AEW Fyter Fest Night 2 Preview for July 21, 2021

Last week in Austin, night one of FYTER FEST 2021 presented another bombastic edition of AEW DYNAMITE for our amazing fans! Being back on the road has brought the most energetic, supportive, awesome people out to watch DYNAMITE the last two weeks, and Dallas is sure to be another red-hot stop on this tour!

Austin witnessed the crowning of a new FTW Champion in rather shocking fashion, heard Adam Page issue a momentous challenge to The Elite, and Jon Moxley set a record for the most successful defenses of the IWGP United States Championship after beating Karl Anderson! Plus we heard words from Dr. Britt Baker and Nyla Rose heading into their World Title collision, saw Chris Jericho laid out just before his labors begin, and more!

This week during the second night of FYTER FEST 2021, the IWGP U.S. Title will once more be on the line when Moxley meets Archer in a Texas Death Match rematch of their New Japan Pro Wrestling collision! Plus the Women's World Title is on the line when Britt Baker makes her first defense against Nyla Rose, Shawn Spears brings his chair to battle Chris Jericho in the first of The DemoGod's labors, Orange Cassidy goes head-to-head with The Blade, and plenty more on tap in Dallas!

It all starts LIVE at 8pm EST/7pm CST on TNT, or at AEWPlus.com for our International viewing audience! Get ready for all the action by heading to our official YouTube channel and subscribing so you never miss an episode of AEW DARK: ELEVATION, AEW DARK, ROAD TO..., or all the other wonderful wrestling content available at AEW's YouTube home!

AEW WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...

Dr. Britt Baker (c) (w/ Rebel) vs. (#1) “The Native Beast” Nyla Rose (w/ Vickie Guerrero)

These two women are quite familiar with one another since the inception of All Elite Wrestling. They have been partners, they have been foes, but one thing they certainly have never been is friends. Any alliance was more of shared foes, strictly convenience, and that one unified night was actually the same evening the Good Doctor suffered her career changing knee injury in May 2020. Three days later Nyla Rose's AEW Women's World Championship reign would end at the hands of Hikaru Shida, and Rose would prove unable to recapture the championship in their rematch six months later.

Both Rose and Baker would find themselves in a position to challenge Shida once more, this time at REVOLUTION 2021, but in order to do so, a victory in the Women's World Title Eliminator Tournament would have to be achieved. In their lone one-on-one meeting prior to this Wednesday night, “The Native Beast” made sure that Baker's championship dreams fell short when the former champ beat Britt in a Semi-Final match. Rose would also have her hopes squashed in the finals of the tournament by Ryo Mizunami, delaying Nyla's hope of becoming the first two-time champion in the Women's division.

It would be Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D who would bring an end to the historic title reign of Hikaru Shida at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2021 after 372 days, finally achieving the destiny she felt had been hers since day one, and establishing herself as the face of the Women's Division (well, face of AEW if you ask Britt). While Baker was building her way up into title contention and earning a shot at Shida, so too was Nyla Rose rebuilding her stock with Vickie Guerrero at her side in a managerial capacity. The former World Champion's hard work also paid off when she officially became the number one ranked woman on June 16th and was earmarked for the very first opportunity against the new champion.

Although Nyla, ever the pot-stirrer, didn't wait until then to start poking the bear. As soon as Baker won the title, when she was attempting to hold a championship celebration on DYNAMITE, “The Native Beast” quickly went from side-eyes and eye-rolls at the new champ, to trashing the festivities and ruining Britt's moment. It's only escalated from there, first in verbal form, and then in a violent physical outburst when Rose dropped Britt through a table at ringside with a powerbomb. That moment certainly conveyed Nyla's malicious intentions towards Baker in this championship bout, and showed the arrogant champion that she cannot hope to match power with her challenger.

It no doubt gives the former Women's World Champion a psychological edge going into this championship battle, as does the fact that Rose was also the last woman to defeat the Good Doctor in singles competition five months ago. This title match is one of the highest magnitude, and as the first defense for Dr. Baker, is just as important as the title win itself. Can the champion survive the onslaught of the beast and back up the bravado it takes to refer to herself as the face of the division? Can Baker take her landmark victory over Hikaru Shida and parlay it into a title reign that rivals, even dwarves, that of the former champion?

To even start down that road, to really show that everyone else just lives in the World of D.M.D, Baker has to topple a former Women's World Champion who owns a victory over Britt already, just dropped her through a table, and has an indisputable power/size advantage over her. Britt cannot be the woman who loses the championship on her first defense if she wants to truly be The Face of AEW, much less the division, but with a vicious monster like Nyla Rose as her first challenger, Britt Baker may have to dig down into a whole new part of herself to survive and retain.

