It’s been a busy day of wrestling news, join on-camera personality Denise Salcedo as she breaks down the June 15 edition of AEW Dynamite Road Rager 2022!
Topics include: Chris Jericho vs. Ortiz hair vs. hair match, Will Ospreay vs. Dax Harwood, the return of Orange Cassidy, Moxley confronts Hiroshi Tanahashi, Miro adavances to Forbidden Door, Jay White attacks Hangman Page, Thunder Rosa’s reign as AEW Women’s World Champion, The Young Bucks win gold once again, and lots more!
Two more matches have been added to the lineup for Wednesday’s Dynamite.
Tony Khan revealed on Tuesday that Will Ospreay vs. Dax Harwood and Toni Storm vs. Britt Baker will take place on the show. The AEW President also announced that Jurassic Express will defend the AEW World Tag Team Championships against the Young Bucks in a ladder match as well.
Ospreay made his AEW in-ring debut on Rampage last week. He teamed with Aussie Open and lost to Trent Beretta and FTR. Ospreay then defeated SANADA at NJPW Dominion on Sunday to win the vacant IWGP United States Championship.
This will be the second time Baker and Storm have faced each other in singles competition. Baker defeated Storm in the semi-finals of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament on the May 25 edition of Dynamite.
This week’s episode of AEW Dynamite is branded as “Road Rager” and will take place from the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The updated lineup for the show is as follows:
AEW World Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) defend against the Young Bucks in a ladder match
Wardlow vs. 20 security guards in a handicap elimination match
AEW All-Atlantic Championship tournament qualifying match: Miro vs. Ethan Page
Chris Jericho vs. Ortiz in a hair vs. hair match
Dax Harwood vs. IWGP United States Champion Will Ospreay
A loaded episode of AEW DYNAMITE with lots to cover! Join on-air personality Denise Salcedo as she breaks down the April 27th edition of Dynamite.
Tonight’s show included: Dax Harwood vs. Cash Wheeler, Wardlow vs. Lance Archer, a Philly Street Fight, a TNT Championship ladder match, and more! Tune in for a very fun and lively discussion!
Dax Harwood has now qualified for the men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament.
Harwood faced his tag team partner Cash Wheeler in the opening of tonight’s Dynamite. The two had a back and forth contest, with the match ending after Harwood reversed a cradle attempt by Wheeler, scoring the three count to advance.
The singles match comes as FTR have been on a hot streak, defeating The Briscoes to win the ROH Tag Team titles at ROH Supercard of Honor earlier this month. They also successfully defended both the ROH and AAA Tag Team titles against the Young Bucks on a recent episode of Dynamite.
Harwood joins Samoa Joe, Kyle O’Reilly, and Adam Cole in qualifying for the tournament, which begins next month. The finals will take place at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view on May 29.
Along with the men, a women’s tournament will also take place at the same time. Toni Storm, Jamie Hayter, Hikaru Shida, Red Velvet, Ruby Soho, and Britt Baker have all qualified. Storm and Hayter are scheduled to meet in the first round.
FTR recently addressed reports that WWE is interested in bringing them back.
Speaking on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood said they aren’t sure if WWE really wants them back, or if the company just doesn’t want them to be in AEW. They told Renee that they don’t know anything other than what has been reported publicly about WWE’s interest.
“I think we know about as much as everyone else does,” Harwood said. “We left that place because they didn’t put a focus on tag team wrestling and we knew there was a ceiling to where we could go in the company. We wanted to do more, we wanted to be known as the greatest tag team of all time and we had to leave there to do that.”
Harwood continued to say that they will not talk to other promotions while under contract to AEW.
“I told Tony [Khan], because obviously he heard about it, I told him that there’s no way that we would ever talk contracts with anybody while we were working for him. We have way too much respect for him, and our word means something.”
Harwood continued to speculate as to why WWE would be interested in bringing them back.
“And then I started thinking, ‘Do they want us? Or do they want AEW to not have us? It’s cool for Cody to do what he’s done, but there’s just so many unknowns there. Would they ever focus on tag team wrestling the way we’ve been able to the last two years?”
