Joe, Strong meet again for shot at MJF on TSN2
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Samoa Joe meets Roderick Strong in the Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament final. Plus, four women will compete for a shot at Saraya and the AEW Women's World Championship and Jon Moxley defends the AEW International Championship against Big Bill in his hometown of Cincinnati. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament final: ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe vs. "The Messiah of the Backbreaker" Roderick Strong (w/ Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) - On Wednesday night, it comes full circle for Roderick Strong. If he wants to get a shot at AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman, the man he believes to have poisoned the mind of close friend Adam Cole, he's going to have to get through Samoa Joe, the man who put him on the shelf for nearly two months earlier this summer with a neck injury. The winner of Wednesday night's match gets a title shot at MJF at Grand Slam next week from Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY. Joe defeated Strong in the first round of the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Cup tournament on the July 1 edition of Collision from Hamilton, Ont., choking him out with the Coquina Clutch. After that match, Strong didn't return to action until last week's Dynamite when he defeated Trent Beretta in the first round of the tournament before taking out Darby Allin to reach the final this past Saturday night on Collision. Joe, who was a finalist in the Owen Hart, defeated Jeff Hardy and Penta El Zero Miedo to book his spot in the final. While things are personal for Strong, they are for Joe, as well. After having reignited an old beef with MJF, Joe can't wait to once again get his hands on Friedman and also his world title. Joe has already been a double champion in AEW, having held the TNT Championship alongside the ROH World TV Championship that still currently resides around his waist. For Strong and Joe, Wednesday night's match will be a renewal of hostilities that have seen the two men face of in a number of promotions - including ROH, TNA (Impact) and WWE - going back nearly 20 years. All told, Joe is 7-10 all-time against Strong, but he's 7-1 in singles matches. Can Joe continue his mastery and earn a shot at MJF or will Strong prevail and get his chance to take on the man he believes ruined a decades-long friendship?
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AEW International Championship match: Jon Moxley (c) (w/ Wheeler YUTA) vs. "Big Bill" Morrissey (w/ "Absolute" Ricky Starks) - In his hometown of Cincinnati, Jon Moxley is continuing the tradition of open challenges for the AEW International Championship started by the man who he defeated for the title in the main event of All Out, "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy. Moxley has already made two defences of his title, defeating both AR Fox and Action Andretti. But Wednesday night's challenger will be a stiff one in the form of the monstrous Big Bill in a first-time matchup. Big Bill will be accompanied by his new manager, Ricky Starks. Starks, of course, is currently embroiled in a feud with Moxley's Blackpool Combat Club stablemate "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson. The two had a bloody strap match for the ages at All Out that say Starks pass out in the LeBell Lock after he refused to tap out. But on this past Saturday's Collision when Starks interrupted Danielson and eventually worked him and Moxley over with Big Bill, Danielson had a BCC shirt with him. Was he about to offer membership to Starks? Before that question can be answered, Mox must answer the challenge of Big Bill, who has not lost a televised singles match since Mar. 1. Coincidentally, that loss came in Bill's only other shot at the International Championship (then, the All-Atlantic title) when he fell to Cassidy. Bill would like nothing more than to make good on this second chance and embarrass Moxley in front of his friends and family in Cincinnati. Plus, with Starks in tow for Big Bill, there's a high chance of extracurricular activities on Wednesday night. Mox still has 29 defences to match his predecessor reign as champion, but Big Bill can ensure that he will never come close to that mark on Wednesday night. Will Mox make it 3-0 as champ or will Big Bill taste gold for the first time in AEW?
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Grand Slam Women's Championship 4-Way Eliminator: Dr. Britt Baker, DMD vs. Hikaru Shida vs. "The Native Beast" Nyla Rose (w/ "The Problem" Marina Shafir) vs. Toni Storm (w/ AEW Women's World Champion Saraya and Ruby Soho) - Four former AEW Women's World Champions will meet on Wednesday night to determine current champion Saraya's challenger for next week's Grand Slam show as Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida, Nyla Rose and Toni Storm face off. The match in Queens next week will mark Saraya's first defence of the title she won at All In when she defeated then champion Shida, Baker and Storm in another four-way. Shida will feel particularly aggrieved about how she lost her title considering that she was never actually defeated. While Baker had Shida in a precarious position, having applied her Lockjaw submission, Saraya pinned Outcasts stablemate Storm to win the title. Storm, of course, is in the midst of some kind of breakdown that began when she dropped the title to Shida early last month, becoming increasingly detached from reality. What kind of state she's in could go a long way in determining how Wednesday night's match plays out. The interpersonal dynamics among the Outcasts are also a factor with Ruby Soho not exactly a fan of Storm right now and the potential of a one-on-one contest between Storm and Saraya for the title could permanently fracture the group's already tenuous cohesion. The dynamic between Shida and Baker will also be an interesting one with the two women having teamed together a number of times recently, but with underlying issues becoming more and more obvious. Rose could be the wild card in the match and use her power to take advantage of the fissures around her in order to earn herself another chance to become a two-time champion. Which of these four women will earn herself a date with Saraya?
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"Hangman" Adam Page vs. ROH World Six-Man Champion "The Machine" Brian Cage (w/ Prince Nana and Swerve Strickland) - On last week's Dynamite, Swerve Strickland told "Hangman" Adam Page just how he felt about him. Swerve accused the former AEW World Champion and AEW World Tag Team Champion of being complacent, not appreciating his standing in the company and being perfectly happy to ride the pine for The Elite after having signed a lucrative contract extension. While Page agreed to a match with Swerve and left the ring, Strickland decided to bring up Hangman's wife and son and that prompted an angry Page to return down the aisle, but before he could get face to face with him, he was jumped from behind by Swerve's Mogul Embassy stablemate Brian Cage, who laid waste to Page and put him down with a Drill Claw. Now on Wednesday night, Page and Cage meet in singles competition for a third time. If the first two matches are any indication of what's to come, then the encounter on Dynamite is likely to be a hellacious one brimming with physicality. On the April 28, 2021 edition of Dynamite, Cage countered the Buckshot Lariat into a power bomb before picking up the victory with a Drill Claw. But weeks later at Double or Nothing, Page got his win back when he finally connected with the Buckshot. While there might not be a title at stake during Wednesday night's rubber match, both men will be fighting for pride and Page will be intent to send a message to Strickland. Who will prevail in this hard-hitting bout?
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PLUS:
- Don Callis says he will reveal his newest "masterpiece"
- We will hear from Le Sex Gods ("The Ocho" Chris Jericho and "The Spanish God" Sammy Guevara) ahead of their match against one another next week