We are on the road to WRESTLEDREAM 2024 in Tacoma, WA come October 12th, a night where fans will witness AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson defend his title against 3-Time AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. With only ten days to go until that pay-per-view extravaganza, there are a lot of combatants fighting for a spot on the card, and that battle continues tonight during DYNAMITE: 5th ANNIVERSARY! Coming to you live from the Petersen Events Center on the Pitt campus, tonight we will see the AEW International Title at stake when champion Will Ospreay faces challenger Ricochet, plus Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D returns to her alma mater to fight Serena Deeb, and Hangman Page meets Juice Robinson one-on-one!
DYNAMITE airs beginning at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, as well as around the world, and fans can catch up on all the action with a visit to the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from recent editions of DYNAMITE, COLLISION, and RAMPAGE, and so much more! Then AEW heads to Toledo, OH for a special Thursday night COLLISION taping at the Huntington Center before heading west to Spokane for DYNAMITE: TITLE TUESDAY on October 8th!
AEW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
“The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay(c) vs. Ricochet
Since October 27, 2013, “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay and Ricochet have met inside the squared circle nine times in in one-on-one competition. It started at RevPro's ENTER THE DRAGON event, roughly thirteen minutes of exciting action, ultimately won by Ricochet, who came into that fight boasting seven years more experience than Ospreay. By that point in his career, Ricochet had been all across the American independent scene, throughout the Midwest, up and down the East Coast, even out to California. From the historic Arena in South Philadelphia to the legendary American Legion Post in Reseda; he fought Chuck Taylor, Claudio Castagnoli, Adam Cole, Jon Moxley, Brodie Lee, Larry Sweeney, name someone from the American independent scene from 2003 to 2011 and Ricochet probably fought them somewhere. Then in 2010 his horizons opened up further, first in the form of DRAGON GATE USA where he joined the WARRIORS unit, and then with a journey to Japan to compete for Dragon Gate proper at the end of the year.
For the next several years, Ricochet competed almost exclusively For Dragon Gate in Japan with occasional forays back to the States for DRAGON GATE USA, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, took his first trip to Mexico in 2012, and his first UK excursion in February 2013. During that Dragon Gate tenure, Ricochet captured multiple championships, as a tag, a trio, and singles, as well as winning the 2013 edition of their prestigious King of Gate Tournament over Shingo Takagi on 5/25/13.
Just three days before that another monumental moment in Ricochet's career took place as he stepped into a New Japan Pro Wrestling ring for the first time ahead of participating in the BEST OF SUPER JUNIORS XX tournament. For that May 23rd event, Ricochet united with Kenny Omega to defeat Taichi and TAKA Michinoku in tag team action, and then as a participant in said tournament, he would score ten points with victories over Taichi, Titan, Hiromu Takahashi, and the legendary Jushin “Thunder” Liger. In September 2013 Ricochet returned to England for the tour that brought him into contact with Will Ospreay for the very first time, and the bout where Ricochet brought all that aforementioned experience.
On the other side of the pond, while Ricochet was heading to Japan for the first time, Will Ospreay was just beginning his journeys across British Independent Wrestling, competing in places like British Wrestling Evolution, PROGRESS, IPW: UK, NWA UK: Hammerlock, and in February 2013 making his first appearance for Revolution Pro Wrestling. It was in RevPro that Will Ospreay won his first wrestling title in June 2013, their Tag Team Championship alongside Paul Robinson, and where he'd fight Ricochet for the first time.
From that point forward, the careers of the two men were inexorably linked for the next six years, their next meeting coming in the form of RevPro Tag Title match where Ricochet's team ended the 273-day reign of Ospreay and Robinson. It would be sixteen months before the two men met again, a singles rematch of their initial RevPro clash but this time around it was Ospreay who scored the victory. Shortly before that clash, Ospreay would make his first journey to the States, competing in PWG's BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES 2015, and actually making it to the Semifinals before being eliminated from competition. Coincidentally Ricochet was also part of this tournament, but he was knocked out in the first round by eventual winner Zack Sabre Jr.
Then came 2016, the year that Ricochet and Will Ospreay faced each other nine times across four different promotions in three different countries. Ricochet got the win in their Dallas contest on April 2nd, then it was Ospreay's turn in a New Japan trios match on May 23 just four days before the two met in a BEST OF SUPER JUNIORS XXIII Block B match that may have been won by Will Ospreay, but had a massive impact on the careers of both men as well as the entirety of the wrestling landscape. It is this match that Renee Paquette asks about to begin the interview embedded above, and it is intriguing how the careers of both men parallel here. Just as Ricochet had his first NJPW experience three years prior as a participant in the BOSJ XX, so too does Ospreay here with BOSJ XXIII, and just as that experience made a huge impact on Ricochet's career, so too did this on Ospreay's. Not only did he defeat Ricochet, he bested both Volador Jr. and Jushin “Thunder” Liger en route to topping Ryusuke Taguchi in the Finals.