Wheeler said he’s not sure how much has changed in WWE regarding how the company views tag team wrestling.
“I don’t know how much has changed there as far as what we wanted tag team wrestling to be. And now, we’re getting to show everybody what tag team wrestling can be and what our vision of it is.”
FTR also commented on their match at ROH Supercard of Honor against the Briscoes and what it meant for them.
“I told [Wheeler] after the match was over, that was our Bret-Austin,” Harwood said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever have a better match than that one and that’s okay with me, I can hang my hat on that. I can hang my hat on that whole week, them and the Bucks match. But specifically that match, I can hang my proverbially wrestling hat on that match.”
“I was so proud of what we were able to do with those guys because of how long and how unsure it was building up to it and the fact that we didn’t know up until two weeks prior that it was going to happen,” Wheeler added.
While FTR are the current ROH and AAA World Tag Team Champions, they also mentioned that winning the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team belts is something they hope to achieve.
“I have two things that are very high on the list for me, we want to be the first-ever two-time AEW Tag Team Champions. Until then or after then, we want the IWGP tag team titles and that’s very, very important to us and that’s something we’ve wanted to do for awhile,” Wheeler said.
Harwood continued to say that winning the IWGP titles would solidify them as the greatest tag team of all time.
“If we do get the opportunity to win the IWGP Tag Team Championships, we’ll be the only tag team in history to hold WWE’s Raw, Smackdown, NXT, AEW, AAA, ROH, and IWGP but if we do all that, if we hold all those titles, is there a debate anymore?”
CM Punk will be the guest commentator for the Dax Harwood vs. Cash Wheeler match that will take place this Wednesday.
Tony Khan confirmed on Twitter that Punk would be the special guest commentator for the match.
“For the first time ever, it’s a Dynamite dream match as @DaxFTR + @CashWheelerFTR will wrestle each other one-on-one in an #OwenHart Men’s Tournament Qualifier Match,” Khan wrote. “Your special guest commentator: @CMPunk. Dax vs Cash on #AEWDynamite. LIVE this Wednesday @ 8pm ET/ 7pm CT on TBS.”
Samoa Joe, Kyle O’Reilly, and Adam Cole have already qualified for the men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament. The tournament will begin next month, with the finals taking place at AEW Double or Nothing on May 29.
Here is the card so far for this week’s Dynamite:
Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb street fight
Lance Archer vs. Wardlow
Owen Hart Foundation Tournament qualifier: Dax Harwood vs. Cash Wheeler
TNT Champion Sammy Guevara defends against Scorpio Sky in a ladder match
The Undisputed Elite vs. Varsity Blonds, Dante Martin, Lee Johnson and Brock Anderson
FTR says they pitched the idea of facing each other in an Owen Hart Foundation tournament qualifying match but are not interested in ever breaking up their team.
Appearing on the 300th episode of the Wrestling Perspectives podcast, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood spoke about having to “fight for” being able to face each other in the tournament qualifier.
“That was our idea, totally,” Harwood said. “We had to fight for it but that was completely our idea. We’ve always wanted to have a match but we didn’t want to just have a match just to have a match, there had to be a reason. This is the perfect reason to do it. The Hart family means a lot to both of us personally and professionally and so being able to show respect to Owen Hart and his whole family, what better way to do it than allowing the two biggest Hart family fans in the world [to] compete?”
“There was no way for Owen to get the tribute he deserved and now we have a platform for that,” Wheeler added.
He continued to say that despite wanting to face each other, they have no interest in ever splitting apart their team.
“For years we’d be like, ‘How can we make it make sense? How can we have a singles match against each other, just a straight up back and forth wrestling match in our vision?'” Wheeler said. “There was no way to really make it make sense anytime before because we don’t ever want to tease a break up, do a break up, no interest in that. I’ll retire before we ever even entertain that idea , just I’ll say that right here right now, print it, tattoo it, I don’t care, we’re never going to do a break up angle.”
“When we heard about the Owen, we were like, ‘We gotta go to Tony with the idea of the singles match’ and he did like it but he was like, ‘Ok, I gotta see if I can make it make sense’ and we just stayed on him about it.”
