The Ft. Myers got to experience AEW live last week, and what a pair of shows they witnessed! The AEW World, TNT, and World Tag Team Titles were all on the line last Wednesday night on Dynamite, and Rampage hosted the in-ring debut of Swerve Strickland, Mercedes and Hayter collide, and Keith Lee decimate QT Marshall!
Now it is San Antonio's turn to feel the explosion for the very first time when All Elite Wrestling comes to Freeman Coliseum this Wednesday! Already signed for the night, Dr. Britt Baker's Women's World Title will be on the line when she meets Thunder Rosa inside a Steel Cage, and Wardlow will get his hard-earned shot at newly crowned TNT Champion Scorpio Sky! Plus the violent connection of Danielson and Moxley will be in tag team action while the AEW World Champion and World Tag Team Champions unite in trios action to take on Cole, Fish, and O'Reilly!
San Antonio welcomes Dynamite this Wednesday night LIVE on TBS at 8pm EST/7pm CST from the Freeman Coliseum, or at AEWPlus.com for the international audience, and the best place to get ready for the action is over at the official YouTube channel for the newest episodes of Dark: Elevation, AEW Dark, and Road To!
AEW WOMEN'S WORLD TITLE STEEL CAGE MATCH...
Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D(c) vs. Thunder Rosa
This is the point that the issues between the Women's World Champion and Thunder Rosa have reached; for just the third time in All Elite Wrestling's history, there will be a Steel Cage Match taking place this Wednesday night on Dynamite! The first time it was Wardlow and Cody Rhodes locked inside the four steel walls and doing battle so “The American Nightmare” could get MJF inside the ring. The second was the first tag team Steel Cage Match and put the World Tag Team Titles at play between The Young Bucks and The Lucha Brothers. Ultimately it would be Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix claiming both victory and the championship titles as their own.
This time, in the first Women's Match inside the steel confines, the stakes are once again at an all-time high as the Women's World Title will be on the line between Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D and Thunder Rosa! The intention of the cage is quite clear, keep Jamie Hayter and Rebel out of the fight, preventing them from steering the outcome as they did at Revolution 2022 in the last Baker/Rosa title bout. As a matter of fact, it is more accurate to say the point is to prevent what has happened in every single title defense in which Baker has competed. From the night she won the belt, thru all seven of her previous defenses over nearly 300 days, more often than not Baker has had some kind of assistance to help her remain atop the mountain. Whether it is Rebel or Jamie Hayter or both, Baker has kept them close to help throw imbalance into every situation. Be it the matches themselves, or the roads to them, Baker's lackies have been on the spot to attack anyone, to step between Britt and anyone, essentially to make it near impossible for any challenger to get a fair shot at the Women's World Title.
The cage is there to inhibit that, and yes it is clear the lackies could attempt to ascend the cage to get themselves involved, but the massive structure certainly slows that possibility down, and forces anyone attempting to get inside to put themselves at tremendous risk just to help the Good Doctor. Given the tensions that have existed between Hayter and Baker for weeks, is she going to be the one taking the risk? Is Rebel going to try and climb inside the cage to help Britt? What's the possibility Mercedes Martinez will be on the spot to try and neutralize the lackies if they try'?
We will find out Wednesday night when Thunder Rosa, in front of a home audience filled with rabid supporters, tries one more time to dethrone Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D! This feels like the moment for Rosa, like the perfect scenario for her to finally claim the AEW Women's World Title after scratching and clawing her way towards it since the Lights Out fight at last year's Dynamite: St. Patrick's Day Slam. In front of her home and fans, with her family likely ringside, and the lackies likely trapped outside the Steel Cage, Thunder Rosa is primed to knock the teeth out of the Good Doctor's head and take her championship title. But what if Thunder isn't able to defeat Baker in this scenario? What happens to the woman if, with the scales largely balanced, she still is unable to achieve the dream of being AEW Women's World Champion? What will that do to her psyche? And what will the win do to the already rampant raging ego of Dr. Britt Baker?
TNT TITLE MATCH...
