All Elite Wrestling returns to Bridgeport, CT and the Total Mortgate Arena for an exciting night of DYNAMITE action! Undisputed Kingdom and The Don Callis Family are going to war tonight with Adam Cole facing AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita and Roderick Strong taking on “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer in a Falls Count Anywhere fight! Both UK members are chasing that third consecutive win in order to get a shot at MJF come FULL GEAR 2024; can they pull it off? Plus, Lio Rush has called out Swerve Strickland for a fight tonight but we also expect to hear from Bobby Lashley as his date with Swerve on November 23rd draws near. Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D returns to action to take on Penelope Ford, the next FULL GEAR 2024 4-Way Contenders Series match goes down between FTR and House of Black, Adam Page and Christian Cage unite to face Bang Bang Gang, and AEW World Champion Jon Moxley will no doubt be there on the Superstation!
DYNAMITE begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, and can be seen around the world as well, so pay a visit to AEW's official YouTube channel to watch highlights from recent episodes of DYNAMITE, COLLISION, and RAMPAGE, and so much more! Then join us tomorrow in Albany, NY at the MVP Arena for a special Thursday night taping of COLLISION featuring Daniel Garcia versus Johnny TV, the final FULL GEAR 2024 4-Way Contenders Series match between The Acclaimed and LFI, and a No DQ match for the AEW Women's World Title between Mariah May and Anna Jay!!
THE THIRD MATCH...
The Don Callis Family's AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita vs. Undisputed Kingdom's Adam Cole
Three consecutive victories; that was the challenge laid out by Maxwell Jacob Friedman several weeks ago to Undisputed Kingdom. If any member of the group wanted a match with him at FULL GEAR 2024 than they had to win three straight bouts, and thus far both Roderick Strong and Adam Cole have gone 2-for-2 in their endeavors. Cole defeated both Malakai Black and Buddy Matthews while Roddy overcame The Beast Mortos and Shane Taylor, meaning each one is on the precipice of turning the singles match MJF anticipated as a possibility into a Triple Threat contest. These sorts of tests are nothing new for Max, they've proven the go-to play in his playbook over the last five years, and Undisputed Kingdom is no different. Except, as the end draws near, MJF is looking desperate, desperate enough to pull Don Callis and his so-called Family into the mix in an effort to shut down both Cole and Roddy from reaching the finish line.
With Adam Cole his final obstacle has taken the form of AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita! Since returning from New Japan Pro Wrestling, Takeshita has taken the experience he garnered in the G1 CLIMAX Tournament and parlayed it into seven consecutive one-on-one victories in AEW-related competition, including two successful International Championship defenses outside the auspices of All Elite Wrestling. In addition, he defeated Komander, Lio Rush, and The Beast Mortos in a Four-Way, challenged Kazuchika Okada at ALL OUT 2024 for the AEW Continental Title in another Four-Way that included Mark Briscoe and Orange Cassidy, and of course defeated Will Ospreay in a Triple Threat with Ricochet at WRESTLEDREAM 2024 to claim that International Title. In other words, Takeshita has been an absolute monster and he's about to be unleashed upon Adam Cole!
Will “The Alpha” bring an end to Cole's pursuit of MJF tonight on DYNAMITE, or will Max's deployment of The Don Callis Family prove to be a failed financial investment?
FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE...
The Don Callis Family's “Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer vs. Undisputed Kingdom's Roderick Strong
Then we've got Roderick Strong, the other Undisputed Kingdom member in hot pursuit of MJF, who is also just one victory away from breaking Max's back on November 23rd. He's had two extremely rough fights to get to this point with bouts against Shane Taylor and The Beast Mortos, but Roddy overcame and was ready to tackle the third challenge in his path. Then we learned that Strong will be faced with “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer in this third fight, in a Falls Count Anywhere no less, and can anyone really be ready to face that?
18 months ago Roddy took down Chris Jericho in a Falls Count Anywhere match, the 11th and last FCA match in AEW as a matter of fact, but Lance Archer is a very different animal than Jericho. For Archer this is a situation to unleash his full capacity for violence, to take this first-time bout and turn it into a bloodbath if he so chooses, and despite Strong being one of the top-tier athletes in wrestling today, he's in there with a man for whom the lack of rules is a boon. For both men, this is the second Falls Count Anywhere match during their respective AEW tenures, but for Archer it is his career fourth while Roddy has only had the aforementioned Jericho bout. Each man has a support team at their back if need be, Roddy with UK and Archer with The DCF, so the question is if this fight will remain between the two men or if the rules (or lack thereof) will turn it into an all-out brawl between the two sides?
