Darby Allin puts the AEW World Championship on the line against Broady Allin. Plus, MJF vies for Kevin Knight’s TNT Championship. 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.
AEW World Championship match: Darby Allin (c) vs. “Big, Bad” Brody King
After winning the AEW World Championship from Maxwell Jacob Friedman two weeks ago on Dynamite, Darby Allin vowed to be a fighting champion. He backed up his talk with action last week in his first defence against Tommaso Ciampa. The bout was not for the faint of heart.
Allin and Ciampa beat the holy hell out of one another from bell to bell. It was a vicious and hard-hitting match with both men doing whatever they had in them to try to claim the company’s top prize. After surviving a number of running knees, a Project Ciampa and an absolutely insane Air Raid Crash from the top rope to the floor, Allin finally got the challenger to tap out to a Scorpion Death Lock. After the match, the two men embraced with Ciampa placing the world title on the champion’s shoulder.
But it wasn’t time for Allin to celebrate just yet. Out from the back came Brody King. The big man told Allin that he was truly proud of him, but he asked booker Tony Khan for a title match and it had been granted, provided that Allin consents. Allin agreed and King gets his match on Wednesday night.
Longtime friends and sometime bitter rivals, Allin and King will put everything aside on Wednesday night as the two men will meet in a championship match for the first time ever. Having first wrestled one another in 2018, Allin and King are both well aware of what the other is capable of and how far he will go for a victory. Both men wear their hearts on their sleeves and leave it all on the mat.
Wednesday night’s match will be Allin and King’s 12th career match against one another and the eighth in AEW. King holds a small edge in their all-time series at 6-4-1. In singles matches, King is 5-2-1. Their most recent match came in the 2024 Continental Classic when King picked up the victory with a Gonzo Bomb.
Following last week’s war with Ciampa, what kind of shape is Allin in heading into Dynamite? With the amount of abuse Allin’s body takes on a regular basis, he’s probably always baseline sore, but the match with Ciampa was especially brutal. Is he really in any position for another defence this quickly?
After coming so close to becoming AEW World Champion back in February, can King finally climb the mountain on Wednesday night or will Allin’s reign live to see another day?
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TNT Championship match: “The Jet” Kevin Knight (c) vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman
Maxwell Jacob Friedman is not a happy man right now. The former AEW World Champion remains irate that he lost his title to Darby Allin on Apr. 15. Despite Allin taking a page out of MJF’s own book to win the belt, Friedman insists he’s the victim of a grave injustice here.
Friedman wasn’t ready to defend his title after his pay-per-view defence against Kenny Omega at Dynasty. Allin didn’t even deserve the match. Friedman fell prey to a vicious and illegal low blow during the match. These are all of the arguments that MJF has used, only to have them fall on deaf ears, in the aftermath of the match.
Last week on Dynamite, Friedman came down to the ring and demanded that Allin meet him immediately for a rematch. But it wasn’t Allin who came down to the ring. It was a different champion. Out came Kevin Knight.
The TNT Champion mocked Friedman’s whining and reminded him that instead of just one belt, he should be carrying two around his waist. “The Jet” brought up the fact that during the match on the Mar. 4 edition of Dynamite when MJF defended his AEW World Championship against Knight, the challenger had him beat. Knight hit Friedman with the UFO Splash and had him covered for longer than a three count, but referee Bryce Remsburg had been purposely taken out of the equation by MJF, who dumped him into the middle ropes so he couldn’t make a count. Friedman eventually would pick up the win, but it was a tainted one.
The reminder infuriated MJF, who told Knight that he would never be world champion. But Knight managed to goad MJF into accepting a challenge for his TNT Championship. Though Knight wanted the match immediately, Friedman had it held up until this Wednesday night.
The match on Dynamite will be Knight’s second defence of the TNT Championship after having one the vacant title at Dynasty earlier this month in Vancouver. He successfully defended the championship on the Apr. 15 Dynamite against Claudio Castagnoli. The MJF match will present another major, but very different, challenge.
While Friedman might be focused on getting back his world title, he would undoubtedly enjoy taking the TNT Championship away from Knight, a man who’s become a thorn in his side. Beating Knight on Wednesday night would sate MJF for the moment as he waits to get his hands back on Allin. Besides, Friedman would never say no to holding multiple titles.
Can MJF pick up another belt so soon after dropping the world title or is Knight about to compound his misery?
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AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship match: Divine Dominion (“Megasus” Megan Bayne and Lena Kross) (c) vs. Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander
The only thing Divine Dominion wants right now is competition. In the weeks since Megan Bayne and Lena Kross defeated the Babes of Wrath (Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron) for the AEW Women’s World Championships, the duo has been searching for anybody on their level. The champs have laid waste to everybody put in front of them after becoming champions at March’s Revolution pay-per-view
Their wish just might be granted on Wednesday night. Bayne and Kross will put their titles on the line against a pair of former AEW Women’s World Champions in Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander. While the union of Shida and Statlander hasn’t been seamless, the two women represent the biggest threat to the Divine Dominion’s titles yet.
