Tonight, All Elite Wrestling brings its flaghship to Des Moines, IA and the Wells Fargo Arena, and what an exciting night there is on tap! Two championship matches are going down when AEW International Champion Will Ospreay defends his title against The Lucha Brothers' Rey Fenix while Mercedes Moné puts her TBS Championship on the line against CMLL World Women's Tag Champion Zeuxis! Plus we will see “El Toro Blanco” RUSH in action after his confrontation with MJF, Chris Jericho has invited Private Party to visit The Learning Tree, Dustin Rhodes will face Jack Perry in a TNT Title Ladder Match Qualifier, and plenty more coming your way tonight on DYNAMITE! We are walking the path to FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 on June 30th, and the show gets underway at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TNT. Make a point to check out the official AEW YouTube channel before the night begins to watch highlights from last week's DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as Renee Paquette's CLOSE UP with Christopher Daniels, RJ City's HEY!(EW) with Penta El Zero Miedo, and more!
All Elite Wrestling then heads to Youngstown, OH's Covelli Centre for an all-new COLLISION where Thunder Rosa will take on Deonna Purrazzo in a No Disqualification bout, The House of Black will be in Trios competition, Lee Moriarty faces Dante Martin in another TNT Ladder Match Qualifier, and “The Patriarch” Christian Cage will celebrate Father's Day?!?!
AEW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
Will Ospreay(c) vs. Rey Fenix
Last week on DYNAMITE, Rey Fenix survived a Four Way contest with Jay Lethal, Orange Cassidy, and Kyle O'Reilly to earn this AEW International Championship match with “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay. Survived is the most appropriate description for how that match went down because it certainly seemed Jay Lethal had the title shot all wrapped up when he attempted a Figure Four on Fenix, but Rey managed to cradle the former ROH World Champion for a pinfall victory.
That means Rey Fenix has an opportunity tonight to join Orange Cassidy in the annals of International Championship history as a two-time holder of the title if he can defeat Will Ospreay in Des Moines! Now this may be a first-ever singles match for AEW, but this is not the first time Rey Fenix and Will Ospreay have stepped into the ring as foes. In fact, this will mark their fourth dance in one-on-one competition, with the initial outing taking place during the first round of PWG's BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES 2016 tournament, the second for RevPro in March 2017, and the third for Fight Club: PRO in 2019. All three of these matches have two things in common; they are exceptional displays of modern professional wrestling, and Will Ospreay won each time.
For that matter, in their lone AEW meeting during the World Trios Title Tournament leading into ALL OUT 2022, Ospreay's United Empire unit defeated Death Triangle in the First Round as well. So while this match is certainly about Rey Fenix trying to finally score a victory on Ospreay, it is the AEW International Championship that is of utmost importance for both men. Yet it's also about Ospreay maintaining momentum as he barrels towards that AEW World Championship clash with Swerve Strickland at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024. There is no one, not even Swerve, who is on a hotter streak than “The Aerial Assassin” right now. He's got sixteen consecutive singles victories, twelve of those in 2024, and his lone loss this year came in tag team competition with his partner Orange Cassidy taking the pinfall.
It's an impressive run, of that there is no doubt, but with each subsequent fight the question becomes if it will be more than Ospreay can handle going into June 30th. He's seventeen days into this International Championship reign, Fenix marks the second title defense, continuing this run of facing a murderer's row of AEW's greatest fighters. Will Ospreay break under the onslaught of top tier opponents? Will it be Rey Fenix who pushes him past the breaking point and takes the International Championship away? Or will “The Aerial Assassin” rise to the occasion once again as he nears that date with destiny at UBS Arena?
TBS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
Mercedes Moné(c) vs. Zeuxis
The match for FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 was set, TBS Champion Mercedes Moné versus NJPW STRONG Women's Champion Stephanie Vaquer in a bout where both titles would be at stake, but now there are some being curveballs thrown into the mix. One of those curveballs takes place on June 21st when Vaquer is scheduled to defend her title at CMLL's FANTASTICA MANIA: MEXICO 2024 event against a competitor by the name of La Catalina. That means well in advance of June 30th's pay-per-view event, Stephanie Vaquer could be dethroned as the NJPW STRONG Women's Champion, changing the complexion of her scheduled bout with Moné.