With that BOSJ victory, Ospreay achieved the feat Ricochet accomplished at BOSJ XXI, and then he'd surpass Ricochet with a second win at XXVI in 2019. That night he defeated Shingo Takagi, just as Ricochet did in Dragon Gate six years prior, and then made it to the Finals for BOSJ XXIV as well as the Semifinals of XXV. Before those successes, Ospreay and Ricochet had a lot of miles to go together including two more trios matches during the BOSJ XXIII tour that were both won by Ospreay's CHAOS unit.
Three months later their rivalry would come to the States for the first time, this time as part of PWG's BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES 2016, though the initial engagement was as partners in another trios match where the two of them and Matt Sydal defeated The Young Bucks and Adam Cole. The next night Ospreay defeated Ricochet in a BOLA Semifinal match, and that actually marked the last time the two would fight on American soil before tonight's scheduled match on DYNAMITE.
They'd continue their rivalry in NJPW, fighting over the NEVER Openweight Six Man Titles and facing each other in the NJPW 2016 Super Junior Tag Team Tournament before the final 2016 match in Ireland's OTT promotion where Ricochet avenged his BOLA and BOSJ losses earlier in the year. Heading into 2017, any potential meeting between these two warriors demanded the gaze of the wrestling world, but little did anyone know their WRESTLE KINGDOM 11 engagement would mark the beginning of their final year fighting together. It started with both men involved in a NEVER Openweight Six-Man Title match at the Tokyo Dome (though they did not share the ring), and saw three more singles matches through August 2017, two in the UK and one for BOSJ XXIV, with Ospreay winning two of the three.
After their final singles match on 8/26/17, the two men took their separate paths, Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi won the IWGP Jr. Tag Titles from The Young Bucks a few weeks prior, he won the 2017 BOLA in PWG, and defeated Chuck Taylor to claim the PWG World Title. Ospreay won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title, claimed it for a second time at WRESTLE KINGDOM 12 as Ricochet was starting his journey in a different entertainment promotion, and then won it a third time at DOMINION 2019 before stepping up into his first G1 Climax Tournament. Ospreay won the 2021 New Japan Cup, again beating Shingo Takagi, and parlayed that into a victory over Kota Ibushi to become the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. He won the IWGP United States Championship two times, losing it to Kenny Omega at WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 before regaining it from Omega at FORBIDDEN 2023 five months later, and stands today as a 2-Time AEW International Champion after regaining the title from MJF at ALL IN: LONDON 2024. During that same time frame Ricochet garnered his own wealth of experience, captured multiple championships, and became an even greater athlete than he was in August 2017 when these two last faced.
Thus when Ricochet made his arrival on the AEW stage at ALL IN: LONDON 2024's Casino Gauntlet, there was immediate excitement about the possibility of these two men meeting again after everything each had experienced during the last seven years. With Ricochet's DYNAMITE debut on August 28th Will Ospreay was there to congratulate him, it may not have gone the way Ospreay hoped thanks to “The Bastard” PAC, but it set the table for the possibility of this match. The two men have circled each other in the month since, Ospreay telling Ricochet to get his wins up if he wanted a shot at the International Championship, and that's just what he's done with victories over Kyle Fletcher, Sammy Guevara, and The Beast Mortos to earn this title fight.
The roads these two men have traveled have finally brought them back together for DYNAMITE's 5th Anniversary tonight in Pittsburgh, but where will the roads go after that? Who will carry the championship forward towards WRESTLEDREAM 2024? Those are just a couple of the questions looking to be answered at Petersen Events Center...
A HOMECOMING...
Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D vs. “The Professor” Serena Deeb
The challenge was made by “The Professor” Serena Deeb ten days ago on COLLISION, the result of her being frustrated that conversations were focused on absentee combatants rather than her, and with AEW returning to Pittsburgh, the stars aligned for Deeb to call out former AEW Women's World Champion Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D.
Surprisingly “The Professor” and The Good Doctor have never faced each other in a one-on-one match before, they've partnered in a tag match two years ago and both were participants in a Four-Way World Championship Match at GRAND SLAM 2022 alongside Toni Storm and Athena, but never just the two of them. That changes tonight with Baker's return to her alma mater and the Petersen Events Center where she is 4-0 across AEW history. She beat Jamie Hayter here on the fourth episode of DYNAMITE back in 2019, she retained the AEW Women's World Title on the premiere episode of RAMPAGE in 2021, qualified for the inaugural Owen Hart Foundation Women's Tournament in 2022, and united with Hayter to defeat The Outcasts in 2023. On the other hand, Serena Deeb has never competed in Pittsburgh over the course of her entire career much less at the Petersen Events Center, so the home court advantage is extremely strong for Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D!
Can “The Professor” overcome that disadvantage to hand Britt her first hometown loss, or will she end up overwhelmed like the other women who've stood across the ring from The Good Doctor in Pittsburgh?
ONE-ON-ONE...
