Mark Briscoe makes AEW debut on TSN2
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A week after the tragic death of older brother Jay, Mark Briscoe makes his AEW debut against Jay Lethal. Plus, Darby Allin defends the TNT Championship against House of Black's Buddy Matthews and Bryan Danielson takes on Brian Cage. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
ROH World Tag Team Champion Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal (w/ "The Last Outlaw" Jeff Jarrett, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh) - In a match to celebrate the life of Jay Briscoe on what would be his 39th birthday, his younger brother Mark Briscoe takes on Jay Lethal. Jay Briscoe died last Tuesday in a highway accident near his home in Delaware. Together as the Briscoe Bros., Jay and Mark were widely considered to be one of the greatest tag teams in professional wrestling history and were 13-time and current ROH World Tag Team Champions, as well as former IWGP, CZW, GCW and Impact World Tag Team Champions. As a singles wrestler, Jay Briscoe twice held the ROH World Championship. In 2022, the pair had a three-match series with FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) that culminated in December's dog-collar match at Final Battle. All three matches were instant classics. In Lethal, Briscoe meets a man he knows well as both an opponent and ally, having shared the ring with him on numerous occasions. With both men synonymous with Ring of Honor, the two are fitting participants for a match to honour Jay Briscoe's legacy.
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TNT Championship match: Darby Allin (c) (w/ Sting) vs. Buddy Matthews (w/ Julia Hart) - Continuing to be a fighting champion, Darby Allin puts his TNT Championship on the line yet again when he takes on the House of Black's Buddy Matthews. While the pair were part of a bitter feud last fall that culminated in a trios match at All Out, Wednesday's match will be the first ever singles meeting between the two men. Since winning the title for a second time from Samoa Joe on the Jan. 4 edition of Dynamite, Allin has taken on all comers and has made successful defences against Mike Bennett, Juice Robinson and KUSHIDA. In his first reign as champion that began in the fall of 2020, Allin made nine successful defences before dropping the title to Miro. Taking the belt off of Allin has proven to be an elusive task, but Matthews is more than capable of matching both his speed and the reckless abandon with which he puts his own body on the line. If there's anybody able to snatch away the TNT Championship, it might be Matthews. Allin must also be wary of a potential appearance by Matthews' stablemates Malakai Black and Brody King, who would love nothing more than to bring a championship to the House of Black. Can Allin keep rolling or will Matthews taste gold for the first time in AEW?
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"The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson vs. ROH Six-Man World Champion "The Machine" Brian Cage (w/ Prince Nana) - Bryan Danielson continues his quest for a title match against AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman at Revolution on Wednesday when he takes on Brian Cage. MJF has agreed to a title match on the condition that Danielson can defeat a series of handpicked opponents up until Feb 8. Thus far, Danielson has emerged victorious against Konosuke Takeshita and Bandido in a pair of hard-fought encounters. In Cage, Danielson has a new kind of obstacle. The Embassy's powerhouse has made it clear that he has no love lost for MJF, but agreed to do his bidding in exchange for an envelope stuffed with cash. MJF's instructions to Cage were simple: He didn't care if he won the match, he only wants Cage to break Danielson's arm. Cage is more than capable of accomplishing that task and Danielson will not only have to contend with his opponent's overwhelming strength, but he must also be prepared for his surprising speed and agility for a man of his size. Will Danielson be able to outlast Cage or will MJF be able to avoid the challenge of the American Dragon?
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Ruby Soho vs. Toni Storm - Wednesday night's match was originally supposed to be a three-way encounter, but Dr. Britt Baker, DMD, has been removed from the bout due to injury. Instead, Ruby Soho and Toni Storm will meet one on one. The match comes after weeks of a change of attitude culminated in action for Storm and Saraya on last week's Dynamite. After defeating Soho's ally Willow Nightingale last Wednesday night, Storm and Saraya delivered a brutal beating post-match with Soho coming down to the ring to put a stop to it. For Storm and Saraya, the rest of the women on the AEW roster don't have the experience that they do and are coddled in a bubble. But Soho has competed in many of the same places that they have and taken on many of the same opponents that they have. Soho isn't one to be easily dismissed and she'll look to make Storm regret her disrespect on Wednesday night. Will this seemingly changed Storm pick up another win or will Soho stop her in her tracks?
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FTW Champion Hook and "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry vs. The Firm ("All Ego" Ethan Page and Matt Hardy) (w/ Stokely Hathaway and Isiah Kassidy) - To be clear, Matt Hardy and Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) want nothing to do with Stokely Hathaway and The Firm, but their contracts were purchased and they find themselves stuck in this faction. While Ethan Page has relished in their misery, it came back to bite him last week on Rampage. In a singles match with Jack Perry, Page thought he had the match won when he caught Perry in a sunset flip and grabbed Hardy's ponytail on the outside for leverage. Reacting to being grabbed, Hardy shoved Page away, which resulted in Perry catching him in a sunset flip of his own and picking up the victory. Enraged, Page challenged Perry and Hook to a match this Wednesday night. It will be only the second time that Perry and Hook have teamed up, but their first match together was also against The Firm. On the Jan. 11 edition of Dynamite, "JungleHook" were victorious over the duo of "Big Bill" Morrissey and Lee Moriarty. They'll look to make it two-for-two on Wednesday night. What will be of interest is to see just how motivated Hardy might be to help Page pick up a win. Can Perry and Hook stay undefeated as a team or will Page get some revenge on behalf of The Firm?
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"Absolute" Ricky Starks and Action Andretti vs. Jericho Appreciation Society ("The Ocho" Chris Jericho and "The Spanish God" Sammy Guevara) (w/ "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker) - Action Andretti turned Chris Jericho's world upside down on the Dec. 14 edition of Dynamite when he stunned the eight-time world champion and pinned him with his running shooting-star press only days after Jericho had lost the ROH World Championship to Claudio Castagnoli. Weeks later, Ricky Starks would add insult to injury when he laughed off an invitation to join the Jericho Appreciation Society and proceeded to beat Jericho, as well, putting him away with a spear. But the JAS has used its numerical superiority to enact vengeance in recent weeks. A distraction from Matt Menard and Angelo Parker allowed Jericho to shoot a fireball into Andretti's face and Starks's victory over Jericho ended up being a pyrrhic one when the JAS delivered a brutal post-match beating that culminated with Jake Hager power bombing him through a table. Starks got a measure of revenge when he defeated Hager on last week's Dynamite and Andretti pinned Daniel Garcia on this past Friday's Rampage, but Wednesday night will mark the first time that both Starks and Andretti will share a ring with Jericho since their respective victories over him. With emotions running high, which of these two teams can emerge victorious as this feud continues to simmer?
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PLUS:
- AEW World Tag Team Champions The Acclaimed ("Platinum" Max Caster and "The Five-Tool Player" Anthony Bowens) (w/ "Daddy Ass" Billy Gunn) sit down for family therapy with The Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn)