All-star trios match headlines Dynamite on TSN2
Published
Jon Moxley teams with the Young Bucks to take on Swerve Strickland and the Opps. Plus, Mina Shirakawa takes on Julia Hart and MJF officially joins the Hurt Syndicate. 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.
The Young Bucks (Nicholas Jackson and Matthew Jackson) and AEW World Champion Jon Moxley (w/ "The Problem" Marina Shafir) vs. AEW World Trios Champions The Opps (Samoa Joe and Powerhouse Hobbs) and Swerve Strickland (w/ Prince Nana)
Jon Moxley is still the AEW World Champion. He survived an absolutely hellacious steel-cage match with former champion Samoa Joe last week, but he didn't do it on his own. The whole point of the steel cage was to keep the rest of Moxley's Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler YUTA, Marina Shafir and the injured PAC) at bay. If Moxley is defending his title, the Death Riders will do whatever they can to ensure he holds on to it. While they made their presence felt on Dynamite, Joe had back-up in the form of Opps stablemate Powerhouse Hobbs and Willow Nightingale. As things devolved outside the cage, a hooded figure hopped the guardrail, opened the cage door and slipped Moxley the briefcase in which he carries around the world title. Mox then used to nail Joe and pick up the victory and keep his championship. The hooded man revealed himself to be none other than Bullet Club War Dogs member Gabe Kidd. As the cage came up, the Young Bucks (Nicholas Jackson and Matthew Jackson) made their way down to ringside to congratulate Moxley. But before they could, Kenny Omega raced down the aisle and laid out YUTA with a V-Trigger. As he attempted to get into the ring, he was jumped from behind by AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada. "Speedball" Mike Bailey then intervened to chase off Okada. Finally, Swerve Strickland arrived on the scene to scale the cage and lay out everybody inside with a Swerve Stomp. He then grabbed the mic to challenge the Death Riders and The Elite to Anarchy in the Arena at Double or Nothing this Sunday. While we don't yet know the configuration of each team, the match is a go. We will get a preview of the hostilities on Dynamite when Mox teams with the Jacksons to meet Joe, Hobbs and Strickland in a trios match. But there are still other questions to ask outside of the makeup of the two teams - namely, where does Gabe Kidd fit into all of this? On Collision, Moxley said that Kidd is "working for" him, which comes as a surprise when you consider that Kidd has been an outspoken critic of AEW and of North American wrestling in general. And an alliance with the Young Bucks is even stranger. At the New Japan Pro-Wrestling show in Chicago earlier this month, the War Dogs team of Kidd, Dave Finlay, Gedo and Clark Connors fell to the team of the Jacksons and Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows). After the match, the winning team - all former Bullet Club members themselves - threw up a "Too Sweet" as a conciliatory gesture to the losers, but they were blown off by the current Bullet Club. It remains to be seen what Kidd's intentions are and whether or not he gets involved on Wednesday night. Which of these trios will strike a blow ahead of Sunday's pay-per-view?
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Mina Shirakawa vs. Julia Hart (with AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm on commentary)
Mina Shirakawa did something that very few other women have been able to do in AEW in recent months: pin AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm. Shirakawa pinned Storm in a four-way World Title Eliminator match that also included AZM and the returning Skye Blue last week on Dynamite. The victory earned Shirakawa a title shot against Storm this Sunday night at Double or Nothing. Shirakawa's win marked just the second time Storm had been pinned in an AEW ring since last August. Shirakawa will now have a second opportunity to take the world title away from Storm after having previously failed to do so last summer at Forbidden Door on Long Island. Before she can do that, though, she steps into the ring with Julia Hart on Wednesday night. An associate of Blue's, Hart will be out for a measure of revenge on Dynamite. But the match also represents a chance for Hart to reassert herself in the women's division. A former TBS Champion, Hart returned to action in January after an eight-month absence, sidelined with a shoulder injury. While she's won more matches than she's lost since coming back, she's yet to enter title contention. Her Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament ended in the quarters when she was defeated by current TBS Champion Mercedes Mone. With Shirakawa's title shot coming imminently, a victory over her would certainly make a splash for Hart. And, interestingly enough, Storm herself will be watching the match up close and personally, sitting in on commentary for it. There's no better time for a strong showing than when the champion's eyes are watching intently. Will Shirakawa send a message to Storm ahead of their match on Sunday or will Hart show the champion that there's more than one challenger she needs to worry about?
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MJF signs his Hurt Syndicate contract
After weeks of trying, Maxwell Jacob Friedman officially got the thumbs up from Bobby Lashley to join the Hurt Syndicate (AEW World Tag Team Champions Lashley and Shelton Benjamin and MVP) last week on Dynamite. This week, the former AEW World Champion will officially sign the contract that turns the three-man unit into a quartet. Will there be any other surprises before the ink dries on MJF's paperwork?
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"Hangman" Adam Page, Will Ospreay meet face to face
The two men who will face off in the Owen Hart final on Sunday night, with the winner earning an AEW World Championship match at All In, will meet up on Dynamite. "Hangman" Adam Page and Will Ospreay coexisted long enough to pick up a win in tag-team action last week over the Don Callis Family's Konosuke Takeshita and Josh Alexander, but they didn't stay on the same page for long. After the match as the enmity continued, a wild swing from Ospreay meant for Alexander caught Page flush. Referees got in between the two men as Ospreay tried to plead his case that it was accidental. The Hangman didn't want to hear it, though, and stormed off to the back. Before Page and Ospreay have their first ever singles match on Sunday, the two men will share a ring one more time. After what happened last week, can they keep things civil?
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A face-to-face meeting between TBS Champion Mercedes Mone and Jamie Hayter
Speaking of keeping things civil, things between the other set of Owen Hart finalists - TBS Champion Mercedes Mone and Jamie Hayter - are far from it. The two women have come to blows on multiple occasions over the past several weeks after their match was locked in. Hayter advanced to the final with wins over Billie Starkz and Kris Statlander, while Mone emerged from the other side of the bracket via victories over Julia Hart and the ROH Women's World Champion Athena. A win on Sunday night would give Mone the chance to add another belt to her collection, which has dwindled since dropping the New Japan Strong Women's Championship to AZM in Chicago, with the victor getting an AEW Women's World Championship match at All In. For Hayter, the match is the chance to regain the title she held for 191 days in 2021 and 2022. With civility between both women long out the window, will the unpleasantness start ahead of Sunday's match?