IWGP UNITED STATES TITLE TEXAS DEATH MATCH

Jon Moxley (c) vs. “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer (w/ Jake “The Snake” Roberts)

One week ago the former AEW World Champion and current, reigning, defending IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley made history with his fifth successful championship defense. The victory over “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson made Mox the record holder for most successful defenses to go along with his status as the longest reigning champion in the title's history at 565 days come this Wednesday night. Although his defenses have claimed Juice Robinson, Minoru Suzuki, KENTA, Yuji Nagata, and now Anderson into Jon's record books, for the second night of FYTER FEST 2021, this tale must go back to where it all started on January 4, 2020 with “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer.

See that night Moxley returned to the Tokyo Dome to reclaim a championship he was stripped of in 2019 due to the staph infection that also kept him from battling Kenny Omega at ALL OUT 2019. Archer was in possession of the championship after topping Juice Robinson, the man Moxley beat to claim the IWGP US Title the first time, for the vacant title. That night at WRESTLE KINGDOM 14, in a Texas Death Match, Moxley and Archer would beat the tar out of each other for nearly fifteen minutes before “The Death Rider”, as the NJPW audiences dubbed Moxley, reclaimed the championship.

Archer never received a rematch for that championship, although he and Moxley would battle in a No DQ contest over the AEW World Title at DYNAMITE: ANNIVERSARY SHOW last October. Going into that fight Moxley said something along the lines of “you don't beat Lance Archer, you survive Lance Archer” and that is exactly what Moxley did, narrowly escaping the match with World Title still in his possession, while Archer came closer to beating Jon than any man up to that point.

So with all that history between Jon Moxley and “The Murderhawk Monster”, it was certainly a simultaneous frightening and electrifying moment when Archer made the challenge:

Also it came as little surprise to anyone when the defending IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion readily, eagerly, accepted the challenge as well as the Texas Death match stipulations:

This Wednesday night, as part of FYTER FEST 2021: NIGHT TWO, round three will go down at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, TX! Can Lance Archer take back the championship he never had a chance to reclaim, or will Moxley make it three straight over “The Murderhawk Monster” and continue his historic run with this NJPW championship? Tune into TNT for DYNAMITE to see what kind of hell these two unleash on each other in a Texas Death match!!!

THE 5 LABOURS OF JERICHO: CHAPTER 1...

CHRIS JERICHO VS. SHAWN SPEARS

***SPEARS CAN USE A CHAIR, JERICHO CANNOT***

Many moons ago, then AEW World Champion Chris Jericho watched as Jon Moxley ran through The Inner Circle en route to REVOLUTION 2020 and defeating “Le Champion” for that title. Jericho had to watch as Sammy Guevara, Santana, and Ortiz all fell before Moxley, and not even a hired gun by the name of Jeff Cobb proved able to stop the inevitability. It was almost as if Jericho set the template by which he is now being forced to live his life, only now Chris is in the role of Jon Moxley while Maxwell Jacob Friedman has taken Jericho's puppet master pose on as his own.

In order to get MJF in a rematch of their FULL GEAR 2020 one-on-one battle, the first-ever AEW World Champion now has to do his best Hercules impression and survive his own series of labors. For the legendary god, amongst the twelve labors were tasks such as slaying a lion, killing a hydra, stealing golden apples, and capturing the hellhound Cerberus. In the case of Chris Jericho, the labors consist of facing each member of The Pinnacle to get to MJF, and the first of those tasks will take place during night two of FYTER FEST 2021!

As witnessed in the video embedded above, it will be The Chairman of AEW who requested the first crack at “The DemoGod” and for this singles bout, the usage of a chair is fair game, but ONLY for Shawn Spears. Advantage: Spears for sure, especially given his proclivity in swinging for the fences whenever there's a chair in his hand. Ask Sammy Guevara how it feels when Spears comes headhunting with that piece of steel in his hand, just listen to how Shawn talks about his relationship with the chair in the ROAD TO... edition embedded at the top.

And this battle taking place on an uneven field, this is just the first of the labors. Should Jericho complete this first task set before him by MJF, what form will the second labor take? MJF forced Cody Rhodes into AEW's first Cage Match against Wardlow in order to get Max in a match. Could history repeat itself there? What else could the two-time Dynamite Diamond Ring winner have up his sleeve with this labors?

Should Jericho defeat Shawn Spears here, the path is only going to get harder with each successive labor, but Spears is aiming to make sure the labors begin and end with his steel chair prowess.

THE POWER OF A PUNCH...

