It's been a year since our last event in Greenville, SC but this Wednesday night All Elite Wrestling returns to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena with an all-new DYNAMITE as we get ever-closer to ALL IN: LONDON 2024 on August 25th!
With that trip to Wembley Stadium in mind, we will hear from “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson live on DYNAMITE after some poignant words were exchanged with Jeff Jarrett in the midst of his interview with Renee Paquette. Plus CMLL World Women's Champion Willow Nightingale clashes with former best friend Kris Statlander in an Eliminator Match, “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer and “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay go one-on-one for the first-time in AEW, and “The Glamour” Mariah May will sit-down with Renee Paquette as she looks towards her AEW Women's World Championship match at ALL IN: LONDON 2024!
The action kicks off at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, and fans can catch up on highlights from DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, by visiting the official AEW YouTube channel! Then we return to Arlington, TX on Thursday for COLLISION at the amazing Esports Stadium, AEW's home for the PATH TO ALL IN: SUMMER SERIES!
CMLL WORLD WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP ELIMINATOR MATCH...
Willow Nightingale(c) vs. Kris Statlander
After fighting side-by-side for the better part of nine months, Kris Statlander made the choice at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 to assault Willow Nightingale after she'd lost the TBS Championship to Mercedes Moné, kicking her supposed-friend while she was already down, and fully aligning herself with the disreputable Stokely Hathaway. Sure the two women had had their bouts with one another during those months, their TBS Championship bout at BATTLE OF THE BELTS VIII and the WORLDS END: ZERO HOUR contest, but they maintained their bond in spite of those matches. Statlander won the first, Willow won the second, yet despite the fights they won together, the blood they spilled together, Statlander ultimately found a reason to justify stabbing Willow in the back, not so coincidentally after Stokely inserted himself into their dynamic.
At FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024, Willow had a chance to get revenge on Stat, albeit in a tag team match with Stardom's Tam Nakano at her side, but Statlander chose to run from that fight and left her partner, Momo Watanabe, to take the fall for their team. Statlander wasn't able to run from the fight for long though because just three days later the two former TBS Champions met in the Semifinals of the Owen Hart Foundation Women's Tournament, a match Willow Nightingale won and presumptuously thought she'd left her fights with Statlander behind her.
Seven days later in Calgary, where Willow fought Mariah May in the Finals of The Owen, that would demonstrably not be the case as Statlander played a part in Nightingale's eventual loss to Mariah, costing her former best friend the opportunity to fight in the Women's World Title match at ALL IN: LONDON 2024. It felt like hitting bottom for Willow, having that opportunity stolen away but a woman she once considered as close as a sister, but just three days later at CMLL's FANTASTICA MANIA 2024 event in California, opportunity blossomed for Willow and she was able to claim the vacant CMLL World Women's Championship as her own!
Willow's success so soon after her failure in The Owen clearly sparked a deeper jealousy in Statlander, as demonstrated by her backstage assault on the newly crowned champion and subsequent challenge for this Eliminator Match, actions done knowing that under no circumstances would Willow turn down the fight. Even if she'd lost to Deonna Purrazzo at BATTLE OF THE BELTS XI this past Saturday in their Eliminator Match, Willow would still be standing across the ring from Kris Statlander waiting to fight. Fortunately Nightingale was successful in Arlington, in part thanks to Thunder Rosa stopping the interference of Taya Valkyrie, and can enter into this fight with Statlander without a championship bout with “The Virtuosa” looming in her future.
Will Kris Statlander earn herself a shot at CMLL gold tonight in this Eliminator bout, or will Willow Nightingale finally put this war with her former best friend to an end? There's no doubt Stokely Hathaway will try to insert himself in the outcome if possible, but after spending weeks with him in her orbit, Nightingale knows what that man is all about and will be on the lookout for every dirty trick...
ONE-ON-ONE...
“The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay vs. “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer
For the fourth time in their professional wrestling careers, “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay and “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer will go one-on-one tonight in Greenville, SC! The first time these two competitors met in such fashion was during the second round of NJPW's New Japan Cup 2019 Tournament, a bout won by Ospreay that advanced him to the Quarterfinals where he was felled by eventual winner Kazuchika Okada.
Their second singles meeting took place four months later during the 2019 G1 Climax Tournament as each man's first bout in the A Block. Archer would end up taking the victory that night, though Ospreay would ultimately make it to the Semifinals with 8 points while Archer would total just four over the course of his tournament bouts.
