Mox defends against Joe in a cage on Dynamite on TSN2
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Jon Moxley puts the AEW World Championship on the line against Samoa Joe in a steel cage. Plus, Hangman Page and Will Ospreay team up to take on Konosuke Takeshita and Josh Alexander. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on TSN2, the TSN App, and TSN.ca.
AEW World Championship match in a steel cage: Jon Moxley (c) (w/ "The Problem" Marina Shafir) vs. AEW World Trios Champion Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe looks to become only the third person in AEW history to hold the AEW World Championship on more than one occasions. To do that, he's going to need to defeat the current and four-time AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. And it's not going to be just any other match - it will be in a steel cage. The reason for the steel cage is a good one. Any match involving Moxley inevitably involves the rest of the Death Riders (Marina Shafir, "The Bastard" PAC, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler YUTA). While Joe has The Opps (Katsuyori Shibata and Powerhouse Hobbs with Hook on the shelf) to back him up, a cage keeps all parties from interfering. Like any traditional cage match, there are multiple ways to win it. Pins and submissions still count, but so does escaping the cage, whether through the door or by scaling up and over the side. Cage matches in AEW are a rarity. In fact, Wednesday night's match will be only the 13th in the promotion's history. It will also be the first AEW World Championship match in a cage. Titles have changed hands in cage matches before. At All Out 2021, the Lucha Bros. (Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo) defeated the Young Bucks (Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson) to become the AEW World Tag Team Champions. Then in March of 2022, Thunder Rosa defeated Dr. Britt Baker, DMD in a cage to win the AEW Women's World Championship. Both of those matches were brutal and bloody affairs and Wednesday night's match will offer more of the same. Can Joe wrest the title away from Mox or will the leader of the Death Riders continue his reign atop AEW?
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"Hangman" Adam Page and "The Aerial Assassin" Will Ospreay vs. The Don Callis Family (NEVER Openweight Champion "The Alpha" Konosuke Takeshita and "The Walking Weapon" Josh Alexander) (w/ Don Callis and "The Murderhawk Monster" Lance Archer)
Adam Page and Will Ospreay are set for a collision course at Double or Nothing on May 25 in Glendale, AZ. There the two men will meet in the 2025 Owen Hart Foundation Cup Final where the stakes are high. The winner of that match earns a shot at the AEW World Championship at All In on July 12 at GlobeLife Stadium in Arlington, TX. Ospreay earned his trip to the final by beating Kevin Knight in the quarters and Konosuke Takeshita in the semis. Page reached his second-straight final with victories over Josh Alexander and Kyle Fletcher. For Page, the tournament is about redemption, both personal and professional. On last week's Dynamite, Page admitted that anger has consumed him for most of the past two years and he wants to put that past him. The Hangman said that his blood feud with Swerve Strickland is in the past and what he's focused on now is winning back the AEW World Championship and repaying the faith the fans have kept in him even during his darkest days. Ospreay said that while he respects Page, he can't let him take his spot in the main event of All In. It's his time to finally hold the AEW World Championship. As the two men held court in the ring, they were interrupted by Don Callis, who challenged Page and Ospreay to take on his undefeated team of Takeshita and Alexander. The duo is 3-0 in tag matches since Alexander's arrival in AEW last month, including a victory over the team of Ospreay and Brody King. A former member of the Don Callis Family himself, Ospreay quickly accepted the challenge with Hangman seemingly leery of teaming with his upcoming rival. Both Ospreay and Page have stepped in the ring with both of Takeshita and Alexander before. Most notably, Alexander defeated Ospreay in a nearly 25-minute classic on the Jan. 18, 2024 edition of TNA Impact, putting the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion down with the C4 Spike. The pedigrees of both duos speak for themselves, but can Ospreay and Page stay on the same page long enough to pick up a victory?