Yet that isn't the only potential game changer taking place before AEW gets to UBS Arena, in fact the first major shake-up to that Title versus Title match schedule for FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 could take place tonight on DYNAMITE! That's because Mercedes Moné is putting her TBS Championship on the line against a woman very close to Stephanie Vaquer, in fact this challenger is Vaquer's CMLL World Women's Tag Team Championship partner, and her name is Zeuxis! That's right, there is the potential that the TBS Championship will be around the waist of someone other than “The CEO of AEW” prior to June 30th, and that would mean only the NJPW STRONG Women's Championship would be at stake in that match. If Mercedes retains and Vaquer loses her aformentioned title defense, than it's strictly a TBS Championship match, but what happens if both women lose their titles prior to FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024? That is a question everyone involved in the planning process may have to address sooner than later, and the first step towards that dilemma arising starts tonight!
As that video package above details, Zeuxis is one of the greatest luchadoras competing in CMLL today and the reason for that could be traced back to her wrestling origins sixteen years ago when she trained under greats like Negro Navarro and El Satanico. She's a former Mexican National Women's Champion, a title Zeuxis held for 768 days, as well as a competitor who has manged to keep her mask in three Luchas de Apuestas matches over the course of her career, each one involving her mask wagered against the mask of her opponent. Zeuxis is also coming into this having battled in a dozen matches since May 1st while Mercedes, though she's looked phenomenal in both her champinoship bouts, has only had two in the last 13 months. That's the sort of thing that could be a huge difference maker in this second TBS Title defense, and could lead to Zeuxis bringing a fourth title into her and Stephanie Vaquer's pairing. Imagine that trophy case: the TBS Championship, the NJPW STRONG Women's Championship, the CMLL World Women's Championship that Vaquer also carries, and their CMLL World Women's Tag Team Championship.
That's a fate Mercedes Moné will fight like hell to avoid tonight, just as she will fight with everything she has on June 30th to bring home that NJPW STRONG Women's Title she feels was stolen from her last year by Willow Nightingale!
TNT CHAMPIONSHIP LADDER MATCH QUALIFIER...
“The Natural” Dustin Rhodes vs. “Scapegoat” Jack Perry
It's rather amazing to think that even though both men have been All Elite since day one, Dustin Rhodes and Jack Perry have only shared the ring in one non-Battle Royale match over the last five years. The 8/22/20 SATURDAY NIGHT DYNAMITE was the only time they ever fought on the same side, winning an 8-Man tag over The Lucha Brothers, The Butcher, and The Blade, and they've certainly never been foes in any match in all that time either. That all changes tonight on DYNAMITE when Rhodes and Perry face off as opponents for the very first time and with a spot in FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024's TNT Championship Ladder Match at stake! It's a position that Perry desperately wants after having the TNT Title taken away from him when The Elite tried to just give it to him in the wake of Adam Copeland's injury.
Jack Perry said he would do anything to make sure he is the next TNT Champion, that nothing can stop him, but Dustin Rhodes is damn sure going to do everything in his considerable experience to make the former AEW World Tag Champion suffer for his crimes. From the very first DOUBLE OR NOTHING, Rhodes has proven his willingness to suffer through anything in hopes of achieving victory, he's demonstrated time and again how much AEW means to him at his core, and then there's the fact that the TNT Title is something Dustin's been fighting for since it was first conceived four years ago. Put that all together and “The Natural” is in a position to fight for everything he cares about in this one match!
There is just one potential hiccup in any game plan Dustin Rhodes could concoct and their name is The Elite; they already tried just handing the TNT Championship over to Jack Perry, so since that play was cut off, will they attempt another way to insure their man is the one who qualifies for the Ladder Match?
TV TIME W/ PRIVATE PARTY...
One Battle Royale aside, it's been almost four years since Private Party shared a ring with Chris Jericho, September 30th of 2020 to be exact, and on that night the original AEW World Champion defeated Isiah Kassidy in a singles match. That night Zay fought his heart out and actually had the match in the palm of his hand, only to be caught by a Judas Effect as he sprung off the top rope, and end up pinned by Jericho. Chris also holds a tag team and trios victory over Private Party from various points earlier in 2020, but it wasn't until last week on DYNAMITE that “The Learning Tree” seemed to make it a point to engage with Zay and the returning Marq Quen.
Now as disingenuous as every Chris Jericho may be, as self-serving as his every actions may be, perhaps this is a moment Private Party could use to their own advantage. After all TV time is not a bad thing, even if appearing on TV TIME WITH THE LEARNING TREE to get it feels like the worst decision available, and for all his bluster, it's not as if Jericho is devoid of being able to pass down quality lessons. Even if their existence around him was only to insulate Jericho from other people, the members of both The Inner Circle and The Jericho Appreciation Society picked up a thing or two along the way, and even appreciate (no pun intended) what he had to give despite how things may have ended.
