After a high octane tour of Canada, All Elite Wrestling comes back to the United States for our first event at the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, WA! DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 is just eleven days away, so every moment counts, and that means AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland trying to put the final nail in The Mogul Embassy's coffin when he takes on Brian Cage in an Eliminator Match! Plus, Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal take on The Young Bucks in another Eliminator contest as “The Fallen Angel” aims to even an old score with The EVPS! Plus, TBS Champion Willow Nightingale and Merceds Moné will sign their contract for DoN '24, AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm takes on Harley Cameron, The United Empire comes for The Blackpool Combat Club, and the Continental Championship will be at stake between The Elite's Kazuchika Okada and FTR's Dax Harwood!
As if that wasn't enough, we also expect to hear from The House of Black's Malakai Black regarding TNT Champion Adam Copeland's challenge, and former 2-Time FTW Champion HOOK makes his return to DYNAMITE with sights set on the man who took his title: “The Learning Tree” Chris Jericho! Wednesday night is loaded, so make a point to stop by AEW's official YouTube channel before the show begins, as well as our assorted social media platforms, for highlights from last week's episodes of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as the latest edition of the CONTROL CENTER, and more!
Then join us Thursday night in Portland, OR at the Moda Center for COLLISION and RAMPAGE, featuring RUSH in action and Shane Taylor fighting Will Ospreay one-on-one!
Eliminator Match...
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland vs. “The Machine” Brian Cage
AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland and “The Machine” Brian Cage have been running together since Prince Nana and Swerve merged The Embassy with The Mogul Affiliates to form The Mogul Embassy. Since RAMPAGE on July 4th of last year, Swerve has been surrounded by Brian Cage and The Gates of Agony, and they helped Strickland throughout these last ten months whenever, and wherever, possible.
Then Christian Cage happened, his Patriarchy happened, and while they decimated Swerve Strickland on the heels of The EVPs announced Christian as the DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 title challenger, Prince Nana was also knocked out of commission by Nick Wayne. That same night “The Machine” Brian Cage was in action against Claudio Castagnoli, and it didn't go unnoticed that “The Machine” wasn't onhand to lend Swerve an assist, but it was also completely reasonable to believe he was preoccupied preparing for that monumental challenge.
Last week reality set in, last week when Brian Cage, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun took out their frustration on the AEW World Champion by dropping him through the announcers table, it became clear as crystal that “The Machine” not helping Swerve was no coincidence. Were Swerve's Mogul Embassy partners wrong about the path taken to get Swerve to the World Championship? Are they incorrect about how their assistance helped Swerve get to that success, success that Prince Nana has also enjoyed? Is it inaccurate to say that Swerve wasn't there for them in the same fashion say perhaps when they lost the ROH World Six-Man Championship to The Bang Bang Gang or when they challenged The Acclaimed for the AEW World Trios Championship?
It's a matter of perspective, but it's clear that Cage and The Gates of Agony's was that Swerve abused their alliance and that they'd benefit more from following the orders of two power-mad EVPs known as Matthew and Nicholas Jackson. Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona both paid for that decision last Saturday night on COLLISION, and it looks like this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE it may be Brian Cage's turn! After nearly a year of running together, The Mogul Embassy will die its final death in the state Swerve Strickland calls home, but it's not going to be an easy battle. Cage no doubt is coming to put a hurting on the AEW World Champion for himself, as well as for The Young Bucks, and all to the benefit of “The Patriarch” Christian Cage as AEW heads to DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 in eleven days! Challenging “The Machine” to a fight so close to his next AEW World Championship clash may not be the most rational choice, but Swerve obviously feels the need to remind his former ally of his inner darkness that brought Texas Death to new depths of violence last year!
Singles Match...
AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm (w/Luther & Mariah May) vs. Harley Cameron
Last week Harley Cameron competed in her first-ever DYNAMITE match against Mariah May, and though it was a loss, Cameron handled herself marvelously throughout the match, albeit with a little help from Saraya, but unfortunately after the loss, the true nature of these Outcasts came to the forefront as they attacked Mariah. AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm had already been taken out of the picture, the victim of a right hand from Serena Deeb earlier in the night, but thankfully Mina Shirakawa was on-hand to chase Saraya off, and lay out Harley Cameron.
