Last week was a tremendous kick-off to 2025 and the MAX Era of All Elite Wrestling! COLLISION showcased two tremendous championship bouts, a huge trios victory for Rated FTR, Toni Storm continuing her roll since returning...or is it debuting...for AEW, and Jeff Jarrett getting himself ready for tonight's Casino Gauntlet with a solid singles victory! Tonight the action continues on DYNAMITE live from the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, TN as “The Cleaner” Kenny Omega returns to DYNAMITE for the first time since May 1, 2024! In addition, MJF will appear on DYNAMITE live for the first time since his WORLDS END 2024 victory over Adam Cole, and the Casino Gauntlet returns with the winner getting a shot at Jon Moxley and the AEW World Title come DYNAMITE: MAXIMUM CARNAGE on January 15th!
DYNAMITE kicks off at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, MAX, and around the world through AEW PLUS and TSN in Canada, so prior to showtime, be sure to visit AEW's official YouTube channel to watch highlights from last week's editions of DYNAMITE and COLLISION, the best of DYNAMITE 2024, and so much more from the place where the best wrestle! Then join us this Saturday in Athens, GA at the Akins Ford Arena at 8pm ET/7pm CT for COLLISION! THE CLEANER COMES HOME!
This past Sunday “The Cleaner” Kenny Omega returned to in-ring competition for the first time since the December 9, 2023 edition of COLLISION and looked better than ever in his victory over Gabe Kidd! That fight came on the heels of Kenny's return to AEW at WORLDS END 2024 when he presented the Continental Title belt to long-time rival, and 2024 Continental Classic winner, Kazuchika Okada.
Clearly Omega is back both in his role as an EVP as well as an in-ring competitor, and AEW's only Triple Crown winner returns to DYNAMITE for the first time since the May 1, 2024 assault perpetrated by his former Elite brethren and the May 8th video sent from the hospital room. What will Omega have to say about the last eight months of his life, and what the future holds for the former World Champion? Do not miss out on DYNAMITE tonight when we hear from “The Cleaner” himself!
WORLD TITLE CONTENDER'S CASINO GAUNTLET MATCH...
“Switchblade” Jay White, Powerhouse Hobbs, “The Last Outlaw” Jeff Jarrett, & ???
To date All Elite Wrestling has presented four Championship Contender Casino Gauntlet matches, three singles and one tag team, and “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay has actually claimed victory in three of those four. On the April 24th edition of DYNAMITE, Ospreay pinned Komander to earn a shot at the International Championship while on the May 29th episode he pinned Orange Cassidy to earn a World Championship match. It was on the September 11th DYNAMITE that he and Kyle Fletcher earned a World Tag Team Title bout against The Young Bucks, and though only one of those three victories parlayed into a title win (the International Title victory over Roderick Strong), the Casino Gauntlet is a match pretty much owned by “The Aerial Assassin”.
In fact the only Casino Gauntlet won by someone else, Christian Cage at ALL IN: LONDON 2024, did not involve Ospreay as he otherwise engaged in that AEW “American” Title match with MJF in which he reclaimed the belt from those vile hands. So what does all that mean for tonight's Casino Gauntlet Match for a World Title shot at DYNAMITE: MAXIMUM CARNAGE next week? It means that if Ospreay isn't in the field, someone else will have the chance to step up and make the Casino Gauntlet their own! Will Jeff Jarrett find his way to the goal he set for himself last week? Will “Switchblade” make the most of a one-on-one opportunity? Will Powerhouse Hobbs find redemption after his last title fight with Jon Moxley was hampered by injury? Or will it be someone else standing across the ring from Mox on January 15th? All we know with certainty is that Jay White will be out first for this fight, and there will be a second entrant but there's no guarantee Jarrett, Hobbs, or anyone else hoping to earn their shot will even see competition. The Casino Gauntlet can end at any time and that's part of what made it the most exciting new match addition to All Elite Wrestling in 2024!
WHO WILL BE #1?
