Omega meets Vikingo in dream match on TSN2
Published
A match that has been nearly two years in the making will finally go down as Kenny Omega takes on El Hijo del Vikingo. Plus, the Gunns defend the AEW World Tag Team Championships against Top Flight and Jon Moxley takes on Stu Grayson. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
IWGP United States Champion "The Cleaner" Kenny Omega (w/ Don Callis and Michael Nakazawa) vs. AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo - It took two years, but Kenny Omega and El Hijo del Vikingo will finally step into the ring together on Wednesday night when the latter makes his AEW debut on Dynamite. If you are unfamiliar with Vikingo, get ready for a spectacle. Vikingo is, perhaps, pro wrestling's preeminent high flyer right now and capable of absolutely absurd aerial feats. Almost every single Vikingo match features a jaw-dropping, highlight-reel spot. The 25-year-old Vikingo won the vacant AAA Mega Championship in December of 2021 in a five-way match that also featured Jay Lethal, Samuray del Sol, Bobby Fish and Bandido and has held onto the title ever since. The reason why the title was vacant was because then-champion Omega was forced to relinquish it after his mounting injuries left him unable to defend it. He had been scheduled to take on Vikingo for the title at TripleMania that month. Seeing the immense talent in Vikingo, Omega had been looking forward to the match. Over the past five-plus years, Vikingo has done battle with the best Mexico has had to offer, taking on the likes of Penta El Zero Miedo, Laredo Kid and Rey Fenix, but only obtained a work visa for the United States late in 2022. While Vikingo has taken on high-calibre opposition in the past, the match against Omega represents his biggest-ever challenge in his highest-profile match. Though the stakes are high, Vikingo is undoubtedly capable of living up to the moment in what could be a true star-making match. Which of these two men will emerge victorious in this highly anticipated encounter?
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AEW World Tag Team Championship match: The Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn) (c) vs. Top Flight (Dante Martin and Darius Martin) - Two sets of brothers will contest the AEW World Tag Team Championships on Wednesday night when Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn put their titles on the line against Dante Martin and Darius Martin in a match agreed to last week. This will be a first-time encounter between the teams. Outside of battle royals, the only other time any Gunn has taken on a Martin was a three-way match in 2018 for the WPW promotion in Wisconsin that featured Dante and Austin. Since defeating The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens) for the tag titles on the Feb. 8 edition of Dynamite, the Gunns have yet to make a defence in a standard tag match. Their sole defence thus far was retaining the titles in a four-way match at Revolution earlier this month against the former champions, Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal and Orange Cassidy and Danhausen. While Top Flight have recently vied for the AEW World Trios Championships on two occasions recently, this will mark the Martin brothers' first-ever AEW World Tag Team Championships shot and their first tag-team title match of any kind since being defeated by FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) for the ROH World Tag Team Championships last November. Top Flight is still looking for their first gold of any kind in AEW. And speaking of FTR, could Harwood and Wheeler be up next for whomever wins Wednesday night's match?
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Trios match: AEW International Champion "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin and "The Icon" Sting vs. "Superbad" Kip Sabian, The Butcher and The Blade (w/ Penelope Ford) - Sting makes his return to an AEW ring for the first time since November's Full Gear pay-per-view when he teams up with Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy to take on Kip Sabian, The Butcher and The Blade. At Saturday night's House Rules show in Troy, OH, Cassidy and Allin defeated The Butcher and The Blade in tag-team action. The loss didn't sit well with the Buffalo tag-team, who entered the backstage area and beat down Allin and Cassidy, who were in the midst of an interview. Alongside their associate Sabian, the trio issued a challenge for Dynamite and the 14-time world champion stepped up to the plate to team up with Allin and Cassidy. The match comes at an interesting time for Cassidy and Allin with both men seemingly occupied elsewhere. Cassidy has been AEW International Champion since October and Wednesday night is a rare night off for him defending the title, having put it on the line on 15 occasions, most recently retaining over Jeff Jarrett on last week's Dynamite. One of the "Four Pillars" of AEW, Allin presented himself as a challenger for old rival Maxwell Jacob Friedman's AEW World Championship last week at the same time that "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry and Sammy Guevara asserted their credentials. If Cassidy and Allin have their minds even partially on other matters, that might be enough of a window for Sabian, The Butcher and The Blade to take advantage. This is the match that Sabian, The Butcher and The Blade wanted. Will Allin, Cassidy and Sting make them pay for it?
