FTR put AEW careers on the line against Gunns on Dynamite
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FTR look to regain the AEW World Tag Team Championships, but will put their careers on the line to do so against the Gunns. Plus, Jamie Hayter defends her AEW Women's World Championship against former champ Riho and Best Friends will try to take the AEW World Trios Championships away from the House of Black. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
AEW World Tag Team Championship match: The Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn) (c) vs. FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) - Top Guys out...for good? Since Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler made their return to AEW after a three-month absence at the Mar. 5 Revolution pay-per-view, they've had one goal on their minds - winning back the AEW World Tag Team Championships that they held for 63 days in 2020. There was only one problem with that, though: the current champions - the Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn) - had zero interest in granting them a title shot. The last time FTR had competed in an AEW ring, they were defeated by the Gunns on the Dec. 21 edition of Dynamite. Because of that, the Gunns had already proven themselves to be better than FTR and didn't need to offer them another match. But FTR was persistent and finally found a condition that was enticing enough to get the Gunns to put the titles on the line - Harwood and Wheeler will put their AEW careers up against their titles. A loss here would be the ultimate defeat for FTR, a team that at one time held all of the ROH World Tag Team Championships, the IWGP World Tag Team Championships and AAA World Tag Team Championships at the same time in 2022. Last year might have been the Year of FTR with their legendary feud with the Briscoes and an unprecedented accumulation of tag-team titles in the modern era, but FTR feels they still have much to prove in 2023 and taking the titles off of a team they feel devalues them would be a good start. Can the Gunns pick up the biggest win of their careers or will FTR once again sit atop the tag-team division throne?
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AEW Women's World Championship match: Jamie Hayter (c) vs. Riho - In recent weeks, AEW Women's World Champion Jamie Hayter and Riho have found themselves as uneasy allies as both women have been victimized by the Outcasts (Saraya, Toni Storm and Ruby Soho). On Wednesday night, both women will compete for AEW's top prize as Riho looks to become the first-ever two-time women's champion. The 25-year-old Tokyo native was the inaugural AEW Women's World Champion, winning the title on the first edition of Dynamite on Oct. 2, 2019, defeating "The Native Beast" Nyla Rose. She would go on to hold onto the belt for 133 days before being defeated by Rose on the Feb. 12, 2020 Dynamite. Wednesday marks Day 137 for Hayter as champion, having defeated Storm for the title last fall at Full Gear. Riho and Hayter are from strangers to one another, having faced off before in both AEW and Stardom on a number of occasions, having met nine times in tag-team and singles action since 2019. Wednesday night's match will act as a rubber match when it comes to singles bouts, though. Each woman is 1-1 against the other in AEW with Riho taking their first meeting back in December of 2021 before Hayter won their second encounter on the Oct. 26, 2022 Dynamite. Riho is 5-0 in singles matches in 2023 and heads into the match on a roll. But Hayter is on a heater of her own, undefeated in her last 11 matches of any kind, going all the way back to November. The match is sure to be hard-fought with both women offering no quarter. Which of these two women walk out of Long Island with the AEW Women's World Championship around their waist?
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AEW World Trios Championships match: The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews) (c) (w/ Julia Hart) vs. Best Friends ("The Kentucky Gentleman" Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta and AEW International Champion "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy) - In recent weeks, we've seen a new edge to Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta. In last week's successful AEW International Championship defence against The Butcher, Cassidy was forced to utilize a chair after a ref bump allowed for The Blade to make his way to the ring and run interference. Then days later on Rampage, a match between Taylor and Beretta and the Kings of the Black Throne (Malakai Black and Brody King) broke down into anarchy with King power bombing Taylor through a table and Black and Beretta exchanging chair shots. Cassidy tried to intervene, but was taken out by Buddy Matthews, allowing for Black and King to plant Taylor with Dante's Inferno. On Wednesday night, the bad blood will continue when the House of Black puts their trios titles on the line against Cassidy, Taylor and Beretta. For Best Friends, the match will mark their third chance to hold the AEW World Trios Championships. On the Sept. 7 edition of Dynamite last fall, the trio fell to Death Triangle (PAC, Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) for the vacant titles before failing to beat Death Triangle again a month later with the championships on the line. For the House of Black, this will mark their second defence since defeating The Elite (Kenny Omega, Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson) for the titles at Revolution. On the Mar. 15 Dynamite from Winnipeg, Black, King and Matthews held onto their crowns in a three-way match by defeating both The Elite and the Jericho Appreciation Society's Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia. With the bad blood still very much there, will the third time be the charm for Best Friends or will the House win again?