Clearly “The Redwood” Big Bill and “The Bad Apple” Bryan Keith believe Chris Jericho has something to teach them, Bill's even taken to passing along his own “Learning Tree Lessons” on social media; will Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen find something worthwhile under Jericho's Learning Tree as well? Are they feeling a little more open to hearing what he's got to say after their experience with The Gates of Agony last Friday night?
TRIOS MATCH...
ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe, Kyle O'Reilly, & Orange Cassidy
vs.
ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita, & Roderick Strong
This is quite the interesting Trios match right here; on one side we've got the ROH World Champion, the former 2-Time AEW International Champion, and a man in Kyle O'Reilly who has gone to battle with both. In their time with Ring of Honor, Kyle O'Reilly and Mark Briscoe battled numerous times beginning with a March 2011 singles match on the DEFY OR DENY event, and including multiple ROH World Tag Team Title fights, Survival of the Fittest Elimination Matches, as well as two fights during Kyle's final five ROH matches! They're quite familiar with one another as foes, they've forged the kind of respect that comes from being such staunch opponents, but they've never been on the same side of a fight before tonight. Then there's Orange Cassidy and the fact he and Kyle just beat the breaks off one another Saturday night on COLLISION, but will now stand as partners against common foes just as they did in the aftermath of their epic battle.
Those foes are an interesting mash-up of The Don Callis Family and Undisputed Kingdom as ROH World Television Champion Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita of The DCF will team with UK's Roderick Strong to create quite the fearsome trio of hard-hitters! Roddy's ties to Kyle O'Reilly are well known, as is his recent rivalry with Orange Cassidy over the International Championship, but the roots of the Briscoe/Strong relationship runs deeper than anything else. It's a relationship with twenty years worth of history, plenty of fighting and friendship, Mark was even Roderick's last PPV opponent at ROH's BEST IN THE WORLD 2016 event before Strong departed that company! They've been through hell together since their first fight took place under a tent at GENERATION NEXT twenty years ago, but with this first meeting in AEW, what does that relationship stand now? Then you've got The DCF members whose entire purpose in this is to decimate Orange Cassidy on behalf of their newest ally Trent Beretta, but who are more than willing to throw the bodies of Kyle O'Reilly and Mark Briscoe onto the pile as well!
This is going to be a wild trios match, that much is for certain, but who will walk away from it the winner and how will all the interpersonal dynamics play into the outcome?
“EL TORO BLANCO” HAS A MESSAGE FOR MJF...
It's been almost six months since the last time “El Toro Blanco” RUSH fought on DYNAMITE, and that night ended with a loss to Swerve Strickland in RUSH's final Continental Classic match. WORLDS END took place ten days later with RUSH's team taking the loss on that night, but after that it would be four months before the 2-Time ROH World Champion set foot inside an AEW ring again. Part of that was injury recovery, part of that was simply time away in Mexico getting back to his roots and reconnecting with family before returning to the AEW stage revitalized. With his first matches back, RUSH blew through Martin Stone and Cody Chhun in less than three minutes combined, and then got a surprising fight out of Isiah Kassidy that forced the Private Party member to throw hands with one of the sadistic men in professional wrestling today.
The AEW career of RUSH, hell his entire wrestling life, is littered with the broken and battered bodies of those who tried to test the horns of the bull, and yet in his arrogance Maxwell Jacob Friedman believes he is immune from suffering the same fate as those individuals. Clearly, listening to the words he spoke last week, the former AEW World Champion has little respect for the accomplishments of anyone other than himself, and though he may hear the cheers of the fans right now, the reality is that this is how MJF is at his core. A supremely arrogant, self-aggrandizing individual who firmly believes he can say and do anything he wants without repercussion; why else would he choose to speak to a man like RUSH they way he did last week?
Well tonight on DYNAMITE, MJF better be paying attention to whatever hell RUSH unleashes on the soul standing in the ring with him as it will no doubt be intended as a message to Friedman about the fate “El Toro Blanco” has in mind for him...
All Elite Wrestling is coming to the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines tonight, and we've got quite the loaded show on tap with TBS Champion Mercedes Moné defending against CMLL's Zeuxis, AEW International Champion Will Ospreay defending against Rey Fenix, “El Toro Blanco” RUSH will be in action, Jericho welcomes Private Party underneath The Learning Tree, and so much more! It's all part of AEW's journey to FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 on June 30th, and it begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TNT, so be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel before showtime to catch highlights from last week's DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as Christopher Daniels joining Renee Paquette on CLOSE UP, and a great deal more for the AEW faithful!
Then join us on Saturday in Youngstown, OH at the Covelli Centre where Thunder Rosa will take on Deonna Purrazzo in a No Disqualification bout, The House of Black will be in Trios competition, and Christian Cage will... celebrate Father's Day?!?!
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