(#2) Orange Cassidy (w/ Kris Statlander) vs. The Blade (w/ The Bunny)

Over the course of the last several weeks, the volatility between The Best Friends unit and that of The HFO has been building and building. The Blade has beaten Chuck Taylor, The Bunny was bested by Kris Statlander, and a mixed tag between OC, Statlander, Blade, and Bunny netted a win for The Best Friends contingent in the 3rd ever Intergender Tag match in AEW history.

But victory or defeat, one consistent factor has been the devastating addition of brass knuckles for The Blade and The Bunny both! As the embedded tweet says, Cassidy has been left lying one too many times and this Wednesday aims to even the score with The Blade! Plus, as the number two ranked man in the Men's Division, every single match is critical to the championship future for Orange Cassidy, and crucial to delivering some comeuppance to Kenny Omega for the events of DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2021.

For The Blade, who has impressively gone 5-0 as a singles wrestler since The Butcher's unfortunate injury sideline him, this is not just a chance to shut down a foe in OC, but also a chance to give his career a huge boost with a victory over the number two man.

This is a huge night for both individuals, and luckily each one has a strong support team at their back. The main difference there though is that Blade's HFO support is there to cheat on his behalf and help him cut corners where necessary. Cassidy's friends are there to cheer him on, support their buddy, and serve as a roadblock to anyone else trying to sway the outcome of this contest towards The Blade!

HUNTING SEASON...

“The Elite Hunter” Frankie Kazarian vs. Doc Gallows

Since The Young Bucks forced the disintegration of SCU, with a little help from their Elite friends, it has been the mission of Frankie Kazarian to tear down those men piece-by-piece. He has tried to balance the scales on behalf of The Elite's opponents when possible, stopping men like Brandon Cutler, Nakazawa, and The Good Brothers from getting involved on assorted occasions. Frankie even aligned, if only for a night, with the most unlikely of partners in Eddie Kingston and Penta El Zero Miedo to successfully defeat Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Matt Jackson in a six-man tag.

Now, this Wednesday night, for the first time since his crusade began two months ago, Frankie Kazarian will get a one-on-one match with a member of The Elite. Unlike The Young Bucks, Doc Gallows is not a man with whom Kazarian has a rich professional history, they've only shared the ring a handful of times, nor is there any kind of deep personal relationship that entwines their families together.

There is nothing between these two men but the disdain Frankie Kazarian carries for any individual flying that Elite banner, and the arrogance Gallows carries about being a member of said club. That makes this a very dangerous match between two men who care about naught but the win, nothing but hurting their foe, and moving on to whatever, whoever, is next in line.

Gallows could do the rest of The Elite a favor right here by putting a stop to Frankie's crusade in Garland, TX, but if he cannot, the rest of the group better have their eyes on their own potential future. Kaz is not going to stop until either The Elite is broken or he is, and if the destruction of SCU at the hands of their own friends didn't break the man, can anything?

OPPORTUNITY AFTER OPPORTUNITY...

(#4) Darby Allin (w/ Sting) vs. Wheeler Yuta (w/ Orange Cassidy)

On July 13th, Wheeler Yuta battled Angelico on AEW DARK, and twenty-four hours later he fought “The Spanish God” Sammy Guevara on DYNAMITE: FYTER FEST 2021, N.1. Neither were successful bouts for his win-loss record, but both continued to open the eyes of fans and wrestlers alike as to just what this 24 year old man brings to the wrestling ring. And that wasn't even the end of his week because forty-eight hours after DYNAMITE, Yuta was locked in tag team competition, with Fred Yehi as his partner, against Yuji Nagata and Ren Narita for NJPW STRONG. To say that Wheeler is putting the work in ever second of his young life would probably undersell just how much of himself he devotes to improving his wrestling craft. That dedication, that perseverance, that is what gets Wheeler Yuta opportunities such as this huge one on Wednesday night.

For the very first time in their careers, Wheeler Yuta and history-making former TNT Champion Darby Allin will lock-up inside the squared circle! Now Allin is coming into this one battered and bruised from the physically devastating Coffin Match against “All Ego” Ethan Page last week, but no bump, bruise, or sensation of pain has ever stopped Darby from competing as long as there isn't a doctor holding him back. And with Allin also so close to being in title contention, each win is more crucial than ever to maintaining his position, if not elevating it, and getting closer to a shot at the AEW World Title or possibly reclaiming the TNT Title from “The Redeemer” Miro.

