DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 is behind us, FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 is just around the bend, but there's a great deal of mileage before All Elite Wrestling between now and June 30th, and it begins tonight with DYNAMITE's return to the fabulous KIA Forum!
The fallout from Sunday night's pay-per-view extravaganza will be felt, a night where we witnessed Will Ospreay dethrone Roderick Strong as AEW International Champion while Mercedes Moné competed for the first time in over a year, and claimed the TBS Championship from Willow Nightingale! Two hard-fought matches led to two championships changing hands, but the AEW faithul also watched as AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland, Unified World Trios Champions The Bang Bang Gang, TNT Champion Adam Copeland, AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm, and FTW Champion Chris Jericho went through their own crucibles and survived with championships intact! Then there was the absolute chaos of Anarchy in the Arena that took its toll on every individual involved, and likely stole some time from the careers of those men! Let's not forget the return of Maxwell Jacob Friedman to the AEW fold either...
The replay is now available for those who may not have had the opportunity to witness DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 just yet, but it's also time to head towards the FORBIDDEN DOOR of UBS Arena on Long Island! That means tonight on DYNAMITE, brought to you by HBO's HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, fans will witness the return of the Casino Gauntlet Match with the winner earning an AEW World Championship opportunity on June 30th, and AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland battling the last member of The Patriarchy he hasn't faced: Killswitch! “The Learning Tree” Chris Jericho presents his first edition of “TV Time...”, and we anticipate hearing from Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway about their actions at DON '23!
Wednesday night is loaded up, so make a point to stop by AEW's official YouTube channel before the show begins, as well as our assorted social media platforms, for highlights from last week's episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as highlights from DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024, and more!
Then join us Thursday night in Palm Springs, CA at the Acrisure Arena for COLLISION where the aftereffects of DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 will continue to unfold!
THE LAST OF THE PATRIARCHY...
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland vs. Killswitch
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland put down “The Prodigy” Nick Wayne last week on DYNAMITE, then on Sunday night at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 he turned away the championship challenge of “The Patriach” Christian Cage, so that leaves just one man left standing for The Patriarchy: Killswitch!
As the first man Christian Cage brought under his wing, the former Luchasaurus has really endured far more harm than good by his association with Christian. Despite being champion for 98 days, Killswitch was never allowed to hold the TNT Championship while he was the actual title holder while simultaneously having to listen to Christian Cage talk about how long he reigned as champion. In fact the only reason he ever laid hands on the belt that rightfully belonged to him was because Christian brought it into the ring during their Three Way Championship match with Darby Allin, but then was dumped out of the ring by Darby, leaving the belt laying in the ring for Killswitch to pick up, albeit momentarily.
Then, in that same COLLISION match on 9/23/23, Killswitch had the indignity of actually being pinned by Christian, though Darby did the work, to lose the TNT Championship! Yet still Killswitch stood by him, even after WORLDS END when Killswitch won the TNT Title Right To Challenge Battle Royal only for Christian Cage to convince him to turn it over so Christian could steal the championship back from Adam Copeland, Killswitch stuck by him.
For anyone who's been a fan of Killswitch, whether it's dating back to when he first entered into All Elite Wrestling with Jungle Boy or their Jurassic Express trio with Marko Stunt or he and JB's reign as World Tag Team Champions, the last two years have been incredibly frustrating. So many time it's felt like he would see the light and finally turn his back on Christian Cage, yet here we are, nearly two years since Killswitch first turned his back on Jungle Boy, and he is once again fighting Christian Cage's battles for him, and without any of the championship accolades on the line!
Whether or not Killswitch will ever see the light is inconsequential at this point, he's turned left every time there's been an opportunity to turn right, and he willingly continues to face punishment for either the actions of Christian Cage, or the actions he has perpetrated at Christian's behest. Tonight that means facing Swerve Strickland after what he did for Christian on May 1st...
Two years ago at DOUBLE OR NOTHING they were foes in a World Tag Title match, a year ago during FYTER FEST 2023 they were unlikely allies in an 8-Man tag, so that marks this as their very first time going one-on-one. It's either going to be Killswitch getting redemption for his Patriarch, or Swerve putting the final nail in the coffin of his recent troubles with said Patriarchy!
FORBIDDEN DOOR CASINO GAUNTLET...
***WINNER EARNS WORLD TITLE MATCH AT FORBIDDEN DOOR***
The inaugural FORBIDDEN DOOR took place at the United Center in Chicago on 6/26/22 and saw Jon Moxley defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the AEW Interim World Champion. One year later, June 25th to be exact, MJF succesfully defended the AEW World Championship at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023 hailing from the Scotiabank Center in Toronto.
This year's edition of the international-flavored event will take place on June 30th, emanating from the UBS Arena on Long Island, and we learned last week that tonight on DYNAMITE the Casino Gauntlet Match will make its return with a shot at the AEW World Championship on the line! As the graphic states, competitors from all across the world are looking to get a shot at the AEW World Champion come June 30th on pay-per-view, so who will we see walk onto that AEW stage and enter into this Gauntlet bout!
With the original Casino Gauntlet last month in Jacksonville, it was Will Ospreay who ran the table and earned his International Championship shot, a shot he parlayed into a title victory over Roderick Strong at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024. Tonight we will witness another man do the same, though with the most coveted World Championship in professional wrestling today as his goal, but who will it be that earns their way to UBS Arena as the AEW World Championship challenger?
