Tonight, All Elite Wrestling rolls into Loveland, CO at the Blue Arena for an all-new DYNAMITE featuring the first AEW World Championship match on DYNAMITE since Samoa Joe defeated Wardlow at BIG BUSINESS! Plus, we've got a tremendous grudge match on our hands when Mariah May squares off with Saraya, the full strength Blackpool Combat Club battling Team CMLL, and for the first time in over five months, Maxwell Jacob Friedman will be back on AEW's flagship program after rearing his hate-filled head at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024!
It's all part of the road to FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 where we know AEW International Champion Will Ospreay will challenge for the AEW World Championship, where a new TNT Champion will be crowned via Ladder Match, and where it looks like “Timeless” Toni Storm will defend her AEW Women's World Champinoship against Mina Shirakwa as well!
Wednesday night going to rock Colorado, so be sure to visit AEW's official YouTube channel before bell time, as well as our various social media platforms, for highlights from last week's editions of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as highlights from DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024, Renee Paquette's Close-Up with Chuck Taylor, and more! Then join us in Council Bluffs, IA at the Mid-America Center this Saturday, June 8th, for an all-new COLLISION!
AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
Swerve Strickland(c) vs. Roderick Strong
Three wins across their career, all three wins in 2019, all three in favor of Roderick Strong, and one of those actually with a championship at stake. That's the history Swerve Strickland is fighting against tonight on DYNAMITE, but not only is he fighting to break that losing streak against “The Messiah of the Backbreaker”, he's fighting to keep the AEW World Title around his waist, and to create his own dynasty as the first black AEW World Champion!
In the brief time that Swerve has stood atop the AEW Men's Division, fans have witnessed him fight Kyle Fletcher and Claudio Castagnoli, they saw The Mogul Embassy turn their backs on the champion, drive him down through a table, but ultimately pay for their betrayals. We've seen him beaten, battered, and bloodied by Christian Cage and The Patriarchy, and go through hell to defeat Christian Cage at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024. In short, Swerve Strickland has shown the world what it means to him to be AEW World Champion, as well as what he's willing to go through, and what he's willing to do in order to remain AEW World Champion.
That's where Roderick Strong comes in; the petulant man-child of All Elite Wrestling who somehow feels entitled to a championship opportunity simply because Will Ospreay won the Casino Gauntlet Match before Strong's number was called. But that's the nature of that match, the unpredictability, the possibility that it can end at any time, even if all twenty-one competitors haven't been introduced, and the individuals involved don't know how long they've got to wait for their turn. Despite being subject to the same rules as Claudio, Hechicero, Lio Rush, Shoto Umina, and everyone else in that match, the former International Champion believes the rules don't apply to him so he went yelling for AEW GM Tony Khan.
So last week, after defeating Lio Rush on COLLISION, Roderick got his match...the squeaky wheel and whatnot...and frankly it's a sensible decision from a viewing perspective. Roderick Strong versus Swerve Strickland is the kind of match that All Elite Wrestling was built upon, and having the World Championship defended on DYNAMITE for the first time in three months just adds that much more intrigue to the contest. Give it up for Roderick Strong shooting his shot and being given the opportunity to put his money where his very loud mouth is, but now the pressure is on him to deliver when Swerve is standing across the ring...and waiting in the wings at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 will be AEW International Champion “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay!
MJF'S RETURN...
At DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024, former AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman made his return to All Elite Wrestling and made it very clear he was here for the long haul. Starting with kicking Adam Cole right in the groin, Max made his intentions quite clear, let the world know where he was coming from, and that he was not leaving AEW any time soon!
So with all those cards laid out on the table in Las Vegas, which ones does MJF still have hidden up his sleeve? Perhaps we will all get a look at what he's got cooking tonight on DYNAMITE when Max returns to AEW's flagship for the first time since December 27th! That night was far from his best DYNAMITE moment as he was lost the ROH World Tag Titles in a 2-on-1 bout to Masked Men we learned just days later were in fact Matt Taven and Mike Bennett, so MJF has some added reasons to make this return to TBS one of the most memorable nights in his very memorable All Elite Wrestling career!
Is he gunning for the AEW World Championship again? Is it Adam Cole and the Undisputed Kingdom? Is there something, or someone, else he wants to take care of first? Perhaps we will learn a bit more about what future vision MJF has for himself now that he's officially back in the All Elite Wrestling ring!
GRUDGE MATCH...
