Coming out of the violent spectacle that was BLOOD AND GUTS, AEW returns to your television screens with another tremendous LIVE event for your viewing pleasure! With The Pinnacle having defeated The Inner Circle in bloody fashion, MJF and his cohorts now stand as the dominant faction in All Elite Wrestling. What will this mean for the future of The Inner Circle?
Plus fans witnessed Cody Rhodes defeat QT Marshall only to fall to the fists of Anthony Ogogo, SCU assert themselves as the top challengers to the World Tag Team Titles for this week, Dr. Britt Baker set for a championship fight with Hikaru Shida, and Kenny Omega learned about his potential challengers for DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2021 on May 30th! We also found out about the next Man to step up to challenge Darby Allin while the TNT Champion was attacked by the tandem of Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page.
This week on DYNAMITE, LIVE on TNT at 8pm EST/7pm CST or on AEWPlus.com for the International audience, fans will be treated with THREE championship matches, including a historic IWGP title fight featuring a verified legend. Plus the challenger for the AEW World Title will be set, Cody Rhodes will make a DoN 2021 related announcement, Jade Cargill will speak with Tony Schiavone, and plenty more on tap for the most exciting night of wrestling! Also, be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel (Watch Here) for brand new edition of ROAD TO, AEW DARK: ELEVATION, AEW DARK, OUTSIDE THE RING, WRESTLING WITH THE WEEK, and loads more content for the full Elite Experience!
IWGP UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH...
Jon Moxley (c) vs. Yuji Nagata
As the longest reigning champion in the near four year history of the title, Jon Moxley will walk into Daily's Place on the precipice of a 500 day run. Yes it is a title run drastically effected by our global pandemic, but it is still one in which he had to defeat Lance Archer to claim the title, and in a Texas Death match no less. “The Death Rider”, as he has been dubbed in New Japan, would also have to beat Juice Robinson the very next day in a rematch of the 2019 bout in which Moxley claimed the title for the first time. A month later Mox would put down “The King”, the living legend of Pancrase, the namesake of Suzuki-Gun himself, Minoru Suzuki, but before any additional challengers took a stab at the IWGP United State Title, the world went pear-shaped and Jon was unable to defend the title in New Japan.
One year later, with the world gradually rebuilding to a semblance of what it was, the Forbidden Door was kicked wide open by KENTA's arrival on DYNAMITE and would ultimately lead to Jon Moxley successfully defending the NJPW US Title on an edition of their NJPW STRONG program that emanates out of California.
Moxley, always eager for his next challenge, did not wait for New Japan officials to name his next opponent, rather “The Death Rider” took it upon himself to issue a challenge, and with it, Mox offered the legendary Yuji Nagata a title opportunity. Now, for a little more depth on the historic career of Nagata, check out this (Read Here) article, just know that the man called “Blue Justice” is a multi-time champion across several Japanese wrestling promotions. Specifically in New Japan though, Nagata has held the IWGP Heavyweight Title on two occasions, the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles twice, and even the NEVER Openweight Championship for a brief period, but he has not once even challenged for the IWGP US Heavyweight Title, much less called it his own.
That in itself makes this bout historic, but to further elevate the significance of this contest, it will also mark the first time this championship has been defended outside of a NJPW affiliated event since the first-ever champion Kenny Omega did so in October 2017! DYNAMITE, May 12, 2021 will be a moment to remember when fans witness Nagata and Moxley lock horns for their very first singles match for Blue Thunder's very first IWGP US Title bid!
But will the events of their tag team collision on NJPW STRONG last Friday be echoing in the brain of the defending champion? Moxley's team may have won the battle, but Yuji Nagata was the one left standing at the end of the night...
AEW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH...
The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) (c) vs. (#1) SCU (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian)
For over a decade, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian have traveled the roads together as a tag team. They've done it for multiple wrestling companies, collected several championships along the way, and bonded not only with each other, but also with the men who will be their foes this Wednesday night, The Young Bucks.
It's that bond that brought all four men to All Elite Wrestling together, the ties of history and family, of blood and tears, of miles and matches. Their bonds run deeper than just the pro wrestling locker room and into the lives beyond where spouses and children exist. They have spent quality time together, the holidays, and through that, their families have bonded with one another and become invested in each other's experiences. In short, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Christopher Daniels, and Frankie Kazarian have become each other's family.
