MJF defends AEW World Championship against Starks on TSN2
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Maxwell Jacob Friedman defends the AEW World Championship against Ricky Starks. Plus, Death Triangle and The Elite meet in Match 4 of their best-of-seven series for the AEW World Trios Championships and the House of Black returns to action. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
Winner-takes-all match for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship and Dynamite Diamond Ring: Maxwell Jacob Friedman (c) vs. "Absolute" Ricky Starks - The stakes couldn't be higher on Wednesday night when Maxwell Jacob Friedman defends his AEW World Championship against Ricky Starks because that's not all that's on the line. MJF will also be defending the Dynamite Diamond Ring on the Winter Is Coming edition of Dynamite. Starks earned his shot at MJF's title by winning the World Title Eliminator Tournament, defeating "The Murderhawk Monster" Lance Archer and "The Machine" Brian Cage before beating "All Ego" Ethan Page in the final. But then on last week's Dynamite, Starks outlasted 11 other men and eliminated Page last to win the Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale to earn another shot at MJF, but this time for the ring. Instead of two matches, MJF will put both up for grabs in the same match on Wednesday night. Last week, MJF made it very clear that he didn't think Starks was on his level, but Starks defended himself and put Friedman in his place with an impassioned and memorable dressing down of his own. Not only will this be the first ever meeting between the two men, but Wednesday's match marks MJF's first defence of the AEW World Championship after defeating Jon Moxley at Full Gear. Of course, he did so with the help of William Regal and repaid him for it with a brutal beating that took Regal out of AEW. With nobody around to help him this time, MJF will have to keep his title on his own. Will his first defence be a successful one or will Starks take everything from MJF?
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AEW World Trios Championship best-of-seven series Match 4 (Death Triangle leads 2-1): Death Triangle ("The Bastard" PAC, Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo) (c) (w/ Alex Abrahantes) vs. The Elite ("The Cleaner" Kenny Omega, Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson) (w/ Don Callis, Brandon Cutler and Michael Nakazawa) - The Elite has life in their best-of-seven series. Just as it looked like Death Triangle was on course for a sweep and about to take a 3-0 lead two weeks ago on Dynamite, Matt Jackson saved his team. After PAC put Jackson down with a brainbuster, he attempted to end the match with a Black Arrow, but Jackson got his knees up and quickly pinned PAC for The Elite's first victory. With momentum on their side now, can Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks capitalize? As for Death Triangle, it will be imperative for them to make their loss in Match 3 nothing more than a false dawn for their opponents and once again grab a stranglehold on the series. But now the door is open for The Elite. They've planted some seeds of doubt in Death Triangle and can even things up on Wednesday night. In many ways, Match 4 will tell the tale of the rest of this series. Can Death Triangle reassert themselves or will The Elite pull level with their opposition in their quest to win back titles they never lost?
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Ruby Soho vs. Tay Melo (w/ Anna Jay AS) - It's been over three months, but Ruby Soho is finally ready to return to an AEW ring and she has her sights set on revenge. In her first match since Sept. 4, Soho will meet the woman who put her out of action when she takes on Tay Melo in a grudge match. At All Out, Soho incurred a broken nose at the hands of Melo and was forced to undergo surgery to correct it. It was the latest insult to injury for Soho at Melo's doing, with the Jericho Appreciation Society member having previously sidelined her by slamming her hand in a car door. Wednesday night's match is unlikely to be a pretty one with Soho out for vengeance. It would behoove Melo to get as many of her JAS colleagues at ringside with her as possible as she is probably going to need them. Can Melo eke out a win or will Soho get the revenge she craves?
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PLUS:
- For the first time in three months, The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews) (w/ Julia Hart) is in action
- After losing the ROH World Championship to Claudio Castagnoli at Final Battle on Saturday, Chris Jericho will be in action