Willow Nightingale vs. Kris Statlander vs. Toni Storm
***WINNER EARNS #1 SPOT IN 1/15 WOMEN'S CASINO GAUNTLET***
We've had three Men's Casino Gauntlet matches, we've had one Tag Team Casino Gauntlet, and next week at DYNAMITE: MAXIMUM CARNAGE we will have our first Women's Casino Gauntlet bout with an AEW Women's World Title opportunity at DYNAMITE: GRAND SLAM AUSTRALIA on the line! Just as fans witnessed with Adam Page, Jay White, and Orange Cassidy last week when they fought for the #1 spot in that Casino Gauntlet, we will see the same unfold tonight on DYNAMITE when three former champions clash over that pole position!
Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale, and Toni Storm are all former champions in All Elite Wrestling, even if the latter of the three seemingly has no recollection of her three reigns as AEW Women's World Champion. As for Statlander and Nightingale, they are both former TBS Champions and each would love to take another step forward in their career by challenging for the AEW Women's World Title in Brisbane. The history between Statlander and Willow is quite complicated, they were opponents prior to their mutual time in AEW but found a friendship sharing an All Elite Wrestling locker room. However that TBS Title, particularly the loss of it, slowly poisoned the well for Kris Statlander and eventually turned her against Willow after she lost the title to Mercedes Moné. The two went to war several times over, during the 2024 Owen Hart Foundation Women's Tournament, at ALL IN: LONDON 2024 in a tag match, and at ALL OUT 2024 in a Chicago Street Fight, just to name a few.
All told they are 3-3 against one another, 3-2 in Willow's favor with strictly one-on-one scenarios, but it's that sixth match here that may paint some of tonight's picture. That third victory for Statlander came in a Four-Way #1 Contender's bout in March 2024, though the pin came at Anna Jay's expense rather than at Willow's, and that brings in the third element to this battle, 3-Time Women's World Champion Toni Storm!
Though she may have no recall of holding that title, Toni Storm is a 3-Time World Champion since debuting in All Elite Wrestling almost three years ago, and she actually faced Willow Nightingale with the title on the line at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023. In fact, she's 3-0 all-time in singles matches with Willow but has only ever fought Kris Statlander one time in a Trios battle 16 months ago. Yet if the woman has no memory of any of those happenings, does it even matter for the picture of the match? This is all-new territory for her, she's never fought Stat or Willow in any fashion, much less been in a position to challenge for a title. All Toni Storm knows is that she's 6-0 since debuting in All Elite Wrestling at DYNAMITE: WINTER IS COMING 2024 with victories over Deonna Purrazzo, Taya Valkyrie, and Harley Cameron among those wins and a win here gets Toni one step closer to an Australian homecoming on February 15th at GRAND SLAM: AUSTRALIA!
This bout will be the first Three-Way in the Women's Division since DYNAMITE: THANKSGIVING EVE 2023, the second in AEW for Toni Storm and Kris Statlander, and the first singles one for Willow Nightingale though she did compete in a Tag Team Three-Way at DYNAMITE: THANKSGIVING EVE 2022. All three competitors came up short in their previous AEW three-way battles, but one will score the victory tonight and enter the Casino Gauntlet at DYNAMITE: MAXIMUM CARNAGE as the #1 entrant!
LIVE WITH MJF!
Throw MJF's hat in the ring of potential contender's wanting a shot at Jon Moxley and the AEW World Championship, however based on the interview embedded above, it doesn't sound like you can count him among the men putting their name into the Casino Gauntlet tonight to actually earn that shot the hard way. What you can count on however is Maxwell Jacob Friedman trying to rewrite history to paint himself as the victim in his World Championship loss to Samoa Joe at WORLDS END 2023. Max said he did not lose the title fair and square, but all one has to do is log on to Triller and check the tape to see MJF hit Samoa Joe with a low blow after referee Bryce Remsburg was knocked out of commission and watch as the defending champion attempted to put the Dynamite Diamond Ring to use.
The only thing MJF was a victim of was Cole being intentionally slow on the draw in getting the ring out of his pocket, so it's really unfortunate that MJF has to rewrite history in that fashion because the reality actually paints him in far better light. He entered into the fight with Joe seriously injured and in need of surgery. He defended his title essentially with one good arm and managed to last nearly 18 minutes with Joe before succumbing to The Choke; those are facts that MJF could point at to justify his worthiness of a title match or the 9-1 record he's put up since returning from said injury including defeating Will Ospreay for the AEW International Championship.
