Kazuchika Okada meets Mascara Dorada in a Double Jeopardy Match. Plus, AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page takes on Katsuyori Shibata. 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 with Collision airing at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on USA Network.
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Double Jeopardy Match: AEW Unified Champion “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada (w/ Don Callis) vs. CMLL World Trios Champion Mascara Dorada
In September, Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena played host to one of the best three-way matches in recent memory as Kazuchika Okada defended his AEW Unified Championship against Don Callis Family stablemate Konosuke Takeshita and CMLL star Mascara Dorada at the All Out pay-per-view. The match was an incredible spectacle featuring technical prowess, high-flying offence and impressive power. While everybody was already familiar with what Okada and Takeshita had to offer, the match served as a coming out party for Dorada, who thrilled the crowd with his exploits in what was only his eighth match in an AEW ring. Just after the 20-minute mark, Takeshita appeared to have the match won after he hit Dorada with Raging Fire. Before he could get a pin, though, Okada threw Takeshita out of the ring, picked up Dorada, planted him with a Rainmaker and got the three count to retain his title. Though it was a disappointing loss for Dorada, he proved he could hang with Takeshita, one of the very best wrestlers in the world today, and Okada, one of the very best wrestlers of all-time. On Wednesday night, he gets another shot at the latter in a unique match. In a one-on-one encounter, Dorada meets Okada again, but there is a stipulation on the line. Should Dorada win, he will earn a title shot at Okada’s AEW Unified Championship. Should Okada win, he and two other members of the Family will get a shot at the CMLL World Trios Championships currently held by Sky Team (Dorada, Mistico and Neon). It’s a tall task ahead of Dorada. Only three men have pinned Okada in an AEW ring: Bryan Danielson, Kyle Fletcher and Bandido. Will Dorada become the fourth or will Okada earn a title shot for the Family?
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ROH Women’s World Television Championship unification match: ROH Women’s World Television Champion Red Velvet vs. Interim ROH Women’s World Television Champion “Ultimo Moné” Mercedes Moné
For the first time in five months, Red Velvet will be in action on Dynamite and her return to the ring couldn’t have higher stakes. At Death Before Dishonor in July of 2024, Velvet defeated Billie Starkz to become the ROH Women’s World Television Champion. She went on to successfully defend her title on seven occasions and was prepared to make another defence at this past July’s Supercard of Honor, but she was pulled from the match with an undisclosed injury that had kept her sidelined until now. At that July pay-per-view, Mina Shirakawa defeated Yuka Sakazaki, Persephone and Miyu Yamashita in a four-way match to become the interim champion. She held on to that title for just over three months before dropping it to Mercedes Moné at October’s WrestleDream PPV. On Wednesday night, Velvet and Moné will meet to unify the title. This will be a first-time ever match between the two women and Velvet has been chomping at the bit to take on the woman currently holding the interim version of her title. For Moné, it will mark an opportunity to claim another physical championship to go along with her 13 existing title belts. This past Sunday in Brentwood, NY at a House of Glory event, Moné added to her title haul by defeating Nor Phoenix Diana to win the APAC Women’s Championship. Can Velvet hand Moné her first loss since July or will Moné mark Velvet’s return with a defeat?
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AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page vs. AEW World Trios Champion “The Wrestler” Katsuyori Shibata
It should terrify Samoa Joe that “Hangman” Adam Page seems to always make good on his promises. After Joe and his Opps stablemates Powerhouse Hobbs and Katsuyori Shibata viciously attacked Page following his successful AEW World Championship defence over Joe at WrestleDream, Page promised to ruin Joe’s life as the two will meet again at Saturday’s Full Gear once again for the world title, this time in a cage. The Cowboy showed Joe just how serious he was last week on Dynamite when he took on Hobbs in a falls count anywhere match. In what was a brutal bout, Page finally put Hobbs away by shoving him off of a balcony and through a table covered in electrical equipment. On Wednesday night, Page comes for Shibata next. While the two men met for the first time nearly a decade ago in New Japan Pro-Wrestling when the Bullet Club team of Page, Yujiro Takahashi and Bad Luck Fale defeated Shibata, Aaron Henare and Yuji Nagata, the two men have never faced off in a singles bout before. Though the technical mastery and toughness of Shibata is undeniable, Page will be looking for a fight. Only days away from his rematch with Joe, the Hangman is out to beat some respect into Shibata and give Joe a preview of what’s coming to him on Saturday. But Page must also be careful. If he’s blinded by anger or a desire for revenge, that will be just the opening Shibata needs. Page might say he doesn’t care about winning or losing on Wednesday night, but a loss to Shibata ahead of his title match would undoubtedly be most unwelcome. Can Shibata soften up Page for Joe or will the Cowboy show Joe the walls are closing in?