Whichever way this contest swings, we know MJF will be watching from the safety of his living room to see how his future unfolds. Is it a Triple Threat? Will it be one-on-one, and if so will it be Roderick or Cole? Or, by some unfortunate twist of fate, will Maxwell Jacob Friedman sit comfortably at home on November 23rd knowing he, by way of The Don Callis Family, prevented either man from getting their hands on him at FULL GEAR 2024?
ONE-ON-ONE...
Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D vs. Penelope Ford
It's been six weeks since we last saw Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D in action, a victory over Serena Deeb during DYNAMITE: 5TH ANNIVERSARY in Pittsburgh, and a win that brought the Good Doctor's undefeated streak inside the Petersen Events Center to five straight matches. Following the victory, Baker was assaulted by Deeb and it could've very well resulted in serious injury if not for the intervention of Queen Aminata, a woman who had her own issues with Deeb stemming from their September COLLISION bout. While all that chaos unfolded, AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May sat back laughing at the entire situation unfolding before her eyes, but after calm was restored, the former AEW Women's Champion made her intentions clear:
She was set to take on Willow Nightingale in a # 1 Contender's match for the title match at WRESTLEDREAM 2024, but a bout of strep throat took Baker out of that equation. Nightingale went on to unsuccessfully challenge “The Glamour” in Tacoma after winning a Four-Way #1 Contender's bout over Nyla Rose, Jamie Hayter, and Saraya but the AEW faithful hadn't heard from Britt since an October 10th update on her health. That all changes tonight when the former champion returns to action on DYNAMITE, rested and fully recovered, to face another AEW original she's actually never fought one-on-one on AEW programming: Penelope Ford!
Freshly returned from injuries that kept her out of action for two years, Ford took aim straight at the top of the heap when she stepped up to Jamie Hayter and though that fight did not go the way she had hoped, it demonstrated that Penelope was not looking to ease herself back into action. That became even clearer when she stepped up to answer the call for Dr. Britt Baker's opponent tonight in Bridgeport! They've never gone one-on-one in AEW, it's been almost five years since their last singles match took place on the Jericho Cruise, and the last time they shared the ring was as tag partners during the Celebration of Mr. Brodie Lee edition of DYNAMITE.
Suffice to say both women have been through a great deal in their careers since the last time they were in a ring together, and each has plenty of motivation pushing them towards victory tonight. Who will rise to the occasion tonight on TBS?
TAG TEAM GRUDGE MATCH...
Bang Bang Gang (Jay White & Juice Robinson) vs.
“The Patriarch” Christian Cage & “Hangman” Adam Page
Quite often in wrestling the axiom “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is the tie that binds individuals together, and that is absolutely the case here tonight where Christian Cage and Adam Page find themselves on the same side of a fight. Their only connective tissue: a mutual hatred of “Switchblade” Jay White and the Bang Bang Gang!
“Hangman” and “King Switch” may be the ones headed for a fight at FULL GEAR 2024, but that doesn't mean Jay White has forgiven “The Patriarch” for directly costing him his Owen Hart Foundation Men's Tournament match with Adam Page months ago. The fact that Hangman helped Christian defeat Jay in their match on October 16th doesn't help matters, nor does the assault perpetrated by Page last Wednesday night. The animosity between these men is quite palpable, and certain to explode tonight when they're all in the ring tonight on DYNAMITE, but one has to wonder if after this there will be anything left of “Switchblade” Jay White and “Hangman” Adam Page to fight on November 23rd?
FULL GEAR 2024 4-WAY CONTENDERS SERIES...
FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) vs. House of Black (Brody King & Malakai Black)
This past Saturday night on COLLISION the AEW faithful saw The Outrunners defeat Top Flight to qualify for the AEW World Tag Title match with Private Party at FULL GEAR 2024. Tonight the battle for the remaining two spots continues when one of COLLISION's definitive rivalries comes to DYNAMITE for the very first time as FTR meets House of Black!