That is just part, albeit a major part, of why this World Tag Team Title bout set for DYNAMITE weighs so heavily on the participants. Simply watch the opening and closing segments of Monday's BEING THE ELITE, with Matt and CD respectively, to get a feel for what it means for two of the men involved:
Months ago when SCU first set this challenge for themselves to, essentially, win or go home, neither Frankie nor Christopher knew that their friends would be the ones holding the World Tag Team Titles. To be frank, there was no guarantee that SCU would maintain their winning ways in order to get into title contention much less become actual challengers for the championship. With the self-imposed threat of disbanding hanging over their head, Kazarian and Daniels notched fourteen straight tag team victories, culminating with last week's win over three other ranked teams, in order to finally achieve this title shot. It has been a risky endeavor by SCU to put the future of their tag team on the line, but they are one win away from it paying off with championship success.
Now as for The Young Bucks, on that BTE embedded above Matt Jackson essentially dismissed all of the ties that bind and has placed the championship above all. All of the time spent together on the road, the family bonding away from wrestling, none of it matters when it comes to remaining the World Tag Team Champions and the elder Jackson clearly feels his team is utterly untouchable. There may be truth in that, a Young Bucks team that truly does not give a damn about the fans, their fellow wrestlers, or anything save themselves have historically proven to be the most dangerous version of the team. The Matt and Nick that shook up the wrestling business and forged a path all their own were a version of the two who were not concerned with how they affected others, were not concerned with ruffling feathers, and were solely focused on their own successes.
Some argue that The Young Bucks lost that over the last couple years, that achieving success also cost them their killer instinct, that was certainly the argument made by Don Callis over the last several months, and something even pointed out by Brandon Cutler (although he likely regrets it now). So now, after having their hearts questioned by Callis, Kenny Omega, and others, an older, more experienced Young Bucks team has embraced aspects of who they used to be. At first it was reasonable to question if Matt and Nick were just trying to be something they weren't anymore, but the last couple weeks, and their behavior towards Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley in particular, has demonstrated that there is still something rotten in their core.
The question coming into this tag though is whether or not, if the time comes to pull the (BTE) trigger, Matt and Nick can do that to the men who were once their closest of friends. It's not as if they are potentially bringing an end to the Kingston/Moxley team this Wednesday, that is something The Young Bucks would do without remorse and never look back. Matt and Nick will have to end one of modern wrestling's most important tag teams if they wish to remain champions. The Young Bucks will have to force their friends who comprise SCU to break up their union in order to still be called World Tag Team Champions at the end of the night. History has seen Kaz and CD defeat the brothers Jackson with titles on the line, it has also seen Matt and Nick best the two of them, but with life-changing stakes beyond the championship, what will be the outcome?
One man who will definitely have a close eye on this fight is a very perturbed Eddie Kingston...
TNT TITLE MATCH...
Darby Allin (c) vs. Miro
Although he will never toot his own horn and claim the title as his own, Darby Allin is statistically the greatest TNT Champion thus far. He has eclipsed the length of Cody Rhodes' initial reign by more than 100 days and, with the April 28th victory over Ten, also surpassed the number of successful defenses “The American Nightmare” achieved during that run. It has been a rough road, fighting off the likes of The Butcher, JD Drake, Jungle Boy, Matt Hardy, and John Silver, as well as the aforementioned Ten bout, just since March 24th. Darby has kept a frantic schedule as champion, with many a competitor having their eye on being the one to dethrone him.
As can be seen in that video embedded at the top, two of those men are Scorpio Sky and “All Ego” Ethan Page and on that Wednesday night one week ago, they made sure Darby was well aware of the threat they represent to not only his title reign, but also his future as wrestler. Allin has taken many a beating throughout his career, including at the hands of Ethan Page as “All Ego” alluded to there, but that violent trip down the concrete steps was something else entirely. Unfortunately for Darby and the future of his TNT Title reign, fans would shortly learn that something else monstrous was on his horizon:
Show up and fight or forfeit the TNT Title; that is the choice Darby Allin faces on DYNAMITE but anyone who has followed Darby, be it throughout his career or exclusively here in AEW, knows that if there is a breath in his body, he will show up to fight. To paraphrase Miro though, the man who doesn't mind dying now has to fight the man who doesn't mind killing him and the champ has to do so injured. Not the most ideal way to head into a fight with a man such as Miro who just decimated his supposed best friend Kip Sabian, slamming Superbad's arm in a door, to deliver a message.