“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Bang Bang Gang's Juice Robinson
There's always something quite intriguing about a situation where two wrestlers have been engaged in each other's careers for years yet somehow have never fought one-on-one. That is what we have here with “Hangman” Adam Page and Juice Robinson, individuals who first fought in November 2016 during NJPW's World Tag League Tournament, as well as during the 2017 and 2018 editions of the tournament. In addition, they were on opposite sides of multiple trios and multi-man matches during their mutual time competing for New Japan, and then there was the ALL IN: LONDON 2023 bout where Page united with Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi in a losing effort against Juice, Jay White, and Konosuke Takeshita. 13 matches over the course of the last eight years yet, as with Deeb and Baker's AEW careers, not a single one-on-one match before tonight's clash on DYNAMITE! Why now? Why the 5th Anniversary? Because Hangman Page is out of control...
Juice Robinson was just doing his job as a Lumberjack and ended up on the wrong end of the former AEW World Champion's wrath, but “Rock Hard” clearly isn't going to just sit back and take it. Tonight he aims to get his own pound of flesh from Hangman as recompense for Page's actions at COLLISION: GRAND SLAM 2024! As a competitors who fought on the first episode of DYNAMITE that is also scheduled to fight on the 5TH ANNIVERSARY, it's quite fascinating to see the road Adam Page has traveled from 10/2/19 to 10/2/24, to look at his successes and his failures, and to see how it has changed him along the way.
Five years ago Juice was a few days removed from NJPW's FIGHTING SPIRT UNLEASHED 2019: PHILADELPHIA event and 12 days shy of fighting Lance Archer for the vacant IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title, so it's been a wild road for him as well getting to Pittsburgh tonight and fighting under the AEW banner. He's come together with Jay White, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn to form The Bang Bang Gang, and kind-of, sort-of, considered himself one-fourth of the AEW World Trios Championship with those three men. He's excelled as part of the BBG, but this will be Juice's first singles match since a 10/25/23 loss to MJF in what just may have been the final Dynamite Diamond Ring match thanks to Daniel Garcia pawning it.
There is no question Juice Robinson is in for a rough night stepping into the ring with “Hangman” Adam Page, after all he's a former AEW World, AEW Tag, and ROH World Six-Man champion over the last five years, but he's also quite unhinged. There may be the key to Juice Robinson scoring a victory tonight in Pittsburgh, after all Juice lives his life unhinged every single day!
ROUND THREE: TITLE VS. TITLE...
AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson vs. AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada
***CONTINENTAL TITLE ONLY AT STAKE FOR FIRST 20 MINUTES***
A one-on-one win at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023 but a broken arm as a result...
A tag team victory on the October 25, 2023 DYNAMITE but a fractured orbital bone as a result...
A loss at WRESTLE KINGDOM 18...
A loss at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 inside Anarchy in the Arena...
A victory on the September 6, 2024 COLLISION in an eight-man tag...
That is the track record when Bryan Danielson and Kazuchika Okada have stood on opposite sides of the ring over the last 16 months, and quite frankly “The American Dragon” has not been on the winning side even when he's been on the winning side. The first singles match left Bryan with a broken arm that kept him out of action for three months, including missing Blood & Guts 2023 and ALL IN: LONDON 2023, while the broken orbital bone suffered in the tag match victory caused Danielson to miss six weeks of action, including FULL GEAR 2023, and almost cost him clearance for the Continental Classic tournament. Then there was the WRESTLE KINGDOM 18 rematch: Danielson's first time fighting at the Tokyo Dome since May 2004, his first time competing on a New Japan event since November 2004, and “The Rainmaker” handed Bryan one of the most difficult losses of his career.
And yet here Danielson sits, despite having the match with Nigel McGuinness fresh in his brain, despite knowing he has a date with Jon Moxley at WRESTLEDREAM 2024 in only ten days, despite knowing all that has happened to him at Okada's hands, here sits “The American Dragon” calling Okada to the table for one more match. A third round, a rubber match, a tiebreaker; whatever you want to call it, it's a battle of the best in the world coming to you tonight on TBS!
Though we've got a 60-minute time limit on the clock, the Continental Championship will only be at stake for the first 20, meaning the pressure rests on Danielson's shoulders. He has just 20 minutes to come out of this a double-champion while Okada has the full 60 to try and walk away holding two AEW titles simultaneously; will we see one of these men leave Pittsburgh with both belts?
DYNAMITE gets underway at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, not to mention around the world, and we've got a huge night on tap for the 5TH ANNIVERSARY episode including Title-Versus-Title between Bryan Danielson and Kazuchika Okada, Hangman Page versus Juice Robinson, the long-awaited rematch between AEW International Champion Will Ospreay and Ricochet with the title on the line, and Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D returning to Penn for a first-time fight with “The Professor” Serena Deeb! Before the night gets underway, fans can get caught up on all the AEW activities by visiting AEW's official YouTube channel for highlights from recent editions of DYNAMITE, COLLISION, and RAMPAGE, Renee Paquette's Close-Up with Kyle Fletcher, Hey!(EW) with The Beast Mortos, and a whole lot more! Then AEW travels to Toledo, OH for a special Thursday night taping of COLLISION at the Huntington Center prior to heading west for DYNAMITE: TITLE TUESDAY in Spokane on October 8th and WRESTLEDREAM 2024 in Tacoma!