The Continental Cup continues with two matches, plus Kevin Knight defends the TNT Championship against Chris Jericho and MJF takes on Mike Bailey and Nick Wayne in a three-way for the No. 2 entry in the Casino Gauntlet at All In. 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.
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Match for the No. 2 entry in the All In Casino Gauntlet Match: Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. “The Prodigy” Nick Wayne
On last week’s Dynamite from Mexico City, Andrade El Idolo overcame Komander and Tommaso Ciampa to earn the No. 1 spot at All In’s Casino Gauntlet Match. The winner of that match will receive a shot at the AEW World Championship. But Andrade’s joy was short-lived thanks to an unexpected return.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman jumped Andrade from behind and reclaimed his Dynamite Diamond Ring from the fallen Andrade. Interestingly, MJF was carrying with him his bespoke AEW World Championship (“The Big Burberry Belt”) and proclaiming himself to be the “real world champion.” Friedman claimed that if it weren’t for the intervention of Will Ospreay in his July 8 title match against Kenny Omega, he would still be the world champion.
Not satisfied with only being the real world champion, Friedman announced his plan to take back Omega’s title and that starts with winning the Casino Gauntlet. Recall that MJF won the Casino Gauntlet at last year’s All In and went on to claim the AEW World Championship at Worlds End last December. He can get a leg up in his pursuit on Wednesday night by defeating Mike Bailey and Nick Wayne.
In Casino Gauntlets, the earlier your entry, the more advantageous it is for you. The match ends as soon as there is a pin or submission and there is no guarantee of an entry past the first two competitors. As the match continues, more entrants arrive and that makes your chances of winning lessen. As such, it would greatly behoove all of Friedman, Bailey and Wayne to win this match.
For Wayne, Wednesday night’s match is the first of two major bouts. On Friday night, the 21-year-old former AEW World Trios Champion challenges Bandido for the ROH World Championship at ROH’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view in Philadelphia. Since returning from Japan after competing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, Wayne has shown a new intensity and even more cockiness than before. It seems like only a matter of time before he earns gold again.
As for Bailey, the Laval, Que. native has routinely been putting on match-of-the-night performances lately, like he did on Saturday night’s Collision in a win over Myron Reed, but he’s still looking for a singles title. After winning a ladder match for a shot at the AEW International Championship at Redemption in Montreal last month, Bailey fell short in his attempt to wrest the title away from Kyle Fletcher on last week’s Dynamite. After coming agonizingly close to championships over and over again, is it finally Bailey’s time?
Which of these three men will put himself in a prime position for an AEW World Championship shot?
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Continental Cup first-round match: AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley vs. “Jungle” Jack Perry
The Continental Cup continues on Wednesday night with what is the most consequential matchup of the first round. In a first-time match, Jon Moxley takes on Jack Perry. Moxley is the current AEW Continental Champion and must win the single-elimination tournament with a blind draw to retain his title.
Last Saturday night on Collision, three men punched their tickets into the quarter-finals. Former AEW Continental Champion and the winner of the inaugural Continental Classic, Eddie Kingston submitted Jake Doyle with a Stretch Plum. Orange Cassidy put away Matt Sydal with Beach Break and Claudio Castagnoli defeated Ace Austin after a tremendous match with Swiss Death.
Also on that show was an eight-man tag match that saw Perry team with the Bang Bang Gang’s Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn to take on the Death Riders quartet of Moxley, Danny Garcia, Wheeler YUTA and PAC. The Gunns appeared to have the match won after hitting 3:10 to Yuma on YUTA before the Death Riders’ associates, Clark Connors and David Finlay of The Dogs, hit the ring to crotch Austin with the referee distracted. The confusion allowed YUTA to recover and hit a low blow on Colten before laying him out with the Basaiku Knee to get the pin and steal the victory.
After the match, an infuriated Perry laid out YUTA with the Glass Jaw and begged Moxley to come back into the ring. Discretion was the better part of valour for Mox, who went to the back. Later in the evening, Perry vowed to defeat Moxley.
