AEW Dynamite Preview For February 1, 2023

After an extremely emotional week in which All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor Wrestling celebrated the life of Jay Briscoe with the Mark Briscoe/Jay Lethal match on DYNAMITE and with a 3 hour special on Honor Club, AEW continues its march towards REVOLUTION 2023 on March 5th in San Francisco!

This week, the greatest professional wrestling on Earth comes to Dayton, OH for the very first-time, emanating LIVE from the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University! With this debut comes Moxley versus Hangman III, Darby Allin versus Samoa Joe III in a No Holds Barred TNT Championship match, Red Velvet versus Jade Cargill III for the TBS Championship, Takeshita taking on “The Machine”, and the AEW World Tag Team Champions in action! Plus, “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson welcomes the vicious Timothy Thatcher to AEW as Bryan continues his pursuit of MJF, the AEW World Championship, and their potential 60 Minute Iron Man Match on March 5th!

The action begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, as well as at AEWPlus.com for international audiences, with the doors opening in Dayton at 6pm ET for general admission, and at 5:30pm for those who purchase the pre-show Meet & Greet with The Acclaimed, Ruby Soho, and Danhausen!

Prior to the event, be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel to catch up on the events of last week's in Kentucky, including the latest from AEW DARK, AEW DARK: ELEVATION, ROAD TO, and THE CONTROL CENTER with Tony Schiavone, as well as highlights from previous episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and more!

TNT CHAMPIONSHIP NO HOLDS BARRED...

Darby Allin(c) vs. ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe

One victory for Samoa Joe, one victory for Darby Allin, and now these two titans of the TNT Title lineage will meet this Wednesday night for the third time, only with this outing there will be No Holds Barred!

Fans know what Darby Allin can endure, the kind of punishment he has taken throughout his career, and somehow endured through it all to accomplish a record-setting TNT Championship reign in his first stint with the title, and an overall AEW career to be quite proud of. We've seen Allin in Coffin Matches, in No Disqualification situations, and in Ladder Matches, and he has survived them all, but never has he been in this situation with a man quite like Samoa Joe.

There are times Joe seems like the coolest man in the room, there are times when he feels utterly chilled, and then there are the times he feels like the scariest man to enter a professional wrestling ring in the last twenty years. It's those times when Joe has that look upon his face, a look fans have seen many times during Joe's career when he's been faced with a man who's raised his ire, a look that opponents have seen just before being choked into unconsciousness or knocked senseless with a Muscle Buster. Suffice to say, it is utterly terrifying, and yet Darby Allin is inviting that challenge, inviting the opportunity to fight Samoa Joe under these circumstances, but one has to wonder if the Relentless One has bitten off more than he can chew in this situation.

Darby can dish it out, he can take it, but can he do that when it's Samoa Joe on the other end? This Rubber Match will tell the tale...

THE HOME STRETCH...

“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. Timothy Thatcher

AEW World Champion MJF is intent on seeing “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson crippled, not by his own hand of course, that would require actual work and risking Bryan getting his hands on Max. Instead he paid off Brian Cage to injure his potential REVOLUTION 2023 challenger, MJF expressly stating he didn't care if “The Machine” won or lost, only that he took Danielson's arm out, weakening Bryan for a potential Salt of the Earth armbar should he make it to San Francisco for the World Championship challenge.

Cage did not win the match, but he damn sure did his best to rip Bryan's arm off his body, and after the bout was over, the ROH World Six Man Champion continued the onslaught while Max stood by, at a safe distance of course, and directed traffic. It was only after Danielson was suitably incapacitated that MJF got anywhere close to his potential challenger, only then that he felt safe enough to try and get his own shots in, but thankfully that was interrupted Konosuke Takeshita.

Now Bryan Danielson, with just two more matches left to complete his quest, will have to step into the ring this week in Dayton with one of the most sadistic wrestlers that has stopped onto the modern landscape, a man who enjoys, as Max said, scientifically dismantling his opponents and inflicting pain upon his foes. With that, he shares something in common with the general ethos of The Blackpool Combat Club, but where Danielson likes the fight, likes being challenged, and using it as an opportunity to grow as a fighter, Thatcher just seems to relish the chance to inflict pain and suffering.

Coming to Dayton is a bit of a return to some great moments in Bryan Danielson's career; just 20 minutes away from the Nutter Center, on the grounds of the Montgomery County Fairgrounds and under the ROH banner, Danielson defeated “The Notorious 187” Homicide inside a Steel Cage, he defended the ROH World Title against Jimmy Yang, he and Nigel McGuinness toppled Naomichi Marufuji and Takeshi Morishima in tag team action here in Dayton, and he bested Necro Butcher, Eddie Edwards, Claudio Castagnoli, and Tyler Black right here in Dayton. It's a town with a great deal of history for “The American Dragon”, and he's prepared to make another moment in history with this fight against Timothy Thatcher.

Now Thatcher, a student of the APW Boot Camp and \of legendary fighter Josh Barnett, his history is a violent road map and for a lesson on just what this man brings to the table, just head to YouTube and look up his bouts with men like Daniel Makabe, Minoru Suzuki, Eddie Kingston, and the recent fight with Mochizuki from the “Final Bye Bye” event that also featured Sting and Darby teaming with Great Muta in that legends last match under that persona.

