Darby Allin defends the AEW World Championship against Konosuke Takeshita. Plus, Will Ospreay returns to action against Ace Austin. 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. NJPW World Television Champion “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita (w/ Don Callis and “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer)
Can Darby Allin maintain this breakneck pace? That’s the question that has arisen every week since he became AEW World Champion on the Apr. 14 edition of Dynamite. The completely fearless competitor puts his body through hell on a regular basis, title or no title, but as champion, Allin has turned things up a notch.
It hasn’t even been a full month since Allin became champion and he’s already defended his strap on four occasions. Each match has been both competitive and brutal and, somehow, Allin is still standing. He has seen off challenges from Tommaso Ciampa, Brody King, Kevin Knight and, most recently, PAC. Allin and “The Bastard” beat the holy hell out of one another on this past Saturday night’s Fairway to Hell edition of Collision. Even with the Death Riders attempting to give PAC the edge and Allin getting tossed off of a balcony through tables, the champion managed to turn the tables and put the challenger away with the Coffin Drop.
But now a battered and bruised Allin must face the biggest test to his reign on Wednesday night. Allin had been scheduled to put his title on the line against Kazuchika Okada, but “The Rainmaker” has been forced to return to Japan for a personal matter. Replacing Okada will be none other than his Don Callis Family stablemate, and his archrival, Konosuke Takeshita.
Takeshita and Okada have been at odds for months with both men considering himself to be the crown jewel of the family. The bad blood has spilled over enough for Okada to put his AEW International Championship on the line against Takeshita at Double or Nothing later this month. But as Callis has attempted to keep the peace, Takeshita could add even more fuel to the fire by becoming AEW World Championship in a match that was supposed to be Okada’s.
Takeshita is no stranger to world championships. After defeating Zack Sabre Jr. for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at last October’s King of Pro-Wrestling, Takeshita went on to hold the title for three months, eventually dropping it to Yota Tsuji at Wrestle Kingdom 20 at the Tokyo Dome. While he was able to capture the NJPW World TV Championship from Vancouver’s El Phantasmo in February, Takeshita would love nothing more than to become AEW World Champion for the first time.
Wednesday night’s match between Allin and Takeshita will be just the fifth time they’ve faced off and only their second singles match. Their previous one-on-one bout came back on the Jan. 3, 2024 Dynamite. The match was hard-hitting, as was to be expected, but Allin couldn’t put Takeshita away. After previously hitting a Coffin Drop on Takeshita to the outside, a second attempt inside the ring was blocked with Takeshita putting up his knees. From there, “The Alpha” took over, hitting an avalanche German suplex and getting the pin after a Power Drive knee.
Whether their previous match informs Allin’s strategy on Dynamite remains to be seen, but Allin assuredly knows he cannot win a battle of strength with Takeshita. The Osaka native is also deceptively fast and agile for a man of his size. One of the very best pro wrestlers on the planet, Takeshita represents a formidable challenge to Allin and will enter the match as a heavy favourite. Allin operates best fighting from underneath and he’s going to have to do that again on Dynamite.
Can Allin survive “The Alpha” or will Takeshita bring the AEW World Championship back to the Family?
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Cage and Cope (Christian Cage and “The Rated-R Superstar” Adam Copeland), The Young Bucks (Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson) and AEW World Trios Champion “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy vs. AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) (w/ Big Stoke), The Dogs (David Finlay and “100 Proof” Clark Connors) and “The Psycho Killer” Tommaso Ciampa
On last week’s Dynamite, FTR’s challenge to The Conglomeration turned into a pier-six brawl. Last Wednesday, Dax Harwood was to meet Orange Cassidy in a Double Jeopardy Match. Should Harwood win, he would earn an AEW World Trios Championship shot against Cassidy, Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly for himself, Cash Wheeler and Tommaso Ciampa. If Cassidy were to emerge victorious, two of The Conglomeration would receive match for Harwood and Wheeler’s AEW World Tag Team Championships.
The match effectively became a lumberjack match with Wheeler, Ciampa, Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta and Rocky Romero) and The Dogs (Clark Connors and David Finlay) accompanying Harwood and Strong, O’Reilly, Christian Cage, Adam Copeland and The Young Bucks (Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson) backing up Cassidy. While most of the match was kept between the two men actually in it, there were moments where those on the outside made their presence known. At one point, Harwood escaped from trouble when Finlay decked Cassidy from behind. Later, Ciampa smashed Cassidy’s hand into the post when he was spilled to the outside.
Eventually, Cassidy emerged victorious. Harwood managed to kick out of a Stundog Millionaire and Orange Punch and attempted to lock in a cross-arm breaker. Before he could fully sink it in, Cassidy turned into into a pinning combination to grab the three-count and the title shot. And that’s when things popped off. The two sides began to brawl and it was Beretta and Romero who got the worst of it with Beretta eating a Total Elimination from Strong and O’Reilly and Romero getting kicked low from Cage.
Now on Wednesday night, most of these belligerents meet again in 10-man tag action and things are likely to be just as wild. For FTR, it will be standing across the ring from five different men out for their titles. For Cage and Cope, the match will be a chance to get some licks in on FTR ahead of their I Quit Match at Double or Nothing.
The match will be fun. The match will be ugly. The match will be unpredictable. Who will come out on top?
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NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champion “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay vs. Ace Austin
For the first time since getting brutalized by Mark Davis on the Apr. 22 edition of Dynamite, Will Ospreay returns to an AEW ring. His opponent will be Bang Bang Gang’s Ace Austin in what promises to be an exciting encounter. What version of Ospreay we’re going to see remains to be seen.