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Women's World Title Eliminator four-way match: "Timeless" Toni Storm (c) (w/ Luther) vs. Skye Blue vs. Mina Shirakawa vs. New Japan Strong Women's Champion AZM
Toni Storm takes on all comers. The "Timeless" one has made that clear over and over again. Since regaining her AEW Women's World Championship from Mariah May in February, she has successfully defended it twice. Storm retained her title over May at Revolution before keeping it over Megan Bayne at Dynasty. Thirsty for another challenger, Storm has offered a number of World Title Eliminator matches, but nobody can seem to beat her. Since Apr. 23, Storm has won four Title Eliminators. She defeated Queen Aminata, Miyu Yamashita and Lady Frost in one-on-one matches before picking up the victory in a four-way last Wednesday night on Dynamite over Anna Jay, Thunder Rosa and Penelope Ford when Ford tapped to a cross-face chicken wing. This Wednesday night, Storm is right back at it with three other competitors, but the story could be very different when she takes on Skye Blue, Mina Shirakawa and Stardom standout AZM. For Blue, Wednesday night's match will be her first since last July and it comes in front of a hometown crowd in Chicago. Blue severely injured her lower leg in a match with Hikaru Shida on the July 20 Collision. She described the sensation like her foot was dangling off of her leg. After undergoing a lengthy and rigourous rehab process, she returns to action and looks to immediately put herself into championship contention. Shirakawa is somebody that Storm knows well. She fell to Storm at the 2024 edition of Forbidden Door last summer when Storm retained the AEW Women's World Championship. The two later teamed up last fall in Stardom. Azumi heads into the match on a roll. The 22-year-old Artist of Stardom Champion became a double champ last Friday night when she pinned Shirakawa to win the New Japan Strong Women's Championship in a three-way match that also included former champion and still TBS Champion Mercedes Moné. A win on Wednesday night would put AZM on course to claim a third championship. Again, according to the rules, Storm does not need to be pinned in order for one of the other challengers to earn the title shot. They can simply pin or submit one of the other two women. Will Storm finally find a new challenger or will she make it five straight Title Eliminator victories?
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Ricochet vs. Zach Gowen
Zach Gowen taking on Ricochet on Dynamite wasn't a match many were expecting to see in 2025, but it's one where emotions are set to run high. The bout stems from what happened on last Thursday's edition of Collision. With the show taking place in Detroit, near Gowen's hometown of Ypsilanti, MI, Gowen had ringside seats and was in attendance with his family. After defeating Angelico on the show, Ricochet exchanged words with Gowen who he had spotted in the crowd. As the confrontation got more heated, Ricochet attacked a security guard who tried to keep the two men apart. Gowen hopped the guardrail to intervene, but he was taken down with a cheap shot from Ricochet, who went ahead and stole Gowen's prosthetic leg. Angered by being jumped in front of his family, Gowen asked for the match. Quasi-retired, the match will mark Gowen's first in an AEW ring and his first since last fall. He will be hoping that his adrenaline and righteous anger will counteract any ring rust. The match is a first-time meeting between the two men, but Gowen will not be daunted. Over his two-decade-plus career, Gowen has taken on the likes of Alex Shelley, Matt Hardy and Brock Lesnar. Gowen will be fighting for pride and will look to make Ricochet regret ever crossing him. Can Gowen exact a measure of revenge or will the cocky Ricochet keep tormenting him?
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"The Almighty" Bobby Lashley gives MJF his answer
For weeks, former AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman has been trying to join the Hurt Syndicate. Already an old friend of MVP's, the Hurt Syndicate's leader welcomed MJF's potential arrival. After initially bristling him, MJF won over Shelton Benjamin, who has also given his okay to Friedman joining the faction. The lone holdout has been Bobby Lashley. The eight-time world champion has made his dislike for Friedman well known. In fact, he's had to be talked down from wringing his neck on a number of occasions. Desperate to finally get Lashley's approval, Friedman jumped and brutally beat Top Flight (Darius Martin and Dante Martin) on last week's Dynamite when the brothers came out to ask for a shot at Lashley and Benjamin's AEW World Tag Team Championships. Lashley appeared to be impressed by MJF's display and this week on Dynamite, he will let Friedman know if he's in or he's out.