Their rubber match took place four years later in the Finals of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Tournament, where Ospreay took home a second victory en route to defeating Kenny Omega in their epic FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023 clash to become a 2-Time IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion.
But while Ospreay leads the charge in their head-to-head clashes, there are a whole lot of matches between those lines that have taken place over the years. Back in 2017, as part of ROH's GLOBAL WARS 2017: NIGHT 3 event, a CHAOS team including Ospreay defeated a SUZUKI-GUN team that included Archer, with Ospreay directly causing Archer to get pinned by YOSHI-HASHI. All told, from 2017-2022, these two men collided in thirteen tag/trios/multi-man matches with Ospreay's team getting the nod in nine of those outings. They battled in 1PW as part of a Four Way bout, and in a wild match involving eight competitors at Warrior Wrestling, and even here in All Elite Wrestling they were both part of the International Title #1 Contender's Casino Gauntlet Match that “The Aerial Assassin” ultimately won, and parlayed it to a championship victory over Roderick Strong at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024. All that is to say that these two men are quite familiar with one another despite their one-on-one record showing just three bouts over the last five years, although the circumstances around this fight are quite different than any of their previous outing.
Ospreay is coming into this fight not only having lost the AEW International Championship to Maxwell Jacob Friedman, but also knowing that MJF has elected to re-brand said title his “American Championship” simply to spit in the face of Ospreay's country of origin. It's a disgusting tactic by Maxwell, but not the least bit surprising now that he's dropped any pretense of being a decent human being. Archer, on the other hand, comes into this having won five straight matches between AEW and ROH competition, not to mention thrashing any individual backstage who happens to cross his path. Archer is a violent man, there's a reason “murder” is part of his moniker, and perhaps tonight on DYNAMITE it will be Ospreay who's reminded of just why that is, but then again, maybe it's time for Archer to get reacquainted with the “assassin” part of Ospreay's sobriquet.
FIRST...TIME...EVER!
“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Darby Allin
It's rather wild to think that in the five years, two months, and six days since the first DOUBLE OR NOTHING there are individuals who were on that first AEW event, that still compete here, who have never met inside the squared circle one-on-one. Dustin Rhodes and Kenny Omega are one example, Rey Fenix and Chris Jericho would be another, but expand that just a bit to anyone whose AEW roots predate the birth of DYNAMITE, and the field gets a bit wider.
For example, Jon Moxley has never fought Jack Perry in a singles bout, PAC has never battled MJF, and rather surprisingly, in the five years, one month, and two days since Darby Allin first entered into the All Elite Wrestling family at FYTER FEST 2019, he's never gone head-to-head with “Hangman” Adam Page!
In fact, the only time they had shared an AEW ring prior to Blood & Guts in Nashville last Wednesday was during the 2022 Royal Rampage won by Brody King, the man who coincidentally eliminated them both that night in Detroit. This Wednesday night in Greenville that statistic changes as, in the aftermath of B&G and Darby's Royal Rampage victory on Friday, Allin and Hangman will clash for the very first-time in All Elite Wrestling! It's quite an interesting situation given all the outside factors, Darby earned himself an AEW World Championship match with that Royal Rampage victory last Friday and EVP Matthew Jackson acquiesced to giving Darby a TNT Championship match at ALL IN: LONDON 2024 during the final moments of Blood & Guts. Meanwhile Hangman cares not about what happened inside that cage save for how it impacted his need to maim Swerve Strickland, and cares not about what Darby has earned over the last week either unless it somehow benefits him in getting to Swerve once again. Perhaps defeating the man who is now owed a shot at the winner of Danielson/Swerve come GRAND SLAM 2024 will get him closer to Swerve once again. Perhaps beating Darby, a man who has actually beaten Swerve twice in AEW, could help Hangman figure out what he needs to actually conquer the specter haunting him.
This is quite the fascinating first-time fight taking place tonight on DYNAMITE between two men whose paths were so disparate before one week ago. After Blood & Guts though, Hangman and Darby are inexorably bound to one another, as are all the individuals who've ever shared that experience, and tonight they'll add another layer to that bond when they go one-on-one in Greenville!
“THE AMERICAN DRAGON” LIVE IN GREENVILLE...