Still, as everyone should know by now, no one lays a hand on Toni Storm's precious daughter like that and that means the AEW Women's World Champion is coming to DYNAMITE to settle a score with Harley Cameron! Clearly there's plenty of history wrapped in this match, not between Harley and Toni, but rather Saraya and “The Timeless One”, and much of it swirling around around the AEW Women's World Title that Toni Storm now holds. Once upon a time it was Saraya's, she even beat Toni Storm at GRAND SLAM 2023 in a championship bout, but it won't be the former Women's World Champion in this fight, rather Harley Cameron, and given the vast difference in their experiences, this is an uphill battle for Harley even with Saraya there to try and tip the scales.
More importantly for Toni Storm's big picture, she has to be wondering if Serena Deeb will play a part in all of this as well after last week's knockout performance. “The Professor” is just 11 days away from her championship bout with Storm at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024, so you know she will be watching every move that Toni makes until they get to Las Vegas!
Tag Team Match...
The Don Callis Family (NJPW World TV Champion Jeff Cobb & ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson & IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley)
Clearly Claudio Castagnoli has his doubts and fears about fellow Blackpool Combat Club member Bryan Danielson stepping into an Anarchy in the Arena match once again, especially with Eddie Kingston as his ally, and plainly stated he wants nothing to do with that chaos. Thankfully Danielson has another BCC ally willing to jump into the fights with him, especially when it's a fight like this one on Wednesday night against The Don Callis Family! Jon Moxley has proven time and again he's willing to fight anyone at any time, and he proved it once again with his bout against Powerhouse Hobbs several weeks ago, a fight that left Callis' Family down one solider for the foreseeable future.
Well it seems that Callis is in the mood for some revenge, and he's bringing in an extended family member to join in for this fight against The Blackpool Combat Club. A former ROH World TV Champion, and the current NJPW World TV Champion, Jeff Cobb is no stranger to All Elite Wrestling either, in fact his very first time gracing an AEW ring was in a fight against Jon Moxley over four years ago! We last saw Cobb in AEW a year ago during the FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023: ZERO HOUR when he, with fellow United Empire members TJP and Kyle Fletcher, lost to an LIJ trio, but in the year since, while still carrying the banner for United Empire since Will Ospreay's departure from NJPW, Jeff Cobb has stepped up his game, including defeating Zack Sabre Jr. on May 3rd for the NJPW World TV Title!
Now the man returns to AEW for a reunion with ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher, and a fight with IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley and “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson! As far as history, Moxley has his singles win over Cobb while Danielson has his over Fletcher, not to mention several BCC victories over The DCF during the last eight months, but this is the first time Mox has fought Fletcher, as well as the first battle between Cobb and Danielson! It's a tremendous opportunity for Fletcher and Cobb, stepping into the ring with these two men, especially an IWGP World Champion who's coming off successful defenses over Ren Narita and Shota Umino.
Like every match, this is risk and reward, but with Bryan Danielson heading towards Anarchy in the Arena, as well as still recovering from that nasty Tiger Driver at DYNASTY 2024 there risk seems much higher than the reward, at least for “The American Dragon”. That doesn't change how he fights, that doesn't change The BCC mentality, and despite the history between Don Callis and The Blackpool Combat Club, it doesn't appear that Callis has learned what that means!
AEW Continental Championship Match...
Kazuchika Okada(c) vs. Dax Harwood
Speaking of Anarchy in the Arena, both of these men are set to be involved in that chaos at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024, but before they get there, AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada and FTR's Dax Harwood will clash this Wednesday night with that title on the line! This match marks Okada's second defense after defeating “The Bastard” PAC at DYNASTY 2024 in his first, and the first time these two men will fight in singles competition. FTR and PAC defeated The Elite in Trios competition a month ago on COLLISION, but will the former 2-Time AEW World Tag Champion experience that same success in singles competition? This is going to be a hard-fought contest, of that there is no doubt, and technically the rules of Continental Championship matches bar outside interference, so hopefully the rest of The Elite let it remain a fight between these two top tier competitors rather than a disasterpiece filled with The EVPs abusing their power...
Eliminator Match
AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson & Nicholas Jackson) vs.
Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal
And speaking of those EVPs, Matthew and Nicholas Jackson are set for Eliminator action this Wednesday night against a man who has been in the trenches with them since All Elite Wrestling was an idea coalescing in Tony Khan's mind; longer in fact. Yet that didn't stop The Young Bucks from putting “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels on the brink of ending his in-ring career several years back, nor from leaving him with a long-term eye injury that took forever to heal up, and yet Daniels has continued done what needed to be done for All Elite Wrestling, even if it meant focusing more on his coaching role than on his in-ring activity.