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Match for the No. 1 spot in the Full Gear Casino Gauntlet Match for the AEW National Championship: “The Almighty” Bobby Lashley (w/ MVP) vs. Ricochet (w/ Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun)
Two men who absolutely hate each other’s guts will meet on Wednesday night with a key prize on the line. The enmity between Bobby Lashley and Ricochet continues on Dynamite as each man vies for the No. 1 spot in Full Gear’s Casino Gauntlet Match to crown the inaugural AEW National Champion. The reason why the No. 1 spot is so important is because there is no guaranteed entry in the match. While more competitors enter at timed intervals, the match can end at any time with a pin or submission. Conceivably, the match can end with only the first two competitors having entered the ring. Saturday’s match will be the sixth singles Casino Gauntlet Match in AEW history. On average, each match has had 11 competitors, so the impetus to end things with as few men in the ring as possible is obvious. While Wednesday night’s match will be the fifth time that Lashley and Ricochet have met since September, the two men have not had a singles match in over five years. In singles encounters, Ricochet is actually 4-2 against the eight-time world champion. But those matches didn’t possess the bad blood that exists between the two men in the present day and that will undoubtedly fuel Wednesday night’s match. Can Ricochet continue his mastery of Lashley or is there a Hurt Lock coming in the future for the leader of The Demand?
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Match for the No. 2 spot in the Full Gear Casino Gauntlet Match for the AEW National Championship: “The Standard of Excellence” Shelton Benjamin (w/ MVP) vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey (w/ “The Jet” Kevin Knight)
There is a possibility that Saturday’s Casino Gauntlet Match begins with a face-off between Hurt Syndicate members Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin in what would be a very intriguing start to the match and a pickle for MVP. But before that can happen, Lashley must defeat Ricochet and Benjamin must go through a man he’s very familiar with in Laval, Que.’s “Speedball” Mike Bailey. The Hurt Syndicate and JetSpeed (Bailey and Kevin Knight) have done battle more than once in recent months and Knight holds a singles win over Benjamin, but Bailey is 0-3 against Benjamin in his career. Their only singles meeting took place just under a year ago at the WrestleCade SuperShow (with Bailey’s wife, Veda Scott, on commentary) in Winston-Salem, NC. Benjamin got the victory in just over 12 minutes. Wednesday night’s match comes at a point where both men have been almost exclusively tag and trios wrestlers in the past year. The match is just Benjamin’s second singles match in AEW since the conclusion of last year’s Continental Classic. For Bailey, it’s his first singles match since an August loss to Jon Moxley. It’s reasonable to wonder if there will be any rustiness on the part of both men on Wednesday night. Which of these two men will put himself in an advantageous position in Saturday night’s Casino Gauntlet Match?
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“The Cleaner” Kenny Omega returns
After Josh Alexander’s vicious assault of Kenny Omega’s good friend Michael Nakazawa this past Saturday night on Collision and the Don Callis Family’s brutal beating of Jack Perry and Luchasaurus last Wednesday night on Dynamite, the former AEW World Champion makes his return on Wednesday night. At Full Gear, Omega will team with Jurassic Express to take on Alexander and his former best friends, the Young Bucks (Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson). The match comes as Don Callis is in the midst of a major recruiting push to pull the Jacksons into the Family, as well as signs of a potential rapprochement between Omega and the Bucks. Just what will Winnipeg’s finest have to say on Dynamite?