Scorpio Sky(c) vs. Wardlow
March 10th of 2021; that was the last time Scorpio Sky lost a singles match in All Elite Wrestling. Coincidentally it was a TNT Title bout against Darby Allin where he last tasted defeat, but since March 29th when he bested Mike Sydal, Sky has not lost a one-on-one contest. Alex Reynolds, Fuego Del Sol, and Shawn Dean are just a few of the opponents who have fallen before the former World Tag Team Champion, but the most important was the last man to feel the nastiest TKO in the business, Sammy Guevara.
That win not only netted Sky the TNT Title, making him the 9th champion, but it also made him the first man to have held both the Tag Title and TNT Championship. The only other competitors in AEW's history to have held both a singles and tag championship are the last two AEW World Champions, Kenny Omega and Adam Page, so Sky is in rare company with this accomplishment.
As for his opponent this Wednesday night, the Face of The Revolution Ladder Match winner is coming for that TNT Title will all the fire and fury he has demonstrated since debuting in AEW, and with the most destructive symphony imaginable as his backing track. Wardlow, “The WarDog”, “Mr. Mayhem”, whatever name you want to call him, they each signify there is pain in store for the man across the ring on any given night.
He is in the top five for most singles match victories in AEW's history, he is tied for the fifth longest winning streak in AEW's history (with Scorpio Sky coincidentally enough), and has demonstrated repeatedly just how destructive a force he can be. Wardlow has decimated opponent after opponent with his own personal powerbomb symphony, and now aims to give Sky his own personal performance. Without chains clamped on his career, without MJF barking in his ear, can Wardlow achieve the successes he dreamed about when he first signed his deal with the devil? Will he make Scorpio Sky's TNT Championship reign the shortest since the title's inception? Or will Sky continue to carry his unbeaten singles streak towards history making territory?
BLOOD OVER EVERYTHING...
The Hardys (Jeff & Matt Hardy) vs. Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen)
Last week on Dynamite, fans bore witness to quite the emotional moment when Jeff Hardy arrived in All Elite Wrestling to save his brother Matt from an all-assault by his former AHFO allies. Even after apologizing for his recent behavior towards the people he recruited into his Hardy Family Office, especially Private Party, Matt still faced betrayal from the men he had gathered together. Sting and Darby Allin attempted to make the surprising save, more due to their issues with Andrade than any love for Hardy, but the numbers were still too great.
It was only Jeff's arrival that broke up the melee, much to the elation of the AEW fans in attendance, as well as those watching at home. The embrace between Matt and Jeff that came after the chaos died down was as emotional as it gets, and their arrival on Rampage to fend off The AFO following Darby's victory over Quen demonstrated just where their heads are at now.
That brings us to this Wednesday night on Dynamite, and St. Patrick's Day Slam 2022, where the Hardys will unite on television for the first time since April 2019! Their foes in San Antonio; the two men Matt has referred to as his kids since taking them under his wing in 2020, Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen!
It's a momentous night in Mission City for Matt and Jeff, but will it be a monumental victory as well? Or will Andrade and his cronies spoil the celebration for the brothers Hardy?
TRIOS BOUT...
AEW World Champion Adam Page & AEW World Tag Team Champions Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus vs. Adam Cole & reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly)
Adam Cole is not done with AEW World Champion Adam Page, not by a longshot, and Cole made sure Hangman knew that last week on Dynamite when he made this Trios Match challenge. The goal of Adam Cole is quite clearly to get in the head of Hangman, to try to score a win over Page in this format, and attempt to secure himself another bid at the World Championship. The question wasn't if Hangman would accept the challenge, but who he would select as his allies in this situation. It seemed rational that, given their history and possibly as an apology for the whole shoving incident, Page would select members of The Dark Order for his partners in this affair, but that would not be the case:
Clearly that did not go the way The Dark Order expected, and it was utterly awkward for everyone involved, even Alex Marvez didn't seem to know how to react to the situation as he tossed it back to Justin Roberts in the ring. It made sense that Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus would want another round with The Young Bucks after the Three Way at Revolution 2022, so of course they would offer their services to the World Champion. The thing is, the linchpin of this entire situation was that the brothers Jackson would be the partners for Adam Cole in San Antonio. How could anyone have guessed they would recuse themselves before Cole even laid it on the table?