Though the pressure is certainly on Moxley with the knowledge that a single loss in this tournament means he’s no longer champion, Perry comes in with much to prove, as well. A former TNT and AEW National Champion, Perry sees Moxley as the gold standard of the company and wants to prove he can hang with a top guy.
Will Mox move on in the tournament or will Perry ensure we have a new champion?
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Continental Cup first-round match: “Switchblade” Jay White vs. David Finlay
To understand the dynamic between Jay White and David Finlay, you must go back over a decade. The two men entered the New Japan Dojo at the same time with the former as unheralded and the latter as a third-generation competitor and the son of the legendary Fit Finlay. Their paths would diverge with White reinventing himself as “Switchblade” while on excursion and returning to win the IWGP World Championship and take over the Bullet Club.
But Finlay’s time would come. At NJPW’s Battle in the Valley in early 2023, White lost a “Loser Leaves NJPW” grudge match to Eddie Kingston. As an emotional White was about to address the NJPW fans for a final time, he was blindsided by a shot from Finlay’s shillelagh. Decked out in black, Finlay told White that his time was over and it was his time to run NJPW. Finlay would assume control of the Bullet Club before defecting with his entire War Dogs subgroup. Success would also follow with Finlay winning the New Japan Cup in 2025 and also becoming the inaugural IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion.
Their paths have once again crossed in AEW with Finlay’s Dogs at war with White’s Bang Bang Gang. Out for well over a year, White made his return to AEW at Forbidden Door to help cost Finlay and Clark Connors the AEW World Tag Team Championships. Finlay would gain a measure of revenge at last month’s Redemption when he and Connors defeated White and Juice Robinson in a Dog Collar Match. During the bout, Connors spiked White right on his head with a Dominator and gloated about injuring the New Zealander on social media.
Hostilities renew on Wednesday night with a spot in the Continental Cup quarters on the line. The match will be the first singles bout between the two in almost five years. White is 3-1 all-time against Finlay in singles matches with his lone defeat coming during the 2021 New Japan Cup.
What won’t happen on Dynamite is an appearance from each man’s respective faction. Thanks to Continental rules, both the Bang Bang Gang and Dogs are banned from interfering. This will be settled one-on-one.
Which of these two old rivals will pick up a key victory?
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TNT Championship match: “The Jet” Kevin Knight (c) (w/ Don Callis and Jake Doyle) vs. JERICHO
Kevin Knight’s defeat to AEW World Champion Kenny Omega at last month’s Redemption hasn’t done anything to temper his ambitions. The TNT Champion remains firmly in the mix for more gold as he continues to defend his existing championship. There is also brewing tension between “The Jet” and fellow Don Callis Family member, AEW International Champion Kyle Fletcher.
Wednesday night’s match against former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho comes on the heels of a trios match on the last edition of Dynamite. Knight teamed with Hechicero and Kazuchika Okada to take on Jericho, Mistico and Knight’s archrival, Darby Allin. In the final stages of the match, everything broke down with all six men in the ring. Amid the confusion, Jericho nailed Knight with a Judas Effect allowing Allin to get a pinfall on his foe.
After the match, Allin challenged Knight for a no-holds barred TNT Championship match at All In. Knight was noncommittal, but he had a challenge for his own on Collision. Jericho pinned him on Wednesday, so why not let the nine-time world champion have his shot at Knight’s title? Knight said he would take pleasure in beating a legend.
Jericho’s trophy case features a laundry list of titles, but the TNT Championship is not among them. With the ROH World Championship, WWE World Championship, WCW World Championship, WWE Intercontinental Championship, IWGP Intercontinental Championship, NWA World Middleweight Championship, ECW World TV Championship, WCW World TV Championship, WCW Cruiserweight Champion and WWE European Championship among his many accolades, Jericho has the chance to add another singles title to the list (to say nothing of his seven tag-team championships). Having not held a title since losing the ROH World Championship to Bandido back in the spring of 2025, the Winnipeg native will be hungry to remedy that.
Will Knight keep his title to set up a grudge match against Allin or will Jericho add another belt to his impressive collection?