In that match late last month, Ospreay met his former United Empire ally Davis in a brutal battle. With Ospreay absorbing blow after blow from the hulking Aussie, he finally sustained one he couldn’t get up from. Davis dropped Ospreay directly on his surgically repaired neck with a Close Your Eyes and Count to F--- on the apron. The referee had no choice but to call an end to the match and award the win to Davis.
What happened next was very unexpected. As Davis looked to get in a few more licks after the match, he was chased off by...the Death Riders. Ospreay’s longtime rivals, the people who put him on the shelf for months, came to Ospreay’s aid and carried him from the ring. In the weeks since, Ospreay has been training with his mortal enemies with Jon Moxley vowing to turn his one-time rival into the AEW World Champion.
Moxley’s motivations in all of this still remain unclear, but Ospreay’s new arrangement not sitting well with everybody in his orbit. Last weekend, Ospreay returned to Japan to link back up with the United Empire, a group that has taken on a far different tenor under the leadership of IWGP World Champion Callum Newman. On the first night of Wrestling Dontaku, the team of Ospreay, HENARE and the Great O-Khan captured the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships from Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI) and Oleg Boltin. The victory, at least temporarily, papered over the discord between Ospreay and the rest of the group.
In the main event of Night 2, Newman defended his title against former champion Shingo Takagi. Much to Ospreay’s chagrin, the rest of the United Empire had no problem interfering in the match to give Newman an edge. Newman was eventually able to retain his title after using a low blow. Following the match, the Empire continued the beating with Yota Tsuji attempting to make the save for his Unbound Co. stablemate, only to fall prey to the numbers game.
Attempting to end the beating, Ospreay tried to talk Newman out of continuing it. But not only was Newman undaunted, he turned his ire towards Ospreay. He told Ospreay to nail Takagi with a Hidden Blade. Ospreay refused until Newman brought up his association with Moxley. Dismissing Ospreay as “Death Rider Billy” was enough to goad Ospreay into laying out Takagi with the Hidden Blade. Disgusted with his own actions, Ospreay left the ring as Newman smirked.
We’ll get an idea for what kind of mindset Ospreay is in when he meets Austin in what should be a difficult challenge for him. While Austin’s win-loss record might not indicate his quality, the former TNA X-Division Champion will absolutely give Ospreay all he can handle. If Ospreay isn’t entirely focused and his head is elsewhere, Austin will make him pay.
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Triangle of Madness (AEW Women’s World Champion “The Toxic Spider” Thekla, Julia Hart and Skye Blue) vs. The Brawling Birds (Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor) and Hikaru Shida (w/ Kris Statlander)
At Double or Nothing, Thekla will put her AEW Women’s World Championship on the line against a trio of former champions in a four-way match. Looking to wrest the title away from the foul-mouthed Austrian are Jamie Hayter, Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander. Before that can go down, though, Wednesday night will see a trios match with Thekla facing off with two of her three challengers as she teams with stablemates Julia Hart and Skye Blue to take on Hayter, Shida and Alex Windsor.
Never lacking confidence to begin with, Thekla will have to like her chances at the pay-per-view even in a match where she doesn’t need to get pinned to lose her title. She’s already beaten Hayter and it was Statlander who she beat for the title back in February. Thekla is on a roll right now and a multi-person match won’t daunt her.
And what about the three women she’s facing? While Hayter has looked formidable in recent weeks, the dynamic between Shida and Statlander remains an odd one. Their nascent tag team has seen some success, but the cracks in their partnership became very evident during their title match against AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions Divine Dominion (Megan Bayne and Lena Kross) late last month. The champions retained thanks in large part due to miscommunication between Shida and Statlander.
Wednesday night’s match will be an opportunity for the team of Hayter, Windsor and Shida to get in the champion’s head and try to shake her cool ahead of the PPV match. For Thekla and Sisters of Sin, it’ll be another chance to mess with her title contenders and maybe even rough them up a little bit, too. Winning a match like this might not exactly be biggest aim for either side.
What will happen when these six women step into the ring on Dynamite?
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“The Jet” Kevin Knight’s TNT Championship open challenge
Kevin Knight is looking for a fight on Wednesday night and doesn’t care who will offer one. The TNT Champion has put out an open contract for a title match on a first come, first serve basis. Who will step up to take on the champ?
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We will hear from Maxwell Jacob Friedman
Maxwell Jacob Friedman is a humbled man right now...well, at least as humbled as MJF can get. After losing his AEW World Championship to Darby Allin in humiliating fashion last month, he was embarrassed by Kevin Knight who took a page out of MJF’s own book to beat him in a TNT Championship match. Desperate to get his title back, Friedman changed his tack last week on Dynamite.
After Allin retained his title over Knight, MJF made his way to the ring and to discuss a potential rematch with the champion. Friedman seemed to have the realization that he wasn’t bargaining from a position of strength, so he was prepared to make some concessions. In exchange for a rematch, MJF offered his Dynamite Diamond Ring. He offered one of his trademark Burberry scarves. He even offered Allin $1 million. Allin wasn’t interested.
But there was one thing that did pique his interest. Allin told MJF he’d grant him the rematch on one condition - if he put his hair on the line. Playing into Friedman’s overwhelming vanity, Allin knew he had MJF in a bind.
So what will it be? Will MJF be willing to go as far as putting up his locks to get back his title? We will find out on Wednesday night.
