Sting, Allin meet Don Callis Family in a tornado tag on Dynamite on TSN2
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Sting and Darby Allin meet the Don Callis Family in a Tornado tag match. Plus, Hangman Page takes on Claudio Castagnoli and Sammy Guevara goes one-on-one with Ricky Starks. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
Tornado tag-team match: "The Icon" Sting and Darby Allin (w/ "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair) vs. The Don Callis Family ("The Alpha" Konosuke Takeshita and Powerhouse Hobbs) (w/ Don Callis and ROH World TV Champion Kyle Fletcher) - As we get closer to Sting's final match at Revolution on March 3 in Greensboro, NC, every match that Sting has left becomes more important. It's something that isn't lost on the Don Callis Family. Following Konosuke Takeshita's impressive victory over Darby Allin last week on Dynamite, the faction laid out a challenge for this week - Takeshita would team with Will Hobbs to take on Allin and Sting. Callis noted that Sting remained undefeated in AEW and the Family would relish the opportunity to hand him his first loss in the promotion. At the time, Sting and Allin were 25-0 as a team, but the duo picked up another victory this past Saturday night on Collision when they defeated the WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry and JD Drake) to take them to 26 wins. Takeshita and Hobbs were on the losing end against Sting and Allin only a few weeks ago in an eight-man tag at World's End when they and AEW World Tag Team Champions Ricky Starks and Big Bill fell to Sting, Allin, Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara. Before Sting leaves the business, there's nothing that Callis and company would love more than to embarrass him on the way out and take away his unblemished record in AEW. The fact that the match is a tornado tag means that tags aren't required and all four men can be in the ring at once. Can Takeshita and Hobbs hand Sting and Allin their first loss or will "The Icon" and the daredevil just keep rolling towards Revolution?
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"The Spanish God" Sammy Guevara (w/ Chris Jericho) vs. AEW World Tag Team Champion "Absolute" Ricky Starks (w/ AEW World Tag Team Champion Big Bill) - At last month's World's End pay-per-view on Long Island, Sammy Guevara won the eight-man tag-team match for his side when he pinned AEW World Tag Team Champion Ricky Starks after a 450. It was an emphatic signal to Starks and his partner that Guevara and Chris Jericho were coming for their titles. Jericho earned a shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship when he and partner Kenny Omega defeated the Young Bucks (Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson) for theirs at Full Gear. The Jacksons had previously earned a championship match by winning a four-corners match at WrestleDream, outlasting Hook and Orange Cassidy, the Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn) and the Lucha Bros. (Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo). Omega will obviously be unable to complete for the foreseeable future after being diagnosed with diverticulitis, but Jericho has retained his shot and reunited with Guevara and will now challenge Starks and Bill at Saturday night's Battle of the Belts. The Starks-Guevara match will have two aims for both competitors: Send a message ahead of Saturday's match, but don't get hurt in such a way that you'll be compromised for that bout. Unfortunately for both Guevara and Starks, neither has an off switch and both men are incapable of phoning it in. Starks and Guevara are familiar opponents for one another with their rivalry predating their AEW days. In singles matches, Starks is 3-1 all-time against Guevara. With both men going full bore on Wednesday day night, which of Guevara or Starks will pick up a big win ahead of the title match?
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"Hangman" Adam Page vs. Claudio Castagnoli - Two former world champions looking to kickstart their 2024 will meet for the first time in singles action on Wednesday night when "Hangman" Adam Page takes on Claudio Castagnoli. The two competitors have met on five prior occasions, but every previous match was a multi-man bout. On last week's Dynamite, Page made it clear that the Texas Death Match at November's Full Gear pay-per-view did not settle matters between him and Swerve Strickland. After Strickland defeated Daniel Garcia in the main event last Wednesday night, Page marched down to the ring to resume hostilities with his bitter rival. The reemergence of Page threw cold water, at least temporarily, on Swerve's plan to challenge Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship. On the other side of the ring, Castagnoli is looking to regroup following an unsuccessful Continental Classic. "The Swiss Cyborg" finished his tournament at 2-3 with wins over Garcia and Andrade El Idolo, but losses to Blackpool Combat Club stablemate Bryan Danielson, Brody King and eventual champion (and Castagnoli's eternal rival) Eddie Kingston. Castagnoli wants to get back into title contention, having dropped the ROH World Championship to Kingston back in September. A win over a former AEW World Champion in Page would be a big statement of intent for the New Year. Will Page be able to overcome his anger towards Swerve to focus on Castagnoli or will Castagnoli be able to take advantage of a distracted Hangman?
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Brodie Lee Memorial eight-man tag-team match: AEW International Champion "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy, "The Rated R Superstar" Adam Copeland, "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes and Preston Vance vs. "The Murderhawk Monster" Lance Archer and ROH World 6-Man Tag Team Champions Mogul Embassy ("The Machine" Brian Cage, Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun) (w/ Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Prince Nana) - Dynamite on Wednesday night comes from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, the place widely considered to be AEW's home base. It was the location of the company's weekly broadcasts during the pandemic and was the site of much of the late, great Brodie Lee's AEW career. On Wednesday night, the favourite wrestler of "Negative One" Brodie Lee Jr. and Lee's protege, La Faccion Ingobernable's Preston Vance will team up with Orange Cassidy, Adam Copeland and Dustin Rhodes to take on the team of Lance Archer, Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony. It will be an emotional evening and Vance will undoubtedly feel compelled to honour Lee's legacy with a fine performance. The match will also mark the first time that Copeland and Rhodes have shared a ring together in nearly 20 years with their last match, against one another, having come in March of 2006. Which of these two teams will pick up a victory?
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Brodie Lee Memorial eight-man tag-team match: Thunder Rosa, Willow Nightingale, Kris Statlander and Anna Jay vs. TBS Champion Julia Hart, Skye Blue and the Outcasts (Saraya and Ruby Soho) (w/ Harley Cameron) - Preston Vance wasn't Brodie Lee's only protege on the AEW roster. The former Dark Order leader was also very invested in the progress of the faction's only female member, Anna Jay. Jay will fight alongside some unlikely allies on Wednesday night when she teams up with Thunder Rosa, Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander to take on Julia Hart, Skye Blue and the Outcasts. Not only will the match be an emotional affair with the bout being held in memory of Lee, it will mark the return of Thunder Rosa to Dynamite for the first time since Aug. 3, 2022. The former AEW Women's World Champion will undoubtedly be fired up for just her second match since her return from injury. With many combustible elements at play here, Wednesday night's match is unlikely to be a pretty one. Which side will emerge victorious?
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PLUS:
- We will hear from AEW World Champion Samoa Joe