All Elite Wrestling brings “Dynamite” to the city of Brotherly Love this Wednesday night for our debut at The Liacouras Center, located on the campus of Temple University. We go live on TNT at 8pm EST/7pm CST and what a night in store for the fans there live, and those watching at home on their television screens! Two title matches, the continuation of the Tag Team Title Tournament, and more as the battle between AEW and Chris Jericho's Inner Circle continues to escalate!
AEW World Championship Match
Chris Jericho defends vs. Darby Allin - Philadelphia Street Fight
The goal of every professional wrestler in All Elite Wrestling is to become a champion, or Le Champion as Chris Jericho has come to call himself as of late. He was the first man to earn that title when he defeated Adam Page at “All Out”, and now Jericho (not for the first time in his storied career) finds himself as the focus of everyone's championship aspirations. Perhaps that is why he has chosen to surround himself with Jake Hager, Santana & Ortiz, and Sammy Guevara...
Enter Darby Allin; the man who went the distance with Cody at “Fyter Fest”, who defeated Japanese legend CIMA in an “AEW Dark” contest from Washington D.C, and who then defeated Jimmy Havoc in Boston on 10/9 to earn this championship opportunity. But Allin was not done yet that night; as seen in the clip above, Darby mounted his skateboard, traversed the entrance ramp, and relentlessly attacked Le Champion, letting Jericho know that he was not intimidated by the 30 year resume or the Inner Circle surrounding the champion.
So with that fresh on his mind, after DYNAMITE went off the air, Jericho sat down in front of the camera and challenged Darby to make this historic first World Title defense a Philadelphia Street Fight! That is Darby's wheelhouse, as he has demonstrated in the past, but so to is it a world in which The Painmaker has played throughout his career. Over the last 3 decades, Jericho has been inside a steel cage, been in street fights, been in Last Man Standing bouts, competed in Ladder matches, and bled more than his fair share inside the squared circle. Jericho has the experience, but also the wear and tear of those matches on his body. Darby may not have “seen and done it all”, as Jericho may say, but he has youth and hunger and a relentless desire that rivals what experience has taught the AEW World Champion. At this point in his career, is Jericho as willing to get grimy and Gritty with Darby? We shall see...
And to the victor of this waits Cody, and his World Title challenge set for the “Full Gear” pay-per-view event on November 9th; rest assured this EVP will have his eyes on Jericho and Darby on Wednesday night...
AEW Women's World Championship
Riho defends vs. Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D
These two women are coming off a tag team victory last week that left Britt Baker with a black eye, and now will collide in the historic very first Women's World Championship defense! It's only been a mere two weeks since Riho bested Nyla Rose to become the first champion, and now she will put it all on the line in Philadelphia against a woman competing in her first AEW singles bout. Baker holds victories in two tag team bouts and a Four Way, while her one outstanding loss came in a tag match at “Fight For The Fallen”. Britt is primed to become the face of the Women's division, but the spectre of Bea Priestly looms large over her shoulder. Riho, for her side, does not want to be the one to lose the championship in her very first defense, especially not as the very first champion, but the challenge Baker brings will be quite different than that of Rose. It's not a question of overcoming a power advantage, of using speed and quickness to secure a victory, rather it is a case of two evenly matched competitors fighting it out to see who is the better wrestler. Riho having the experience edge is pretty much the case with every match she steps into given she has been going strong since nine years old, but as with Darby in the Men's World Title Match, Britt is hungry to prove herself the dominant woman in the division.
AEW World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter-Final Match
SCU (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. The Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent)
At first it was not clear which two members of SCU would enter into this tournament, but Scorpio Sky recused himself, deferring to the championship resume of Daniels & Kazarian as a unit, in hopes of SCU becoming the very first tag Team Team Champions in AEW's record books. With multiple tag team champions reigns across the wrestling business under their belt, this SCU duo are certainly favorites with the odds makers, but The Best Friends are no slouches themselves.
They may not have the championship pedigree of their opponents, but Chuck and Trent have competed against the best teams in the world, have the added motivation finally securing a title for themselves at the end of this tournament, not to mention a chance for some redemption against The Dark Order if they advance to the Semi-Finals. We have already seen one major upset with Private Party defeating The Young Bucks in Boston, is there one in store for the fanatics in Philadelphia??
AEW World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter-Final Match
Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy) vs. The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix)
And speaking of Private Party, the winner of this bout will move on to face them in the Semi-Finals, but it will not be an easy road to get there. The Lucha Bros are on fire in AEW after their victory in Escalera de la Muerte and a victory in 8-Man Tag action on the premiere of “AEW Dark” from Washington D.C. Their momentum is strong...
The same cannot be said for Jurassic Express unfortunately. They may be emotional favorites with the fans of AEW around the world, but their successes have been few. Twice now SCU has bested Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy, and Marko Stunt in 6-Man tags, and JurEx tasted defeated at “Fight For The Fallen” in a 3-Way Tag Team match as well. But all it takes is one match, one win, to turn that all around, and this is the most important match of Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy's existence as a team. Not only would they move on in the AEW Tag Title Tournament, but they would be doing it at the expense of a team that can deservedly lay claim to being the best in the world. Pentagon Jr. and Fenix have fought them all, defeated them all, and won the championships to prove it. So this match right here needs to be the coming out party for Jurassic Express to cement their name in the tag team ranks...
Tag Team Action
Kenny Omega & “Hangman” Adam Page vs. PAC & Jon Moxley
It has been clear for several weeks, essentially since “All Out”, that the members of The Elite are not on the same page. Omega's head has been...somewhere...since the loss to PAC that night, and the Bucks certainly believe the same of Page since his defeat in the AEW World Title Match. As you can see in the above clip from “Being The Elite Ep. 174”, the tensions continue to mount in the face of what Chris Jericho's Inner Circle has brought to the table the last two weeks on “Dynamite”. And, with Moxley's return to the scene during the premiere of “Dynamite”, Kenny Omega has yet another foe pulling his attention in a thousand directions. After all, it's hard to just look the other way when someone has driven you through a glass coffee table...
And then there's PAC, a man who has defeated both Omega and Page, and could very well find himself in line for a World Title match if he continues to notch victories like those two. Moxley and PAC carry themselves in two very different fashions, but both have marked their intentions to do what they want when they want to very clear.
That makes this tag team clash very intriguing as the two members of The Elite have an opportunity to face their demons at the same time. It is also a chance for Omega and Moxley to prepare for their “Full Gear” clash in November that will go down live on Pay-Per-View. Of course there's the question of just what will happen if PAC and Mox are the ones with their hands raised? Will it send Omega and Page further down the spiral or will it be a wake-up call for each man to rally?
After this night, the semi-finals of the Tag Title Tournament will be set, the faces of both the Men's and Women's division may be changed, and in turn, the face of “Full Gear”, especially as it pertains to Cody. And what else will Chris Jericho and his Inner Circle have in store for AEW? Make sure you join the revolution along with 14 million other viewers (and counting) and tune into TNT at 8pm EST Wednesday night for the latest edition of “AEW Dynamite”!
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