Darby Allin challenges MJF for the AEW World Championship. Plus, Kevin Knight makes the first defence of his TNT Championship against Claudio Castagnoli. 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: Maxwell Jacob Friedman (c) vs. Darby Allin
Darby Allin has already climbed literal Mount Everest. Now it’s time to climb the metaphorical one.
On Wednesday night on Dynamite, from Everett, WA, only miles away from where he began his wrestling training, Allin will vie for the AEW World Championship against old rival, Maxwell Jacob Friedman. The match will mark Allin’s fourth crack at the world title, but his first in nearly three years and first in a singles match in almost six years. It’s been a long time in coming for the man who has held both the AEW World Tag Team Championship and the TNT Championship.
Wednesday night’s match was set up thanks to big wins for both men at this past Sunday night’s Dynasty pay-per-view from Vancouver. In the main event, Friedman retained his title in a hard-fought battle against former champion, Kenny Omega. Of course, it wouldn’t be an MJF match without a little bit of chicanery.
After referee Bryce Remsburg was taken out by MJF using him as a shield for a V-Trigger, Omega planted Friedman with the One-Winged Angel and appeared to have the champ dead to rights. By the time another referee, Paul Turner, made it down to the ring, MJF was able to kick out, becoming the first man to ever survive Omega’s devastating finisher in an AEW ring. He then was able to drill Omega in the midsection with his Dynamite Diamond Ring without Turner seeing and hit a tombstone off of the apron through a table followed by the Heatseeker to get the victory. Truth be told, it was more of an escape than a win.
Earlier in the evening, Allin did what he promised to do. Weeks after calling his shot against Friedman, MJF agreed to a title match with Allin provided that he defeated a handpicked member of the Don Callis Family whose services he had retained. The member in question ended up being a reluctant Andrade El Idolo, who has championship designs of his own.
The two men beat the holy hell out of one another with Allin taking the worst of it as he often does. But he also frequently manages to snatch victory away in matches he has no business winning. As Andrade tried to hit the DM, Allin turned it into a Last Supper and grabbed the win. A frustrated Andrade couldn’t help but admire his opponent’s resourcefulness, offering a handshake and raising his hand in victory.
Wednesday night’s match will be the sixth meeting all-time between Allin and MJF, but only their third singles match and second in AEW. Their last match was also a title match. Back at Double or Nothing 2023, MJF retained the AEW World Championship over Allin in a four-way match that also included Sammy Guevara and Jack Perry, the so-called “Four Pillars of AEW.”
This match is undoubtedly the biggest of Allin’s career. Can he live up to the pressure and become the world champion for the first time or will MJF prove that he’s not on the level of the Devil?
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TBS Championship match: Willow Nightingale (c) vs. “The Brickhouse” Kamille
Willow Nightingale got a blast from the past on Sunday at Dynasty. As she was speaking to Renee Paquette in the back, she was jumped from behind in the middle of her interview. The attacker was none other than Kamille, who threw Nightingale into a garage door.
The former NWA World Women’s Champion had not been seen in AEW since October of 2024 when se was mysteriously left lying after a blindside attack from an unknown assailant. Following her own attack on the TBS Champion, Kamille had her first AEW match in 529 days, absolutely destroying Big Anne in just under 90 seconds. Kamille picked up the victory with a vicious torture rack into a power bomb.
Furious from the earlier attack, a taped-up Nightingale made her way down to the ring to get a receipt from Kamille as referees and medical staff attempted to dissuade her from doing so. Unfortunately, it didn’t go her way. Kamille immediately pounced again, focusing on the champ’s injured shoulder and left her in a heap.
On Wednesday night, Nightingale will get her chance for revenge, but it will come at a cost. Her match against Kamille will be for the TBS Championship. How prudent a decision is this for Nightingale considering the shape her shoulder might be in from Sunday night?
After winning the TBS Championship from Mercedes Mone on New Year’s Eve, Nightingale hasn’t been hard to find if contenders are looking for a shot at her gold. Nightingale has successfully fended off challenges from Julia Hart, Marina Shafir, Megan Bayne, Mina Shirakawa, Nina Samuels, Persephone, Lena Kross, Hikaru Shida and, most recently, Queen Aminata on last week’s Dynamite. But none of those matches happened when she was banged-up as she is right now?
Can Nightingale keep her run going or will Kamille mark her return with the TBS Championship?
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TNT Championship match: “The Jet” Kevin Knight (c) (w/ “Speedball” Mike Bailey) vs. Claudio Castagnoli (w/ “The Problem” Marina Shafir and Wheeler YUTA)
It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for Kevin Knight. Only days after capturing the TNT Championship in a Casino Gauntlet Match at Dynasty, “The Jet” makes his first defence on Dynamite. His opponent is a man who recently lost a title in Claudio Castagnoli of the Death Riders.
At Sunday’s pay-per-view, the TNT Championship was up for grabs because of an injury to Kyle Fletcher. “The Protostar” sustained an injury to his knee on the Mar. 28 edition of Collision when Aussie Open (Fletcher and Mark Davis) defeated the Rascalz’ Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier. With the severity of the ailment, Fletcher was forced to relinquish his title.
The match featured Knight, Mike Bailey, Bandido, El Clon, Tommaso Ciampa, Anthony Bowens, Wheeler YUTA, Daniel Garcia and PAC. Garcia thought he had the match won when he locked Bailey into the Dragon Tamer. Of out of nowhere, Knight hit Garcia with the UFO Splash to win the title. It should be noted, though, that Knight’s tag-team partner, Bailey, didn’t have a celebratory look on his face at the result. Was it surprise or disappointment?
Knight hopefully has all his celebrating over and done with because the real work now begins with the challenge of “The Swiss Cyborg.” Castagnoli saw his 112-reign as CMLL World Heavyweight Champion come to an end on Mar. 20 at Arena Mexico. At the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, Castagnoli fell to Hechicero of the Don Callis Family, who won the title for a second time. Wednesday night will be the first chance for Castagnoli to regain gold.
The match will be the first ever singles meeting between the two men and represents a big clash in styles. The speed and aerial ability of Knight goes up against the power of Castagnoli. The goal for each man will be to make sure that he forces his opponent to wrestle his style of match because Kevin Knight can’t win a Claudio Castagnoli match and vice versa. Make your opponent the uncomfortable one.
Will Castagnoli stop Knight’s reign in its tracks or is “The Jet” ready for take off?
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Renee Paquette interviews JERICHO
Two weeks ago on Dynamite, AEW saw the shocking return of Chris Jericho to the promotion after a yearlong absence. Making his intentions known, and rechristening himself as “JERICHO,” the former AEW World Champion ran afoul of Ricochet and challenged the leader of The Demand to a match at Dynasty.
Thanks to some interference from Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun, Ricochet picked up the victory in Vancouver and added some insult to injury. Primed to hit Jericho with the Spirit Gun, Liona called him off with a better idea. Instead of hitting his own finisher, Ricochet nailed Jericho with a Lionsault to get the pin.
Returning to a defeat, Jericho will now regroup and share his thoughts on that with Renee Paquette on Dynamite. What does JERICHO have to say?