There's no question MJF is a worthy contender; like him or not, during his first reign he set the records at 406 days and 10 defenses, topped Bryan Danielson, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Adam Cole, and Kenny Omega during that run, just to name a few, and kicked it all off by beating Jon Moxley at FULL GEAR 2022, albeit not without a little outside assistance. The question is whether or not MJF aims to earn his contender status like Jay White, Jeff Jarrett, Powerhouse Hobbs, and others look to do in the Casino Gauntlet, or if he expects it handed to him just because he's MJF?
ONE-ON-ONE...
Mark Briscoe vs. Hurt Syndicate's Bobby Lashley
On November 27th, in the first match match of the 2024 Continental Classic, Mark Briscoe renewed his old Ring of Honor rivalry with Shelton Benjamin. That night Shelton scored victory over the former ROH World Champion, as well as three points in the Blue League, but it was just the beginning of tying Mark in with Hurt Syndicate. On December 18th Mark had TNT Champion Daniel Garcia's back as they got into a fight with MVP, Shelton, and Bobby Lashley and he was there once again on December 21st, right alongside Swerve Strickland, to support Garcia in the face of the Hurt Syndicate.
After taking Garcia to his limits in their TNT Title fight last Saturday night on COLLISION, Mark Briscoe is circling back to business with Hurt Syndicate in a big way. For the first time-ever, “Chicken” will step into the ring with “The All Mighty” Bobby Lashley tonight on DYNAMITE! Over the course of his 24-year career Mark Briscoe has been in the ring with the biggest, the baddest, the strongest, and the fastest but save perhaps Claudio Castagnoli, none have been remotely close to what Bobby Lashley brings to the table inside a professional wrestling ring. There is no one in All Elite Wrestling who can match Lashley for pure strength, but the explosiveness that comes with that is what truly makes “The All Mighty” such a terrifying force of an opponent.
If Lashley was just a powerhouse, the game plan could be to let him wear himself down, to gas him out, but he's got the kind of conditioning that only comes from competing in the amateur ranks and striving towards Olympic participation. It's the kind of gas tank that you expect from a Roderick Strong, not from a Bobby Lashley, and yet that is what “The All Mighty” brings to the table above and beyond his obvious power game. That is what Mark Briscoe has to figure out how to counteract, or perhaps he just dives headfirst into the fight and prays that he can overwhelm Bobby Lashley before Hurt Syndicate member can even get out of the starting gate!
REVENGE-MINDED...
House of Black's Buddy Matthews vs. “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay
The individuals honoring the House of Black are as tight-knit as it gets and have consistently been there to support one another through the highs and lows. Tonight it is Buddy Matthews showing his loyalty and support for another member of The House as he steps up to “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay after watching Brody King fall to the 2-Time International Champion at DYNAMITE ON 34TH STREET on Christmas Day. Mathematically, even if Brody had defeated Ospreay to finish with nine points and everything else remained the same, his tie with Claudio at nine would've gone in favor of the Death Rider by virtue of his victory over Brody earlier in the Continental Classic. However that doesn't mean Buddy doesn't want a little payback on Ospreay on behalf of The House, not to mention the boon to his own career a victory over “The Aerial Assassin” would be. After all, Ospreay is a 2-Time International Champion, was the Gold League representative in the Finals of the C2, and is considered by many to be the best wrestler on the planet at this moment in time.
Can Buddy Matthews pull off the biggest singles victory of his AEW career tonight on DYNAMITE, or will Ospreay kick off his 2025 with a “W” as he looks to what this new year will bring?
DYNAMITE begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, MAX, and around the world with AEW PLUS, as well as TSN in Canada, so be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel before bell time to catch up on highlights from last week's editions of DYNAMITE and COLLISION, the best of DYNAMITE 2024, and all the other top tier content AEW has to offer! Then tune in for the DYNAMITE: MAXIMUM CARNAGE Casino Gauntlet to see who earns a shot at Jon Moxley's AEW World Title on January 15th, plus we will hear from MJF, Kenny Omega, and “The Last Outlaw” Jeff Jarrett! After that, it's off to Athens, GA and the Akins Ford Arena this Saturday for COLLISION!