Dave Meltzer is reporting that FTR has more than a year left on their current contract, not including the option year. The original story can be seen below.
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WWE is reportedly interested in bringing back the team formerly known as The Revival.
According to a report from Fightful Select, there have been internal discussions in WWE about bringing back the team now known as FTR. Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler’s deals with AEW will expire this summer but the company has the option to extend their contracts by one year.
FTR debuted in AEW on the May 27, 2020 edition of Dynamite. WWE had granted them their releases in April 2020. The team had reportedly turned down five-year renewals on their contracts before leaving the company.
Harwood signed with WWE in 2012 and Wheeler signed in 2014. During their time as the Revival in WWE, they were two-time NXT Tag Team Champions, two-time RAW Tag Team Champions, and one-time Smackdown Tag Team Champions.
Since leaving WWE and signing with AEW, FTR are one-time AEW World Tag Team Champions, one-time AAA World Tag Team Champions (current), and one-time ROH World Tag Team Champions (current).
CM Punk is taking on one-half of FTR on tonight’s episode of Dynamite
Tony Khan announced this afternoon that Punk vs. Dax Harwood will open Dynamite tonight. It will be the first time Punk has appeared in person on AEW television since he defeated MJF in a dog collar match at Revolution earlier this month.
Former AEW Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood opened up about his past struggles with both anxiety and bulimia on the latest edition of Renee Paquette’s podcast, also telling a story about how Shawn Michaels made an odd decision at WWE Raw 25 after a heartfelt conversation between the two.
Both he and Cash Wheeler were set to get a beatdown from DX and Balor Club at 2018’s WWE Raw 25 after a match with Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson and that he had some hesitations about how it would make the then-The Revival look. He said he was catching up with Michaels backstage from their days together at the Performance Center, talking about the issues he and Wheeler had recently gone through with recent injuries and that he personally had been in a dark place but that his wife helped pull him through.
Harwood said Michaels, who had praised the two men at the PC, opened up to him and said he had a similar story with his wife also getting him through his own rough patches. Harwood said it was a real bonding moment and then later when Michaels was with the rest of DX in the back with The Revival, he began making fun of Harwood’s biceps injury and other issues, seemingly out of nowhere.
He said after the segment was done, only one DX member said thanks to the team and was cool with them: Sean “X-Pac” Waltman.
“Everyone else was so cold and treated us like we were sh*t on the bottom of their shoes,” he said, adding that while he will never forget that feeling, he would like to have a conversation with Michaels about it someday.
Harwood also said he isn’t sure when the highly-anticipated FTR match with The Briscoe Brothers will happen and that in real life, he thinks they feel they are better than FTR. He also said he didn’t know why GCW booked the Briscoes open challenge at WRLD on GCW like they did because everyone assumed it was going to be them and they obviously weren’t booked for the show.
He added that promoters have offered the two teams a lot of money to do the match and suggested Paquette ask AEW’s Tony Khan what the story is. He also wanted to know from Khan when they were going to work with the Young Bucks again, joking that Khan “forgot they work there.”
Other notes:
Harwood also went into detail about his struggles with bulimia starting in high school and then anxiety which began last June. Through therapy, it was discovered the latter stemmed from a miscarriage he and his wife had, causing major sleep issues for months. He credited his wife, the therapy and his relationship with God on his improvements.
He said that leading into FTR’s much-anticipated match with the Bucks, he couldn’t sleep for two weeks because he was worried about whether it would deliver what fans were expecting with that much buildup.
He said his issues with bulimia and body dysmorphia started in high school when he was embarrassed how much weight he was putting on after his run playing football was done. He learned that his friend that was living with his family was also throwing up once a day and when Wheeler learned why he was doing it and the results, he also did it and it became a daily addiction. He said that feeling of being ashamed of his body still bothers him today, especially with social media, and that he hopes his daughter never gets involved in the business so she doesn’t have to deal with the same issues.
He talked about how he and Wheeler’s WWE release came about in 2020 and that despite the company throwing increased money offers at he and Wheeler, they knew they weren’t going to get the opportunity they deserved. He said his wife was having health issues and he wanted to be released sooner to be at home with her. He estimated he had two months remaining and was WWE told him they would extend his deal through August 2020 due to his injuries unless he and Wheeler signed over their trademarks at which point they would get their immediate release. He estimated he and Wheeler had spent $10,000-$20,000 on the various trademarks, but decided it wasn’t worth it to keep them.
