Ahead of their AEW World Championship match at All Out, Will Ospreay’s United Empire meets Jon Moxley and the Death Riders in trios action. Plus, Chris Jericho takes on Nick Wayne and Lena Kross battles Jamie Hayter. You can catch the action LIVE on TSN2, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
United Empire (AEW World Champion “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay, AEW National Champion Andrade El Idolo and Francesco Akira) vs. Death Riders (AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley, “War Ready” Gabe Kidd and “The Bastard” PAC) (w/ “The Problem” Marina Shafir)
Cracks in the Death Riders’ united front have been few and far between over the years, but a couple have emerged in recent weeks. The source of the problem is former stable member, and now AEW World Champion, Will Ospreay. On Wednesday night, Jon Moxley will have the opportunity to calm the ranks as he, Gabe Kidd and PAC meet Ospreay, Andrade El Idolo and Francesco Akira of the United Empire.
The history between Moxley and Ospreay is a long one. Moxley and the Death Riders put Ospreay on the shelf for months, targeting his neck, at Forbidden Door 2025. Returning in the spring of 2025, Ospreay sought revenge against the group, but was unable to wrest the AEW Continental Championship from Mox at Dynasty.
What came next surprised everybody. Instead of continuing his quest for vengeance, Ospreay aligned with the Death Riders. Believing that training with the group would ready him to finally reach the AEW World Championship, Ospreay became a full-fledged member of the group. But the association wouldn’t last long. The Death Riders’ brutality and cruelty was too much for Ospreay, who turned on the group in the defence of a helpless Kenny Omega.
At All In at Wembley Stadium last month, Ospreay would wrestle Omega for the world title. As he prepared to make the walk down to the ring, he was met by Moxley at the entrance, who handed him a Union Jack in a sign of respect despite everything the two had been through over the past months. Ospreay would capture the title in an instant classic.
As it turns out, Ospreay’s first defence of the title will come at All Out later this month in Chicago against Moxley. This past Wednesday night on Dynamite, both Kidd and PAC made it very clear to Moxley that they never should have associated with him in the first place. PAC was furious that Moxley was even civil enough to speak to Ospreay in the back.
But the Ospreay issue isn’t the only sore spot for the Death Riders right now. This past Saturday night on Collision, Clark Connors wanted to know what Kidd’s deal was. Kidd is a member of both The Dogs and Death Riders, but Connors believes the focus for Kidd is on the latter and decidedly not the former. They managed to get on the same page in an eight-man tag victory, teaming with PAC, over the Bang Bang Gang.
Now on Wednesday, the Death Riders must regroup to take on Ospreay, the red-hot Andrade and Akira. Ospreay and Andrade working together is an interesting development considering that the latter owns a title shot thanks to his Casino Gauntlet victory at All In. But Andrade is a member of the United Empire in Japan and Ospreay has been vocal about launching a North American branch, so the association makes sense. As for Akira, the former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion has shone in his previous AEW appearances and will look to do so again.
Can the United Empire strike a blow ahead of Ospreay’s defence against Mox or will the Death Riders show a united front?
--
JERICHO vs. “The Prodigy” Nick Wayne
Chris Jericho and Nick Wayne are moving their weeks of mutual enmity into the ring for the first time ever. The gap in experience is a massive one between the two men, but there’s very little daylight when it comes to each man’s self-confidence. The youngest champion in AEW history, Wayne will relish the opportunity to show up the nine-time world champion.
Since returning from Japan after competing in the Best of the Super Juniors, we’ve seen an even cockier version of the 21-year-old Wayne. And that says something because the Seattle native has never been short of confidence. Now on his own for the first time in his career, the wins might not have piled up just yet, but they are coming. Wayne came agonizingly close to dethroning Bandido as ROH World Champion at Death Before Dishonor last month.
The issues between Jericho and Wayne began just after the Casino Gauntlet at All In. A confrontation between the two backstage ended with Wayne slapping Jericho across the face. Since then, the two have exchanged sneak attacks with Wayne kicking Jericho low and Jericho laying out Wayne with a Judas Effect. Things came to a head last week with an official challenge from Wayne.