We know “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson will fight Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at ALL IN: LONDON 2024 on August 25th. We also know from his interview with Renee Paquette last week that August 1st his contract with All Elite Wrestling expires; that's right, when DYNAMITE ends around 10pm ET, the 2024 Owen Hart Foundation Men's Tournament winner will only have two hours left on his agreement with AEW. Now Bryan made it quite clear months ago that 2024 would be his last year competing full-time as professional wrestler, a statement that has left many fans quite sad to see the end of an era just around the corner.
One man who took umbrage with what Danielson has stated over the last year, especially the words he overheard being exchanged between Bryan and Renee, is Jeff Jarrett. “The Last Outlaw” expressed everything he felt about Bryan having “one foot out the door” and those words clearly had an impact on Bryan as he sat in their wake with Renee at his side.
Well tonight on DYNAMITE, with the clock on his contract ticking down to its expiry date, Bryan Danielson will join the AEW faithful live in Greenville to discuss his future, ALL IN: LONDON 2024, and the impact of Jeff Jarrett's words!
MERECEDES' MUSCLE...
Following Dr. Britt Baker's victory over Hikaru Shida last week on DYNAMITE, perhaps she thought she'd be given an opportunity to celebrate her return to the ring after so many months away from competition. Instead her moment was spoiled by TBS Champion Mercedes Moné, first by telling the Good Doctor no in regards to her desire for a title fight at ALL IN: LONDON 2024, and then by the arrival of the powerhouse known as Kamille who absolutely laid waste to the former AEW Women's World Champion. Well in the aftermath of that assault, we expect to hear from “The CEO” tonight on DYNAMITE and perhaps she will offer the AEW faithful some insight into just what her connection with Kamille is!
MARIAH SITS DOWN WITH RENEE PAQUETTE...
The world heard what AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm had to say after her Eliminator victory over Taya Valkyrie in regards to her former protégé and their impending ALL IN: LONDON 2024 match in a month's time. Tonight on DYNAMITE, “The Glamour” Mariah May will sit with Renee Paquette to speak her mind about that bout, “The Timeless One”, and Wembley Stadium! Given everything we've seen from her since the moment she won the Owen Hart Foundation Women's Tournament, Mariah May's words are not to be missed!
TRIOS MATCH...
The Conglomeration (ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy, & Tomohiro Ishii) vs.
Roderick Strong, RUSH, & The Beast Mortos
Mark Briscoe is unquestionably one of the hardest-working men in professional wrestling right now; last week he fought inside Blood & Guts for Team AEW on Wednesday's DYNAMITE, defended his ROH World Championship against Roderick Strong on Friday's DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2024, and then went into Trios action against The Premier Athletes on Saturday's COLLISION. That's not to say other men haven't fought as many battles over the last week as Mark, but none quite like what “Chicken” has gone through in his three fights.
Still, look at the week his partners have had to get an idea of the grind they've all been on; Orange Cassidy fought in Royal Rampage, flew to San Diego to take part in Comic Con, then flew to Texas for a fight with Johnny TV during COLLISION. Ishii was in Royal Rampage, fought alongside Kyle O'Reilly at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2024 in a ROH World Tag Title match, and then joined both Kyle and Mark in that Trios fight with the Premier Athletes.
That's also not to neglect what two-thirds of their opponents for tonight's DYNAMITE have endured in the last week either. Roddy took part in Royal Rampage, lost to Mark at DBD '24, and then lost to Dustin Rhodes and The Von Erichs at BATTLE OF THE BELTS XI on Saturday in their ROH World Six-Man Championship fight. The Beast Mortos was also wrapped up in Royal Rampage before facing Komander at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2024 and then taking on Hologram during COLLISION! Suffice to say five of the six men involved in this wild trios battle tonight have been through it over the last seven days, leaving “El Toro Blanco” RUSH as unquestionably the most well-rested man in this contest. His lone fight last week was scoring victory alongside Kyle Fletcher in RAMPAGE's Four Way Tag Team bout, meaning he could very well be the deciding factor in this contest.
Roderick Strong, RUSH, and The Beast Mortos make one of the most unique trios combinations that could be assembled, but potentially one of the scariest given what each man brings to the table. Still, given what all these men have been through in the last seven days, the question may be who has the most fight left in their body to survive what this Trios bout is going to bring to the ring?
Our night of DYNAMITE begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, so be sure to visit AEW's official YouTube channel, as well as our other assorted social media platforms, to catch up on highlights from DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION! Then Thursday All Elite Wrestling returns to the Esports Stadium in Arlington, TX for an all-new COLLISION as we continue down the PATH TO ALL IN: SUMMER SERIES!