Wednesday is just around the corner which means it's almost time for another amazing edition of “DYNAMITE” for your enjoyment! After a wild “FIGHT FOR THE FALLEN” last week that saw Jon Moxley retain his World Title over Brian Cage, Cody retain his TNT Championship against Sonny Kiss, The Elite reunite, Nyla unite with Vickie Guerrero, and the Lucha Brothers clash with FTR, it's time to hit the airwaves once again! 8pm EST/7pm CST on TNT, or AEWPlus.com for our international audience, and don't miss out on our YouTube (Click Here) exclusive Pre-Game and Post-Dynamite shows to get the full Elite Experience!
FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE
The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. The Butcher & The Blade
Embedded above is a little flashback to the last time these two teams collided in a straight up tag team match, nearly six months ago when “DYNAMITE” came to Cleveland, and on that night it was the brothers Jackson who came out victorious. They suffered for the victory, but it was a victory nonetheless.
Several weeks ago, Matt and Nick were the victims of an assault from Butcher and Blade, an attack that would ultimately herald the arrival of FTR into AEW when Dax and Cash would save the brothers from the attack.
And just two weeks ago, in the conclusion of a hellacious four on four match pitting The Bucks and FTR against B&B and The Lucha Brothers, Butcher and The Blade were on the winning side of the equation albeit it was their partners who scored the decisive pinfall over The Young Bucks. It could be considered a moral victory for B&B, but that is not what these two warriors are about. They want the win, they want the respect, they want the hearts of Matt and Nick Jackson.
Look at the big picture, when the tag team division of All Elite Wrestling is discussed it is The Young Bucks, Page and Omega, FTR, The Lucha Brothers, Private Party, or The Best Friends who get brought up when discussing the depth of talent. Butcher and Blade are often neglected, left on the outs by fans and pundits alike, despite their monstrous physical presence and their high level of skill once the bell rings.
This match is the moment it can all change for The Butcher and The Blade, where the acknowledgment of their talent and their place in the AEW tag team hierarchy can be declared. The Young Bucks, whether they hold the championship or not, are as much a face of the division (if not AEW as a whole) as Kenny Omega and Hangman Page. Defeating them, especially after the high of last week's victory, would be a tremendous boost to B&B, especially when the pair has not touched the top five rankings in ages.
The fact that this is also a Falls Count Anywhere match would seem to tilt the scales in the favor of Butcher and Blade, but Matt and Nick have certainly shown throughout the career what they're capable of when rules are tossed out the window. This explosive tag team collision will certainly have an effect on the top five rankings for the tag team division, and is not to be missed!
TNT CHAMPIONSHIP OPEN CHALLENGE...
Cody (c) vs. ???
Cody has amassed five successful title defenses in the sixty days since he captured the TNT Championship at “DOUBLE OR NOTHING”, five defenses against five very different athletes, and with just one week since his last defense against “The Concrete Rose” Sonny Kiss, “The American Nightmare” is set for his sixth one this Wednesday night on “DYNAMITE”! When Cody captured the title, he promised to cut a pace unlike any other as the champion, and that is certainly not a debatable fact. No other champion in AEW, probably in all of modern wrestling, has tested themselves like Cody has in such a short period of time. It's impressive, admirable, courageous, but after some of what fans witnessed last week, it is worth questioning if the pace is beginning to wear on the champion.
To say Cody was hyper-aggressive in his title defense against Kiss would be an understatement, as an example, he ripped the top turnbuckle pad off to expose the steel underneath, clearly with an intent to use it as a weapon like he did over a year ago in that legendary fight with brother Dustin at the first “DOUBLE OR NOTHING”. It may have been Cody who ended up eating the bolt, but it wasn't Sonny who put the situation into play. And Arn Anderson had no problem putting Cody on blast for how he took the match...
Maybe it was the watchful eyes of Tully Blanchard sitting in the stands, maybe Kiss was more of a challenge than the champion expected, maybe there is something deeper going on inside Cody that's nagging at him; take Cody's past allusions to his own standing within The Elite as an example of a possible lingering issue. Whatever the case may be, the frustration Cody felt one week ago was right out on front street for the world to see, and one has to wonder if that will bleed into this week's TNT Championship Open Challenge.
Whether it's been a competitor hand-picked by Coach Arn Anderson, a fighter who stepped up to challenge Cody like Jake Hager, or a man who earned it like Jungle Boy, every individual Cody has faced has proven deserving of their opportunity, and pushed the champion to his limits (if not beyond) each time. Cody has to anticipate that will be the case once again this week, but just like the rest of us, he will have to wait until Wednesday night to find out who will receive the next opportunity to take the TNT Championship title from his grasp...
ONE-ON-ONE...
World Tag Team Champion Hangman Adam Page vs. Five (w/ Mr. Brodie Lee)
Last week, Hangman Page sat back in the bar and watched his World Tag Team Championship partner Kenny Omega tag up with The Young Bucks, two men who he hasn't exactly seen eye-to-eye with in a long time despite standing by their side at The Stadium Stampede at “DOUBLE OR NOTHING” (in truth though, that seemed more about Page supporting his partnership with Omega than anything to do with The Elite as a whole).
