The AEW World Champion and the man who wants his title team up on Wednesday night as Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Adam Cole enter the Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament. Plus, Kenny Omega goes one-on-one with Wheeler YUTA and Britt Baker takes on Ruby Soho in an Owen Hart Tournament matchup. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament quarterfinals match: AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Adam Cole vs. ? - The whole point of AEW's Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament was to pair eight teams at random who will compete for a shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championships currently held by FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler). You were obviously going to get strange bedfellows and it doesn't get much stranger than Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Adam Cole. The last time we saw these two men in the same ring was when they wrestled in a 30-minute time-limit draw on the June 14 edition of Dynamite in a World Title Eliminator match. While Cole didn't earn his title match, he remains undeterred and still has MJF in his crosshairs. But before he can vie for his title again, Cole and MJF must work together. On last week's Dynamite, the duo attempted to do some bonding by heading out to a bar. Friedman even got t-shirts made for them. But it's unclear how much bonding Cole intends to do, telling Roderick Strong that his desire to ingratiate himself with MJF is to get closer to the AEW World Championship. This, of course, begs the question whether or not the two can actually work together regardless of who their opponents are. Will their differences be too great to overcome or will MJF and Cole advance in the tournament?
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Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament quarterfinals match: AEW International Champion "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin vs. "Limitless" Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland (w/ Prince Nana) - Well, you can bet Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee thought their days of teaming together were over, but that was before the Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament. As Swerve in Our Glory, Strickland and Lee won the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but Swerve's need for the spotlight led to the dissolution of their partnership as Strickland turned on his former friend. Now bitter enemies, the two are forced to team once more to vie for a prize they've already held and once successfully defended on three occasions. While neither man is happy about this for good reason, Strickland and Lee have proven themselves to be a formidable team when they're on the same page and could be considered a favourite here if they manage to do that. Obviously, that's a huge if. Their opponents are not strangers, either. Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin have teamed up eight times in the past and are undefeated as a duo. Though never a permanent team the way Lee and Swerve were, the chemistry between Allin and Cassidy exists to the point that they could probably make a go of it in the tag division if they so desired. This tournament offers the opportunity to see what that might be like for Allin and Cassidy. Considering the state of affairs between Lee and Swerve, Allin and Cassidy have to be considered heavy favourites.
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"The Cleaner" Kenny Omega vs. Wheeler YUTA (w/ ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli) - For the first time since his epic 40-minute encounter with Will Ospreay at Forbidden Door in Toronto last month, Kenny Omega returns to the ring as he takes on Wheeler YUTA as The Elite and the Blackpool Combat Club's feud still burns ahead of Blood & Guts on July 18th in Boston. If you recall, the last time YUTA and Omega shared a ring together, it was YUTA who got the better of the former AEW World Champion. In the Anarchy in the Arena match at May's Double or Nothing pay-per-view, the BCC (YUTA, ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley and "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson) defeated The Elite (Omega, "Hangman" Adam Page, Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson) when YUTA pinned Omega with the Seatbelt. Wednesday night's match will be the first ever singles meeting between the two and Omega will be fired up. Not only will he seek to get his win back from YUTA, he wants to bounce back from the loss of his IWGP United States Championship to Ospreay in Toronto. An energized Omega wrestling in his home country is a dangerous proposition for YUTA, but Omega is still undoubtedly banged-up from the hell that he and Ospreay went through at Forbidden Door. YUTA must use that to his advantage to spring the upset. Will Omega pick up the victory or will YUTA continue his surprising mastery over The Cleaner?
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Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament first-round match: Dr. Britt Baker, DMD vs. Ruby Soho (w/ AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm and Saraya) - In a rematch of the 2022 Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament final, Britt Baker takes on Ruby Soho. This match was originally scheduled for last week's Dynamite in Hamilton, but Baker was pulled from it at the last minute with an illness. Instead, Soho took on Alexia Nicole and beat her quickly before accusing Baker of faking her illness to avoid her in a post-match promo. But it was Baker who got the better of Soho in last year's final when Baker rolled through Soho's victory roll to pick up the pin at Double or Nothing 2022. Of course, Wednesday night's match takes place with the backdrop of the ongoing feud between the Outcasts (Soho, AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm and Saraya) and the rest of AEW's women's division led by Baker. The winner of Wednesday night's match will take on Skye Blue in one semi-final with Blue having defeated Anna Jay AS to advance. On the other side of the bracket, Willow Nightingale faces of with ROH Women's World Champion "The Fallen Goddess" Athena for a berth in the final.
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PLUS:
- Fresh off of a pair of death matches in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, we will hear from Jon Moxley
- "The Ocho" Chris Jericho addresses what's next in his relationship with "The Spanish God" Sammy Guevara after the duo fell to Darby Allin and "The Icon" Sting in a Tornado Tag Team Match on last week's Dynamite.
