After winning the AEW World Championship last week, Darby Allin makes his first defence against Tommaso Ciampa. Plus, former friends Will Ospreay and Mark Davis meet one-on-one. 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. “Psycho Killer” Tommaso Ciampa
Darby Allin cemented his name among the greats in AEW history last Wednesday night in Everett, WA when he defeated Maxwell Jacob Friedman for the AEW World Championship. After MJF cheap-shotted Allin with a low blow, Allin turned the tables on the champion. Using referee Aubrey Edwards as a distraction, Allin hit a low blow of his own and then took control.
With Friedman neutralized, Allin laid him out with a Scorpion Death Drop in tribute to his mentor, Sting, before hitting a Coffin Drop from all four turnbuckles. Friedman was prone and out of it, but Allin wasn’t done. Instead of going for the pin, Allin picked up the champion and took him down with a headlock takeover, just as MJF had done to Allin back at Full Gear 2021. Satisfied, Allin pinned Friedman to claim his first world championship. As Allin celebrated, the locker room emptied to join the new champion.
Unsurprisingly, Allin will be a fighting champion just as he was when he twice held the TNT Championship. On Wednesday night, he makes his first defence when he takes on Tommaso Ciampa in a first-time match. Ciampa is desperate to get gold back around his waist and he’s coming for Allin’s title.
A two-time NXT Champion and two-time WWE World Tag Team Champion alongside Johnny Gargano as DIY, Ciampa made a major impact upon debuting in AEW back in late January. In his first-ever match with the company, Ciampa defeated Mark Briscoe for the TNT Championship. But his reign wasn’t a lengthy one. After successfully defending his title in a three-way match against Claudio Castagnoli and Roderick Strong, he was defeated in his second defence by Kyle Fletcher on Feb. 11 in what was an absolutely sensational match.
The loss caused Ciampa to snap with his desire for gold overriding all else. In the weeks since, Ciampa has grown increasingly obsessed with getting a title back and eliminating everything - and everybody - in his way. Allin will get to see just how serious he is firsthand on Wednesday night.
As for the champion, while last week’s title match wasn’t the most taxing of his career, Allin still heads into Wednesday night’s bout on the back of some brutal matches in recent weeks. Allin went toe-to-toe with the likes of Andrade El Idolo, Rush and Gabe Kidd over the past two months. The latter of those three matches was a coffin match. It’s clear that Allin is walking wounded.
Can Ciampa take advantage of Allin’s workload to end his reign before it even begins or will Allin use his first defence as a statement of intent for the rest of the AEW men’s roster?
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“The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay vs. “Dunkzilla” Mark Davis (w/ Don Callis and “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer)
Will Ospreay’s war with Jon Moxley and the Death Riders did not end in triumph. The former IWGP World Champion could not wrest the AEW Continental Championship away from Moxley at the Dynasty pay-per-view. After absorbing a brutal beating, a Death Rider from the man responsible for Ospreay’s nearly seven months on the shelf was enough to put him away.
But after battling back from neck surgery, the loss wouldn’t deter Ospreay in the slightest. He jumped right back into action last Wednesday night, going one-on-one with the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Hechicero in a non-title match. The two men battled back and forth and it appeared that Hechicero had the upper hand. The Don Callis Family member was able to block an Oscutter attempt into a cross-armbreaker before turn that into a triangle choke. As Ospreay looked like he’d had enough, he managed to muscle throw the hold and hit a Styles Clash. With Hechicero reeling, Ospreay nailed him with a Hidden Blade to get the pinfall.
His joy was short-lived, however. Staring down Don Callis and Lance Archer outside the ring, Ospreay was laid out from behind by Mark Davis, who planted Ospreay with Close Your Eyes and Count to F---. Davis stood over his former ally’s prone body before heading to the back with the rest of the Family.
Ospreay and Davis have a long history. It was Ospreay who brought Davis and Kyle Fletcher, together as Aussie Open, into New Japan to join the United Empire back in 2021. Under the sway of Callis, both Davis and Fletcher would turn their backs on Ospreay with their cold war now becoming hot once again with Davis’s brutal attack.
The two men have met in singles action twice before with Ospreay claiming both matches. Most notably, Ospreay beat Davis in the second round of the 2023 New Japan Cup, but due to an injury to Ospreay, Davis gained passage into the next round. After defeating EVIL in the quarter-finals, Davis would ultimately fall to the tournament winner, SANADA, in the semis.
Davis enters Wednesday night’s match smarting from a defeat in a title match of his own. The former AEW World Trios Champion failed in his challenge for Jack Perry’s AEW National Championship, also at Dynasty. The big Aussie, already ill-tempered as is, will be in an extra foul mood when he takes on Ospreay.
Will Ospreay make it 3-0 against his former friend or will Davis get back on track with a massive victory on Dynamite?
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Hikaru Shida (w/ Kris Statlander) vs. Mina Shirakawa
There is something different about Hikaru Shida. The three-time AEW Women’s World Championship made her return to the company after a 17-month absence on the Apr. 2 edition of Collision. In her comeback match, she fell in defeat to Willow Nightingale in an open challenge for her TBS Championship.
Since being back, there’s been a change to Shida’s personality. Following her loss to Nightingale, it appeared for a moment that she was about to jump the champion from behind. She would later be shown intently watching Nightingale’s defence against Queen Aminata on the Apr. 8 edition of Dynamite from the stands. Her steely demeanour suggested she hadn’t yet abandoned designs on the TBS Championship.
In recent weeks, Shida has teamed with a seemingly unwilling Kris Statlander, who also doesn’t know what to make of this change in Shida’s personality. There were points in both of the matches where the duo teamed up that it appeared as if Shida was ready to attack her partner, but held back at the last second. Despite this, the two women won both matches handily.
On this past Thursday night’s Collision, Shida ran into Mina Shirakawa in the back, but her fellow Japanese performer wasn’t exactly thrilled to see her. Still reeling from the loss of her partner Toni Storm to a mystery attack, Shirakawa told Shida that there was a kendo stick - very much like the one she’s known to carry - left next to a beaten and bloodied Storm. The two began to argue in Japanese before Shida stormed off.
On Wednesday night, Shida will take on Shirakawa in singles competition. It will mark the first time the two have ever met in an a match. While Shida spent much of her early career in Ice Ribbon, Shirakawa trained and began her career with Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling before signing with Stardom in 2020. By that time, Shida had relocated to North America with her Japanese appearances becoming sporadic.
Still angered about the Storm situation, Shirakawa enters the match with a chip on her shoulder. That might not serve her well considering how dangerous Shida is normally with that being exacerbated by her current unpredictable nature. This match does not portend well for Shirakawa.
Will Shirakawa’s (misguided?) attempt to avenge Storm be successful or will Shida make her pay for her accusations?