This match, perhaps moreso than any other in his championship quest, may be the one most likely to derail Danielson's quest to challenge for the AEW World Championship. His injured limb would be at risk against any opponent following the assault by Brian Cage, but against an opponent like Thatcher, that limb is at risk of being rendered useless, it's at risk of permanent injury, it's a beacon for Timothy Thatcher to hone in on while MJF watches, breathlessly hoping that this is the match that stop “The American Dragon” from making it to San Francisco...

“Part of the suffering is joy...”

THE THIRD TIME AROUND...

“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley

There's a bit of a theme with AEW's DYNAMITE debut in Dayton, a theme of three's, of Rubber Matches, and it continues with this collision between Adam Page and Jon Moxley. The first-time around Mox knocked “Hangman” flat-out, out to the point he had trouble recalling the name of his own son, and the fact that the 3-Time AEW World Champion mocked the situation did not sit right with Hanger.

The second-time around, in a fight pursued by Hangman before he was even medically cleared to compete, would turn the tables on Moxley and see him knocked senseless from the battle, the Buckshot Lariat actually making it a little rough for Mox to speak, as can be heard in this week's edition of ROAD TO.

Now, not too far away from where this all started in Cincinnati last October, we have come to a third round between the two former AEW World Champion, a chance for one of them to claim a decisive victory in this trilogy of matches, and carry bragging rights on into the future. Perhaps that will mean an AEW World Championship opportunity in their future post-REVOLUTION, but that's not something either wrestler can worry about until after they've put this third match in their rear view mirror.

Can Hangman shut Moxley down in his home state after failing to do so last time AEW was in Ohio? Or will Jon step up as THE man in All Elite Wreslting once again, and smash Hangman back into unconsciousness once more?

TBS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...

Jade Cargill(c) vs. Red Velvet

49-0; with her two year wrestle-versary just one month away, Jade Cargill stands with forty-nine wins in her All Elite Wrestling career and not a single blemish on that record. Reigning as TBS Champion for over a year of that time, Jade has been victorious in forty-three singles matches, four tag team matches, and two trios bouts, and all of it can be traced back to March 3, 2021 where Jade and Shaquille O'Neal united to defeat Red Velvet and Cody Rhodes in tag team action.

From the very beginning of her wrestling career, Jade Cargill has been wrapped up with Red Velvet, both as foe and as...friend? Lackey? Baddie? Jade and Red have clashed twice in singles action, they've united in tags and trios, and it has now come full circle when, for the very first-time in their relationship, Jade will have to defend the TBS Championship against Red Velvet!

Red, after spending time at Jade's side as one of her Baddies, has since seen the error of her ways and now aims to end this historic championship reign, as well as this historic undefeated streak. Honestly, if there's a woman on the AEW roster best equipped to take Jade Cargill down, it would be Red Velvet. Their history as allies and enemies has provided Red Velvet with a look at Jade that no other challenger to the TBS Championship has had, but will it be enough for her to finally bring an end to this incredible run of Cargill's?

HEAD-TO-HEAD...

Konosuke Takeshita vs. “The Machine” Brian Cage

This one is quite simple; Takeshita, after the respect demonstrated by Bryan Danielson in the aftermath of their singles match, was not about to let “The Machine” Brian Cage and AEW World Champion MJF assault “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson without some sort of repercussions. That is why Takeshita hit the ring shortly after MJF and Cage began their post-match assault on Bryan, and why he took to swinging on Cage after Maxwell high-tailed it as far way from the ring as he possibly could to avoid any repercussion for his actions.

So now this Wednesday night, in front of the AEW faithful in Dayton, “The Machine” Brian Cage will get the unenviable task of having to answer for the crimes incited by the AEW World Champion yet perpetrated by the ROH World Six Man Champ.

In this situation, we've got two incredibly powerful opponents, strong men who aren't about to let another show them up, but most importantly a battle between one man who fights out of honor and respect, and another battling for greed and ego.

Will it be “The Machine” or Takeshita who steps up in this battle?

THE ACCLAIMED IN ACTION!

AEW World Tag Team Champions for 130+ days, The Acclaimed will be in the house this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE, coming out of their Family Therapy Session with “Daddy Ass” and the “Ass Boys”.

Clearly there is a need for Anthony Bowens and Max Caster to renew their focus on the tag team ranks of All Elite Wrestling, rather than on deriding Austin and Colten Gunn, and hopefully that can begin this Wednesday night in Dayton!

It's a Wednesday full of rubber matches when All Elite Wrestling comes to Dayton, OH and the Nutter Center on the campus of Wright State University. We've got Moxley/Hangman III, Allin/Joe III in a No Holds Barred TNT Championship match, and Velvet/Cargill III for the TBS Championship! Plus Konoskue Takeshita battles “The Machine”Brian Cage, the AEW World Tag Team Champions The Acclaimed will be in action, and “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson will go to war with Pro Wrestling NOAH's Timothy Thatcher as part of his pursuit of MJF's AEW World Championship and a 60 Minute Iron Man Match at REVOLUTION 2023!

The action gets underway live on TBS starting at 8pm ET/7pm CT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences, and the best way to get caught up on the AEW action is by visiting the official AEW YouTube channel, home for the latest action from DYNAMITE and RAMPAGE, as well as recent editions of AEW DARK: ELEVATION, AEW DARK, and ROAD TO!