Cole explains his actions on Dynamite on TSN2

After his shocking betrayal of MJF and his reveal as "The Devil," Adam Cole will address his actions. Plus, we'll hear from new AEW World Champion Samoa Joe and Mariah May makes her in-ring debut. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.

AEW International Championship match: "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy (c) (w/ Trent Beretta, Rocky "Azucar" Romero and Danhausen) vs. Dante Martin (w/ Darius Martin and Action Andretti) - If we've learned anything about Orange Cassidy over the years, it's that it doesn't take a lot for him to put his title on the line. Now in his second reign as AEW International Champion, Cassidy will make his first defence of 2024 on Wednesday night when he takes on Top Flight's Dante Martin. The match will mark only Martin's fourth singles title shot in his AEW career and his first in nearly two years. On the May 28, 2021 edition of Rampage, Martin came up short when he challenged Miro for the TNT Championship. Then on the June 3, 2022 edition of Rampage, he once again failed in his quest to win the TNT Championship against Scorpio Sky. Martin also had a shot at the AEW World Championship on the Mar. 9, 2022 Dynamite, but fell to "Hangman" Adam Page. Wednesday night's match comes only days after Martin, his brother Darius Martin and Action Andretti inflicted a defeat upon Cassidy in trios action. Top Flight and Andretti beat CHAOS's Cassidy, Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta on the Dec. 29 Rampage when Dante put Romero away with a spinning enziguri. It was quite the bounce-back match for the three men who had just failed in their AEW World Trios Championship match against The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens) and Billy Gunn. Now Dante goes it alone and looks to do what only Jon Moxley has done before him and take the International Championship away from Cassidy. The match marks the seventh defence of Cassidy's reign after he recaptured the title back from Rey Fenix on the Oct. 10 Dynamite. Can Cassidy keep rolling or will Martin pick up the biggest win of his career?

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Swerve Strickland (w/ Prince Nana) vs. Daniel Garcia (w/ "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand Ange" Angelo Parker) - Swerve Strickland had a message for the camera and AEW as a whole on Saturday night after defeating Dustin Rhodes at World's End. "Do not waste my time and you are wasting my time," the former AEW World Tag Team Champion said as he continued his in-ring roll in recent months. Strickland has won nine of his last 10 singles matches with the lone blemish coming in the Continental Classic against Jon Moxley. He did not win the Gold League on last week's Dynamite, falling in the final, but he wasn't defeated, either. Moxley pinned "Swtichblade" Jay White to win the three-way match that also included Strickland to advance to the Continental Classic Final at the pay-per-view where he was ultimately defeated by the new AEW Triple Crown Champion Eddie Kingston. The question now is if Strickland will think his time is being wasted on Dynamite when he goes up against a man who's hoping to go on the kind of run that Swerve is on in Daniel Garcia. A competitor in the Blue League, Garcia started off his Continental Classic with four straight losses against Claudio Castagnoli, Andrade El Idolo, "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson and Kingston. But he ended his tournament on a winning note with an upset victory over "Big, Bad" Brody King. He then followed up that win at World's End by scoring a decisive pinfall in an eight-man tag as he teamed with the Blackpool Combat Club (Castagnoli and Danielson) and Mark Briscoe to defeat Jay White, Rush, King and Lethal, who he pinned. Garcia will now look to build on these wins in his match with the red-hot Swerve. Strickland can ill-afford to overlook Garcia or think that not wrestling for a title is below him right now because all Garcia needs is a little bit of daylight to make you look foolish. Will Strickland keep the rest of AEW on notice or can Garcia continue building up this head of steam?

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"The Glamour" Mariah May vs. Queen Aminata - Several weeks after her arrival in AEW, Mariah May finally makes her in-ring debut on Wednesday night against Queen Aminata. If you've only ever seen the 25-year-old London native on AEW TV, you will only know her as the world's biggest "Timeless" Toni Storm fan, but she's much, much more than that. May is a former Goddess of Stardom Champion alongside Club Venus stablemate Mina Shirakawa and has stepped in the ring with some of the very best that Japanese women's wrestling has to offer including Giulia, Utami Hayashishita, Natsupoi and Tam Nakano. May's opponent on Wednesday night is far from a slouch either in Queen Aminata. We last saw Aminata in a loss to Skye Blue on the Dec. 22 Rampage, but her 2023 included victories over the likes of Max the Impaler and Kylie Rae and she's firmly established herself as one of indie wrestling's standout performers. Aminata will be a tall task for May in her first match in AEW. With all of the pressure on May to perform, that might be all the opening Aminata requires to spring the upset. Can May make her first match a success or will Aminata spoil the party?

PLUS:

"The Devil" Adam Cole speaks - It's always the one you least suspect. Fresh off of losing the AEW World Championship to Samoa Joe at World's End in front of his hometown fans, Maxwell Jacob Friedman was disconsolate when he learned that the man who had been terrorizing him for the past months under a mask was none other than his supposed best friend, Adam Cole. Cole and his henchmen - new ROH World Tag Team Champions Mike Bennett and Matt Taven, Roderick Strong and Wardlow - revealed themselves at MJF's lowest point and proceeded to add insult to injury with Wardlow decimating his former employer with one of his patented power bombs. Now on Wednesday night, Cole will explain why he strung along a man supposed to be his best friend and stabbed him in the back. While MJF might be out of action for a while after his hard-fought match with Joe followed by Cole and company's brutal beating, Cole and his crew might not have time to celebrate their con. Friedman wasn't the only target of their attacks and treachery and now that their identities have been revealed, the likes of AEW World Trios Champions The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens) and Billy Gunn, "Hangman" Adam Page and Swerve Strickland might come calling for revenge. What will Cole have to say and what's next for The Devil and his crew?

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The Samoa Joe Era kicks off - For the first time since November of 2022, there is a new AEW World Champion and his name is Samoa Joe. Joe choked out MJF with the Coquina Clutch to add another title to his impressive collection over his storied career. The AEW World Championship joins the TNT Championship, ROH World Championship, ROH TV Championship, ROH Pure Championship, TNA World Heavyweight Championship, TNA X-Division Championship, TNA TV Championship, TNA World Tag Team Championship, NXT Championship and WWE United States Championship in his trophy case. On Dynamite, Joe will make his first address as AEW World Champion and lay out his vision for the Samoa Joe Era. What does Joe have to say and might somebody step up to the plate as the first challenger to his title?

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TNT Champion "The Patriarch" Christian Cage deliver his "State of the Union" address - It was a close call for Christian Cage at World's End. Though he did lose his TNT Championship to "The Rated R Superstar" Adam Copeland in a wild match that even saw literal flames, he got his championship back by the end of the night thanks to his continued influence over Killswitch. Just what was it that he whispered to the hulking masked man to get him to willingly hand over the instant title shot he used to immediately defeat the battered Copeland? On Wednesday night, Cage will give his "State of the Union" address and offer what's next for him, Killswitch and the rest of the Patriarchy.