Saraya vs. Mariah May
The Outcasts of Saraya and Harley Cameron took it upon themselves weeks ago to target AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm as well her understudy (and biggest fan) Mariah May. Though much of their focus has been on May, there's has not been the most successful campaign when it comes to the in-ring competition. Harley Cameron has fallen to both Mariah and “The Timeless One” in singles competition, while The Outcasts were also defeated in tag team competition,
Still, that hasn't stopped Saraya and Harley from running their mouths at every opportunity, trash talking Toni and “Tiny” whenever they've got a camera in their face, but now it's Saraya's turn to step up to the plate and see if she can succeed where her runnning buddy has failed when she takes on Mariah for the very first time in their careers. It's been more than five months since Saraya's last singles match whereas Mariah is 9-3 in one-on-one competition since her 2024 in-ring debut for AEW, including 6 straight victories to start the year! It's pretty clear that the former AEW Women's World Champion has designs on challenging her former Outcast ally for that title, but in order to get there Saraya is going to have to get back on track as a singles competitor. Will this be the start of her march towards challenging “Timeless” Toni Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship, or will Mariah May stifle that tonight in Colorado?
EIGHT-MAN GRUDGE MATCH!
The Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley, & ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta)
vs.
Team CMLL (Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champino Esfinge, Magnus, Rugido, & Volador Jr)
Surprisingly, in the two years since FORBIDDEN DOOR 2022 when Claudio Castagnoli debuted and The Blackpool Combat Club became the foursome it is today, there has only been one match in which Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, and Wheeler Yuta have actually competed as a foursome, that is if one wants to call Anarchy In The Arena a “match”. There are plenty of trios and tag team bouts mixing and matching the four men, but only that one night in Las Vegas where all four stood in the ring together for an official fight.
With the news Tuesday night that ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta had been cleared for competition for the first time since his January 12th Continental Crown challenge against Eddie Kingston, it looks like it's time for that foursome to come together once again, the first time ever on DYNAMITE it should be noted, and renew the rivalry with CMLL that shaped a big part of The BCC's life in February and March, culminating with Bryan Danielson defeating Blue Panther in Arena Mexico at CMLL's SUPER VIERNES event on April 5th. Now of this CMLL quartet, Esfinge, Volador Jr, and Rugido have been in the ring with at least one member of The Blackpool Combat Club while Magnus, though he has seen AEW competition, has yet to be tested by any of them. Claudio bested Rugido one-on-one, Claudio and Moxley topped Esfinge and Star Jr. in tag team action, while The BCC of Claudio, Mox, and Danielson hold a trios victory over Volador Jr, Hechicero, and Mascara Dorado.
Now all of that action took place under the auspices of All Elite Wrestling, but when The BCC traveled to CMLL on March 29th to fight the luchadores on their turf, the tides turned. Originally Yuta was scheduled to join his brothers on that journey, but without medical clearance, it was Matt Sydal who stepped up into his place, but it was also Matt Sydal who took the fall to cost himself and The BCC an eight-man tag to Volador Jr, Ultimo Guerrero, Mistico, and Blue Panther.
Then came the Danielson/Blue Panther bout, but since then everything on the CMLL front remained quiet until Hechicero came bursting through the Forbidden Door to take part in the Casino Gauntlet Match for the FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 World Championship opportunity! With his arrival back in AEW, it seems that CMLL and AEW, or at least The Blackpool Combat Club, are at odds once again, and set to go at it tonight on DYNAMITE!
Now how any of The BCC members will be involved in FORBIDDEN DOOR remains to be seen, as is also the case with any members of CMLL looking to join the fight, but at this juncture all four BCC members are free! Moxley has a date with EVIL at NJPW DOMINION on June 9th to see how his future looks as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Claudio Castagnoli issued the decree after COLLISION that he's up to fight anyone he's never stepped into the ring with before, Yuta has to be itching for a fight after five months watching from the sidelines, and as for “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson, well after what happened at Anarchy in the Arena, one has to wonder where his body and mind are at right now! For all four, their focus better be on the CMLL task at hand, otherwise it's going to be a repeat of March 29th only this time it'll all be on The Blackpool Combat Club...
Tonight All Elite Wrestling is coming to the Blue Arena in Loveland, CO for the very first time and AEW's flagship program is coming with us! As we're on the way towards FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024, tonight we've got former AEW International Champion Roderick Strong challenged AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland for the most coveted title in professional wrestling with the winner going on to face Will Ospreay on June 30th! Plus, former AEW World Champion MJF returned to the fold at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 and tonight he's back on DYNAMITE for the first time since December 27th! We will also see Saraya and Mariah May go head-to-head, and Wheeler Yuta is back in action as The BCC, in full force for the first time ever on DYNAMITE, take on four representatives from CMLL!
It's going to be an exciting night in Colorado, so it's vital to check in on the official AEW YouTube channel before the show begins, as well as our numerous social media platforms, for highlights from previous episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, highlights from DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024, Chuck Taylor joining Renee Paquette's Close-Up, and more! Then Saturday night we head to Council Bluffs, IA and the Mid-America Center for an all-new COLLISION!
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