FTR have issued an open challenge for their AAA World Tag Team Championships for Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, with one caveat.
Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler announced in a promo that aired on tonight’s AEW Dark that they will defend the AAA Tag titles against any luchadores, except for The Lucha Brothers, Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix.
FTR defeated Penta and Fenix for the AAA Tag titles on the October 16 episode of Dynamite. They are also scheduled to face Penta and Fenix at AEW Full Gear on Saturday, November 13 for the AEW World Tag Team Championships.
FTR’s open challenge joins Cody Rhodes vs. Andrade El Idolo, an Anna Jay vs. Jamie Hayter TBS Championship tournament match, plus Jon Moxley vs. Orange Cassidy in the AEW World title eliminator tournament semifinals on this week’s Dynamite.
Here is the lineup:
AEW Dynamite, Wednesday, November 3 —
Cody Rhodes vs. Andrade El Idolo
AEW World title eliminator tournament semifinals: Jon Moxley vs. Orange Cassidy
TBS Championship tournament first round: Anna Jay vs. Jamie Hayter
AAA World Tag Team Championship open challenge: FTR (c) vs. TBA
Mike Tyson was a special enforcer for a Chris Jericho-Dax Harwood match that took place tonight on Dynamite.
Tyson took part in the finish of the match, where members of The Pinnacle and The Inner Circle were brawling. Cash Wheeler took Jericho’s baseball bat and went to attack Jericho but Tyson punched out Wheeler before he could attack. Jericho then escaped from a powerbomb attempt by Harwood and hit the Judas Effect for the win.
After the match, Jericho announced that Tyson was an official auxiliary member of The Inner Circle.
Two segments aired earlier in the show showing both Jericho and MJF talking to Tyson, who emphasized in both segments that he would call the action right down the middle. He went as far as to reject a blank check that MJF had given him.
Tyson re-appeared in AEW last week, assisting Jericho as he was being beaten down by members of The Pinnacle. Jericho explained tonight that he apologized to Tyson for their brawl that took place last year after MJF turned on Jericho.
Mike Tyson is set for another appearance on tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
Tyson will serve as the special ringside enforcer for a match between Chris Jericho of The Inner Circle and Dax Harwood of The Pinnacle.
Cash Wheeler will second Harwood, while Sammy Guevara will second Jericho. All other members of The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle will be banned from ringside.
Two title matches will take place as both the AEW World Tag Team Championships and the TNT Championship will be on the line.
Darby Allin will defend the TNT Championship against Matt Hardy in a falls count anywhere match, while The Young Bucks will defend the Tag titles against Death Triangle’s PAC and Rey Fenix.
Kris Statlander will make her in-ring return after missing ten months with a knee injury. She will take on Amber Nova.
Jade Cargill will face Red Velvet in singles competition in the women’s division.
Christian will address Taz’s invitation to join Team Taz in an interview segment with Tony Schiavone.
Anthony Ogogo will make his in-ring Dynamite debut, with QT Marshall in his corner.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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The show opened with a Young Bucks video package where they talked about why they turned last week. They essentially repeated the Don Callis talking points from previous vignettes about “losing their edge.”
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Mike Tyson was about to talk about how excited he was to be here tonight, but MJF interrupted him, saying the Pinnacle is frustrated with him. He tried to get Tyson to turn on Jericho, saying he’d be on the “right side of history.” MJF then offered Tyson a blank check, but Tyson ripped it up, chewed up the pieces, and spat them at MJF.
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Don Callis joined commentary for this match. The Bucks got new gear (no more tassels).
AEW World Tag Team Championships: The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (c) defeated Death Triangle (PAC & Rey Fénix)
This was one of the best tag team matches in Dynamite history. The Bucks are revitalized as heels.