So this Wednesday night on Dynamite, it will be the team of the AEW World Champion and the AEW World Tag Team Champions taking on Adam Cole and reDRagon in trios action! The Young Bucks have to have some vested interest in this one, at least as far as the World Tag Titles are concerned, but they obviously have some interest where Hangman is concerned as well. It's not the first time they've bowed out of the moment when it comes to Page, perhaps Cole had some foresight when he pulled Fish closer after Page won the World Title, and that bled into bringing Kyle O'Reilly into the fold as well. If that's indeed the case, it was rather insightful of Cole, and has also brought this trio to two victories together. One of those victories, it should be noted, was over Hangman, Alex Reynolds, and John Silver, so perhaps that's another reason why the World Champion looked outside The Dark Order for assistance here.
It is going to be a wild night in San Antonio when this Trios Match hits the ring, but will it end up with Adam Cole proving he deserves another shot at the World Title? Can reDRagon earn themselves a straight up opportunity at the World Tag Team Titles? Or will it once and for all prove that Page, Jungle Boy, and Luchasaurus are the dominant forces within All Elite Wrestling?
TAG TEAM MATCH...
Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley (w/ William Regal) vs. Chuck Taylor & Wheeler Yuta
Last week on Dynamite, William Regal led Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley into violent victory over a very game team of The WorkHorsemen, JD Drake and Anthony Henry. The victory demonstrated that Mox and “The American Dragon” could function as a unit even after their ultra-physical fight at Revolution 2022. Perhaps that's due to the influence of William Regal, a man who has rich history with both Jon and Bryan, albeit of very different sorts, as he elaborated upon when he spoke to the AEW faithful in attendance and watching around the world...
These two warriors will enter into battle once again this Wednesday night with Regal leading the charge, this time against CHAOS members Chuck Taylor and Wheeler Yuta! Mox has taken down Yuta twice in their time here in AEW while Bryan has yet to step foot into the ring with either of these foes, at least not in All Elite Wrestling. Now in the outside world, the one before AEW existed, Danielson and Chuck danced on a couple occasions. Bryan even beat him in their lone singles contest in PWG back in 2009, while Chuck actually made Danielson tap out in a CHIKARA trios match just two weeks prior! The only interaction Chuck and Mox ever had was way back in 2006, coincidentally also in CHIKARA, as two of six men in an Elimination Style match. Suffice to say, Bryan, Moxley, and Chuck are not the same creatures they were when they first encountered one another, they have risen to unforeseen heights, and evolved far beyond expectations. Wheeler Yuta may be the odd man out as far as experience goes, but he has repeatedly proven himself a gamer, and this is yet another opportunity to show the world what he has to bring to the table.
Now Yuta and Chuck don't have the greatest amount of experience as a team, they are 0-2 in AEW as a pair, but neither do Mox and Bryan. They've only got one match under their belts as a team, a victory yes, but still just one match as a unit to try and gel into a cohesive pair. Bryan and Jon may have Regal in their corner, but that doesn't make them The Young Bucks right from jump street, they need reps as a team to become truly great, and they aim to get those reps at the expense of Yuta and Chuckie T.
One last thing that must be noted, Wheeler Yuta was one of those names Bryan mentioned when he first approached Moxley about this coming together. He pointed out Yuta as a wrestler with so much potential but who was stuck with clowns at his side; is this a chance for Danielson to show Yuta where he truly belongs?
AEW Dynamite gets underway Monday night at 8pm EST/7pm CST on both TBS and AEWPlus.com (for the international audience), and you can get primed for the action over on the official AEW YouTube channel with the latest AEW Dark: Elevation, AEW Dark, and Road To episodes, as well as the Control Center with Tony Schiavone! Will we have new champions coming out of this Wednesday night, or will Scorpio Sky and Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D continue to reign over their challengers?