Page also watched Omega lose his cool at the expense of Marko Stunt in the aftermath of the match, and you can see the results of that on “BEING THE ELITE 213” (Watch Here) on YouTube. Suffice to say something does not seem right with Omega, but whatever concerns Hangman may have about his partner are going to have to be set aside for his own singles match on “DYNAMITE”, his first since the Dynamite Diamond Ring loss to MJF back in November. But let's call a spade a spade here, a match against a member of The Dark Order is very unlikely to be a true one-on-one contest.
The man once known as Alan Angels, dubbed Five since his induction into The Dark Order, has a good deal of AEW experience under his belt the last few months. He even put in a competitive effort against Kenny Omega back in April on “DYNAMITE”, but had zero success in the win column until signing on with Mr. Brodie Lee. In his two matches since joining The DO and becoming Five, this man has experienced a pair of victories on “AEW DARK”, one as a singles and one in a trios contest, that have given him confidence heading into this Wednesday night collision.
Since everybody knows that Five will not be alone here, one must ask if Page will be flying solo or if the other half of the World Tag Team Champions will have his back opposite The Dark Order. My how the tables have turned; it wasn't so long ago that Omega was the one checking in on Page and wondering if Hangman would have his back...
TAG TEAM BATTLE...
The Inner Circle (“The DemoGod” Chris Jericho & Jake Hager) vs. Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy)
Last week was not a good week for The Inner Circle and Chris Jericho in particular. Sure, he may have dubbed himself “The DemoGod” and cranked out a new t-shirt to accompany it on ShopAEW that you can buy here (Click Here), but what everyone will remember is the clip embedded above of the orange juice bath The Inner Circle took in the center of the ring. And then Jericho had to sit in his vitamin C infused clothes the rest of the night as he joined the commentary team following this humiliating moment at the hands of Orange Cassidy.
Jurassic Express may find themselves bearing the brunt of The Inner Circle's fury on Wednesday night when Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus contend with Jericho and Jake Hager in tag team competition. It's also a safe bet that the JurEx duo is still feeling the effects of their trios match with The Elite last week, while Hager and Jericho are pretty well rested since their respective “FYTER FEST” bouts several weeks ago. It would also be neglectful if Hager coming off a suspension was not addressed either. This is his first match back since coming off the TNT Championship title fight that resulted in said suspension, and has left Hager feeling like he's the uncrowned champion.
Jurassic Express are going to have a tremendous fight in-store for them when they hit the ring on “DYNAMITE”, but if they can whether the storm and step up to the challenge with the same vigor as last week's battle, Jungle and Lucha have a fighter's chance of picking up the victory on The Inner Circle.
SINGLES MATCH...
Diamante vs. Ivelisse Velez
“Show me...”
The words of Hikaru Shida embedded above certainly bear weight on this contest between two women who's abilities are heralded in the wrestling world. Diamante has been honing her craft for over a decade, and has demonstrated her skill in several “AEW DARK” matches throughout 2020, including this Tuesday in singles competition, and proven she has the skills to make waves in the Women's division right now.
Her opponent, Ivelisse Velez, has also been perfecting her skills for nearly two decades, but her lone AEW appearance thus far was as part of the Women's Casino Battle Royal back at the 2019 “ALL OUT” event. She too has all the talent to make an impact on the women's division at any given moment, but especially when the field is wide open as Alex Marvez mentioned in the above Twitter clip.
So for both women, this chance to fight it out on “DYNAMITE” is a tremendous opportunity to put AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida on notice, a chance to make the entire division recognize the threat that is now in their midst. Will it be Diamante or Ivelisse who steps up their game on TNT and makes that lasting impression on All Elite Wrestling.
BACK IN ACTION...
MJF, with his “War Dog” Wardlow in tow, will return to action this Wednesday night on “DYNAMITE” for the first time since beating Billy on June 11th. It's not his first match since that victory, that would actually be a July 1st tag team LOSS against The Jurassic Express, but Max would be quick to remind everyone that it was not his loss, it was Wardlow's. So technically MJF can still claim to be undefeated in AEW, despite the pair of blemishes on his overall record, but he's not lying when he claims he has not been pinned or submitted. And yes, he can still say he's unbeaten in singles competition heading into this week's show.
So one can hope that whomever MJF steps into the ring with can be the one to add that first loss to Max's singles record, and take away at least one of his numerous bragging points. You'll never shut him up, but at the very least, maybe someone can humble Max on Wednesday night for just a few minutes.
THE RAGE OF CAGE...
At “FIGHT FOR THE FALLEN”, we all witnessed Taz throw in the towel on behalf of his FTW Champion Brian Cage to bring an end to Cage's AEW World Championship match with Jon Moxley. In short, Cage was unhappy and, via Twitter, publicly pondered relieving Taz of his duties. It seems that the two men have come to some sort of common ground as they will appear this Wednesday night on “DYNAMITE” with, as Cage tweeted, “things to discuss and announce”. What those things will be we will all find out shortly, but it's a sure thing that Cage is not done where the AEW World Title is concerned, and now Darby Allin is in those crosshairs as well.
“DYNAMITE” explodes onto TNT once again at 8pm EST/7pm CST this Wednesday night with a TNT Championship bout, a major Falls Count Anywhere fight, The Inner Circle and JurEx in action, MJF, two women looking to make an impact, and more! And, if you're in our international audience, hit up AEWPlus.com to check out all the action! Plus, our YouTube (Click Here) page is the exclusive home for the Pre- and Post-Game shows each and every week!