PAC and Matt started off. They performed a choreographed chain wrestling sequence to start. Matt instinctively went to the babyface corner to tag his partner, but realized he was about to tag in Fénix. Both recovered and tagged in their partners, so it was Nick and Fénix in the match at this point. They had a great athletic sequence where both had each other’s moves scouted until Nick just downed Fénix with a lariat.
Top tag title contenders, including SCU and Jurassic Express, were shown in the crowd. Fénix landed a springboard headbutt, PAC took out Matt with a Fosbury flop, then Fénix dove headfirst on Nick with his crazy tope suicida. Death Triangle isolated Matt in the ring, taking him out with a nice double team kick exchange.
A leg sweep allowed Matt to tag in Nick, who took out PAC with a soccer kick and then Fénix with a slingshot facebuster. A double dropkick got two as the Bucks beat down Fénix. Fénix sprung off the ropes with a double arm drag, allowing him to reach PAC for the hot tag. PAC hit kicks on Matt followed by a brainbuster for two.
PAC just smashed Matt’s face into the turnbuckles repeatedly. He laid in more kicks, but Nick tripped PAC with the official distracted, allowing the Bucks to regain control. Both of the Bucks hit apron power bombs on their opponents. Back in the ring, Nick hit his rising corner knee strike on PAC, then Matt showboated into a back rake.
After a commercial break, the Bucks continued their beatdown of PAC until PAC sent both Bucks to the floor. He almost reached Fénix for a tag, but Nick pulled Fénix off the apron just in time. Matt continued to mock PAC before doing old babyface spots in a humorous manner. PAC popped up and leveled Matt with a lariat, buying him enough time to tag in Fénix.
Fénix immediately took out Nick with a springboard crossbody before hitting an insane springboard hurricanrana walking the ropes and using both Bucks as leverage. He then hit a double cutter on the Bucks for two. PAC tagged in for another strong double team, concluding with a Blue Thunder bomb for a close two.
Matt was able to tag in but was immediately flattened with a German suplex. PAC set him up for a second, but Fénix walked the ropes to prevent Matt from getting a rope break. Fénix hit an insane tope con giro on Nick as PAC killed Matt with another German for two.
PAC headed to the top rope, but Matt rolled out of the way of the Black Arrow. We then got a parade of superkicks, concluded with Nick landing a destroyer on Fénix. PAC and Matt traded strikes in the center of the ring, then both transitioned to the apron. Their respective partners each killed the other with stereo reverse hurricanranas. Nick sent Fénix to the ringside seating, cutting him off with a superkick upon re-entry, but Fénix popped right up and hit a cutter on the floor.
Back in the ring, PAC and Matt were the legal men. PAC landed a superplex followed by a frog splash from Fénix for a near fall. PAC tagged back in and climbed for the Black Arrow, hitting it. Fénix tried to run interference but Nick was able to break it up just in time. After dropping Fénix, Nick dragged his brother to the corner and tagged himself in, running into a boot from PAC.
PAC tried to hit another German on Nick, but Nick was able to cheap shot him with a low blow. Nick then unmasked Fénix, the legal man, then the Bucks hit stereo superkicks on Fénix to win and retain.
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Hangman Page, flanked by the Dark Order, was interviewed by Alex Marvez about Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks. Page wouldn’t answer the question, instead talking about John Silver’s injured shoulder.
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The Inner Circle and Mike Tyson were interviewed by Alex Marvez about why Jericho and Tyson aren’t enemies anymore. Jericho said he called Tyson to apologize after the Pinnacle turned on him. He’s thankful that Tyson had his back last week, but he doesn’t expect any special favors or treatment tonight. Tyson said he’s firm, but fair, and may the best man win.
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Jade Cargill defeated Red Velvet
Both women looked great here.
Velvet exploded out of the gate with strikes but was immediately leveled with a pump kick from Cargill. Velvet escaped out of a suplex attempt and landed a high kick, sending Cargill to the floor. She followed it up with a nice tope suicida on the outside. Velvet tried to keep up the attack, but Cargill fought back and sent Velvet into the barricade before tossing her into the crowd with a fallaway slam.