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Toni Storm (w/ Saraya and Ruby Soho) vs. Skye Blue - For the first time on last week's Dynamite, the Outcasts (Toni Storm, Saraya and Ruby Soho) encountered some resistance from the rest of the AEW locker room. The trio's promo segment last Wednesday got physical when AEW Women's World Champion Jamie Hayter and Dr. Britt Baker, DMD, made their way down to the ring. The numbers game overwhelmed Hayter and Baker until Riho, Skye Blue and Willow Nightengale, three women that the Outcasts have run afoul of in recent weeks, came to their defence. Even Hayter and Baker were surprised to see a trio of women that they haven't exactly had the best of relationships with come to their aid. But this is, of course, a battle between a group of women who consider AEW their home and three women who want to tear the AEW women's division down. Blue will get another shot at a member of the Outcasts on Wednesday night when she steps into the ring with Storm in a first-time ever match. Blue has fallen in singles matches to both Soho and Saraya earlier in 2023. For Storm, the match is the first time out since she was defeated by former AEW Women's World Champion Riho two weeks ago on Dynamite. Both women have a point to prove on Wednesday night with Blue out for what would be the biggest victory of her young career. Can Blue come out victorious or will Storm complete the Outcasts sweep over one of AEW's youngest competitors?
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No-disqualifications match: FTW Champion Hook vs. Stokely Hathaway (w/ "All Ego" Ethan Page, Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy) - The day Stokely Hathaway has been avoiding for weeks is finally at hand. When Hook defeated Matt Hardy on the Mar. 1 edition of Dynamite in an FTW Championship match, there was an added stipulation: If Hook won, he would be granted a no-DQ match with Hathaway. Sure enough, Hook did win with Hardy tapping out to the Redrum. Of course, it didn't look like Hardy was too broken up over the loss or if he made any attempt to fight Hook's version of his father's katahajime, tapping almost immediately. Hathaway has spent the past couple of weeks training with The Firm for the match, but there's only so much he can do to prepare for what is likely going to suck for him. The match will mark Hathaway's first in AEW and his first match of any kind in over four years. If there's any consolation, it's that the no-DQ stip might allow for the likes of an Ethan Page or "Big Bill" Morrissey to intervene on his behalf. Will Hathaway somehow find a way to survive Hook?
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Jon Moxley (w/ ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli and ROH Pure Champion Wheeler YUTA) vs. Stu Grayson - Victoriaville, Que.'s Stu Grayson made his return to AEW last week in Winnipeg and was part of a brutal trios match that saw him team with Dark Order stablemate Evil Uno and "Hangman" Adam Page in a losing effort against the Blackpool Combat Club's Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler YUTA. On a number of occasions, it appeared that Grayson had the match won, not the least of which when he and Uno hit Moxley with their Fatality! finisher, but Moxley managed to pick up the win when YUTA eliminated Page with a shot from a TV monitor and he choked out Grayson. The fighting between the two sides continued throughout the rest of the night with it spilling back down the ramp and into the ring. On Wednesday night, Grayson gets another shot at Moxley, this time one-on-one. Like many of the other matches on Wednesday night's show, this will also be a first-time encounter. Grayson proved to Moxley how tough a proposition he is, but the former AEW World Champion has lost only four singles matches in AEW since 2021. With the bloodlust still running high after last week, the hostilities are very likely to spill over to Wednesday night. But might Moxley have another problem to contend with now? After reigniting his feud with Page following their Texas Death Match that seemed to have finally settled matters between them, Moxley and the BCC might have dragged The Elite (Kenny Omega, Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson) into things when they backed up Page last week. One thing is for sure, the Moxley-Grayson match is sure to be combustible.
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PLUS:
- We will hear from Adam Cole as he gears up to make his return to the ring on next week's Dynamite.