega. The second took place this past December, when Omega defeated Moxley to win the AEW World title on the December 2 edition of Dynamite.

Here is the current card for AEW Revolution, which takes place March 7 on pay-per-view:

  • Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley in a exploding barbed wire deathmatch for the AEW World title
  • Face of the Revolution ladder match featuring Cody Rhodes, Scorpio Sky, and Penta El 0 M for a TNT title shot
  • The Young Bucks vs. Chris Jericho and MJF for the AEW World Tag Team titles
  • Hangman Page vs. Matt Hardy where the winner receives the loser’s first-quarter 2021 earnings
  • Hikaru Shida vs. AEW World Women’s Championship title eliminator tournament winner for the AEW Women’s World title
  • Team Taz (Brian Cage and Ricky Starks) vs. Darby Allin and Sting in a street fight

Omega vs. Fenix title match set for AEW New Year’s Smash night one

Posted on by Bryan Rose

An AEW World title match between Kenny Omega and Rey Fenix has been announced for the final Dynamite of 2020 on December 30th, the first of their two New Year’s Smash shows.

After Omega defeated Joey Janela in Wednesday’s main event, PAC, Rey Fenix, and Penta El 0 M came out on the stage. PAC said they had unfinished business, noting that Fenix was never eliminated from the recent World title elminator tournament as he had been removed due to injury.

He suggested Fenix should be next in line for a title match and announced that was indeed happening, much to Omega and Don Callis’ dismay. Callis said PAC had no power to make a match to which PAC responded by saying that Tony Khan had already sanctioned it.

The next three weeks of Dynamite will be special edition shows as December 23rd will be their taped Holiday Bash event while the December 30th and January 6th live shows will be called New Year’s Smash. Chris Jericho will do commentary on the first night, while Snoop Dogg will appear on the second night.

Moxley-Omega contract signing announced for AEW Dynamite

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A contract signing for the next AEW World title defense has been announced for this week’s Dynamite.

AEW’s social media confirmed this afternoon that Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega will sign the contract for their match, which will take place on the December 2 edition of Dynamite. Omega won the right to challenge Moxley after he defeated Hangman Page in a tournament final to determine a new number one contender at Full Gear.

This will be the first time the two have met since last year’s Full Gear, when they clashed in an unsanctioned match. Omega mentioned in a promo on last week’s Dynamite that this will be their first match that will appear in the record books.

Also announced for this week’s Dynamite:

  • PAC vs. The Blade
  • Young Bucks vs. Top Flight
  • Darby Allin & Cody Rhodes vs. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks
  • Orange Cassidy vs. Kip Sabian
  • The Inner Circle will take a trip to Las Vegas
  • Serena Deeb vs. Thunder Rosa for the NWA Women’s title

MJF challenges Jon Moxley to AEW World title match at All Out

Posted on by Bryan Rose

MJF officially challenged Jon Moxley to a match at All Out.

During what he called a “State of the Industry address”, MJF called Moxley a dictator. While AEW was supposed to be about change, MJF said that Moxley being champion was just more of the old guard. He also said that he drew better ratings than Moxley and accused Moxley of “cosplaying as Stone Cold”.

He finished his promo challenging Moxley for the title and promised that he would carry the company for the next 25 years.

Moxley last defended his title at Fight for the Fallen earlier this month, retaining the title over Brian Cage. He is also set to defend the AEW World title next week on Dynamite, facing Darby Allin. The two had a staredown to close out the show after they defeated Brian Cage and Ricky Starks in a tag team match.

All Out is currently scheduled to take place on September 5.

Jon Moxley vs. Brodie Lee announced for AEW Double or Nothing

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The next AEW World Championship match has been set for Double or Nothing later this month.

A match between champion Jon Moxley and Brodie Lee was established tonight. Lee and the rest of the Dark Order attacked Moxley tonight after he defeated Kazarian in a singles match. 

After the assault, Lee told Moxley that he was in possession of something he wanted, and issued the challenge to Moxley who was laid out in the middle of the ring. Moxley, in response, said that all Lee needed to do was to ask. Lee then laid him out with a boot to the face.

Other matches announced for Double or Nothing include MJF taking on Jungle Boy and the finals of the TNT title tournament, where Cody will face Lance Archer. A casino ladder match was also announced on tonight’s show, with more details coming next week.

AEW Double or Nothing will take place on May 23, though it has not been announced where the show will take place.