Cargill brought her opponent back into the ring the hard way with a delayed brainbuster ahead of the break. Once back, Velvet immediately hit a cyclone kick and avoided a corner spear, sending Cargill into the ring post. Cargill ran into repeated right hands until a leaping lariat from Velvet took her out. Velvet followed it up with a cazadora bulldog and a standing moonsault for two.
Velvet went to the top for a moonsault, but Cargill rolled out of the way and hit Jaded, a wheelbarrow facebuster, for the pin.
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Britt Baker and Rebel were interviewed by Tony Schiavone about the rankings. She pointed out that Red Velvet just lost, so Baker should move up the rankings. Baker’s going to keep winning matches on AEW Dark: Elevation to push her up the rankings on the way to taking Hikaru Shida’s AEW Women’s Championship.
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They showed clips from Cody Rhodes vs. Aaron Solow from the AEW house show last Friday.
Anthony Ogogo (w/ The Factory) defeated Cole Carter
This was Ogogo’s first match in AEW. He was joined by QT Marshall, Aaron Solow, & Nick Comoroto.
Carter tried to outwrestle Ogogo, so Ogogo just killed him with a gut punch, leading to the referee stoppage.
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Miro addressed Kip Sabian, saying he’s disappeared since Arcade Anarchy. He recommended that everyone else in AEW do the same.
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Chris Jericho (w/ Sammy Guevara) defeated Dax Harwood (w/ Cash Wheeler) with special guest enforcer Mike Tyson
Both men worked really hard here and put together a very enjoyable TV match.
If anyone besides Guevara or Wheeler gets involved, they’ll have to answer to Tyson.
They laid in strikes on each other right away, with Jericho hitting a hard right hand that sent Harwood to the floor. Jericho grabbed a chair, but Tyson took it from him (as the enforcer), allowing Harwood to attack. Harwood used the ring as a weapon, but Tyson stopped that as well, and Jericho took control once again.
Harwood regained control upon re-entry to the ring, beating Jericho down in the corner. Jericho fought back, forcing Harwood to regroup on the floor. It was a ruse as Harwood attacked with the microphone, then Harwood returned the favor with an attack with a pen. Jericho grabbed a ringside camera and did his signature middle finger spot.
Back in the ring, Harwood tossed Jericho shoulder-first into the ring post. He and Tyson exchanged words ahead of a commercial break, through which Harwood continued his beatdown of Jericho. Once back, the two exchanged chops before Jericho landed a couple shoulder tackles and a diving axe handle. Jericho then hit a Lionsault for two.
Harwood popped up with a strong elbow, leading to a stiff forearm exchange. Jericho downed Harwood with a lariat for two. Jericho attacked in the corner, but Harwood turned it into a rebound powerbomb for a near fall. Harwood tried to follow it up with a diving headbutt, but Jericho rolled out of the way and locked on the Lion Tamer. Wheeler landed a cheap shot, allowing Harwood to roll up Jericho for two.
Guevara took out Wheeler at ringside. Harwood avoided the Judas Effect and hit a brainbuster for a close near fall. Jericho then popped up with a Codebreaker, leading to the double down. The Pinnacle ran out, but the Inner Circle were pursuing them right behind, leading to a free-for-all brawl. Wheeler was about to attack Jericho with his bat, but Tyson took him out with a punch.
Jericho powered out of a powerbomb attempt and hit the Judas Effect for the pinfall.
– After the match, Jericho officially inducted Tyson into the Inner Circle.
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Kenny Omega, Don Callis, the Young Bucks, and the Good Brothers cut a promo. Callis said we haven’t seen anything yet. This is just the beginning of the story. Omega said they haven’t changed, they’re just themselves now. Matt Jackson put the AEW tag team division on notice, and Callis said to be prepared to be surprised again. The Bucks mimicked giving the camera man a superkick, but then Callis actually did.
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A Thunder Rosa video package aired. She said she’s not just taking over the AEW women’s division, she wants to take over the world. Rosa’s coming after whoever wins between Hikaru Shida and Tay Conti. and she also wants Serena Deeb.
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Kris Statlander (w/ Best Friends) defeated Amber Nova
This was all a showcase for Statlander.