It may also not be the grandest idea to mock the monster before stepping into the ring with him, but fear is not an element that exists within Darby Allin's being. For better or worse, the TNT Champion will tackle this threat the same way he does all the rest: head-on at full speed. Will it be Miro who relents, or will we see the crowning of a new TNT Champion? The challenger had his own words for Darby prior to heading into this fight...
And there is no doubt Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky will have their gazes fixed on the monitors for this championship contest as well!
AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ELIMINATOR MATCH...
(#1)Orange Cassidy vs. (#2)PAC
***WINNER FACES KENNY OMEGA AT DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2021***
“The Bastard” and “Freshly Squeezed”, PAC and Orange Cassidy; you could not ask for two more different athletes in professional wrestling. From how they carry themselves coming to the ring, to the company the keep, to how they compete once the bell rings, PAC and OC are as disparate individuals as exist in All Elite Wrestling. That is why they make such intriguing opponents; it was true in 2020 when OC had his first AEW singles match against PAC at REVOLUTION, and it remains true today when they collide over the next shot at Kenny Omega and the AEW World Championship.
Their first meeting was something unexpected to any unfamiliar with the wrestling career of Orange Cassidy prior to AEW, and it was a definite wake-up call to PAC. That night in Chicago, OC showed the entire world what 15+ years of experience had taught him. He has striking ability, just look at the Orange Punch, and can grapple with the best of them as evidenced by the Mouse Trap pin that has secured many a victory. That cold Chicago night was frustrating one for PAC because, even though he beat Cassidy, it took far more than “The Bastard” anticipated walking into the building and forced him to realize Orange Cassidy had it.
15 months later and The Death Triangle/Best Friends rivalry has renewed over the last several weeks, and now on the verge of DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2021, these two warriors will go at it once again with far more than just personal pride on the line. For the winner of this match, the spoils are an AEW World Title opportunity against Kenny Omega at that pay-per-view event on March 30th, a prize that neither individual has achieved to this point in their AEW career! Cassidy had several stabs at the TNT Title against both Mr. Brodie Lee and Cody Rhodes, PAC was the man Jon Moxley beat in a contender's bout for that REVOLUTION 2020 title match with Chris Jericho, but neither have been inside the ring with the AEW World Title on the line. This is a golden opportunity for PAC and Orange Cassidy to get closer to that dream every wrestler has from the moment they lace up their first pair of boots!
Kenny Omega will certainly have his eyes locked on this battle as it determines just who he will be his challenger at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2021 (Order Now) on May 30th, but it appears he is only taking one of these potential foes seriously. It makes sense that Kenny would have a respect for PAC's in-ring acumen and quite likely fear him as a challenger. “The Bastard” handed Omega a soul-crushing defeat at the 2019 ALL OUT event, and although Kenny garnered some redemption in subsequent meetings (including a classic 2/3 Falls Match on DYNAMITE), it was a loss that lingered for Omega despite the follow-up victories. That brutalization may still haunt Kenny to this day, but the bravado of the AEW World Champion would never let him show it to the world.
As for the other potential opponent, the AEW, AAA, and IMPACT World Champion can be as dismissive of Orange Cassidy as he wants, but it means one of two things. Either Omega hasn't been paying attention to the world around him to see just what “Freshly Squeezed” brings to the table when the bell rings, or he just won't admit publicly to the threat Cassidy actually represents to that AEW World Title. After all, Cassidy managed to do something in AEW TWICE that Kenny Omega failed to do two years ago at the inaugural DOUBLE OR NOTHING event: beat Chris Jericho.
Whichever way this contest swings, we understand Kenny Omega will be on-hand to confront his challenger for DoN 2021 (Order Now) a little over two weeks before they collide on pay-per-view! Will it be “The Bastard” or “Freshly Squeezed” who survives this DYNAMITE bout and becomes the next challenger for the AEW World Championship? Tune in Wednesday night to find out!
THE CORONATION...
MJF had Chris Jericho at his mercy on the top of that massive enclosed BLOOD AND GUTS cage. With the members of both The Pinnacle and The Inner Circle on the stage below or inside the cage, the two-time holder of the Dynamite Diamond Ring threatened to toss Le Champion off the roof to the stage below unless The Inner Circle surrendered the match. It was a difficult choice to make, there is no question the moments felt like millenniums, but ultimately Sammy Guevara relented the battle to The Pinnacle and, so he thought, saved Jericho from a painful fate.