MERCEDES MONÉ TBS CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATION...
Mercedes Moné accomplished what she set out to do from the moment she arrived in All Elite Wrestling back at BIG BUSINESS. She got back into the ring at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 after suffering a near-career ending injury a year ago, defeated Willow Nightingale to even the score for her defeat at NJPW STRONG RESURGENCE 2023 in their NJPW STRONG Women's Title bout, and claimed the TBS Championship for herself.
Now Mercedes knows the work is just beginning as she's gone from challenger to champion, but that doesn't mean there isn't time to celebrate her accomplishments tonight on DYNAMITE! “The CEO of AEW” is inviting the world to watch her TBS Championship Celebration live from Los Angeles' KIA Forum, but will she be able to celebrate in style, or will someone to do her what she did to Willow Nightingale a month ago when the former TBS Champ tried to celebrate her own accomplishments?
ELIMINATOR MATCH...
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley vs. Rocky “Azucar” Romero
It's FORBIDDEN DOOR season which means potential challengers will be lining up from around the wrestling landscape to earn a spot on this international stage! After watching Konosuke Takeshita come up just shy of earning his own IWGP World Heavyweight Title match at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024, Rocky “Azucar” Romero is stepping up to the plate to fight Jon Moxley in an Eliminator bout of his own!
As far as personal history, Moxley and Rocky were on opposite sides of two trios matches in 2023, one under the AEW banner and the other under the NJPW one, but in both cases it was Moxley's team who came out with the victory in the end. As for Romero's New Japan championship history, even though he is a former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and an 8-Time former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, he has never challenged for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title in any of its incarnations, nor even been this close to earning a title match!
This is Rocky's chance to achieve a personal milestone just by earning a title match against Moxley, not to mention the possibility of actually winning top IWGP championship if the cards are dealt in his favor. Moxley's arm is still in rough shape after Sunday night, not the best situation when one is facing a man known for submission grappling and that Diablo Armbar, but we all witnessed what Mox can do with one good arm at DoN '24.
Still, if there's a moment for Rocky to step up to the plate and swing for the fences, it is upon him tonight at the KIA Forum. Romero has collected championships around the world, including in NJPW, but he's been struggling to get his feet underneath him in AEW competition this year; will this be the night “Azucar” finds his sweet spot and scores the biggest upset of his AEW tenure?
THE FUTURE OF THE TNT CHAMPIONSHIP...
2-Time TNT Champion Adam Copeland told the world on Tuesday that even though he walked away from the Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match on Sunday still holding the TNT Title, it turns out that The House does always win because, in the process of doing what he felt he had to in order to win, Cope fractured his tibia and will now need surgery to repair the damage. How long he will be out is a question to be answered in time, but apparently any questions about the fate of the TNT Championship will be addressed tonight on DYNAMITE by The EVPs, AEW's World Tag Team Champions, Matthew and Nicholas Jackson, otherwise known as The Young Bucks!
Given how every decision they've made since actively applying any of their power over All Elite Wrestling has been either self-serving or to the benefit of Jack Perry and Kazuchika Okada, this will likely be more of the same. Still, anything is possible, and perhaps The EVPs will do something actually for the good of All Elite Wrestling and not just for the good of The Elite; stranger things have happened...
TV TIME WITH “THE LEARNING TREE” CHRIS JERICHO...
Well he did it; in the face of two-on-one odds, “The Learning Tree” Chris Jericho found a way to retain the FTW Championship on Sunday night, but of course it was a victory that came with assistance from multiple sources. First off he had “The Redwood” Big Bill at his disposal, assistance that Bill paid for when he was sent crashing through a table at ringside, but that wasn't all the help the defending champion had at DoN '24. With motivation likely stemming from his loss to Katsuyori Shibata and HOOK in the FTW Contender's Series Finale, “The Bounty Hunter” Bryan Keith proved the deciding factor in the match, insuring Jericho retained the FTW Title, and was intact to deliver the following message:
That brings us to tonight on DYNAMITE where the AEW faithful will bear witness to the first-ever edition of “TV Time With 'The Learning Tree' Chris Jericho”! What will this be? What does “TV Time...” mean? Tune in tonight on TBS to find out as it unfolds!
STOKELY & STAT...
After viciously betraying Willow Nightingale after she'd already suffered the loss of the TBS Champinoship to Mercedes Moné, Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway denied the world any answers, at least not on Sunday night. They did promise to tell their tale tonight on DYNAMITE, so we shall soon hear what rationale the former TBS Champion has for her actions...
The fifth anniversary of DOUBLE OR NOTHING was a tremendous night in the AEW history books but now it's time to head towards tonight's DYNAMITE and our return to the fabulous KIA Forum in Los Angeles! The face of FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 will begin to take shape as a new #1 Contender to Swerve Strickland's AEW World Championship is crowned via Casino Gauntlet, plus with two brand new champions in TBS Champion Mercedes Martinez and AEW International Champion Will Ospreay, as well as the return of Maxwell Jacob Friedman to the AEW stage, this summer is going to be one wild ride!
Before showtime, be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel, as well as our assorted social media outlets, to watch highlights from last week's episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, post-event comments from DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024, the DoN '24 Media Scrum, comments from the event, and so much more! After DYNAMITE, All Elite Wrestling heads to Palm Springs' Acrisure Arena for a special Thursday night COLLISION taping as the aftermath of DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 continues to be felt throughout AEW!
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