Statlander came out to the Best Friends’ music. She “booped” the official at the start. They locked up and Nova got backed up the ropes, so Statlander just dropped her to the mat. Statlander booped Nova, caught a kick, and landed a stiff forearm. She followed it up with a powerslam.
Nova fired up for a moment but was just press slammed in return. Statlander followed it up with a cartwheel leg drop and a flipping senton. A roundhouse kick and a Big Bang Theory finished it.
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Team Taz were interviewed by Dasha about waiting for a response from Christian Cage. Starks got frustrated of waiting, so Taz told him to stay backstage. Brian Cage said he agreed with Taz, but Taz told him to stay backstage as well. They want to lock up Christian tonight.
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Christian and Shiavone talked in the ring. Christian said he was here to outwork everyone, but Taz (with Hobbs and HOOK) interrupted, frustrated that Christian’s blown them off. Christian said Team Taz is a bit of a dumpster fire. He came to AEW to win championships and said no, insulting Taz along the way.
Taz fired up, calling out the audacity of Christian, until Hobbs walked into the ring and attacked. Hobbs got the advantage at the start, but Christian went for the Killswitch. A distraction from HOOK allowed Hobbs to level Christian and beat him down outside the ring.
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Next week on Dynamite:
AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Tay Conti
Christian Cage vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
Hangman Page vs. Ricky Starks
Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Trent?
After the announcement of Shida vs. Conti, a short video played hyping the match.
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Hardy came out alone for the main event — no Hardy Family Office with him.
TNT Championship: Darby Allin (c) defeated Matt Hardy in a Falls Count Anywhere match
Hardy immediately grabbed a chair and whacked Allin with it on a Coffin Drop attempt. He contiued to use the chair to beat down Allin on the floor. Allin had visible abrasions on his back. Back in the ring, Hardy challenged Allin to fire up before just downing him with a right hand and a neckbreaker for two.
The chair continued to be the focal point of Hardy’s offense. Hardy placed Allin’s head between the seat of the chair for a Twist of Fate, but Allin countered and returned some chair shots. Hardy Family Offices (Butcher, Blade, and Private Party) came out, with Butcher tossing a trash can in Allin’s face. They all beat Allin down until the Dark Order and Sting came out to make the save. Sting got a long sequence where he sent Private Party packing with the baseball bat.
During the commercial break, the two factions continued to brawl as Hardy suplexed Allin into a trash can. Once back, Hardy whipped Allin across the steel steps and crashing into the barricade. Hardy covered on the floor for two. Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky ran out for some reason, but Lance Archer came out to stop them and sent them packing. Archer then hit Blackout on Isiah Kassidy before staring down with Sting.
Sting tossed Allin his bat as they were the only two out there. Hardy surprised Allin with a low blow before setting him up for the chair-assisted Twist of Fate. Hardy hit it on the stage for a close near fall. They brawled to the production area backstage, where Hardy set up a ladder and placed Allin on a table. Hardy climbed the ladder and hit a leg drop through the table for two.
They brawled back to the stage, where Hardy attempted to powerbomb Allin to the floor. Allin escaped and hit a low blow before cornering Hardy and laying in shots with Sting’s bat. Allin used the bat to force Hardy onto the announce table before climbing some scaffolding and landing the Coffin Drop to win and retain.
A new stipulation has been added to the Dax Harwood vs. Jungle Boy match set for Dynamite.
AEW announced this afternoon that Cash Wheeler and Tully Blanchard will be handcuffed to Luchasarus at ringside to prevent any interference. Harwood last week accepted a challenge from Jungle Boy without consulting Wheeler or Blanchard. Luchasarus said he would make sure that no one got involved.
The two teams have been feuding in recent weeks. On night two of New Year’s Smash, FTR defeated Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt, with FTR scoring the pinfall win over Stunt.
Here is the full card for this week’s Dynamite:
Sting & Darby Allin discuss their upcoming street fight against Team Taz at AEW Revolution
Jon Moxley appears to talk about his upcoming six-man tag team match at Beach Break
The Young Bucks & The Good Brothers vs. Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds of The Dark Order
Lance Archer vs. Eddie Kingston
Hangman Page vs. Ryan Nemeth
Chris Jericho & MJF vs. Varsity Blonds (Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr.)