Will Darby be ripe for the picking after the violence last week? Will this be the night Wheeler Yuta steps onto the world stage and shocks everyone? Or will this be another night Darby Allin takes all his pain, takes every ache, and turns it into fuel for the fire that has burned in his heart throughout life? Do not miss this first-ever singles contest!

THE CHALLENGE...

What a challenge laid out on the table one week ago; it started as Kenny Omega challenging The Dark Order to a 5-on-5 Elimination tag pitting Hangman Page and The DO against The Elite to which Hangman upped the ante to include championship opportunities. See as the number one ranked man on the roster, Page is in the position to challenge Kenny for the AEW World Title, and he laid that out on the line with absolutely zero fear to also get The Dark Order shots at the World Tag Team Titles held by The Young Bucks.

Omega, wanting something more out of the bargain, threw one additional stipulation on the proposed bout: that if The Dark Order and Hangman lose, then NONE of them will get a shot at the respective titles. No World Title match with Kenny for Page, no Tag Title shot at Matt and Nick for The Dark Order, an all or nothing gamble but, to quote Hangman, “The Dark Order does not back down from a fight”!

All that remains is to set the time and place for this exhilarating showdown between the two squads, and hopefully this week during FYTER FEST 2021: NIGHT 2, we find out more about the details! The Dark Order versus The Elite, with the future of TWO championships at stake, that has all the makings of one of DYNAMITE's most historic matches!

BLACK AND RHODES...

Malakai Black and Cody Rhodes...

Last Wednesday night, when they shared the screen during FYTER FEST 2021: NIGHT ONE, this felt like the literal personification of Darkness versus Light. One draped in the color of night, of darkness, while the other in the color of day, the color of peace; polar opposites to the eyes of the viewer, and likely in life as well.

And yet there are striking similarities in these individuals, certainly in their careers. These are two men who have gambled on themselves, who perhaps both felt unfulfilled, and have taken risks in their careers to find what they are looking for both inside the wrestling ring, as well as life. For Cody, that time began several years ago, and in the period since, he has become a pillar of All Elite Wrestling, and as an EVP, a part of the establishment. For Black, that period in his life resumed in Miami at ROAD RAGER when he cracked both Arn Anderson and “The American Nightmare” across the skull with his foot.

It was a bold, physical declaration of intent, and last week the verbal declaration that followed it up laid out just how Malakai views Cody. Based on the response to Black's attack, he sees Rhodes as a man who cares more about the fans than they care about him. He also sees Cody as someone who, after all the wear and tear of the years, just doesn't have it anymore, and Malakai is the man with the shotgun ready to put the horse down.

The question must be asked though if that parable Black told on DYNAMITE last week hit home with Cody considered he uttered similar words a little over two years ago heading into his historic clash with brother Dustin at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2019?

What will be the next step in this rivalry that has already reached a fever pitch after just two weeks? When will fans get to see these two athletes lock up in All Elite Wrestling? What day will Cody get to show Malakai Black that his words are those of a false prophet, and that not only does Rhodes still have it, but it has only gotten better, and grown hungrier after all these years of competition? How long will it be until Black gets the chance to show the world Cody Rhodes has become the old horse who needs to be put out to pasture?

A NEW CHAMPION...

One week ago, the FTW Title was on the line when Brian Cage laid it on the line against Ricky Starks. It's not as if there was an option, Taz himself essentially declared there would be a title bout between the two to settle their differences, but Cage is not the type of man to turn away any challenge, even by a man who was supposed to be on his team. Tensions within Team Taz aside, “The Machine” likely did not expect the knife in his back to be delivered in this match, and definitely did not see it coming from Powerhouse Hobbs at such a crucial moment.

Team Taz has to know they are playing a dangerous game with Brian Cage here, but Taz is a man likely thinking something akin to “I brought Brian Cage into AEW, I can take him out of AEW”, and with a murderer's row like Starks, Hobbs, and even Hook, at his disposal, Taz claims zero fear of retribution. But to pull another tried and true line from cinema, when Taz is saying he's not afraid, Cage is likely thinking “You will be!”.

FYTER FEST 2021: NIGHT TWO starts LIVE at 8pm EST/7pm CST on TNT, or at AEWPlus.com for our International viewing audience, and it is bringing the absolute best professional wrestling action on the planet! Prepare for the excitement by visiting the official AEW YouTube channel and subscribing to get every episode of AEW DARK: ELEVATION, AEW DARK, ROAD TO..., or all the other wonderful wrestling content available at AEW's YouTube home!

And with All Elite Wrestling back on tour, be sure to check out AEWTIX to see if we are coming to a city near you! New dates and venues are being announced all the time, like our September 8th Cincinnati debut going on sale this Friday, so keep checking back for the latest news!