This Wednesday night, after everything The Young Bucks, Jack Perry, and Kazuchika Okada have pulled over the last several weeks, Christopher Daniels is putting his boots on once again, and he's not stepping into the fight alone! Many years ago he and Matt Sydal reigned as ROH World Tag Team Champions, and through their mutual time in AEW, the two men have rekindled that connection and look to parlay it into a future AEW World Tag Team Championship match by beating The Young Bucks this Wednesday night in Everett, WA!
With Anarchy in the Arena looming, and after taking a detour to NJPW STRONG RESURGENCE 2024 last Saturday to assault Eddie Kingston after his NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship loss to Gabe Kidd, will The Young Bucks have their head in the game for this Eliminator Bout or are they too distracted (as well as too arrogant) to give this one their full attention?
TBS CHAMPIONSHIP CONTRACT SIGNING...
Next Tuesday, May 21st, will mark one year since the last time Mercedes Moné competed in a professional wrestling match, one year since a fight with Willow Nightingale resulted in a career-threatning injury for “The CEO of AEW”, one year since Mercedes had to watch Willow Nightingale hoist the NJPW STRONG Women's Title into the air as the first-ever champion. It's become increasingly clear since Mercedes debuted at DYNAMITE: BIG BUSINESS that her feelings about that night are quite complicated. At one point it seemed as if she understood it to be an accident, an unfortunate twist of fate that resulted in the fight not going in her favor, but over time it feels as if that thought has given way to some sort of resentment. Moné seems to think it was a malicious move by Willow Nightingale, perhaps even feeling sorry for herself that it happened, but in just eleven days Merecedes will have a chance go avenge this perceived wrong.
However, before she and Willow meet in Las Vegas there is a matter of putting pen-to-paper and making this TBS Championship match official for DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 on May 26th. That is, if Willow Nightingale still has the TBS Championship after May 18th...
MALAKAI'S RESPONSE...
TNT Champion Adam Copeland has been pushed to the brink by The House of Black, and though Malakai Black has publicly stated that was his goal all along in engaging with Cope, perhaps he's bitten off more than he can chew. Whether this is a downward spiral Copeland is riding, or just letting his demons loose to make Malakai regret his choice to poke the bear, the question is now whether the Master of The House is willing to go as dark, as depraved as Cope, and step inside a Barbed Wire Steel Cage! There have been seven Cage Matches in AEW's history, one MMA Cage Fight, but never has one been wrapped in Barbed Wire; will Malakai embrace fate and step inside?
HOOK RETURNS...
Nuff said...
FACE-TO-FACE...
On COLLISION last Saturday night, AEW International Champion Roderick Strong joined commentary during Will Ospreay's clash with Lee Moriarty. As the #1 Contender for Strong's title, Ospreay was the one with nothing to gain yet everything to lose in taking the fight, and though Moriarty gave Will a tremendous fight, eventually Ospreay dropped him with the Stormbreaker (albeit after a momentary internal debate to use that Tiger Driver). The confrontation between Ospreay and Roddy that took place after the match, Strong of course at a safe distance outside the ring, left Will open to be assaulted by Shane Taylor (hence their impending COLLISION bout airing Saturday night), and allowed Roddy, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett to pose over the fallen “Aerial Assassin” as if they had actually done something.
Well this Wednesday night on DYNAMITE, the two men will be face-to-face with each other less than two weeks before their championship bout at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024! There's little doubt Strong will be flanked by the ROH World Tag Team Champions, but will that stop violence from breaking out or will it be the cause of escalation in these tensions?
The last couple weeks in Canada were tremendous, but this Wednesday night All Elite Wrestling returns to the United States and brings DYNAMITE to the Angel of the Winds Arena for the very first time! It's an absolutely stacked event as we head towards Las Vegas and DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 with a Continenal Championship match between Okada and Harwood, two Eliminator bouts featuring the AEW World Champion and the AEW World Tag Champions, AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm in action, a TBS Title contract signing, and so much more tapped for AEW's flagship program!
Then on Thursday night we head to Portland, OR and the Moda Center for a three hour extravaganza featuring both COLLISION and RAMPAGE! This is your opportunity to see Shane Taylor versus Will Ospreay, as well as catch “El Toro Blanco” RUSH in action, before the rest of the world on Saturday!