Early in COLLISION's history, these groups met in battle over the AEW World Trios Titles, they were both part of the FULL GEAR 2023 Ladder Match for the AEW World Tag Titles, and earlier this year FTR and Daniel Garcia united to battle The House in a series of matches that culminated in an Escape the Cage Elimination match on January 27th. They helped shape the identity of COLLISION, and now DYNAMITE will experience what happens when House of Black meets FTR, only this time a shot at the AEW World Tag Team Titles is on the line! Their last tag bout took place on the January 6th COLLISION and pit Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood against Malakai Black and Buddy Matthews in a bout won by FTR, but this time out it looks to be Malakai and Brody King stepping to the former 2-Time AEW World Tag Champions! They were both participants in that aforementioned Ladder Match, but this is the first time they're meeting in a traditional tag, and the only way the stakes could be higher was if the titles were at stake here!
Who will prove the better team tonight on DYNAMITE and move onto face Private Party, The Outrunners, and the winner of COLLISION's Acclaimed/LFI bout at FULL GEAR 2024?
SINGLES MATCH...
Swerve Strickland vs. Lio Rush
It's been more than nine years since the first time Lio Rush and Swerve Strickland stood across the ring from one another as opponents. That July 2015 night in Joppa, MD they were two of the twelve participants in the 15th Shane Shamrock Cup presented by Maryland Championship Wrestling, and the last two standing in the six-way elimination finals. After the other four competitors were eliminated, Strickland and Lio battled each other for nearly fifteen more minutes before Lio scored the victory. It may have been their first meeting, but it was far from their last.
Their first one-on-one bout took place a month later in Lancaster, PA and again it was Lio who scored the victory. All told, in head-to-head matches, it's Lio Rush who holds the lead at 4-2-1 over seven matches but they've also met in Three Ways, Four Ways, and that aforementioned Six-Way bout. They've fought each other with titles on the line, battled in the United States and England, Berwyn, IL and Tacoma, WA, and they were even tag team partners over the course of their careers, with a trios battle against The Elite from an April 2017 RevPro event on their shared resume. Suffice to say Lio Rush and Swerve Strickland know one another quite well, and though it has been nearly five years since the last time they fought inside the squared circle, it's a safe bet they still know a thing or two about how the other operates once that bell rings.
Though their respective AEW journeys have been quite different, Swerve's taking him to the AEW World Championship while Lio's bonded him to Top Flight and Action Andretti, their paths are coming together once again on DYNAMITE in more ways than one. Not only are they headed for this clash in Bridgeport, but Lio is still holding that Hurt Syndicate business card and still has some love for Bobby Lashley from their time working together a few years ago. Does that connection play into Lio's decision to call out his old rival for tonight's DYNAMITE match? Or is this “The Man of The Hour” on his own trip looking to use Swerve as a way to continue heating up in All Elite Wrestling? Whatever the case may be, there's no doubt that someone is going to have their eyes on this...
BOBBY LASHLEY IN WHOSE HOUSE...
The world heard the challenge from Swerve Strickland to Bobby Lashley as it pertains to FULL GEAR 2024 just as it heard MVP disrespectfully respond “See you there kid” to the former AEW World Champion, but what we haven't heard yet is what Lashley has to saw about the situation. Tonight that changes as we anticipate hearing from the multi-time World Champion directly regarding that November 23rd fight!
DYNAMITE gets underway at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, as well as around the world, and it's a loaded night of action with Swerve vs. Lio Rush, FTR taking on House of Black, Dr. Britt Baker fighting Penelope Ford, and Adam Cole battling AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita! We've also got a Falls Count Anywhere match between Lance Archer and Roderick Strong, Bang Bang Gang versus Cage & Page, and we'll hear from both Bobby Lashley and Will Ospreay tonight during AEW's flagship program!
Before the night begins, be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel to catch up on highlights from recent episodes of DYNAMITE, COLLISION, and RAMPAGE, and so much more! Then follow us tomorrow to Albany's MVP Arena for a special Thursday night taping of COLLISION where Daniel Garcia will take on Johnny TV, the final FULL GEAR 2024 4-Way Contenders Series match goes down between The Acclaimed and LFI, and Anna Jay has vowed to never challenge AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May again if she doesn't win their No Disqualification match for the AEW Women's World Title!