There is something very different about the Shida that returned to AEW earlier this month after a 15-month absence. She’s more vicious. She’s more calculated. She’s certainly more dangerous. There appears to be a bitterness to her and that makes her scary. Even being aligned with her, Statlander doesn’t seem to know what to make of Shida, but Wednesday night’s match offers her a place in history.
Already a former AEW Women’s World Champion and TBS Champion, Statlander has the opportunity to become the first women’s Grand Slam Champion in company history. Only Kenny Omega, a former holder of the AEW World Championship, the AEW World Tag Team Championships (alongside “Hangman” Adam Page), AEW World Trios Championships (with Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson) and the AEW International Championship, has earned the honour on the men’s side. If she can get along with Shida, she’s got a real shot at the record books on Wednesday night.
Will the champs keep rolling or will Shida and Statlander make the Divine Dominion regret what they asked for?
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AEW International Championship match: “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada (c) (w/ Don Callis and “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer) vs. Ace Austin (w/ “Rock Hard” Juice Robinson and Austin Gunn)
It’s set to be Don Callis Family member vs. Don Callis Family member at Double or Nothing when Kazuchika Okada puts the AEW International Championship on the line against Konosuke Takeshita, but before that can happen, the champion must answer another challenge on Wednesday night. Okada puts his title up for grabs against the Bang Bang Gang’s Ace Austin. The match is the first-ever meeting between the two men.
Okada will be making the ninth defence of the title he won from Kenny Omega at last summer’s All In in Arlington, TX. Most recently, Okada turned away the challenge of the Rascalz’ Myron Reed on the Apr. 11 edition of Collision. Austin will represent a similar obstacle to Reed, but certainly not apples to apples.
A highly decorated competitor in TNA Wrestling, Austin is still looking for his first championship in AEW. One half of the formidable ABC tag team with Chris Bey, Austin captured the TNA World Tag Team Championships on three occasions and, as a singles competitor, held the X-Division Championship three times. Bringing a title back to the Bang Bang Gang would lift the spirits of a crew still dealing with the long-term injuries to “Switchblade” Jay White and Colten Gunn.
The key for Okada on Wednesday night will be not overlooking Austin. A serial winner and among the handful of men who could be considered the very best pro wrestler of all-time, Okada has been guilty of not putting on his working boots in the past and coasting by on his incredible talent alone. Trying that with somebody as skilled as Austin will be a recipe for disaster.
Can Okada manage to keep his title match with Takeshita on track or will Austin pick up one of the biggest victories of his career?
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Cage & Cope (Christian Cage and “The Rated R Superstar” Adam Copeland) vs. RPG Vice (Trent Beretta and Rocky “Azucar” Romero) (w/ Don Callis and “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer)
Christian Cage and Adam Copeland can look at Wednesday night’s match against Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta and Rocky Romero) in two different ways. The match will serve as an important tune-up ahead of a giant rematch for the AEW World Tag Team Championships against FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) in an I Quit-New York Street Fight at Double or Nothing where Cage and Copeland must dissolve their legendary partnership with a loss. It will also be an opportunity to get some revenge on Beretta and Romero, who find themselves now involved in the feud.
Perhaps it’s Cage and Copeland’s own fault for jumping RPG Vice in the back several weeks ago when they were seeking out FTR, but Beretta and Romero doled out a beating of their own on the Apr. 16 Collision, jumping Copeland from behind. They were eventually run off by the Young Bucks (Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson). With Cage back by his side, Copeland will now be in position to avenge the attack.
Since reconciling last summer, the seven-time WWE Tag Team Champions have wrestled three times, but all three of those matches have been on pay-per-view. Wednesday night’s match will mark Cage & Cope’s first television match in over 15 years. The last time the two teamed on TV, they defeated the team of Alberto Del Rio and Broadus Clay on the Mar. 28, 2011 edition of Monday Night RAW.
Much like Okada can ill-afford to overlook Austin, Cage and Copeland would be foolish to keep laser-focused on FTR without turning their attention to Beretta and Romero. Roppongi Vice are four-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and have faced off with the likes of the Jacksons, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy and the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin). Sleep on them at your own peril.
Will Cage & Cope get tripped up on their way to Double or Nothing or will RPG Vice feel retribution?
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The Brawling Birds (NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Alex Windsor and Jamie Hayter) are in action
After Jamie Hayter had been sidelined for several weeks through injury, the Brawling Birds (Hayter and Alex Windsor) return to action. On the same Dynamite in which the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championships are being defended, the British duo will look to reassert themselves in the division with a victory.
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“El Toro Blanco” Rush (w/ The Beast Mortos and Dralistico) is in action
The leader of La Faccion Ingobernable is set for a match on Wednesday night as Rush will be in action. Coming off of a hard-hitting victory over Adam Priest on Collision, Rush has found his stride in recent weeks and looks to be in imperious form. Who’s ready to step up to the former ROH World Champion?