Sammy is more the fool for believing MJF would actually abide by the surrender and let Jericho off the hook, instead “The Spanish God” and The Inner Circle stood helpless as Max launched the former AEW World Champion off the roof and down to the stage below. The Pinnacle stood victorious, bloodied and battered, but still the dominant faction following this war of attrition, and the words of Tully Blanchard put a strong stamp on that fact:
Now that The Pinnacle has ascended to the top of the mountain in fact as well as in moniker, this week on DYNAMITE they will hold a special coronation ceremony! Given the arrogance that was exuded by MJF, Shawn Spears, Cash Wheeler, Dax Harwood, Wardlow, and Tully Blanchard prior to last week, one can only fathom just how high they are riding after the violent victory in BLOOD AND GUTS! Tune in to TNT for an all-new DYNAMITE to see if The Pinnacle get hurt patting themselves on the back for the heinous actions!
CODY'S ANNOUNCEMENT...
Last week fans witnessed Cody Rhodes deliver some justice to his own personal Brutus when he defeated QT Marshall in a one-on-one bout. With blood seeping out from that soft scar tissue over his right eye, “The American Nightmare” sunk in that Figure Four and force QT to tap out in the middle of the ring. Unfortunately for the two-time former TNT Champion, the victory was the definition of pyrrhic as his ribs once more felt the wrath of Anthony Ogogo's “toxic right hand” as Jim Ross called it on commentary. It was the second time in as many weeks that Rhodes was dropped by just a single shot from the Olympic Bronze Medalist, but possibly the more humiliating of the two as The Guv'nor would drape his Union Jack flag over Cody's prone body.
With that no doubt in the forefront of the mind, just what sort of announcement does Cody Rhodes have in mind for Wednesday night on DYNAMITE? Does he want a wrestling match with Anthony Ogogo? A boxing match? Is it something else involving The Nightmare Factory versus The Factory? Let the speculation run rampant for now, but tune into TNT after 8pm EST for a LIVE edition of DYNAMITE to see what Cody Rhodes has on his mind!
A WORD...
“There are athletes, and then there are elite top-tier athletes...”
Those were the words of Paul Wight on DARK: ELEVATION before Jade Cargill even stepped into the ring for her eventual win over Reka Tehaka. With four singles wins and one major tag team victory under her belt in 2021, Jade's rookie year by the way, she has more than proven those words to be true with each successive outing.
A naturally gifted athlete no doubt, it is also Cargill's drive to consistently improve that makes her such a dangerous prospect in the AEW Women's division. She isn't content to rest on her laurels, she has no interest in living off potential, she wants to be the absolute best wrestling has to offer which has also placed her in high demand from any managerial types looking for new clients. Just look at the aftermath of the aforementioned match on DARK: ELEVATION and how Mark Sterling immediately arrived on the scene to woo a potential client. He wasn't the first, he won't be the last, it's just a matter of if anyone can put something on the table that actually piques the interest of Jade as she pursues that top spot in All Elite Wrestling and the championship that comes with it.
What will she have to say this week on DYNAMITE? Will it be about the representation in constant pursuit of her name on their dotted line? Or will it be a little something for the rest of the Women's division? Tune into DYNAMITE on TNT this Wednesday night to see firsthand!
With BLOOD AND GUTS in the rearview, AEW is heading fast into DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2021 on Sunday night May 30th! With three huge title matches this week, one including the legendary Yuji Nagata, this edition of DYNAMITE is a loaded as any pay-per-view event! Fans will either witness the end of The Young Bucks championship reign or the end of SCU as they know it! It may also be the end of Darby Allin's historic TNT Title run with a monster like Miro awaiting him! For one man it will not be an end, but rather the beginning to a World Title bid, although it may be the beginning of the end for Kenny Omega! It all begins at 8pm EST/7pm CST on TNT, or over on AEWPlus.com for the International audience, and it is coming at you LIVE!!!!
But before DYNAMITE, be sure to swing by the official AEW YouTube (Watch Here) channel for brand new edition of ROAD TO, DARK: ELEVATION, DARK, OUTSIDE THE RING, WRESTLING WITH THE WEEK, and loads more content for the full Elite Experience! And don't forget, this July, All Elite Wrestling is on the road again and tickets for three huge DYNAMITE events go on-sale THIS Friday at 11am EST!