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"Absolute" Ricky Starks vs. "Rock Hard" Juice Robinson - Ricky Starks was coming off of a grudge match victory over Chris Jericho at Revolution when he made an appearance on the following Wednesday night's Dynamite to announce what was next for him. Before he could give an answer, he was interrupted by the familiar Bullet Club theme and then jumped from behind by Juice Robinson. When Robinson arrived in AEW, his Bullet Club affiliation appeared to be in doubt, but he left none that night, firmly placing himself in the new-look group now led by his former tag-team partner Dave Finlay. Since their meeting in early March, Starks has been on a mission to get his hands on Robinson, but the former IWGP United States Champion hasn't been an easy man to get his hands on, avoiding Starks at all costs...except for jumping him from behind again, that is. Robinson finally agreed to a meeting in Long Island, but one can't help but feel like something is a little bit off about everything. Robinson wanted New York for a reason, but why? Robinson has something up his sleeve and Starks must be ready for whatever that might be. The Bullet Club has made themselves known in AEW before...will they again on Wednesday night?
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FTW Championship match: Hook (c) vs. "All Ego" Ethan Page (w/ Matt Hardy) - Hook thought he was done with The Firm, but that doesn't seem to be the case. After defeating Matt Hardy on the Mar. 1 edition of Dynamite, he earned himself a no-holds barred match with the faction's leader, Stokely Hathaway. He got that match on the Mar. 22 episode of the show, choking him out with the Redrum in short order. Apparently having concluded business with the group, Hook was pulled right back in on last week's Dynamite, when he came to the aid of ally "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry to prevent Ethan Page from interfering in his match with Hardy. Incensed, Page demanded a match with Hook and he'll get one on Wednesday night with the FTW Championship on the line. This will not be the first time the two have crossed paths. Hook and Perry defeated Page and Hardy in tag-team action on the Jan. 25 edition of Dynamite and then Hook beat Page in a singles match on the AEW House Rules show in Troy, OH on Mar. 18. For Hook, the match will mark his fourth defence of his title, having previously defeated Hardy, "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker and Zack Clayton. Page is still looking for his first championship in AEW, having previously lost a trios title match (alongside Hardy and Isiah Kassidy) to The Elite and failing to defeat Sammy Guevara for the AEW TNT Championship back in the fall of 2021. Will Wednesday night be the night that the Stoney Creek, Ont. native finally tastes gold?
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"The Spanish God" Sammy Guevara vs. Komander - After meeting for the first time in the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match on the Mar. 1 edition of Dynamite that was won by Powerhouse Hobbs, exceptional high-flyers Sammy Guevara and Komander will face off in a singles match on Wednesday night. Komander is coming off of an exceptionally busy WrestleMania weekend in Los Angeles. On the Mark Hitchcock Memorial Show at WrestleCon, Komander fell to El Hijo del Vikingo in a triple-threat match for the AAA Mega Championship in a match that also included Black Taurus. Then at Joey Janela's Spring Break 7, Komander took part in a ladder match that was won by Blake Christian. Later that night, Komander fell to Vikingo again for the Mega title at ROH Supercard of Honor before finishing his weekend by teaming up with Aramis and Rey Horus in a trios victory over Arez, Black Taurus and Latigo at Gringo Loco's The WRLD on Lucha. While that kind of workload might get to a lesser man, Komander appears to be a freak of nature, but will have his hands full with a Guevara on a mission. A three-time TNT Champion, Guevara has made it clear that he wants Maxwell Jacob Friedman's AEW World Championship and won't rest until he gets his hands on it. Obviously, Komander is a skilled competitor, but this is the kind of trap match that Guevara simply can't afford to lose right now as he attempts to earn a title shot. Looking past Komander will undoubtedly backfire. Can Komander pick up one of the biggest wins of his young career or will Guevara keep building his resume on the road to a title shot?
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PLUS:
- AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman celebrates "MJF Day" in his hometown of Long Island
- The Acclaimed ("Platinum" Max Caster and "The Five-Tool Player" Anthony Bowens) will respond to "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker's offer to join the Jericho Appreciation Society
- We will hear from the Blackpool Combat Club ("The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler YUTA)
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