Wayne has made it no secret that he’s after championships right now and there is no better way to signal his intent than a win over a man who’s won 37 major titles across his storied career. But there might not be anybody craftier than the man who used to call himself “The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rollah.” It will be imperative for Wayne not to be bated into a mistake.
Will the cocky youngster or the grizzled veteran pick up a victory on Wednesday night?
--
AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champion Jamie Hayter (w/ AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champion Alex Windsor) vs. Lena Kross (w/ “Megasus” Megan Bayne)
The feud between the Brawling Birds and Divine Dominion did not end at All In when Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor defeated Lena Kross and Megan Bayne for the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championships. The loss was the first for Kross and Bayne as a duo and it seemed to light a fire under them. They want their belts back and they want them back soon.
Two weeks ago on Dynamite, the Divine Dominion started their climb back to the titles when Bayne took on Windsor in singles action. The distraction of Hayter and Kross brawling around ringside was just the opening Bayne needed. It allowed her to crack Windsor in the head with a title belt behind the ref’s back and then hit a Mega Bomb for the victory.
On Wednesday, Hayter will look to get the win back for her team against Kross in what is a rare singles match for the Aussie. In fact, it will be only the fourth singles match Kross has had in AEW. Her last match came all the way back in March when she defeated Mina Shirakawa on an edition of Collision.
Hayter will represent a monumental challenge for Kross. A former AEW Women’s World Champion, Hayter has mixed it up with the very best AEW has to offer and will certainly have the edge when it comes to experience in the promotion’s singles division. But Kross is no shrinking violet. She’s taken on the likes of Shotzi Blackheart, Hazuki and Sumie Sakai over the course of her career. She will be ready.
Can Hayter help the Birds bounce back or will Kross make a title rematch undeniable?
--
AEW World Tag Team Champions Cage & Cope (Christian Cage and “The Rated-R Superstar” Adam Copeland), TNT Champion Darby Allin and Steven Borden Jr. vs. FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) and The Don Callis Family (“The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher and “The Jet” Kevin Knight (w/ Big Stoke and Don Callis)
Ahead of a high-stakes, three-way ladder match for the AEW World Tag Team Championships at All Out, champions Christian Cage and Adam Copeland will team up with Darby Allin and Steven Borden to take on one of their two opponents at the pay-per-view, FTR of Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, and the Don Callis Family team of Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight in an eight-man tag. The interpersonal dynamics of this match will be fascinating to watch. There are about 100 ways that this could go completely off the rails.
The considerably more diplomatic of the two, Copeland will have no issue teaming with Allin and Borden, but the same can’t be said of Cage. Simply put, the boorish seven-time world champion just doesn’t get along well with others. Hell, he barely tolerates Copeland at times. He’s simply too selfish, so it’s a wonder that he’d even agree to be in this match only weeks ahead of the title defence.
Their partners, Allin and Borden, are coming off of a massive win in their tag-team debut last week, which was also Borden’s first televised AEW match. On Dynamite, the duo defeated the Family’s Mark Davis and Josh Alexander. The finish came when Borden hit his father’s famed finisher, the Scorpion Death Drop, on Alexander just as Allin came down with a Coffin Drop. They will look to make it two wins in two on Wednesday.
On the other side of the ring, FTR will relish in the opportunity to stir up trouble for their longtime rivals, Cage & Cope. Harwood and Wheeler can get under their skin like few others, so they will undoubtedly look to help create dissention among the opposing quartet. Any advantage ahead of their opportunity to win the AEW World Tag Team Championships for a record fourth time will be welcomed.
Of course, FTR will have to worry about dissention on their own side, as well. Although Fletcher and Knight were able to pick up a victory last week in a tables match against the other team in the PPV ladder match, The Young Bucks (Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson), it’s abundantly clear that the two men would rather be doing just about anything other than teaming with their partner. In fact, it took the intervention of Harwood for Fletcher and Knight to get the win. Both men view themselves as the alpha of the Family, so the more these two clashing personalities team up, the more likely it is that it will end in disaster. Harwood and Wheeler will hope that time isn’t on Wednesday night?
And what about the Bucks? The Jacksons seemingly made peace with former foe Allin and Borden last week, but have issues with the other six men in the match. Could they make their presence known on Dynamite?
With some weird dynamics at play, which of these two teams can pick up what would be a very dysfunctional victory?
